Collector - Wollongong

The original plan was to ride from Canberra to Wollongong. The idea was to travel to Canberra by bus, get off and ride immediately to Bungendore to stay the night. Then the next day travel to Goulburn via Tarago.

The best route I came up with to get to Bungendore was -

Canberra->Federal Highway->Macs Reef Road->Bungendore Rd->Bungendore.

This is the same distance as the alternative route thru Queanbeyan but the Federal Highway has a decent breakdown lane/verge. There is a massive hill at the start of Macs Reef Road that would most likely would have to be walked up.

Having said that I ended up starting at Collector not Canberra as the bus got in too late to do the Bungendore leg. I stayed at the 1860s hotel there. The weather was wild and stormy.

I rode the back roads from Collector to Goulburn. I was going to go by Tarago but there were absolutely howling westerlies. I now know why there are wind farms at Lake Bathurst. So I cut it short and went via Currawang. Getting to Currawang involved10k of pleasant dirt riding through the bush.

I found the verge on the Hume highway on the Goulburn->Marulan part of the route fine for riding with plenty of room although there is the usual crap and debris to look out for. It's scenic in places as well.

Just past Marulan I turned off for the back road to Moss Vale via Talllong, Wingello and Bundanoon. The next day took me from Moss Vale to Kiama. The back route here uses Wildes Mead Rd and Peasons Lane to Robertson. Then there is the fun ride down Jamberoo Mountain Road and on to Kiama. The next day was the final leg from Kiama to home (but catching the train is an alternative here).

I took a Murray's coach to Collector. The bike went in a plastic CTC bike bag. The only preparation I had to do was remove the pedals and turn the handlebars sideways. The front wheel stayed on. I loaded the bike into the under bus luggage storage to make sure it lay the right way up i.e. not on the chainring. The charge was $20 - incidentally what it cost me in bus fare with my Senior Card.

I usually carry a tarp to go under the tent and vestibule area. I used the CTC bike bag instead to go under the tent. You can see it strapped to the top of my saddlebag in the photo. Seemed to work fine.