Wollongong to Huskisson Beach Australia

Today I left the hostel early hoping to beat the rain that was in the forecast. The ride was going quickly with not much to see. The main road runs about 10 kilometers or 6 miles inland and to get to the coastal towns you have to ride in and then back out again. I wanted to make it to Ulladulla or maybe even Batemans Bay which would have been a long day. The clouds started to build so I turned off the main road and headed to the coast to find a campground. I stopped at Huskisson Beach and looked around for a place to stay. Nothing cheap in town. I went down the road a little bit and it started to rain harder and harder on me. I am tired of riding in rain so I stopped and checked into one of the places along the beach that I was told was the least expensive one in the area. It cost me $100 Australian or $80 American. I can't afford to be spending that much on a daily basis. I like the backpacker places not just because they are cheap but because they are more fun and social also.

I piled up the miles today and it feels good to ride hard again after so many interruptions to my raiding lately. I am not complaining about the interruptions because I did all of them of my own free will. I just missed my riding is all I am saying. Hello, my name is paparoach and I am addicted to riding.

Not many things along the main road to take pics of and right now it is raining so I am just sitting in my room catching up with the net instead of being out enjoying this nice little slice of Australia. A few birds did stop in to say hello while I was eating dinner. I hope the rain lets up so I can get further down the coast to a cheaper area to stay in. Otherwise, pretty soon I will be selling my body to stay alive until I fly back to the US. Such is the life of a wandering biker.

Sydney to Wollongong Australia

I left the hotel fairly early this morning and headed through Sydney toward Wollongong. Getting out of the busy commuter traffic between downtown and the airport was intense riding as I had to be extra careful with such heavy traffic. I found my way despite many of the key intersections where I needed to turn did not have street signs with names on them. Named intersections are very hit and miss here. I don't know if the signs get stolen or they never put them up but either way it is irritating.

Once I past the airport I rode a bike trail for a while before jumping back on the main road. I took a longer road through a park expecting to find ocean vistas but all it did was make my ride longer and did not have a single decent view for all my extra effort. I ended up back on the main road anyway. I did get a good view at Bld Mountain Lookout. There were a lot of hang gliders sitting around with all their gear moaning that there was not enough wind to fly. Maybe no wind to fly but good view looking south toward Wollongong. After a couple pics and a quick chat with some motorcycle bikers that stopped me to talk, I hit the road again. The views the rest of the way into Wollongong were great. There was even a smooth flat bike trail that ran right along the beach all the way into Wollongong. I enjoyed that ride even though I had to dodge a lot of dog walkers and stuff.

Once in town I checked into a backpackers hostel because rain is predicted. There is five days of rain in the forecast. So much for me riding. I did enjoy all the birds including budgies, lorikeets, parrots and tons of very loud cockatoos which were everywhere and screamed loudly at me as I rode past them all day. Here are some pics

Packed up for the Road to Wollongong in the Morning

I have enjoyed my little respite in Sydney for the last four days. I rode around town and checked out how much the city has changed since my last visit. I drank too many pints of craft brews. I had a couple pints down at the Rocks in a place called the Armory and soon after I left the entire ceiling of the place caved in. Glad I did not order that third pint there. Several people suffered minor injuries in the event. I ended up going to several other brew pubs and ended up at Kings Cross Hotel where I had my last few pints before stumbling back to my hotel. I do not normally drink that much. The beers were all good and I knew I had nothing to do the next day so no harm in over indulging on a rare instance like this.

Today I did laundry and repacked my bike bags. I am going to carry way less stuff with me now. I will leave the extra junk here at this hotel until I get back to Sydney later.

There is one minor problem I am having for the last few days, my pain levels have been way too high and my sleep has been almost none at all. I am not sure if it is still left from the travel to get here or if it is from the cold wet weather here that is making my pain higher. My hope is that the bike riding tomorrow will help me get the pain back under control. I really hate my constant pain problems. But I am happy that I discovered bike riding helps to relieve or at least helps me to control the pain somewhat. The worst problem is the depression that goes along with the high pain. It is like a switch gets thrown and the pain and depression come as an evil team.

Oh well such is life, I will know when I get out of bed after tomorrow's ride if the bike ride helped me or not. I hope the weather is good.

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