Invading Sydney from the south

Just like I was put to sleep by the sound of the ocean, was I woken up by it. It does not get better than this, really, it doesn't.
I do not plan to stay here, just get up, pack and be out of here, but on my map there is a little note; "Kiama blowhole", and its just next to the campsite. I don't want to miss a that so I pack up and go to see this blowing hole of theirs.
A bit of a tourist attraction it would seem, I'm by far not the only person there. so basically it's a hole. No no I'm not trying to make fun of it, it really is just a hole. Right in the middle of some strange looking rocks. The big huha is that the waves hitting the rocks will sometimes get trapped in a small cave and be forced up the hole and make a kind of geyser, and when it does, the tourists goes "wuuhoo".

There was another thing though that caught my attention more, and that was the wood-like rocks they had here. It's very strange, but the texture of the rocks was just like wood when seeing them up close, yet they felt like rock, not surprisingly. Odd, I wonder if it's a normal thing on this coast. “wuuhoo”, there it was again. Right, I have been in Kiama long enough, but I will say it looks and feels very nice, and I would recommend this to anyone travelling along the coast up to Sydney.

Back on bike, earplugs in, helmet on, sunnies on, turn bike around, drive off, realise I forgot about gloves, realise they have fallen off, turn bike around, go back, try to reach gloves on ground, fail, get off bike, put on gloves while smiling awkwardly to spectators, back on bike, head off, exhale. The coast road quickly ends but it is a short drive to Sydney, only 130 km or so. Now I don’t know if I'm just lucky, or if my map reading skillz have levelled up, but I manage to find the front door or Jason's home in Marrickville just using the paper maps. Well ok ok I did ask this one guy about the number because that made little sense. Apparently they don't believe in numerical continuity here. I'm here, I get unpacked and introduced, and get my self a nice long shower. The next few days will be urban exploration and new years eve. Sydney City, your number is up.

Canberra can has two Palement House

Old, no grass on roof

New, now with grass on roof

It's a strange thing to witness as a tourist. It is a roundabout. A really big roundabout, and around the roundabout is a the city, just about. Go to the centre and your standing on a hill, and in front of you is a strange looking building looking back at you, apparently convinced it's the Parliament House. But it's not, at least not anymore. If you turn around 180 degrees you will face an even stranger looking building, this one with grass on it's roof, and it too is convinced it's the Parliament House. In this case it's actually true. This odd looking building has cost the Australians a staggering 1.1 billion Australian Dollars. No I don't think you heard me, one thousand and one hundred million dollars, for a building with grass on it. OK I'm not being fair, the grass roof does help insulation, and it has a symbolic value, to enable the people to stand above parliament, and not vice verse. Also it has thousands of rooms. I guess that's worth a billion and a bit.

Enough picking on a pour building that can't defend it self, it probably doesn't even read my blog. Canberra as such is not a pretty town, it's not even an ugly town, but it is a town. A town that was founded because they couldn't agree if Melbourne or Sydney should be the capital, but still a town nonetheless. It even has its very own state, smack down inside New South Wales. It has many museums and one of them I want to see, the war memorial.

The parking lot is pretty big, and it actually has a MC designated area. Not everyday you see that. I can't really take all my stuff with me so I just make sure everything is locked, bring some pants and go in. I do wonder what it might cost, but it turns out its completely free. Even the wardrobe  they just smile and ask if it's ok they hang this stuff up on separate places because I have so much and its quite heavy. What lovely people.

I cover pretty much the entire place. I start with WWI and move on the WWII and then all the other stuff. I must say I didn't expect to be laughing  but it is very depressing. It's also very beautiful and amazing how they are displaying everything. and They have a lot of things to display.

The stretcher carrier is to the left, with long boards on his shoulder

There are free tours as well. I don't join in, I just bump into them every now and again. One guide tells a memorable story about a particular soldier from WWI. He is a stretcher carrier and does not have any room for a weapon. His job is simple, to assemble stretchers and carry injured men to the hospital, or whatever equivalent they might have. This man was special because of one story. One day after a bit battle, many are dead and wounded, and weapons are silent. He carries away men, one after another, but later find him self without a stretcher and one wounded man. He walks up to an enemy soldier, also a stretcher carrier, also not carrying a weapon, and asks if he can borrow a stretcher. The other soldier does not speak much English but he gets the point, and says, "you be here this time" and points at his wrist watch. It is agreed and of he goes with the enemy stretcher. He gets his man to safety and as they are all ready to get to bed and try for some sleep, he gets up and leaves. "Where do you think you are going" they yell after him, "I promised to return the stretcher, and I intend to keep that promise", they laugh but let him go.. He goes back to the same spot and the other soldier is waiting for him. No backstabbing or gunfire, just two professionals who understood each other. The stretcher returns to its rightful owner, they shake hands and never see each other again.

I don't know what it is but I find that story fascinating, no matter if its true or not.

I think I spend a good three hours or more in there, and on the way out I meet a Danish couple. About 6000 kilometres and I don't meet any Danes until now. We naturally have to have a talk, as you do. I get to my bike, everything is still there, I suite up and get on my way.

Sydney is my destination and I could get there today, but I don't want to. I have been trying to get a hold of my cousin Jason and his girlfriend but they are not getting back to me. I want to make sure they are actually home before I attempt to get there one day earlier than we agreed. Oh well no biggie. I just head back to the ocean road and keep driving and see where it takes me. at around eight in the evening I come to a small, as in very small town called Kiama. Its pretty much just a beach and tourist town from the looks of it, but I could be wrong. I see a camp sign and head down that way. All booked, nothing left not even for a small tent. The ladies in the reception are very nice and say they will try to call another caravan park in Kiama. They say they have one spot left and send me up there. How lucky is that. The lady at the other place is a little tipsy, it's actually a little funny. She is nice and says its not really a real spot, but if it will fit my tent I can have it for twelve bucks. The site looks fine so I accept. Cheep accommodation, I like it. Just when I finish putting up my tent Jason gets back to me saying I can just come by, but it’s no problem, this way there will be no stress tomorrow.
I put up my tent and climb in. The sound of the ocean puts me to sleep fast, I love that sound.

Bye bye Melbourne

It's time to move on. Melbourne and mostly Adam and his folks have been great, but the show must go on, the bike doesn't drive it self.
I want to get to Canberra before Sydney, so the next two days I'm going to break my rule and not drive along the coast. Canberra is inland, and I should be able to get there in 1 day, but I plan to head out late in the day, and sleep one night somewhere on the road. That way I can be in Canberra very early and get a good look around before I head for Sydney.
Do I have everything? Packing is not my favourite part, it amazes me every time how little space it seems to take up on the bike, and how much of a mess I can make of it when I have the space and need to unpack it all. But there is a system now. A specific order in which it all comes together, it also helps me remember it all.
We have a nice lunch, and they send me on my way, or rather they send me to the driveway where they watch me fiddle with earplugs, gear and all that stuff for a good five minutes. The earplugs especially can be really annoying sometimes, taking forever. Finally I'm all set and off I go, down the dirt road to open the slowest moving electric gate in the history of man kind.
I have said it before and I'll say it again, as much as I love stopping and exploring a place, I love leaving. The feeling of freedom, knowing you don't actually live anywhere, you live nowhere and everywhere, is hard to explain, but I think you know what I'm talking about.

On the highway I get to experience quite a special sight. The sun is going down directly behind me leaving the sky lit up in all the different nuances of blue and violet. I see it in my mirrors in stereo vision. In front of me is the moon. It's full but not only that, it looks like it's at least three times its normal size. Its bright white and the sky surrounding it is deep purple. It seems almost outworldish.
I get a bit carried away though, I drive until nine or so in the evening, a bit late to be finding a campsite. I try in a small town but they are all closed. One owner even comes out and one of the places and chases me away. the first unfriendly person I have met here, but then again I did come after hours. This is not actually fun. It's late and I'm getting tired and I have not found a place to camp. It's not like I can just find a place near the road, it’s a highway. Oh well, just gotta keep looking for opportunities, and if it gets bad I have to get off the road and look for fields or something. I come to a petrol station that seems to have a rather large grassy area around it. I fill up the iron horse and ask the lady at the counter if I can camp here. “not a problem, just go over there by that green patch, we get people camping there all the time”. Sweet!
No other campers there so have it all to my self. I'm not even sure how far I actually am, will check tomorrow. I go through my routine and shortly after I'm fast asleep.

Lazy tree huggers and friends

(Short post, no biking)

One of the days here Adam and I go on a little excursion into the forrest and then later to a zoo, or ratrher a sancturary that works as a zoo. Now it should be said that a forrest around here is not like back home.
Here trees grow on other trees, or at least in the rain forests they do. It makes for a very intersting atmosfear and you almost feel like you are in a movie set half the time. I tried to capture it but pictures don’t really do reallity justice.

Tallest Moss in the world, OMG!

The sanctuary that functions as a zoo is dealing only with Australian wildlife. They have a small animal hospital where they take in wounded, orphaned or otherwise unfortunate animals. It is part of their programs for endangered species. It was here I saw my first Koala, but they didn't seem to excited to see me.

The great ocean road… and its great curves

I like curves. I like curves a lot, and the great ocean road has many of them. In fact it has so many it's almost dangerous, which makes it fun, but I'll get back to that.
The signs to the Great Ocean Road starts long before there is anything great about it, at least when coming from the west. It is a bit of a let down to read the first sign that said great ocean road, and then just keep seeing normal “ boring” highway. I use quotations because the highways here are anything but boring  but I was having different expectations.
Ok in all honesty I don’t actually know what to expect, and while I contemplate the vast number of things I know very little about, there it is.

I'm always happy when I see the sea again, but this time it is a little better. The view is fantastic but little do I know, it got a whole lot better.

I stop and get off the bike a few times but eventually I just drive and enjoy the fresh wind in my face and the view that seems to last forever.
The last third or so of the road is unexpectedly extremely curvy, and for that reason also quite slow. I sometimes slow down to 30 km/h just to get round the corners safely, but even at super slow speeds, it’s an intense ride and I'm enjoying every millisecond of it. I said I would get back to that, and I am, in this video. It's a bit over 7 minutes long, and the first little bit is just me rambling, the rest is roughly cut road footage and no grand finally, so just watch untill bored.

I'm closing in on Melbourne a bit later than expected. I had just calculated the distance and estimated the time as per usual, what I didn't factor in was that for a large part of it I would only do 30 to 60. My trusty map tells me where to go and with just a little doubt now and again I manage to get on the right Freeware into the city.
Adam and his parents are staying on the outskirts of Melbourne but I make a small mistake. When I find it on the map and plan my route around the city, I forget to look at the distance indicator. As I am on the ring road going north east around the city, I slowly get more and more worried that something is wrong. It feels like I could have circled Copenhagen three times by now and this road is only a half circle  Pull over, check map, back on road drive forever, pull over check map, repeat a few times. Nope it looks correct, I don’t understand. Until I fold out the map and see the distances. Note to self, Melbourne is huge.
Except for missing an Adam waving his arms franticly as I pass him by, I actually manage to find it just using a paper map. Me who can get lost in my own back pocket, I would be lying it I said I wasn't a little proud.
Adam presses the button to the worlds slowest moving gate, and I drive up the steep gravel road to the house. I park the bike and is greeted by his mum in the driveway, and by his dad and sister in the kitchen and they direct my attention to the flag pole, there is Danebrog, looking over the stunning valley. I wont bore you with the details here, but long story short, I settle down and take a deep breath, fix my self a shower and get a stuck a cold beer in my hand.
What a day.

The journey begins for Melbourne

I could do it, I think to myself. Its a fair bit but I've done it before. I look up as if I'm doing the math in my head but really I'm just considering if I really want to do it. I fiddle with the maps some more. There are numbers along the routes indicating the distance between the little markers. All I have to do is follow the route I think I'm going and add up the numbers. 750km, with 15 minutes break every hour will be… nah actually, I'm changing my mind, let’s break it in two, to not over do it, I just got over being sick I don’t want to risk getting back to that. And so it is decided, I go to Melbourne over two days, first day I just drive and see how far I get, and hopefully it will be far enough to get the second part done in the following day. I should go to bed so I am fresh for the drive tomorrow.

December 23rd, 8 a.m. I'm still very bad at getting up in the morning. Urgh but I must, long day awaits, and I'm actually pretty excited to get on the move again. As much as I enjoy arriving somewhere, there is a tremendous feeling of freedom leaving a place.
I did pack some of the things last night to save time, and that was a good decision because I'm a bit late getting up, again.

I get my bags and panniers packed, and carry them out through the fire escape over the roof and down into the little enclosure where the bike is safely parked. I have to walk four times and it’s already getting very hot. I have a system now though where I do the work of packing the bike wearing shorts, then only in the last minute I pack away the shorts and put on the gear. On a day like this, if I don’t do it this way I would melt where I stand. One of the helps at the hostel, a girl from Thailand, comes down to see that I'm alright, and that I get the bike out through the door ok. It should be said that the door looks nothing like it would fit the bike, but we got it in, so I should be able to get it out. It does work, after some back and forth and possibly a bit of swearing.
As I'm all suited up the manager comes down to say goodbye and they sort of send me on my way. Adelaide was a fun place that I definitely must come back to see more of, but now I have a date with some kilometres. It feels really good to be in the saddle again. I have my compass out shortly, and just go in the direction that seems most sensible, and it actually worked. Who needs GPS.

The people of Victoria must have know I was coming because they where nice enough to put up a welcome sign at the border. They even added a good suggestion for where to camp before I continue over the great ocean road. How nice of them, Victorians are so thoughtful.
At that border the air was full of butterflies chasing each other. I tried to capture them with the camera but no luck. Still it’s quite a welcome, I say my goodbyes to South Australia, and set my heading for Portland.




20 bucks for a camping spot and 30 minutes later I'm settled in well in Portland. It is the oldest European settlement in Victoria and there are interesting things to see here, like the Cape Nelson Lighthouse, but I'm just passing through, got to get an early start tomorrow. I did head down and around the harbour area before putting up the tent, just to get a feel for it. It is quite nice.

Sleeping was no problem, despite the new sounds I learned, like the one that I can best describe as an oversized bullfrog burping repeatedly. I don’t know what it was but it started at sundown and kept going throughout the night. I'll tell ya Australia has some funky animals. Tent is closed and new air mattress is blown up. I got it in Adelaide to replace the broken one, this is it’s initiation night, hope it works.

9 hole palindrome

Hindley street is like a dense version of Copenhagen's “Strøget” with noise, people, buskers and shops. I have to walk up and down it a few times just to see it all. The Christmas decorations are a reminder of the holidays  but I find it very hard to get in the spirit of it, mostly because of the lack of cold weather and snow. Funny thing is there are snow-related decorations around, but what meaning would that actually hold to an Australian around Christmas time? Just a silly thought I have while I take some pictures of the pig statues. Wait a minute, pig statues?

The buskers aren't all good, but a few of them are pretty decent, and I compiled a small video of them for your enjoyment.

I pretty much spend a whole day just walking around and as it turns out, Adelaide is not a big city, for some reason I thought it would be. It does have a great deal of suburban areas and the next day I go to one in particular, Glenelg.
It’s basically a beach area and it’s beautiful  White sand and blue ocean, but that seems to be a repeating thing here in Australia, beautiful beaches everywhere. I stroll around Glenelg for a bit in the amazing sunny weather, and then later get picked up by Suzy, a friend of a friend who lives here. She picks me up in a ute and takes me to the golf course to meet with a few other friends.
I have never golfed before in my life but we end up having a good time. I'm pretty rubbish at it but the company is heaps of fun. It’s basically me and a bunch of girls, all of us newbies at golf to some degree, so we play with special rules. Basically we cheat. Having tried it I still think golf is a bit boring  but with the right people and the right rules you might just end up having a fun time.
I don’t do much else today, besides get a new air mattress, and write a bit on the blog. Oh yeah I also spend an hour on the phone with my phone service provider, Telstra, because the credit balance had suddenly gone to zero. They end up giving me some extra credit for the trouble. I'm leaving tomorrow and it's pretty clear to me that I have to come back. Adelaide has a lot more to offer and I have not even scratched the surface, just think of the thousands of wineries. I try to get a bit organized with my stuff and then I hit the sack.