Kempsey to Maitland

I am terrible behind schedule updating the webpage so I will do a quick summery of much of the tour so can get a more up to date version soon online. Otherwise it will just feel hopeless being so late...

Traveled from Comara along the Armidale-Kempsey road to Kempsey and then continued on to Crescent head. It was really a highlight seeing the Pacific again. We had done lots of inland touring and seen the dividing range and all the farmlands. But there are something special with the sea and beaches. We just wanted to run down and dive into the water. But the weather was not so warm and the wind was chilly so we ended up with only taking photos of it. 

Next stop was Port Macquarie where we stayed with Chris who were nice to host us for three nights. He lived next to the Lighthouse beach and cycling along the Ocean road with it's views over all beaches were fantastic. Really enjoyed it, the city itself was nothing special.

Our plan was then to travel south along the coast to Diamond head. But we only got just south of Laurieton. The Dimond head road was in a bad condition, big big washboards and not fun to cycle. There were also bush fires south so we decided to go back and inland instead. 'We heard later that the Dimond head was closed and the camping areas was evacuated because of the smoke from the fires. Scary with all the fires and this was first time we got somewhere near whit what is a reality for so many in Australia. 

From the Pacific we climbed up to Comboyne plataue +700 meters above sea level, passed some areas of hazard control burnt forests where the smoke still came from the stubs. 

Then via Krambach and the Manning Hill road to Bulahdelah. Found a nice camp spot at the top of the Manning hill.

From Bulahdelah we took the Booral road towards stroud and Dungog. Camped when we reached the Nerong State forest. Nice spot which we shared with a Goanna. On the night Phim waked up and felt a strong smell of smoke. Was dark then so we couldn't see anything just smelled the smoke. Camping in the forest and being slow cyclist it was a bit scary, nobody knew either where we were camping.

Luckily we could get internet access on our phone and I could read that the smoke must be coming from a +1000 ha bush fire north in the Myall river state forest. Was a bit shaky moment before we found it out. After that incident we have kept an eye on the RSF website for fire updates when we are planning our continuing tour. 

In Dungong and Maitland we stayed with friends for some nights before Phim catched the train for Sydney and her flight to Bangkok.