1.29.2009

Battered, Bruised and Bittered in Victoria...










Lett me first start this blog by saying that Australia is a very safe country... with a murder rate about that of Switzerland... and the front page news has mostly consisted of weather related news. Our trip through Australia has been wonderful so far... the people hospitable, the wildlife unbelievable (seriously... everyother day my jaw drops as I point and stare and ask Kim, "What the... is that a gigantic lizard?"... and it is. The country is beautiful, amazing trees, and flowers that we're not used to... but there are always folks in every corner of the globe that give a place a bad name. Last week, we were midway between Melbourne and Sydney, where distances between towns are greater, the general store supplies are smaller, and the number of beer cans and bottles on the roadside heaped up..

Day 17: Cann River - Orborst (66 km)
Woke up to an unusually brisk morning at the Cann River Hotel. Kim's alarm was set for "weekday" so we accidentally slept in (the hours around sunrise and sunset have been the best riding temps, as the day gets too hot to ride without getting too cranky), but no matter... as the day was cloudy and the glaring sun wasn't out in full force. We still got ready as quickly as possible to hit the road during the cool, favorable conditions. About 10 km into the ride, as it started drizzling we quickly covered the front panniers with it's rain cover, the ponchos ready, and kept riding. 30 seconds later, it started dumping buckets. So hard that I couldn't see the road ahead. We pulled off, and huddled under our ponchos for a few minutes until the rain ceased (about 5 min later). We kept riding with our ponchos on, making us look like smurfs on wheels. After another 10 km or so of riding through the drizzle and thunder, the storm picked up again... this time as the rain drops got larger, it also got harder. Soon we were being pelted with olive sized hail. Once again we huddled under our ponchos shivering in the sudden change of weather.



As we huddled, we recalled the conditions of the previous day, when we wished we could have a short dumping of hail as we were sweating up another endless hill, cranky with the heat, as I was yelling "Stop Preten-daling!!!" to Kim, in which she'd reply, "I'm NOT! But if you accuse me one more time, I WILL!"... and how things had quickly changed.


After a 10 minute huddle (we figured out our game plan... keep cycling...) the sky cleared up, and we knew that the storm had passed... so our ponchos were packed away and kept riding. Another few more km had passed... and suddenly we were wet again! This time, one of the passengers in a passing car had thrown a half full (half empty?) Victoria Bitter at Kim's thigh.

This section of the Princes Highway had been the worst for cycling, with barely a shoulder, and numerous logging trucks passing us on blind corners. We were already on edge, and having a beer thrown at on top of all the rain and hail didn't help the situation. It was quite scary at the moment, but looking back on it now, we can only laugh, as Kim's thigh got Victoria Bitter-ed... a first, and hopefully the last of the trip.

Things have got much better... and hotter. We are on Raymond Island currently, as we took a short detour to see the Koalas... which are in abundance here (the locals call them "grumbly bears" due to the noise they make when they are active... at night... we've heard them a few times now). Within our first 5 minutes off the ferry, after seeing our first Koala, we met Peter, a friendly local who builds model trains and collects old engines, and invited us into his home to stay with him (he has visitors all the time). We took this random invitation as a sign and followed him to his home. That was 3 days ago. Peter has been a gracious host, and on top of that, it's been the worst heatwave to hit Victoria in the last 100 years... with temps in Melbourne over 110 F for the last three days... so we're not cycling. So we've been hanging out at Peter's pad along with his two dogs (Milo, a greyhound and Buddy, who likes to hang out out on top of the couch... a curious creature) and watch aussie TV (Aussie Open) and movies while cooling off infront of his A/C when I'm taking a break from reading.

Soon though... we shall be WWOOFing.

1.25.2009

We're headed to Tassie!


Just got a flight to Hobart, TAS for Feb 17th. After a few days of hanging out in Hobart, we'll pedal up to Cradle Mtn National Park to hike the Overland Track. We just booked the 6 day hike starting on Feb 27th... if anyone wants to join. And to inform y'all where we'll be.

1.24.2009

One Cup of Tea



...The night before we had stayed at the Bermagui Pub (Most pubs in Aussie have cheap rooms, and most hotels are bars...), we had a tough ride that day through some sweltering heat trudging up the hills at a nice 6 km/hr (the only reason we weren't pushing the bike up the hill was the narrow shoulder) with logging trucks full of gum trees whirring by... and we were ready to sleep on a bed. As soon as we had rolled in, the cumulonimbus clouds appeared over the horizon, and in 15 minutes the sky was raining pitchforks, with thunder and lighting to boot (made for a nice dinner show). There was no way my ultralight "tarptent" would have held up through that fury, and Kimbo and I were talking over a schooner of Toohey's Old Black Ale about how we were glad to be here.

The next day, we set off along the Sapphire Coast Road, a nice diversion from the busier Princes Highway (we're not sure if it's supposed to be Princess, or Prince's... but it's spelled Princes... anyway think Hwy 1) after sleeping in from a much needed rest, and got caught in the humid heat once again. We pulled into the nice beach town of Tathra, where we jumped in the ocean, ate lunch, and got passed by a group of 10 cyclists from Melbourne. They were doing the same ride... Sydney to Melbourne in 6 days... averaging 180 km a day!... us on the other hand were doing more like 60 km... and struggling at that. Most were on single-speeds, two were on a fixie, and the nice mate we talked to was the only one with gears (9 speed)... oh and one of them was from SF... Stephan was the bloke's name I believe.

After leaving Tathra, the cumulonimbus (with mammutus) clouds appeared behind us once again, and after witnessing the power of the torrent from the previous night we cautiously rode on, keeping our eyes peeled for bus stops (with shelter), houses, dense trees that we could scurry back to in case the storm caught up to us. After riding 10 km or so, we felt our first drops... so before it was too late we turned around to seek shelter at a house we passed a minute ago. The father (frank) was outside talking to a trucker friend, and after he was done with his business he welcomed us to his home. The mother (Sue) continued Frank's hospitality by offering us tea and cookies, which we devoured while watching the storm pass from their porch. We talked to them and their son (who was about to start uni in Camberra next week) about politics, education, Obama (of course), the economy, and the road ahead (oh, and their son did re-assure us that one in five logging truck drivers are on meth... with no further reference).

This kind of hospitality, and random encounters with the locals is what makes bike touring worthwhile. Rolling into a new town, figuring out which bakery has the best meat pie (I prefer curry!), where the best beaches lie, the location and hours of the bottle shop, and if the pub has the one IPA we've seen so far (James Squire... doesn't compare to the Racer 5... but not bad) are some of the small daily perks that keep us going.

We're often asked why we're cycling... and that, "you know... Australia is a big country... it takes me 10 hours to get to Sydney from here... and that's when the traffic is FAIR!"... Yes, Australia is a big country... google maps taught me that long ago... and yes, by doing a slow bike tour we are going to miss some of the "highlights" as defined by Lonely Planet... Uluru, Brisbane, Perth, etc... but in many ways I feel as though sweating our way up these endless rolling hills may be the fastest way to see a country... at least the way I want to see it... for now.

Yu

1.21.2009

Wallabies, Lorikeets, and Sandmonitors… oooooh my



We took a short detour to Pebbly Beach, where the guidebooks claimed that the kangaroos just lounge on the beach. And we'd only seen one wallaby so far, so we figured we'd make the trip there. Pebbly Beach wasn't so pebbly, and was really nice. There are a few private residences, but it's mostly campers, and the wildlife there is up close and personal.

Roos mostly just eat grass, scratch themselves, and poo. Sometimes they bounce...


And a lorikeet... the birds here are gorgeous. They make weird noises however...


They're pretty aggressive... I was about to open a bag that had some food, when this guy landed on my shoulder... then perched on my head. No colorful present left on my head... safe.


1.17.2009

We're on Skype.

Our user name is, "yuandkimbo"

If you have Skype, send us your user name, so we can add you to our contacts.

Also, yes... you can text our mobile from Skype. Thanx Khalid for testing this feature.

We're on the road!

On January 12th, we started our journey south out of Sydney, and onto Melbourne...We've decided to take the Coastal Road (primary Hwy 1, the Princess Highway) south out of New South Wales (NSW) and into Victoria.

Riding south past the Sydney Airport.


There's a great series of bike paths throughout the area, keeping us off the Princess Highway most of the time, so far...


Here we go!

1.13.2009

Sydney Harbor

We went sailing on my B-day. On the Sydney harbor!


Awesome... thanx to Jeff, my warmshowers host.

We're on the road now, at a McDonalds in Wollongong. The beaches are awesome, the bike paths are nice, and we've been having a blast... updates later...

1.11.2009

We got a mobile phone!


It even comes with nifty features to prevent dialling under the influence.

Our number is 041 414 9808. Australia's country code is 061. And incoming international calls are free.

Sydney beaches are awesome.


Bondi Beach on January 10.

O-BAMA!


Aussies care about Obama why? As answered by our hosts in Sydney...

1. It's like a soap opera watching the US elections...
2. US buys goods from China... and Australia supplies the raw materials to China.

1.10.2009

la la la laaaaaaa

Bats!

Yup, huge ones. Tons of them. In Sydney.

These pics don't do it justice, but.. it's pretty cool.

These pics don't do it justice, but every night around sunset, there are thousands of bats flying around Sydney...

So big they are called flying foxes.

http://www.faunanet.gov.au/wos/factfile.cfm?Fact_ID=307

1.08.2009

We made it!


We arrived in Sydney this morning with no problems. We even had the whole row all to our selves, so Kimbo could lie down the whole flight.

The only delay in our travels so far was in Oakland, as we took the 53 down from Moses' house to Fruitvale BART... where they were protesting the shooting of Oscar Grant.

Taking the tandem on board went smooth. We took two bike boxes to the airport (thanx Julie!), disassembled the bike for transport there, AND they didn't even charge us for the bike! Woohoo. The bike arrived safely, and after putting it together, we got on the bike path from the airport to downtown Sydney. Riding on the left side of the road took a little getting used to, but we made it to our first host's place safe and sound.



We even caught the Oklahoma vs Florida game at the Fox Studio Sports Bar.... Fox and Lion. Drinking a beer there was really when it first kicked in for me that I am traveling... a scary, but very liberating feeling.



We plan to stay in Sydney for a few more nights (we're staying with a warmshowers host...with wireless internet), then we'll be on our merry way south on the Coastal Road.... stay tuned...

1.06.2009

Headed to New Zealand on March 13th!

Yup... that says it all right there. We just purchased our ticket to Christchurch on March 13th (Fri)... where we'll meet up with Kevin and Laura. We're hoping to meet up with Bako and Julie as well...

Woohoo!

Ski Vids up on Vimeo...

ok, and a really cool dragonfly video.... taken by Messy.

Check em out.
http://www.vimeo.com/user1084219/videos