Desaru to Tanjung Sutera

We left Desaru with a headwind and light rain. It was actually quited refreshing once we took our raincoats off (these coats will almost certainly be posted home when we find a post office - along with some vests and a whole heap of other extraneous stuff that is weighing us down). The temp was 25 degrees and it was excellent riding for ten kms north to our planned stop. We knew that beyond this point it would be hard and long going so we had planned to break the trip with another night at a different resort.

However, after covering the distance in a record time of just over half an hour, we couldn't justify the hassle of packing and repacking and staying another night so close to where we had been so we decided to press on to a resort we had seen on the internet.

It looked to be about 40kms distant. It turned out to be 70kms away.

The ride was tough, with many long ascents and lots of rolling hills that stopped us getting a good rhythm up. Luckily the kids slept for almost two hours at the beginning of the trip, and their waking up coincided with flatter riding towards the end of the leg. Mark had the cycling computer up and running and it told us that we averaged 17kmph over the course of the seventy kilometers, not too shabby considering we were riding at what seemed like less than walking pace up some of the hills. To Bella's delight we also clocked in over 40kmph down one of the hills!

The landscape was a mix of jungle and palm plantation, with some cleared farmland as well. Arriving at our target resort near Tanjung Sutera we were stuffed and settled in for the night after a dip in the rather unimpressive pool.

The resort was ok, perched on a headland with good views of the ocean but no beach. Lots of mozzies despite the breeze too. Lesson learnt from today - pack heaps of dates and nashi fruit as the kids really loved snacking on these.