Day 4 & Day 6- First Leg to Port Macquarie (Mac Quarry)

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Day 4-5-6

Day four was bike prep day. I had to replace a screw in my windshield which came in after I shipped the bike back in July, remove the garmin from my bike and put in the Australia chip, and finally get gas once the chip was installed. I had 11 miles of fuel in my bike so I couldn't afford to get lost (easy to do in Sydney). I made it to the gas station no problem and was able to hit Harry's meat pies and some of the Aussie naval fleet (see pics). Harry's is a local favorite and was pointed out to me by Alan who is the concierge at the Marriott Harbour hotel (also a fellow rider). Side note for those planning to travel to Australia the Marriott Harbour at Circular Quay is an awesome choice it is walking distance from the Sydney Opera house and other attractions and the rooms are JW quality.

Getting back to the hotel in rush hour proved to be more of a challenge then I had anticipated. A lot of the lanes have separators in them meaning if you aren't in the right lane soon enough you can't get over. I ended up having to go over the bridge trying to get to my hotel then turn around and go back over the bridge again. This wouldn't have been a big deal except it was now full rush hour traffic and what should have been a few minutes landed me smack dab in the middle of stalled bumper to bumper traffic for 45 minutes.

Once I made my way back- I decided to hunt down my first Guinness in Australia- my target was PJ O'Briens Irish pub. PJ's was about a 15 minute walk mostly up hill which meant the trip back to the hotel would be DOWN HILL 😊 PJ's was a good size Irish pub and was packed (usually a good sign). They had a band but not singing Irish diddies mostly rock and country. The Guinness was comparable to what we have in the states - this one was about an 8.0. I managed to create a place at the bar and ordered a delicious Guinness beef pie and an order of raw Oysters. The oysters were small but good tasting and were served with only lemon wedge and salt. They were fantastic, I can't wait to try the salt and lemon combo on our oysters. I'm thinking the only exception would be the New Orleans/Northern Florida blue points which I can't imagine without some Horse radish and cocktail sauce. However, my real PJ O'Briens event was meeting an English transplant at the bar who has a bachelors degree in American Studies -like many young foreigners I run into- their view of the US is greatly CNN influenced. He was a devout Barry Sanders Socialist so we had some interesting discussions to say the least ! In the end I told him we could agree to disagree (something Washington DC could learn from). We shared a few pints of Guinness and some Midleton Irish Whiskey - I think if they served these two beverages during congressional sessions in Washington, they might actually get something accomplished! We closed the discussion with a comparison of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson who were fierce opponents in session but good friends out of session - I asked him if he knew what significant date the two of them shared? They both died on July 4th 1826. I also brought him up to speed on James Monroe (my favorite president).

On my way back to the hotel I made a short pit stop at the Royal bar which I found out had 3 levels including one that just had scotch's and Whiskey's. The guy next to me ordered this unique scotch drink in a glass meerschaum pipe (see picture) they actually smoke it with some herb before serving it. I had one Irish whiskey and continued on my roll down the hill back to the Marriott.

Day 5 was pretty uneventful I slept in then worked on my go pro and walked around a bit but decided it was to windy to do the harbour tour - When Karen comes to Sydney we can do the harbour tour together. I also decided to change my itinerary a little and add a stop in Port Macquarie and made my reservations.

Day 6 First leg-

In one of my pre-blogs, I mentioned that it is not unusual for me to modify my routes or launch times during my trips. I had originally left 4 days in Sydney to get my feces coagulated, get over the Jet lag, and make sure all was good with my bike. Having gotten the bike a day earlier than expected- my wife suggested I start the trip a day earlier so I didn't have to deal with Sydney rush hour traffic on Monday morning. A brilliant suggestion ....except the trade off was I'd have to deal with the Sydney Marathon which was going to cause the Harbour bridge to be closed Sunday and swamp many other streets in the harbour area. There are two routes north from my hotel -the Harbour bridge and the Harbour Tunnel. My Garmin wanted to take me to the closest route which was the Harbour bridge. Navigating the Sydney streets with a Garmin on a bike is hard enough without it is a little nerve racking (my hats off to all those riders that navigate the old fashioned way). It takes a couple of days for me to get comfortable on the bike with left side driving in big cities. The prospect of a RIGHT turns can be a challenge in the city (outside of Sydney not so big a deal), this is made worse in Sydney because I think the street designer was drunk when he completed the city street scape.

By day 3 or 4 left side driving just seems natural to me. BUT this isn't day 3 or 4 on the bike- it is the morning of Day-Numero Uno ! Some of the cabbies helped me identify a route that would likely be open to the tunnel- left on Hunter -RIGHT on Elizabeth- left on Park - left on Reilly and then follow the signs to the tunnel north. Whew! It worked and I made it out of the city with no problems.

The ride up to Port Macquarie was relaxing after getting out of the city. The speed limits here are ridiculously slow. It sounds like 110 Km is the best I'm going to see (roughly 66/68 miles an hour) with a whole bunch of slower areas. I guess there are some stretches in the outback with no limits but I don't know if I'll see any of those roads. Besides I don't need to go that fast its just that if your on a motorway they should at least have 75 mph. I took the Pacific Highway which was more direct but not as scenic as some of the other routes. I did see my first, of what I'm sure will be many Roo's; this one was road kill. Looks like a white tail deer at first but then its pretty evident with its big thick tail.

I chose the Sail's Hotel in Port Macquarie (pronounced Mac Quarry) as my destination hotel. Port Mac is the 9th largest population center in New South Wales with a population of 45,000 - it is mostly a retirement and tourism area. Australia is made up of 2 territories the Northern Territory and the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) the ACT is primarily comprised of the nations capital Canberra. I will make it to all the territories and states except Western Australia and Tasmania on this trip.

Sails is a beautiful hotel right on the water and harbour - I can toss a bean bag under hand from my patio into the water. After checking in I grabbed my laptop and went to the Bar/restaurant and worked on this blog. I met the entire bar and wait staff while working- Elise was my bartender, Alarna the manager, and Loren and Emily also bar tending and serving. If I got it right Alarna and her husband moved down from Darwin and Elise also moved to Port Mac from Darwin. Loren was most recently living in France with her husband and moved back to Australia. Emily I think said she was from Adelaide which I believe is the capital of South Australia.

One of the ladies asked me which country I enjoyed the most and why - I said my wife and I both like Ireland the most because the people are so nice there. I also said I had heard that the Aussies will give the Irish a run for their money in the nice people category. So far (its early) but its a close call! Everyone has been very helpful and cheery. After having some hot wings and a dozen oysters for appetizers at the bar while working. This time they were served with lemon salt and optional soy sauce- tried the soy and it was ok, but the salt and lemon was a winner-winner chicken dinner again! I decided to check out Finnian's Irish Pub for some Guinness pie and perhaps a taste of the black stuff. I didn't catch her name but the lady at the reception desk who called a taxi for me (no Uber in PM), asked if I was the one that was riding for duchenne - she lost a son to duchenne awhile back. I told her they are making tremendous progress and hopefully a cure soon and how sorry I was for her loss. It is nice to connect with someone who knows about duchenne but of coarse wish she was her telling me that her son made it- he was diagnosed at 8 and made it to 27.

The cab brought me over to Finnian's pub which is more like a sports bar then an Irish pub but had one heck of a good Guinness pie, the Guinness wasn't bad but still on the same vein as PJ O'Briens pour maybe a 8.25. My bartender was Cory (a Adam Sandler look a like), saw my Packer jacket and said two of the cooks were huge Packer Fans. The cooks weren't working but I took a picture with Corey wearing my jacket so he could show them. I told him about both my Uncle Howie (Packers 1950-53) and my Grandfather George "Babe" Ruetz who was a founder of the National football league and owner coach of the Racine Legion 1919-1926. Because Corey visited San Diego in the US he decided the Chargers were going to be his team. I suggested that he cheer for the Chargers in the AFC and the Packers in the NFC. Caught a cab back to the hotel and woke up a number of times to check the score of the Packers Vikings game which ended up in a tie. I'll be heading out soon to Coff's Harbour which is a short 2-3 hour ride which is good because I'm a little tired cause of the game.

No more 3 or 4 day blogs - takes too long. Sorry for the errors and I'll start getting more scenery pictures as I head west to the outback in a couple of days. This is the dry season so don't expect a lot of color.



Jim











Elise Alarna loren emily

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