Start: Macksville
Finish: Urunga
Distance: 19
Total: 937
Today got off to a very early start because I had a bus to catch at the end of my walk to Coffs Harbour where I’ll be staying for the next three nights.
Yesterday in my blog I said I would be walking to the town of Urunga and then catch a train. Unfortunately I was not able to make a train reservation on my phone app last night and the train does not stop at these small town stations unless you have an advanced reservation so they know they have a passenger there to pick up. So instead of starting my walk this morning in time to catch a 3:30 train, I had to leave in time to catch a 1:27 bus in the same town. To ensure I got there on time I started walking at 6:30.
The walking route was very good. I followed the old Pacific Coast Highway which basically paralleled the freeway most of the way. There was far less traffic on the old road. However, the old road tends to go to the top and bottom of all the hills unlike the freeway that has a more level route.
I made it to my destination of Urunga with 45 minutes to spare. That gave me time to grab some lunch at a cafe across the street from the bus stop. The bus was right on time and I was the only passenger, so I sat on the front seat and for the next 45 minutes the driver, Damien Pell, and I had a great conversation about everything; except politics. We must have gone by 25 bus stops and never picked up another single passenger. A few times there were customers at the bus stop, but each time Damien would stop, they would only have a question for him. So we kept going down the road with me sitting on the front seat talking to Damien on an empty bus. We finally got into Coffs Harbour where my motel is located. The bus stop was a few blocks away from the motel which worked out good because if I had taken the train, the station was two miles from the motel.
Tomorrow I have two options. Either take the bus 18 miles back to Urunga and finish my walk here to Coffs Harbour, or take the day off and wait until day after tomorrow to walk. Either way I’ve got one day of walking and one day off coming up.
That’s all for my Tuesday in New South Wales. Thanks for following along. JB.
