Short, Safe and Scenic
Sydney to Melbourne Stage 4 – Tue 7th March 2017 – Nowra to Sanctuary Point (39 Km)
Weather: 16⁰C min – 20⁰C max, partly sunny with some light rain showers
“I have reached an age when, if someone tells me to wear socks, I don’t have to” ~ Albert Einstein
Lingering in Nowra at our favourite coffee shop, it was after 11 am when we finally set out for Sanctuary Point. Again, occasional light showers limited our photo opportunities, and we had to stop a couple of times to put on our rain jackets.
Our route followed the NSW Coastal Trail all the way, taking us through back streets on the way out of Nowra and then joining a path alongside the Princes Highway at the 7 Km point. After another 10 Km we turned left onto Jervis Bay Rd and then left again 2 Km further on into Woollamia Rd, which had little traffic and wound through delightful farmlands. At Huskisson we picked up the magnificent Bay to Basin cycle route for the final 10 Km..
Although today’s ride was fairly short it was pleasant enough most of the way, with the clear highlight being the pretty seaside town of Huskisson. We read with interest the memorial erected in memory of HMAS Voyager which sank off Jervis Bay on 10th February 1964 in the worst peace-time naval disaster in Australian history.
We arrived safely at Sanctuary Point where we are staying at another good value AirBNB. Our ride tomorrow to Mollymook is a bit longer (54 Km) so there should be more to report and hopefully some better photos and videos.
Nice blog ‘n footage etc. Glad the rain’s easing for you. What bikes are you both on btw ?
Thanks Kevin. I am riding my trusty old Cannondale Tourer that I take everywhere, and Sharad is riding a Specialized Cyclocross.
like the look of that stage .
Pleasant enough, but we have been doing too many short ones (largely dictated by the spacing of towns) so we have decided to cut out stays in Bateman’s Bay and Moruya and have just one stay in the middle (Malua Bay). This will give us a couple of decent legs of about 70 Km each.
Question without notice. Did yooooou call it Jervis Bay or Jarvis Bay? The locals all call it Jervis and I recall they get annoyed when all the tourists call it Jarvis. Just checking. And I see you didn’t check out where they were going to build the atomic reactor many years ago. It is a bit of an extra ride and, you would agree, that basically it is a useless ride because there is nothing there. Interestingly, as I understand it, that little area is actually part of the ACT.
We were Sharad and Kevin’s airbnb hosts last night, and Ii can assure you that the locals do pronounce it Jer-vis. So does the ABC. The Navy types from Albatross and Cresswell naval bases use Jar-vis almost exclusively. Your reference to the atomic reactor is interesting. At Greenfields Beach there is a barbecue area with a big shelter and a pictorial history of some of the plans last century for the bay. They include, as I recall an aluminium smelter, a naval gunnery range, various kinds of dumping. Hardly bears thinking about ,does it?
Thanks for the input James. I’m sure you were aware of the can of worms regarding the Jervis pronunciation. It centres on how it is thought Englishman, Admiral John Jervis pronounced his name or how it is now used locally. The internet has bucket loads of material about this discussion point.
The atomic (nuclear) reactor was a matter of discussion and planning in the late 1960s. There is a clearing at Murrays Beach in the Jervis Bay Territory where there are apparently some concrete footings related to it. Wow. What a difference that would have made to Jervis Bay. Yes indeed – the horror of it doesn’t bear thinking about.
Moving on now with the pedalers (not pedellers?).
Just gorgeous – wish I was there! I hope you enjoy your longer rides ahead.