Down Under Done

Quite pleased to write we have completed the Aussie leg!  I may have been annoyed with the wind, hills and irritating flies a lot of the time but on the whole it was good times in Australia.  By far the best country to camp in I think as it was always fairly easy and the spots we found were good. 

We continued along the Princes Highway from Melbourne before detouring north along the Monaro Highway towards Kosciuszko National Park.  Very pleased we did this as Mount Kosciuszko has always been on my hit list for mountains to tag.  Depending on who you ask, it is deemed one of the 7 summits although if you ask me, I wouldn’t say so.  I side with the list that has Puncak Jaya in New Guinea which covers Oceania.  Anyway, as expected, lots of uphill getting there but it wasn’t so bad.  Although some of the gradients we had to climb were reminiscent of the hills in Laos.

From there we continued to the nation’s capital Canberra and then onward to Sydney via the Southern Highlands.  Some random facts I learned while cycling through the Southern Highlands include: Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have a home in Sutton Forest and the movie Babe was filmed in Robertson. 

The weather wasn’t always great as we got rained on a number of times and Trevor complained about being cold at times.  Typical Trevor.  I welcomed a bit of coldness after the constant heat throughout Australia.  Trevor also fretted a lot about the wet weather we will most likely see in New Zealand.  We spoke with a number of Aussies who said the weather will likely be wet and not in our favour.  Oh joy.         

We arrived in Sydney about 6 days ago and have explored the city on the bikes.  Trevor is not a fan.  I like it. 

Trevor’s rating of the Australian states we cycled through discounting Australian Capital Territory goes as follows from best to worst: Western Australia, Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales.  He really didn’t like New South Wales with the hills and weather.  His capital cities ratings go as follows: Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, Sydney.  And his top 3 highlights in Australia were crossing the Nullarbor, seeing koalas and climbing up Mount Kosciuszko. 

My ratings of the Australian states were Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia.  My capital cities from best to worst: Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra.  I like big cities and have always wanted to see Sydney so unlike Trevor it gets my top spot.  Finally my top 3 highlights were seeing koalas, climbing Mount Kosciuszko and seeing the Opera House in Sydney. 

We are currently waiting at the airport in Sydney and will fly off to Christchurch tomorrow morning.  Bring on the unpredictable, wet weather in New Zealand!  

Trying to stay dry in Victoria with the wet weather.  We got drenched on a few occasions this being one of them.  Going off topic here I must say another good thing about Australia is their free BBQ’s.  We didn’t use them all the time but they did come in handy every now and then. 

The people of Australia are very generous.  For example, we had an offer from a stranger for us to stay on their farm and camp.  In this one particular town called Cann River many people stopped and chatted with us while we rested up.  One lady gave us $10!  Her daughter cycled from Cairns to Sydney a while back and she said many people were very nice to her daughter en route so she is returning the favour and helping us out.  Very kind of her indeed.

Going up Mount Kosciuszko we saw many kangaroos and wallabies.  At this one place we camped at they weren’t very fearful of humans as they usually are when they see us coming.  These roos got quite close. 

Me at the highest point in Australia where you can ride your bicycle.  Most of the way up the mountain was on paved road.  The last 8km from Charlotte’s Pass was on gravel road.  From Rawson’s Pass there was still 128m to climb so we scrambled up the rest.   

Mount Kosciuszko conquered!  Super windy but nice views.  

Spent a day in Canberra.  I checked out Parliament and a few other sights.  Not so big on Canberra as it is just another government city with lots of monuments and statues.  Gets dull rather quickly. 

The War Memorial in Canberra.  I did enjoy their war museum as it had lots of interesting photos from the wars Australians fought in back in the day. 

Fitzroy Falls.  The first of three waterfalls we checked out in the Southern Highlands.  Trevor was reluctant to do so but since we had more than enough time to get to Sydney we went out of our way to see them all.  They were okay but I think I was more impressed with some of the lookouts we saw with stellar views of the countryside. 

Getting to Belmore Falls we were met with a flooded path.  Trevor enjoyed this crossing more so than seeing the waterfall.  Actually he wasn’t even bothered to see the waterfall when we got there.  He had a peak at the Fitzroy Falls and that was enough for him.

The Sea Cliff Bridge along the coast heading for Sydney.  Some fine road engineering work.  Trevor though applauds China for the most impressive roadwork he has seen thus far.  Back on our first day in China when we were hit by a snow storm we cycled along a pretty impressive bridge that kept rising and had a tunnel.  Shame we couldn’t really see it very well in the snow. 

At Bondi Beach!  Trevor of course took a dip as did I.  Getting here we discovered that Sydney is quite hilly.  And the hills go straight up only to go straight down.

The end of the Aussie leg!  Finally I see the Sydney Opera House.  Quite impressive.  

After crossing the Harbour Bridge Trevor goes into one of his many rants about Sydney.  He did not like the flow of the city in that things are jumbled.  He also did not like the constant red lights and mental mosquitoes that attacked us every night at our camp spot near the airport.   

The Anzac Bridge from the Fish Market.  I was kind of disappointed with their fish market as I expected a lot of hustle and bustle much like I found it in Tokyo and London.  Maybe I was there on the wrong day or there at the wrong time but it wasn’t anything great in my view.  Although I guess all that hustle and bustle I was looking for happens early morning behind the scenes in which one has to pay to get on a tour to see.

Sydney Harbour.  A sight to see.

Someone is having a bad hair day.  I had a shower at the airport this morning and I have noticed every time I shower my hair becomes puffy and fro’s up big time.  Not sure why it does this.  Trevor’s hair doesn’t do that.  I refuse to cut it as I want to let it keep growing until this trip is over and continue to look like a bum.   

A Childhood Wish Come True

Cycling in the Clare Valley in South Australia Trevor and I got into a heated argument because he doesn’t like how much I move around on the bike and I don’t like that he tailgates me.  We eventually resolved this by setting up a new regime where Trevor zooms off and meets me many kilometers down the road.  That way he can go at his insane speed and I can take my time enjoying the scenery around me and not worrying about him right behind me.  Not sure why we didn’t do this earlier.  It is also nice in that we aren’t around each other 24/7.  One can only be around someone for so long in a day.  To note, we don’t have many intense fights but there have been a few en route.  Most of the time it is more me dishing out at him as I get annoyed rather quickly at many things like the strong winds in my face and just constantly take it out on the closest person around me which happens to be Trevor. 

In Adelaide we scoured the city trying to find a bare rim so I could replace my cracked one.  I noticed it had a crack whilst on the Nullarbor and worried about it a lot.  Luckily I made it to Adelaide without any disaster.  Unfortunately no place sold bare rims so I had to buy a whole new wheel.  Cost a lot but I feel confident that this wheel will manage the rest of the way. 

As usual, the weather is never in our favour.  In South Australia we had temperatures of 40+ degrees Celsius and the winds were mental, strong and in my face.  The unpredictable winds continued into Victoria.  It won’t stop and I have learned to accept this but I will still keep getting pissed and perturbed.  The wind though is finally getting to Trevor as well.  About time.

Had a bit of a scare one evening in the bush when I was cooking pasta on my excellent Trangria stove.  Some flames acted up due to the stupid wind and caught some grass leaves and then started to spread quickly.  I instantly distinguished the flames with water but it sure showed me how fast fire can spread in this dry and windy climate.  I am extra careful now when cooking.    

We just spent the last few days in Melbourne exploring around town and doing the Australian wave.  That is, waving away the flies that constantly pester us.  Much like the wind, flies are something we have had to deal with a whole lot throughout Australia.  I guess they are at their worst in the summer months here.  Trevor absolutely hates flies with a passion.  So much, he wants to go into genetics to figure out a way to decimate their population. 

We are now leaving a rainy Melbourne and are heading for Sydney.  

Stopping to admire these glass balls on Rundle Street in Adelaide.

Doesn’t happen very often.  In fact, I think only twice thus far on this trip, the other time being in Uzbekistan.  What’s that you ask?  A day where I am faster and stronger than Trevor on the bike.  This was in the Adelaide Hills after climbing some steep ass hills.  It wasn’t fun especially on the narrow road we had to go on.  Luckily there were blackberry bushes and apple trees in the area.  Huge!  The apples were quite nice actually and the blackberries were sweet.  Who needs to spend $5 at the supermarket when you can just freely pick them yourself? 

Trevor taking a dip in the Southern Ocean near Beachport.  In hindsight I probably should have had a dunk myself but didn’t.  The days are hot and cooling down in the ocean is always a treat. 

The Blue Lake in Mt Gambier.  Kind of reminds me of Crater Lake in Oregon.

The start of the Great Ocean Road.  Most people start at the other end as they are traveling from Melbourne.  Nice for us as less vehicles passed us as opposed to the other side of the road. 

Many interesting rock formations to see along the Great Ocean Road.  Trevor went to the first one here being the Bay of Islands and decided that was enough for him and happily skipped the rest.  He said to me they all look the same.  Each to their own but I made the effort to check them all out. 

The Grotto but unfortunately not Hef’s………………………………… bad joke I know but that is what I am about.  It is who I am.   

The 12 Apostles on a gloomy day.  Shame the weather wasn’t great on the days we cycled the Great Ocean Road.  We were actually cold a lot of the time as it rained quite a bit. 

An Echidna!  Kind of reminds me of a hedgehog or porcupine.

When I was a boy my mom got me this glossy photo book of koalas and they became one of my favourite animals.  Twenty plus years later I finally see the real deal!  This was very exciting for me.  We ventured off the Great Ocean Road towards Cape Otway Lighthouse and then cycled through the many eucalyptus trees.  I looked up and it didn’t take long before I began seeing little fur balls perched way up in the trees.  They all of a sudden exploded and were everywhere.  It was very neat to watch them even though most of them were just sitting there not doing much at all but sleep. 

I even saw a koala fight!  These two had a row over territory.  The koala biting won the battle fairly quickly and thus stole the spot from the other one. 

Question: What do these sheep have in common with both Trevor and me?  If you said all are in need of a haircut you would be correct! 

The latter half of the Great Ocean Road was quite nice being snug against the coast.  Even better was that there were many blackberry bushes along the way.  It is such a great time when you can stop every so often and pick blackberries on the spot.  Great Ocean Road gets brownie points for that.    

Having a read of the history behind the Great Ocean Road.  This was also the end of it for us.  

Pretty neat when we saw our first Aldi in Victoria.  It was like we were in Germany.  The store layout is exactly like it is in Europe.  Prices aren’t quite the same though but Aldi is now our go to supermarket.  Trevor pictured is trying to enjoy his ice cream in peace but the flies are annoying him yet again.  As a result, he has turned into a lean, mean fly slapping machine.  He takes joy in all his kills. 

Another game of where’s Trevor.  The setting: Federation Square, Melbourne.  Game on… 

The first night in Melbourne there was this White Night going on.  It was pretty cool with lots of entertainment and crazy lights going on all around the central business district.  So many people flooded the streets. 

The Melbourne skyline.  Lots of sports played here.  In the right is the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground and the white building center left is the Rod Laver Arena where the Australian Open is played.  

Big thanks to my friend Simon for letting us crash at his place in Melbourne and to his parents for putting us up for a night at their beach house in Pt. Lonsdale.  Always great to have a place to stay every now and then to rest up the legs and store the bikes so we can freely explore around on foot.

Last night Simon drove us around the Melbourne Grand Prix track at night.  So this morning before leaving we cycled some of the course by day.  Should be neat now watching it as I will know exactly where the race cars are in the city. 

Nullarbor...ing

Happy to say the Nullarbor is done because on the whole, it was a complete bore.  I was particularly annoyed most days as the wind was around the clock in my face full on.  It never quit.  Headwind, headwind and more headwind.  It wasn’t fun and this stretch reminded me of the desert crossing in Turkmenistan. 

If you want to know what it felt like crossing the Nullarbor just park yourself in front of three or four fans and turn them all on full blast.  That is more or less what we had to contest with.  Right from the get go when we woke up straight into the night.  Even when setting up and packing away our camping gear the wind was super annoying blowing everything away.  I was yelling at it pretty much every day for a good few hours.  If you passed me on the road I probably looked like a crazy person just yelling at no one.  Trevor can tolerate wind better than me.  He never got pissed but got pissed at me for getting pissed at the wind. 

It took about 10 days to cross the Nullarbor from Norseman to Ceduna covering about 1200km in the process.  If the wind wasn’t mental in our face every day we probably could have done this much quicker.  But of course the wind enjoys toying with me.  I feel whatever direction I am going the wind gods that be will go out of their way to throw strong winds my way.  Then laugh at me while I get annoyed. 

The scenery was rather dull as one would expect.  Just a lot of bush.  One section called the Nullarbor Plain was treeless. 

We met lots of friendly people en route and a couple of them gave us their fruit as one cannot bring fruit over the state borders.  So we gobbled up the free handouts on the spot. 

After finishing up the Nullarbor in Ceduna it actually got even more boring as the terrain was just wheat fields all around.  We passed through small towns that looked like ghost towns from the early 20^th century. 

We are now heading south towards Adelaide and are just outside a town called Wilmington.  Looking forward to the latter half of Australia.  Just hope that the wind will calm the fudge down from here on and stay out of my face.  Unfortunately I am not that optimistic. 

Leaving Esperance I was fully stocked to the max with many bags of oats and muslei, canned spaghetti and pasta.  This is what I ate for about 2 weeks straight.  Had some difficulty early on packing everything.  I managed in the end but it felt like I was driving a tank. 

A dried up salt lake.

One thing the Outback provides is great photo opportunities for sunsets and sunrises.  

The start of the 90 mile.  I had plenty of podcasts to listen to so it wasn’t that bad.  But it could have been a lot better if the wind cooperated. 

A roo.  We saw many and I learned on one of my podcasts that kangaroos provide one of the most environmentally friendly meats as they don’t emit much methane like cows.  I would be keen to try some roo meat if the opportunity presents itself.

Enter South Australia.  Nice start but that soon wore off as the shoulder disappeared and the rest areas weren’t all that great compared to Western Australia.  Definitely like Western Australia better.  

The Bunda Cliffs. 

Dying of dehydration.  Really frustrating with the water situation on the Nullarbor as we couldn’t always rely on every roadhouse or water tank to provide water.  This particular day was the worst as the heat increased big time and we had to cover about 180km without any place to top up on water.  I was completely drained and had to lie down as I wasn’t hydrated.  I went through about 7 litres or so that day.  Cannot emphasize enough how important water is, especially in the driest state in the driest country in the world.  The following day I barely made it to the Nullarbor roadhouse.    

Pretty hardcore to cross the Nullarbor on this bike I must say.  Respect.  

Bandito Trevor.  He has been having problems with his lip as it stings like crazy in the sun.  So he is resorting to this look right now.

Trevor in Ceduna downing some vanilla custard.  It had been almost 2 weeks since we stocked up in Esperance so it was really nice to go in a supermarket once again even though it was Foodland and not a Coles or Woolworths.  Unfortunately I was off my game and missed a number of reduced dairy items and dropped my blackberry jam outside.  Perhaps all the excitement of being at a supermarket got to me.

Had a few kangaroos jump out in front of us on one occasion but they probably should post more cautionary emu signs.  Those birds go crazy when they see us coming and really book it.  Just these past few days I saw a few sprint and crash right into these barb wire fences.  I felt a bit bad when I saw them do this as we of course mean no harm. 

Well said.

And well named.

Getting there slowly but surely...

The most dangerous thing we have to deal with are road trains.  Really have to be careful when they zoom by as you sometimes get a wind rush and get tossed around.  Not fun.  This huge piece of machinery pictured has to be the largest we have seen transported thus far.  As you can see it took up both lanes so I took a breather on the side while it went on through.  Many heavy duty mining equipment is transported back and forth. 

We made it to Port Augusta today and went to our first Coles since Albany many, many kilometres ago.  So there was reason to celebrate.  As such, I splurged and went for the Tim Tam slam.  Grant introduced us to this back in Perth and it is genius.  Get some Tim Tams and a drink of your choice.  Milk is always a good option.  Bite off a bit from opposite ends and then use it as a straw in your selected beverage.  It tastes really good.  Who would have thought using your chocolate biscuit as a straw… genius I say.  Genius.  I now want to experiment with Twix and Aero bars as we don’t have Tim Tams back home.  Argh.