Sydney Australia

I recovered from my flight here after a couple nice hot showers and a good night in bed. First thing in the morning I put my bike together. Only one or two problems. There were parts missing. Several screws and the wrench free tightener for my seat were missing from the box. There was a hole in the bag they were in and they must have fallen out of the box during handling at the airport. There was no hole in the bag when it was sealed up but customs or someone opened the box and did not bother sealing up the bag they opened so the parts just rolled out of the box. I could not ride the bike the way it was only partially assembled. So I took it out on the street and there was a taxi right there that had a large hatchback perfect for carrying my bike to a bike shop. $30 later I was in front of a bike shop but there was an hour until they opened. What the hell, breakfast time instead. The cafe had great coffee and the french toast was like nothing I had ever had before. it was covered in freshly canned fruits including apricots, pears, rhubarb, figs and apples with ricotta cheese and maple plum syrup. Tasty but unusual for me.

When the shop opened they quickly found the missing parts and put them on for me. Another $30. Then it was time for a ride.

I rode straight down to the bay by the opera house and the harbor bridge which are the two major icons for Sydney. I took the mandatory pics of them. Back in 1974 after a night of drinking with a wild man friend we snuck up on the bridge and climbed to the top of it. We sat there admiring the view and had a smoke then climbed back down. It was easy climbing up but climbing down was way harder and seemed much more dangerous. We made it despite our inebriated condition.

I do like the way that Sydney has the waterfront full of trees and parks instead of the usual skyline right to the water full of shops and restaurants. The natural look is much more pleasant and there is plenty of room behind the trees for all the business.

I rode to the end of the parks and then took the streets back to my hotel. I had no problem getting around in the city. It is nothing like I remember it from when I lived here. I still have the general sense of where things are, the roads are just all changed to get there.

After showering in my hotel, I went out tasting the local brews. I tasted quite a few then went back to my hotel and rested before returning to try a few more and eat some dinner. I did recognize someone at the bar and had a good time talking with him and watching the Clippers lose a game after giving up an 18 point lead. He was a well known film director but he asked me not to name him. Overall it was a good day, I just spent more money than I have available to me. The shit will hit the fan one day with my rapidly disappearing cash. I wonder if I could sell my tired old body if I needed to?? Na nobody would buy a tired beatup old man. I need another plan.

Hello Sydney Australia

I flew from Auckland New Zealand to Sydney Australia on a four hour flight that just about killed me. I do not do well in airports. Everything about them causes me problems. I was transported the entire way around the airport in a wheel chair and I still ended up with high pain levels when I arrived in Sydney. Usually it takes overnight for me to recover. Lugging my bike around in a box did not help the matter. The same bike in the same box was 22kilos in San Francisco and here they told me it was overweight by 3 kilos. I do not think it was overweight at all. They wanted an extra $203 dollars for the overweight. I opened the box and took out the seat which weighs about one kilo. Then they told me it was ok. The seat ended up as carry on for me. I am tired of getting hassled with my bike every time I travel.

Airports are just not designed with mobility impaired people in mind or bike travelers. Plus all the seats are hard plastic or very firm upholstery which are not good for people like me. The only airport I have ever been in that was not pure torture for me is the Madison Wisconsin airport which has comfortable soft chairs and is designed with less walking required.

When I recover and get out on the town I will post the pics. I have four nights here before I am leaving on my bike ride. Tonight is going to be spent in my room recovering.

Good Bye to New Zealand

My time is up here in New Zealand. In the morning I head over to Sydney Australia. I am sorry to be leaving. I did not finish my goals of riding here. Just ran out of time mostly due to weather slowing me down. I seriously enjoyed every minute here. No amount of rain or wind can detract from the beautiful country that New Zealand is. The mountains and valleys were all good. The people were always friendly and helpful. Well, except for the bike hating drivers who were the exception.

I still do not understand that animosity between bikes and cars here. The country needs to take the time to settle this dispute before more people are killed from it. I understand both the bike riders side and the car drivers side. The bike riders want to take up the entire lane when it is too dangerous to pass for their own safety. However, they push that past the reasonable level and block cars on purpose just because they are able to. That pisses off the drivers and they take it out on all future bikes they encounter on the narrow roads. Please, New Zealand start some discussions to stop this nonsensical fight between cars and bikes.

I have already boxed up my bike and packed my bags. My flight leaves at the crack of dawn for Sydney. I have four nights booked and paid for in a nice hotel in downtown Sydney. I hope to enjoy the city a bit before I ride south along the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne and take a ferry over to Tasmania.

Tasmania has been a must visit place for me since I was a kid reading National Geographic magazines. I am not sure why but the place attracts me to it. I hope the real life experience stands up to my imaginary vision of the place. Everyone I have talked to about it have told me they liked the place. I think I will too.

I also want to get out to Western Australia and ride the West coast for a while. I have already done the East coast from Darwin to Canberra. Perth beckons to me almost as strongly as Tasmania does.

So for now, Good-bye to New Zealand and Hello to Australia. Sorry no pics today.

Taupo, Huka Falls and a Sail

Today I am in Taupo NZ. I got up early and headed out on my bike. What a pleasure riding my bike without the heavy bags on it. After a quick coffee stop I headed out to see Huka Falls. It was about a ten mile ride to get there and see the nice falls. Then I rode a bike trail for about 40 miles before heading back into town for a shower. I was drenched in sweat.

I still felt like doing something so I found a lake cruise run by the owner of my hostel. It was only $25 for a three hour cruise in his sailboat. There were three girls and myself as passengers. The two French girls that sat up in the bow for the entire trip were pretty tough. They got drenched with cold spray yet refused to move to a drier area and refused warmer clothes or any help what so ever. I was impressed with their tenacity. I sat back in the stern and stayed nice and dry. The ride was perfect with just the right amount of wind to get us going well but not so much that we were fighting swells.

We cruised around looking at the fall colors along the shore and then went to see some Maori stone carvings. The carvings were done fairly recently not hundreds of years ago but they were done by Maoris in their own style as a gift to the city of Taupo. The story goes that the carvers were into using mind altering drugs to help them connect with their ancestors and carve in the traditional manner.

I enjoyed the cruise and the company. I will have to watch for things like this more in the future. Here are some pics