Day 10 Tathra to Dalmeny - 86 km

Still raining when we woke up but tents and gear were pretty dry.  We moved our bikes and gear over to the BBQ area so we could pack without worrying about the rain and also to dry out the tents.  Stuffed around waiting for the rain to stop and trying to decide where to ride to.  We needed to co-ordinate catching up with Richard Black at Dalmeny who had to come down from Canberra to meet us.   No phone coverage at the caravan park except for a few spots.  Managed to talk to Richard who was able to head off for Dalmeny later in the day.  We ended up leaving at about 10:00 am - a late start for us.

We improvised some booties to keep our shoes dry, an interesting fashion statement that kept many people along the way amused. Headed off in the rain.

Although it was raining the riding was quite good although still many hills.  I (Tony)  found it difficult to see through my glasses because of the rain and they also fogged up because of the heat I was generating in my waterproof jacket.

Roads are not as good in NSW, smaller shoulders and often a rough, pitted surface.  We had many steep uphills and while the down hills are normally exhilarating, in the constant rain the downhills became dangerous because of the surface, lack of shoulder, inability to see and brakes not working as well in the wet.

Stopped at Bermagui for lunch.  Nice little town getting ready for their annual festival that is on tomorrow.  We had fish and chips from the place at the marina.  Fantastic.  Although we were so wet that anything warm would have tasted good.

Carried on to Dalmeny in the rain and Richard met us about 10k out of Narooma.  He offered to carry our gear, but as it was not in the spirit of the ride, we had to refuse.

We slogged on to Dalmeny and eventually reached Richard's holiday house.

Richard is looking fit and well and says he enjoys retirement, but I think that secretly he would like to be back at work.   He is just waiting for the right offer ;-))

We had some hot showers and got out of our wet clothes.  Had a few Heinekens out on the veranda and eventually went up to the bowling club for tea.

Came back and watched the footy (Essendon vs Collingwood) while having a few reds.  Didn't last that long as we were dropping off, so hit the sack just before midnight.  Great to be sleeping in a real bed.