Day 86 - Sydney to Nepean River - 70km
After following some bike tracks and side streets, I met an old man getting his bins in and had a chat about my trip. This far in the journey most people are shocked I've come from Darwin and to be honest it doesn't feel real to myself.
I turned onto the freeway and joined the traffic heading west out of Sydney. The shoulder was littered with gravel, sticks, wheel trims and the odd badge which I added to my collection. The Hume highway has been my best highway for picking up badges and consequently the most busiest. I managed to pick up a Mercedes which I had been wanting to add to the collection.
After leaving the city outskirts the wind picked up and that coupled with the passing of b-doubles every few seconds, blew me around a bit and at some points became a little to close for comfort. At times with heavy winds I swapped to pushing my bike. The shoulder disappeared at bridges and I pushed again but it allowed me to get some beautiful views of rivers flowing far below with sharp rocky escarpments either side.
One close call had me falling over towards traffic luckily I was still inside the shoulder and got my heart racing.
After a long day and a few close calls I set up camp in the bush near one of these rivers and prepared my dinner. The temperature began to drop and I was in for a cold night.