Sydney to Brisbane - Day 5 - Kempsey

Over a good meal last night and some online research it seemed the road north out of town had reopened and although a large fire was still burning close to the town, it was not threatening the route. 

The sunset at Forster, unable to get through the smoke

I packed up Bianca and was on the road before 7 this morning.

Originally I was planning to head into Port MacQuarie via rural roads recommended by the NSW Coastal Cycle trail. Problems is, there were 2 other large fires out of control East and South of the city. Risk, and road closures  forced my hand to take the highway option.

This also was not easy. Thick smoke blanketed the road and the ground was still smoldering just off the side of the road. My photos don't do it justice, I just wanted to get through as fast as possible...the main problem was breathing in the smoke, a NW headwind was blowing it all right at me. [and I later found out experienced as far south as Sydney].

Once on the highway, the smoke thinned a little before I got close to another cluster of fires near Port MacQuarie. At Johns River I took a break at a gorgeous cafe there. One staff member told me god was punishing us. The other busied herself with minor tasks, clearly a bit rattled. The nearest blaze was 16km away but the cafe remained open. I saw constant fire trucks and aircraft...folks with a tough job trying their best to protect other folks like the locals in the cafe.

Not robbing the cafe....it was for the smoke

Using a scarf over my face helped a little. I thought once I got past the turn off for the Port the NW headwind would push the smoke away and the turnoff was not far. There were no flames near the roads which remained open. So onward!

This was good motivation to ride hard. I ended up at Kempsey with 151km done by 2pm...a good run! I fell asleep within minutes of sitting down at my accommodation.