Big day. Really big day.  

We started with a challenge we were riding the tandem with a tyre boot repairing a slash in the tyre wall.  

To add to the challenges, the sole fell off Tiger’s shoe and Sarina got locked in the toilet at the breakfast café.  

A bit off sticky tape to repair the shoe, a spanner to fix the toilet door and we were away.  

We had a deadline today. We needed to ride the 100 km to Bundeena in time to catch the last ferry to Cronulla - at 6pm, and we weren’t off to the best start  

Of course, the patched tyre gave out after about 10 km. Fix two included the $5 note that Mark had given us, and was much more effective, getting us as far as the nearest cycle shop. All the shop had was a Bontrager tyre that was 32mm wide, rather than the 40mm we normally run, but at least it didn’t have holes in. 

By the time we’d sorted the tyre and bought lunch it was gone 11am, and we still had over 80km to go. Time to get rolling.  

We were travelling along the beach track, heading north and had lunch on the beach at Wollongong. Pretty smart for a steel town, Sheffield could learn a little from the beach front.  

The next section of the ride started to climb the impressive escarpment north of Woolongong. Impressive until you’re fringing a tandem with panniers up the 10% slope..

We had to walk a bit of it. Not because it was too steep but because some genius had blocked the cycle path with a series of barrier as this gradient was deemed too dangerous. Insert rant about banning cars in that case, as they are much more dangerous. 

We made it too the top, with parascenders and hangliders swooping around us, and then headed into a national forest. A beautiful toad through the trees, with an inconvenient amount of climbing. The numbers showed we were still on track to make the ferry, and as we created a hill we saw Sydney in the distance.  

The ferry was no bigger than Rob’s boat in Paynesville and a bit of a squeeze, but we made it over the water to Cronulla for a night  in the Backpackers.