Sydney

Day 49 (12/23)/Day 50 (12/24): Sydney

As I type this entry at about 9:00 pm on Christmas eve here in the YHA hostel in Sydney, I bring to a close probably the best day I have had here in Australia! Granted no riding, but unlike last night when one of the other persons in my 4-bed room was ill (and rude actually) and was up banging around pretty much once an hour, I got a very good night's sleep. Then started day with a great run from Hostel to the far end of the botanical gardens on the water out near the opera house and back. That route made me realize how beautiful a city Sydney really is and also retraced some of the cooler spots we saw here in 1992 (the rose garden in the park, the giant chess set in Hyde park, etc.).

After the run and b-fast I headed over to the Sydney Aquarium and Wildlife Experience and splurged on a $50 entry ticket to both. Aquarium was cool but not "wow," but I really enjoyed the wildlife exhibit. They had insects/spiders, snakes/reptiles, koalas (all asleep), birds, roos, and some other stuff--was able to get great photos of lots of interesting stuff (see below). The only thing I did not get a good photo of today or on this whole trip was an emu. I saw them 8-10 times in car and on bike but they were shy/ran away when they saw me. I was surprised the wild life exhibit did not have any emus.

On the walk back from the wildlife place I stopped at a mall for one last minute shopping item. As last photo showed, it was scary crowded everywhere I looked--mall/store was worse than this street scene. I got the item I was looking for though!

Regressing, despite the bad sleep, yesterday was also a pretty good day. I bought a transportation system "day pass" and took trains and ferries around the town doing some checking on my travel arrangements for Thursday and also quite a bit sightseeing. Probably best part of day was taking ferry 30 minutes across Sydney harbor in the afternoon to Manly beach/wharf (really another Sydney suburb). That was great because I got a 20-minute power nap on boat ride over which perked me up quite a bit. Then in Manly there were lots of excellent souveneir stores right near the ferry dock. Some were cheap and tacky where I got the cheap tacky stuff I wanted (e.g., t-shirts), some were nicer but still reasonable and I got some nicer presents (e.g., small but original aboriginal art works). On the way back I got great photos of city and operar house. Best part of that was it freed me up to do what I did today without a list of things to do hanging over my head!

One funny thing also happened on Manly ferry ride. When I awoke from my nap, for just a second I thought I was on a train. At this momenet I looked out the window and saw water--it was somewhere between very confusing and terrifying until I quickly realized where I was. Laughed out loud when I did.

Enjoy the photos. I enjoyed taking them. Next time we speak I'll be a few km away from here--that makes me a bit sad to type but I am looking forward to seeing Nola and friends back in the states too. More on that subject in next/last post to come.

The Final Leg

Day 47 (12/21): Canberra to Goulburn; 114 km; 19 kph; Motel

Day 48 (12/22): Goulburn to Moss Vale (bike) to Sydney (train); 86 km/19 kph (on bike)

As with some of my driving on the long loop and my bicycle route out of Adelaide so long ago it seems now, some of my route these two days followed the same roads I/we did in 1992--albeit in the opposite direction. In this case fortunately but not sure why, I did not have the same sad/negative reaction. Generally, the repeat sections were very good rides in 1992 and again this time--yay!

Despite the km I have under my belt, these rides were also fairly difficult. Though not strong at all, I generally had head winds again and the routes were pretty hilly too. This points out something I have learned on this trip--it just has not gotten any easier to pedal such a heavy bicycle up hills or against the wind. I have gotten stronger in that I am able to recover fairly quickly for the next days ride (or even over lunch for afternoon ride), but it remains fairly hard every day to actually grind out the km. (Thinking back I think I may have learned the same thing in 1992, I just forgot the lesson!) Oh well!

Did have a minor last minute plan change on second day. Original plan was to only ride 67 km to a town called Bundanoon then train into Sydney from there. When I arrived at Bundanoon (just after 11 am), I realized it had pretty limited train service and I'd have to wait until almost 3 pm to catch a train to town. So, I ate lunch, then checked a bit and ended up riding another hour/20 km to Moss Vale where I caught a 2 pm train and was in the city not long after 4 pm. Worked out well for me and my bicycle (see photo).

Other photos: cute name for hotel/pub in Tarago. And there were at least a dozen of the smallest ponies I've ever seen in a field near Moss Vale. Cute.

Time Stands Still?

Canberra (12/20 and 12/21)

Only had from the late afternoon of Saturday 12/20 until the next morning when I cycled away to check out Canberra, but it was a great visit.

I'll describe it in terms of the photos below. With the hour or so before they closed at 5pm on Saturday I walked over to the Australian War Memorial museum. The displays inside (decorated uniform jacket and WWII V1 buzz bomb) were very interesting--as with most museums one could spend several days in there.

Also interesting was that when they built Canberra from scratch (in the 1940's I think) pretty much in the middle of nowhere but about half way between Sydney and Melbourne on purpose, they modelled it somewhat on Washington DC. Except in this case with Parliament House(s) and the war museum at either end of a beautiful mall type area. The last four photos show this setup. From north to south, there is war museum (first shot at far end), then long mall, then new Old Parlament Building (seen as lighter white bldg in first, second, and fourth shots), then new Parlament building (third shot). As in Washington, quite a spectacular layout.

Finally, mostly by luck (though I knew ahead of time it was working out this way), I happened to make my short visit to the capital on the weekend. Thus as I said, except for the museum I did my sightseeing early on Sunday morning, which was great. There were literally no cars or people on the malls, sidewalks, etc. around Parlament circle as they call it. It made wandering around somewhat aimlessly and shooting photos hither and yon on my bicycle much easier (and safer). I was well on my way out of town before any semblance of traffic or people started to come out.

Going Somewhere New

Day 45: Thredbo to Cooma (12/19); 98 km; 23 kph; Bunkhouse Motel


Day 46: Cooma to Canberra (12/20); 119 km; 21 kph; YHA Hostel

As the average speed suggest, these two days were quite a bit easier than previous days. Interestingly, even though Thredbo is above 1300 M (elevation), the ease was probably more so due to great continuing tailwinds, especially coming to Cooma. There were some big downhills, but both Cooma and Canberra are still about 600 M high so I did not get to descend as far as expected. As you may have also noticed, I continue to not camp along the road now, though smaller towns like Cooma have pefectly fine caravan parks. It something I've thought about quite a but not figured out--I seem to have an aversion to camping right now, though I really do enjoy it when the facilities or weather aren't bad.

I did enjoy these two days riding, especially past Cooma when the landscape returned to the wide open spaces I so enjoy (see third photo below). I also realized I was looking ahead during these two days riding to seeing Canberra. It did not disappoint and I will devote the entire next post to that short visit.

I've given up on photo captions, but the first picture below is a typical (and most frequent) on the road lunch for me--a bread roll from a bakery (bought the day before usually) and a small can of flavored tuna--I make a sandwich. The tuna is quite tasty, very conveinant to carry and dispense/eat, and often quite cheap (I payed anywhere from $1 to $2.5 per can for it on this trip, stocking up with as many as 6 cans at once when it is cheap). The Pepsi is a bit of a splurge I only had it about a fourth of the time--when I have access to a fridge I buy it warm and chill it overnight before then having half at lunch and the rest that evening. Have I mentioned that chilled soft drinks are quite expensive ($2 for a can) while 1.25 liter "warm" bottles are usually $1 or less.

The water is Lake Jidabyne; Nola's friend Fern lived in Jidanbyne on this lake for a while in the 1980s.

Finally, when I see a sign like the last photo, my mind tells me "big uphill coming in 2 km." Once to the overtaking lane I look longingly for the "left lane ends" sign!

Three more posts to finish if my web time holds out.

Take It On Faith

Day 44 (12/18): Thredbo Village; Layover; Merritt Way/Dead Horse Gap/Riverwalk Hile (15 km)

















Must admit, I was dissapointed today. Based on the above photo, you can clearly tell the weather was not ideal for hiking, climbing, or viewing peaks. As the title suggests, you'll just have to believe me when I tell you the above photo is of Mt Kosiouszco (sp?), the highest peak on this continent.


I did hike up the ski hill from the village today in the rain, wind, cold, and even hail (it was low 40's and raining and windy on top). Once there I had a "picnic" and dried out a bit in the ski hill restaurant at the top of the lift. Note that I could have just riden the lift up for $30 to avoiod major hill climb, but Grandpa Neumann wouldn't let me. After lunch I considered continuing to head on up to Mt. K (only another 3 miles one-way of mostly flatish hiking). Based on the view (again, see pic) and that I had not carried full "cold/wet weather" gear up the hill with me, I thought better of it and instead took the long way round back down the hill. That was still pretty and fun and certainly a lot more tame than going further up.

Topping the cake, shortly after I got back to the hostel at about 3 pm it rained VERY hard for about half an hour then hailed several inches (see photo below). I was quite happy to be in the warm/dry at that point. You'll love this Nola: that evening I then planned, if it was clear in the morning, to spontaneously decide to take the ski lift up and hike Mt. K before heading out on the bike. Sadly, it was rainy and still socked in up high next morning too so no go on that plan. Mt K will just have to wait for next time

As to the rest of my visit to Thredbo, I quite enjoyed the YHA hostel I stayed at. There was a much more mixed group of folks there, even a couple of families with younger kids, one of whom celebrated his 7th birthday and gave out chocolate cake to everyone there! I liked the socialability of the place versus the somewhat lonely hostels (e.g., in Broome or Grampians) where most folks are young backpackers going about their own business.

Climb the Highest Mountain

Day 40 (12/14): Mansfield to Wangaratta; 114 km; 21 kph; cabin



Day 41 (12/15): Wangaratta to Tallangatta; 102 km; 19 kph; cabin




Day 42 (12/16): Tallangatta to Khancoban; 111 km; 19 kph; cabin




Day 43 (12/17): Khancoban to Thredbo; 62 km (bike); 13 kph; 18 km (pickup truck); YHA Hostel


Ok, lets go in order even though things did not get really interesting until the 17th. Covered some pretty good distances these first three days, each day with a pretty good climb or two (up to 500 m vertical) to help me get ready for the big day up to Thredbo. Pleasantly, I also had favorable winds pretty much the whole time though the climbing kept my average speeds somewhat lower than I would have otherwise expected.


As I moved north the countryside changed, first getting more hilly, then steadily drier. Then got the variation of Hume Lake, which is considerably smaller than 1992 and then the New South Wales state border. Still the same old wacko noisy birds and uniquely Australian trees and "feel." Almost started to settle into a bit of a rythym I'd even say. The caravan parks kept throwing me curves too. Generally I prefer to camp if nothing else just to economize. Well, cabins in Wangarrata were only $14 more than tent sites; the cabin in Tallangatta was only $30 (AU). Tempted like that I obviously jump for the roof/bed/etc every time even though tent camping can be quite pleasant.


So, from Khancoban (can-co'-ban) to Thredbo is about 75 km, with a net vertical rise of about 1100 meters (turns out total climb for day would be closer to 1800 meters I'd guess). This was the "big" day riding I'd known was coming for some time and was both anticipating (I really like riding in mountains) and dreading (hauling a 40+ kg bike up hills is hard). An uncertain weather forecast did not help anything.


So day started out fine at about 7:30 am. Cloudy but pleasantly cool weather, beautiful ride, quiet road, etc. Stopped and checked out some of the Snowy River Scheme hydroelectric power system stuff, took my time on climbs, was having a superb day. Then at about 10:30 the rain started. In and of itself, rain while riding isn't really a problem. When I do big climbs in rain, my rain gear works great in keeping me warm, but I still get soaking wet--outside from the rain and inside from sweat. The trick is that even if the outside is cool or cold, the inside stays warm.

Here's the dilemna: as you climb the temperature also drops, sometimes considerably as I expected going up to Thredbo. On longer climbs, I also get tired and really can't eat enough to replace the energy I'm expending pedalling AND generating heat to keep warm. So on day 43 about the time I got to the 50 km point at about 1:30 PM, it was about 50 Deg F, I was soaking wet inside and out, and also looking at about 25 km more riding, most of it steeply uphill.


I won't debate whether I've wisened in my years or gotten too conservative, but though still warm at the time, I felt myself a good candidate for hypothermia "up the road" a ways. (I actually had a full layer of dry cloths in my pannier, but they would have been soaked in 5 minutes had I put them on and continued riding.) So, as I started riding up the (really steep at times) hill, I also started hitch hiking as the rare vehicle would pass by. After about 40 minutes of this a pickup truck with an older couple stopped to check on me. Although he was reluctant, I convinced them to toss me and my bike in the bed of the truck (there was no room in the cab for me), where I rode the last 18 km up the hill to Thredbo next to their cute black dog Mack.


The truck ride went very well except for how fast the guy drove; how his dog stayed in there normally I couldn't figure. Sure enough, when we got to Thredbo, it was pouring rain and about 40 Deg F, but it only took me 5 minutes to find the YHA Hostel and get under cover to start the drying/warming up process. An hour and a half later I was warm and dry in freshly washed clothes making my dinner in the kitchen. Made it until about 9:30 pm before completely conking out. Didn't even set an alarm.


Quite an interesting day that I think I handled pretty responsibly if I must say so myself. Well, gotta go down and see if y panniers and bike shoes are finally dry as well. If not, that's ok as I am staying here two nights anyway. Bye for now.

Sleep, Eat, Shop, Repeat

Day 39 (12/13): Mansfield, Layover


As it was when I went to sleep last night, awoke today to light rain (I heard heavy rain falling during the night). Although it was not as bad as expected, I opted to hang here for second night. Pretty nice setup--clean 4-bed room with lots of space and no one else around (not that I mind other people it just makes it easier to be able to spread out and not have anyone snoring!); clean kitchen/common room with all the needed amenities; etc.

So as the title suggests, I pretty much just hung out. Did get to the library to use Internet and even got in a 40-minute jog to loosen up the muscles, but that was about it. Biggest news of the day was fresh cooked sausages and green salad for dinner--with leftovers for sausage sandwich for lunch tomorrow. Woo who!

Even when it wasn't raining, sky was unsettled all day as shot below suggests.

Racing the Weather

Day 37 (12/11): Lilydale to Alexandra; 91 km; 20 kph; Cabin in Caravan Park

Day 38 (12/12): Alexandra to Mansfield; 70 km; 19 kph; Backpackers Hotel

This Blog is becoming like most TV series; if you don't follow each week (i.e., posting), you don't know what's going on. So you don't have to back track, I'll explain; Day 37 is Thursday and heavy rain is forecast to begin Friday and possibly last through Sunday.

So, after my long day on the bike and train yesterday, I set out from Lilydale just before 8 am, a bit late for me as I try to get on road before 7:30 lately. Took a while to get away from morning traffic and city suburbs but once I did it was the same old beautiful quiet Australian roads. Scenery much different today though as I soon entered Yarra Range National Park and a stretch of road called the Black Spur. This road was tough as it was mostly a steep 7 km climb to the Dom Dom Saddle; but the landscape was lovely huge/tall black mountain ash trees (I think) and lots of mammoth ferns (see below). Perfectly placed at the saddle was a lovely picnic area I used to full avail for my usual tuna sandwich with a bonus can of Pepsi saved from KFC last night. All in all a lovely stop.

Finished out the rest of the ride with a tailwind into Alexandra, which had a library, used book store (I've been seeking one of the these for two weeks), good grocery store, and nice cabin in the caravan park. Finished out the evening bagging all valuables in my panniers in preparation for possible rainy ride in AM.

Next morning I awoke to cloudy but still dry skies and got on the road just after 7 am. Only 70 km to next destination which I hoped to reach around lunch time and hopefully before rain set in. It started sprinkling several times along road as if it wanted to really get going but never did so I arrived dry (ok, sweaty at least) in Mansfield to find they had a very nice backpackers motel. So once again I am in an inexpensive 4-bed dorm room (that I will have to myself as town is quiet this time of year). Everytime I see the proprieter (sp?) he is cleaning something, this place is spotless! He told me 50 mm (about 2" of rain) is predicted today/tonight/tomorrow so I may be here an extra night. While settling in to have lunch, shower, then head to town/the rain has started to fall fairly steadily.

So, I am now at the library completely caught up on the Blog and about to try to get caught up on emails as well. I have run of a full kitchen at the motel tonight so its off to Foodland next to find something for dinner--probably a stir fry of some kind. Chips and pop for later too. Life is good. Cheers.

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Transitions

Day 36 (12/10): Willaura to Ballarat (bike) 125 km, 18 kph; Ballarat to Lilydale (train); Lilydale Motel


Just another day riding, no hikes, national parks, etc. Not! First I must explain my route and inclusion of a train segment.


After drying out yesterday in the Willaura hotel, I checked out the forecast and noted "fresh" winds out of the south Thursday and heavy rain expected Friday. My latest current plan was to ride south to Port Campbell Thursday--which would be about 150 km against the wind, then ride the Great Ocean road (GOR) Friday and Saturday--which now would be in heavy rain. Neither prospect appealed so I decided to bag the GOR and head east instead to Ballarat and there catch the train into and past Melbourne to the eastern suburb of Lilydale where my Melbourne to Sydney leg would begin. I also liked this idea because it would give me several extra days to do this ride segment before my flight home and would let me ride the "black spur" from Lilydale on Thursday in good/dry weather (this is a northbound ride too--remember the wind forecast). Seems like its getting complicated doesn't it?

Anyway, put this plan into action in morning by turning east toward Ballarat. Ironically, about half way through this ride of 120+ km, I ended up on a rail-trail instead of the fairly busy highway. As pictures show, this was very scenic and basically deserted (saw one other cyclist and two pedestrians in about 50 km). Got to Ballarat later than hoped at about 5:30 pm but caught the 5:57 pm train to Melbourne. This 100 mile train trip cost me a whopping $10 and that included a transfer in town onto city train to eastern suburb of Lilydale.

From third picture below you can tell I enjoyed the train, it was exceedingly comfortable, especially after a long hard bike ride. Plus my bike was safely parked 5 meters away in the luggage area (where I could access it to change cloths, get food/water, etc.). The only bad thing was that when I got to Lilydale at 8:30 pm (dusk), I ended up having to ride about a kilometer on a busy road to the ONLY motel nearby, which thank goodness was not full. It even had a KFC next door for quick dinner and Aussie HBO on my TV! Turned out to be quite a day--so much so it even got its own Blog posting.

The Grampians And Row Row Row Your Bike

Day 36 (12/9): Wonderland Loop Hike (6 km); Halls Gap to Willaura (bike); 75 km; 18 kph; Willaura Hotel

So this turned out to quite a day--had its moments but a very good day in the end as well. Obviously I must elaborate. Please note the first picture is from afternoon before when I arrived at Hostel in Halls Gap. Classic powernap, awake one moment, asleep for 12 minutes, back to planning/cooking/etc.

Anyway, next morning (12/9) got going on hike in Grampians after a 4 km ride from hostel up steep hill to trailhead/parking lot. Hike was not very difficult but was very scenic, especially for being fairly short. The first photo is what they call the Grand Canyon--it was nice but grand may be a bit much. Next is me on an outcropping at the Pinnacles. This spot had awesome views back down about 500 meters (vertically) to Halls Gap and surrounding area.

After hike got back on bike and headed for Lake Bolac (was to be about a 90 km ride). About two hours out it started raining and steadily increased in intensity from a drizzle to a steady rain. By the time I reached Willaura, about 15 km short of Lake Bolac I was soaked, cold, tired, and had had enough. Town turned out to be smaller than map led me to believe and it only had a hotel, which fortunately DID have rooms (remember, Australian "hotels" are mainly bars/pubs, only some have accomodation as well). Turns out I was only one in rooms so I had my bedroom and the common room (kitchen/TV/couch) next door all to myself. Owners gave me a space heater and a rack so I could dry out all my soaking wet stuff. Also made me a full steak dinner for $12 (half normal price here). Plus there was food in fridge in common room that I raided as well (bread, jam, oleo, milk). My room also had a mascot/guard bear. As I said, day turned out very well thanks mainly to this place!

Hoist The Sails Its Payback Time!

Day 31 (12/4): Strathalbyn to Meningie; 100 km, 21 kph; Cabin in Caravan Park


Day 32 (12/5): Meningie to Kingston SE; 148 km; 23 kph; Caravan Park



Day 33 (12/6): Kingston SE to Penola; 145 km; 23 kph; Caravan Park



Day 34 (12/7): Penola to Hamilton; 135 km; 19 kph; Cabin in Caravan Park


Day 35 (12/8): Hamilton to Halls Gap; 100 km; 19 kph; YHA Hostel


As the observant viewer can see above, the distance covered each day have risen dramatically. There are two reasons for that. First, with my Christmas return date and desire to ride from Adelaide to Melbourne to Sydney, I have set a fairly rigorous schedule for myself in terms of nightly destinations. More importantly, I got almost three days of tailwinds in the last five days riding (with mostly sidewinds the rest of the time). Yippee! For those of you who ride, imagine covering the last 60 km of day 33 in just over two hours on flat ground. Good thing it wasn't like this those first couple of days out of Adelaide last month--I would have tried to ride the "big loop" and would be a dried up shriveled sobbing mess somewhere out in the outback between Katherine and Fitroy Crossing (get out your maps everyone)!


Anyway, couple of other hightlights from last five days. I was thinking the other day about maybe not needing a spare tire or more than one tube as my new 700*38 Armadillo tires were so burly. Less than five minutes later I had my first flat of the trip (I am not kidding, this is how it happened). Fixed it no problem. Riding yesterday towards end of long, difficult (hilly!) ride I noticed that I was really slogging on what appeared a fairly flat road. Finally stopped for a snack and noticed I had another flat! After fixing it and getting back on I immediately sped up by at least 5 kph--what a relief though I felt a bit silly. You may also notice "cabin" or "caravan park" listed. Caravan park means I just camped (Aussies call their campgrounds caravan parks). In Meningie I got a cabin kind of on a whim--it ended up raining for about three hours that evening so my whim was good. Last night I did not get to town until 6 pm--setting up camp and figuring out dinner, etc was not appealing so cabin it was. For about $50 US I got kitchen, bedroom/queen bed, TV, porch, ensuite (that's a bathroom/shower in the unit). It was sweet though it didn't rain.

Also, the boat shown below is the Wellington ferry which I rode on day 32 as well. According to the pilot its the saem actual boat Sandy and I rode in 1992 (going the other direction). Below that is shot of Coorong National Park--sort of like our Everglades but long and skinny.


Finally, riding yesterday amongst large gum tree fillled fields I came into an area where there must have been a thousand white cockatoos milling about. I caught one photo of a group of them--see below. It was hilarious albeit a bit nosiy.


Tonight I am in Halls Gap at the cleanest hostel I have ever seen. This town is at the north end of Grampians National Park, which I rode through on the way here today. Tomorrow I am going to hike in the park before riding on to my next town in the afternoon so look for some good pics in next post. Weather forecast is a bit suspect the next couple of days so everyone cross something that I luck out. Mainly I don't want to have to start riding in rain. Once I am on bike its not so bad when it starts, you've got no choice but to suit up and ride on.

Running low on time (only bought an hour of Interent time) so better get on with it. That's why this posting probably seems a bit rushed--it is! Oh hey Jeff, I tried putting captions on pics but its not working and I'm out of time. Will try again next time I get free web at a library. Its a good idea.








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