So Long To The Land Of Wind And Flies

Day 86: 13 January 2015, Tuesday.

This morning I phoned the airline about my luggage, they told me it would cost two hundred dollars for the extra bag!!! Sod that. Scott recommended we go to the shopping area nearby and buy a large bag so I could fit all my luggage in the one bag and therefore not have the extra bag. At least someone was thinking!

We found an adequate bag for a mere four dollars so that was good. We then had lunch at a Malaysian restaurant (my favourite south-east Asian food!) and then it was time to repack and hit the airport.

Once at the airport I expected the drama to begin, my bike box was too big as well as overweight, but it all come to naught. The lady at the check-in counter was very pleasant and didn’t even weigh the bike (she asked me the weight, I lied) and then asked me to put it in the oversize luggage cart. That was it.

As per normal the flight was a bore. I had booked the emergency exit row when I booked and it came to pass I had the whole row to myself so at least I could stretch out. Then I was back to my home land, New Zealand, and only about one-hundred and fifty kilometres from home!

First I had to pass through customs. As I mentioned yesterday New Zealand is said to be very strict on imported goods, I declared my camping equipment and all they did was check my tent! No problem there. It was only eleven thirty in the evening when I was exiting customs, I thought it would take a lot longer, so I went to look for information about a hotel. This proved to be an easy exercise and I phoned a hotel on the courtesy phone and as they had a free airport transfers I left my bike in the box and waited for ten minutes before I was driven to the hotel.

And that was it. Tomorrow I’ll be back on the bike….

Deconstruction

Day 85: 12 January 2015, Monday.

I’m afraid it was another day with little to talk about.

I am due to depart this country of Australia tomorrow so today was the day I had to de-construct my bike and clean everything for the customs in New Zealand. New Zealand has very strict rules regarding importation of anything that might affect the flora and fauna. Therefore I was going to give everything a really good clean.

This didn’t happen. I just swept out the interior of my tent (without erecting it) and cleaned my bike. This all took long enough and it was humid with occasional rain so I decided to leave it at that.

Scott went to a bicycle shop and got me a box to pop my bike into, it was a decent size so it was easy to fit the bike in and I also placed my tent and chair in it as well. It was well over the maximum permitted dimensions and too heavy (the weight limit was twenty-three kilograms, my bike box was weighing in at around twenty-five) and my luggage ended up in two bags where I am permitted just one bag and the bike box for what I booked. I’ll ring the airline tomorrow and check out what is the rule on the extra bag, other airlines have been okay with an extra small bag… well I’ll find out tomorrow.

Otherwise I had a pleasant evening with Natalie, Scott and their children…

Friends

Day 84: 11 January 2015, Sunday.

It was the day to depart the hotel I had resided in for the previous three nights and cycle a short distance to stay for my final two nights in Australia. I was to stay with some good friends whom I had not seen for many years.

The down side was it had started raining yesterday and the rain continued to fall for the entire day. Not so good when I want to clean my bike for the flight to New Zealand, not add dirty water encasing road grime!

It was only about fifteen kilometres to reach Belmore where I was riding to. As I had a lot of time to get there (my friends were returning from a holiday this day also) so I ended up discovering there are not many places that provide shelter where I could sit and read while I waited for the time to pass. Another thing I discovered was the lack of public phones! I ended up borrowing a phone from a bloke on the side of the road to call Natalie and Scott, the folks I was heading to visit.

Eventually it was time to head to the house and meet up with Nat and Scott and there two children, Freddy and Penelope.

The rest was reminiscing and of little interest to the world in general so that was that!

21.28km 1:35T 13.4A 51.1M Total = 5046

Sydney

Days 82 – 83: 9 – 10 January 2015, Friday – Saturday.

Not much to say about my two days in the city centre. I stayed in a hotel in Potts Pint and generally did sod all.

I have been to Sydney quite a few times before so there was not much I wanted to see, so it was a time of rest and refection of my journey across this country….

View From My Room.

Into The Big Smoke

Day 81: 8 January 2015, Thursday.

I left the hotel at ten, the latest check out time,I wanted to make the most of a room with a bed and air-conditioning, it was my first night in a bed since Nurioopta over three weeks ago.

The days ride consisted of battling my way through the traffic to get to the heart of Australia’s largest city, Sydney. The traffic initially was rather sparse (compared to other cities I have been to) so I could maintain a reasonable pace on the road.

Crossing The Georges River In Southern Sydney

The traffic progressively got heavier as I moved towards the city centre which was not aided by the poor road conditions, no hard shoulder and often an uneven surface to bounce over while the traffic zoomed by with what seemed like little or no concern to cyclists.

Kogarah And 5000km Since I Left Perth!

I had now ridden five thousand kilometres and I took a well deserved rest to commemorate the achievement, with a can of ‘Solo’ soft drink.

My Bike Got Nothing For The 5000km Commemoration.

It was then only about twenty kilometres to the heart of Sydney. It was not a pleasant ride, the road was poor, the footpath which doubles as a cycle path was horrible, potholed and very bumpy, so I was trapped on the road and just had to keep going. At one stage I saw a sign showing a route to the city centre for cycling so I started to follow it’s advice, bad idea, it took me to another junction where the cycle route sign indicated a vague direction which I followed and that was the last cycle sign I saw, but now I was off the main road and not too sure which way to go.

I had a simple area map with me showing some area place names in Sydney so at the next junction I found a sign to push me towards the centre again and shortly I was back on track. I had done it, I was in the city of Sydney centre after negotiating the forty kilometres of city streets.

I first went to find out about a place to stay, it would have to be a hotel, no camping in the big smoke. The ‘Information Centre’ in the city centre (an area called ‘The Rocks’) offers a room booking service so I went in and used there knowledge and booked a room in the area called Potts Point, only a couple of kilometres from the centre. The room was eighty dollars a night, the same as I paid when I first arrived to Perth last year, but this room was much better, en-suite, fridge, TV, air-conditioning…

before going to the hotel though I had to take some vanity photos, I’m in the centre of Sydney, I need a photo of the iconic monuments of the city, well there are two that stick in my mind…

The Sydney Harbour Bridge…

and…

The Opera House.

With these photos taken I cycled over to Potts Point and the hotel which I had booked three nights at. The room was good, a single bed but as there is only one of me that is no problem. And it was not a bedroll in a tent!!

I spent the rest of the day relaxing, I feel I deserve a rest, it has been a long ride to Sydney, many moments of anguish, many moments of joy.

42.63km 2:39T 16.0A 60.2M Total = 5025