The 2 Ps

Day 1: Heathcote, NSW
Distance cycled: 43km

The 2 Ps are patience and persistence. On our first day of our adventure, Sue came up with these two principles that will be important and helpful for us to reach our destination. It was a fantastic day discovering Royal National Park and some of our own physical limits.




After 5.5 amazing years in Sydney, we departed at 6am on our bikes heading south from North Sydney. We arrived in Mascot around 8am with almost 80kg of ‘stuff’ on our bikes. We pedalled on to the Royal National Park. As we descended the slopes toward the Visitor Centre at Audley, fear loomed that we would have to ascend the same altitude on the way out. We went through Lady Carrington Drive, an old road dating back to the 1800s. As you can imagine, it was a bumpy and slow 11km ride but we made it through! At the end of the trail, we decided to take the short but tough mostly-inclined 5km out towards the Pacific Highway before heading towards the coast. Boy, was it an ascend (especially after about 7 hours riding)! It was not easy for Sue but Lukas was patient and persistent (not to mention a superman who helped Sue with her load).

We finally got out to Waterfalls, taking shelter at the train station. It was around 5pm. We learnt that there were no campgrounds or other accommodation options in Waterfalls. Sue not having the energy to power on, we backtracked and took a train to Heathcote, where we were told that there is a caravan park. It was somewhat a relief as we walked into the park. It got better. There was neither vacancy for cabins nor tent sites. While Sue waited at the train station with all our ‘stuff’, Lukas finally found us a room at Heathcote Hotel. It was ‘luxury’. After today’s experience, we will ride tomorrow with a vertical learning curve.

Oh and by the way, our roof leaked today. In other words, it rained. ;)

Locations: [NSW] North Sydney - Heathcote