entry & visas

cycle shops

flora & fauna

It was our third flight with the bicycles and it has been as difficult as the two first flights, but to be fair the route included three separate flights. We selected Air France to fly back to Europe: they had reasonable deals at the time and they charged 80€ per bike. It is only once we had booked the tickets that we found out that the first leg of the return journey was operated under a code share by Qantas (ie be very wary of code share flights and which conditions apply). Subsequently we checked with Air France and Qantas that the 80€ per bike was still valid and they both reassured us that it was no problem.

When we arrived at the check-in desk, the story was very different. Qantas staff were not aware of Air France fees and they threatened to charge us Qantas rates for an Air France flight operated by Qantas. The first price quoted was a ridiculous AU$2000 (£900). After one and a half hours of discussion and waiting, the manager charged us AU$433. All our bargaining practice in China has finally paid off, but it was a painful process and at the end we were still charged more than we expected. We have filed a complaint with Air France and are awaiting their reply. TO add insult to injury Terry's bike was dropped at some stage of the journey bending the handlebars, the front brakes and damaging the rohloff gripshift!

At the front left Australia culinary claim to fame - the lamington (chocolate and coconut covered sponge), front right a custard slice (initial thoughts were that it was off but it turned out to be passion fruit flavoured icing - there is no avoiding fusion)

In Sydney there is far more choice in everything. Pubs, bars, microbreweries and bottle shops everywhere. A few beers worthy of mention: Coopers (pale and sparkling) and James Squire. Cider is available on draught but is unfortunately refined Bulmers - uncloudy and missing the floating debris of good scrumpy

Ibis wandering around Brisbane city centre

 

Lopsided crab amongst the mangrove swamps

 

Water is a problem around Brisbane, but does not seem to be an issue around the Mt Warning caldera area. The landscape is green and lush. There are colourful flowers everywhere and the only plants we recognise are the ones we used to grow in small pots in our house. But here they are giant. The traditional christmas Poncieta grows as a 3 metre bush!

The rainforest is amazing. It is full of bird noises scratching and screeching and full of vines and strangler fig trees growing around the buttressed black booyong.

But as we are finding out, there are more than one type of rainforests. After the cool rainforest of Lamington park, we have crossed some littoral (coastal), subtropical and even dry rainforest (how is this possible?).

There are as many national parks in Australia as there are different ecosystems. It seems a very bitty and localised arrangement. In two days around Dorrigo in the New England, we have crossed or passed six different national parks!

A common obstacle on the roads - a stick insect

 

Water supply restrictions are in place - it hasn't rained properly for more than one year!

 

A collections of the vibrant flowers and fruits in the Roma park, Brisbane

 

(above) An Eastern Yellow robin, happy to feed from Isa's hand

 

 

(right) Australian King parrots - happy to feed from anywhere, in Lamington National Park

 

(above) Always check the toilet seat before sitting down - this particular beast (a huntsman spider)
was underneath the lid of the Cathedral Rocks campsite toilet

(below) Isa was desperate to use the toilet so Terry had to persuade the spider to move on - as can be seen the spider then adopted an "Attack" pose (shown actual size!)

China and Europe combine in the chinatown valley area of central Brisbane

 

One of the many areas reclaimed from the sea in the Gold Coast south of Brisbane - now used for "Lifestyle" properties

 

Mount Coo-Tha and the view back down to Brisbane

There are distinct disadvantages to all the fresh fruit available in Australia

 

Golden Orb Spiders hang from the spaces between the trees - their webs can be 3 metres in diameter - the spider is about 2 inches across

 

The road from Ipswich to Beaudesert - much quieter compared to Brisbane, great views, lovely temperature - the cycle touring was starting to look up again

But let's go back to the town of Beaudesert, which is neither "beau" or "desert". Terry set off on a troll to look for his evening beer fix and instead walked into a trail of discovery.

He was walking from the caravan park back into town. The first problem he encountered was the lack of pavement. There are none apart in the very middle of the town. No wonder that he was the only one walking around. He then went in the bottle store and was asked what he was doing there. " I want booooze" said he dribbling, lust shining in his wicked eyes. "You cannot have it here, you must go out and queue with the cars". You guessed it, Terry went to a drive through bottle store, which really does not deal with non-motorised customers. So here he was, standing in line between two cars (when wanting beer, he has no shame).

And a few more details crossed his eyes on this evening. He noticed a board reminded us that we had missed "Secretaries and office professionals Day" on May 18th. This must fill a gap in the greeting cards sales in May. And how about the name tag people wear in shops. Are they real or made up? So far we have spotted Samanther, Annya, Maree, Laraine and Christabelle (for some reason they are always female).

(right) Unfortunately $2 worth was too heavy to carry on the bikes

 

A queenslander style house

The climb up to Lamington Park was a stinker!

 

View from Queensland into the "Lost World" in New South Wales from the Lamington Plateau

We are constantly stopping to make wild guesses as to what the unknown plant life alongside the road may be called

 

The ride down from Lamington - nearly 33km downhill

 

Natural bridge falls National Park

 

The following day, we rode up the Numinbah valley and then down towards Murwillumbah, crossing the boundary of Queensland into New South Wales and into the old volcanic caldera of Mt Warning. The Numinbah valley is wedged between impressive cliffs and crosses many pleasant villages. Up to Murwillumbah, everything is still very green and flowery. There are plenty of stalls selling all kinds of home grown fruits and vegs. Around Murwillumbah, the flat fields are full of sugar cane. It was not the picture we had of Australia at all.

We cannot help noticing some weird spelling along our way. For instance: "rejevenisation" and "avocadoes". Isa fears her English, which has suffered much in China, will take another knock.

We then headed towards the coast and rode South from Cabarita to Byron Bay. This was not such a lovely route because it is impossible to completely avoid Highway no1. The ride was in part fairly pleasant, between the sea (which you cannot see) and the forest, but the section of motorway we followed was awful. There was a cycle lane on the side, but the motorway was being widened, so the lane was in places taken over by the building site. Off we were in the midst of the fast traffic, road trains and thundering semis. In addition, the road was really hilly and the wind strongly blowing against us. We were happy to reach the little haven of Byron Bay, but our mind was now definitely set onto going inland rather than following the coast down to Sydney.

Roadworks, 2 lanes and scary big semis and b doubles on the Pacific Highway - very unpleasant!

Care should be taken on all rural Australian roads - a Koala can make a mess of a bicycles front wheel. Some roads even have a "Koalas Killed" count comparing performance year by year

Crimson Rosella

 

Terry and friend on Byron Bay beach

The landscape opened and became more interesting when we reached the immense Clarence river and followed it from Lawrence to Grafton. A flock of Pelicans was loudly arguing about fish guts being thrown into the river by some fishermen. Looking at the scene, we could not help noticing the board next to the local gutting spot. It stated that "if any octopus, great Queensland grouper or great white shark is caught, put them carefully back into the water". This is if you can keep your cool while lifting your net out of the water!

Great for cycling - a gravel road with no semis or B-doubles (Trucks)

 

Sun and calm waters of the River Clarence - before we knew it we had both fallen asleep in the comfortable quiet picnic area

 

Pelicans on the River Clarence - at 1.8m in height they are huge birds

 

This type of road was all but impossible to find in New Zealand. Australia is packed full of tiny, narrow roads with hosts of choices and alternative routes for cycle tourists.

We went to Grafton hoping to see the fruit bats, also known as flying foxes. They are huge, about one meter wingspan, and can be see flying in flocks above the river. But we overlooked the fact that they are nomadic bats and come to Grafton in the summer only. Doooh!

Now, there is a funny thing about cities and towns in Australia. In New Zealand, they scratch their heads very hard to come up with cheerful and bewildering little mottos like "Richmond - It's all good!" or "Nelson - live the day!". Maybe the Ozzies lack imagination in this department because many towns and cities modestly pride themselves in being "tidy". Grafton, for instance, proudly advertise its status of "most tidy" city in 1993.

 

The centre of Dorrigo, a very pleasant place with waterfalls, rainforest parks and fabulous sunsets

On the way up to the tablelands from Dorrigo - has autumn caught up with us, again?

 

An inquisitive visitor to the inside of our tent

Dorrigo is a lovely small town, of the tidy type again. It has the advantage of being set in the midst of five major national parks, and some more if you count the smaller parks. Five different types of rainforest can be accessed within an hours drive by car. But despite all the surrounding wilderness, the landscape around the town has a definite English touch despite the lone eucalyptus trees and the red earth. Cows were peacefully grazing on the green grass in the enclosed rolling fields and gentle rain forest topped hills stretch for miles around.

Our luck with the weather changed when we headed from Dorrigo up to the tablelands - New England was living up to its name

One part of the 2 stage Ebor falls

 

On leaving Dorrigo, we found out that the hills were not gentle at all. This was one of our hardest day cycling in Oz. To complement the English looking landscape, a persistent and annoying drizzle settled on us, followed very closely by thick banks of fog. We were suddenly cycling in the heart of winter. The temperature dropped to 9dC and with the low visibility it really did feel like we were back to England if it was not for the parakeets flying through the fog from time to time.

This was the "Waterfall way" section of our ride. The fog threatened to spoil the whole experience, but it did lift out a little to make us have a look on the magnificent Ebor falls. Then we were back cycling in the drizzle up to Cathedral rocks national park. The moral was pretty low, as it infallibly happens after a wet day cycling. But on approaching our campsite, we spotted our first kangaroos (not run over by the side of the road). What a sight to be seen. They are tall (1.60 m) and we were relieved that they chose to bounce away in huge leaps as we approached. If they were to turn around and box us around the ears, we would surely struggle to defend ourselves.

Another uninvited guest at our picnic table - a possum trying to steal our rubbish bin (see flora and fauna for other guests!).

But let's go back to the "it's all flat" man we met the day before. Terry winged so much about this that Isa's ears started bleeding slightly. By the end of the second day after we met him, we actually climbed more than 2300m and reached a height of 1400m (we met him at an altitude of 600m). We noticed that people driving cars are disconnected from the landscape surrounding them and usually mislead us.

So the man from Oolong holds the record for the most erroneous information received on our trip. No wonder we were shattered after two days cycling!

More was to be seen on our way along the Waterfall Way. We climbed on top of the granite boulders of cathedral rocks national park, with commanding views of the rainforest all around. A few long hills later, we were overlooking the eastern edge of the New England tableland. It must look a bit like the Grand Canyon (though we've never been) at the Wollomombi falls. They are vaguely named "one of the highest waterfalls in Australia" and are 260m high. They descent straight into a really narrow gorge. Rock wallabies, lyre birds and wedge-tail eagles live nearby. A real feast for the eyes.

There are even more waterfalls to see on the way to Armidale, but we simply could not fit them all. Armidale proudly claims to be the highest city in Australia at 980m. But it did not inspire us much and so we carried on to the smaller, but prettier town of Uralla.

 

(right) Climbing to the top of the Cathedral Rock National Park

 

Dry cleaning may maybe OK for your Gooleys - as long as they don't tumble dry them

18th May 2006 - finding out about captain Thunderbolt in Uralla

We woke up to a beautiful blue sky and crisp morning mountain air. From the tourist leaflet we had, Uralla means ceremonial meeting place in Aboriginal language. And it goes on "Appropriately named, Uralla is situated approximately 547 km north of Sydney and 487 km South of Brisbane, a great place to meet!". It makes you feel like you want to visit the place straight away to meet strangers waiting to meet somebody else who has driven all the way, doesn't it?

Since we are getting into the details of tourist leaflets, let's carry on a bit further. We have already mentioned the possible lack of imagination of the Ozzies when it comes to praising their "tidy" towns. It would also make a nice change if they did not try to bulk up the list of things to do in towns with no particular interest by adding "many cafes with contemporary award-winning food and alfresco dining" and "boutique village shopping" (what the heck does this mean anyway?). You are guaranteed to find the equivalent of these two expression mentioned for every small town in New South Wales.

But Uralla has other things to shout about. First of all, Captain Thunderbolt, a famous (not to us) gold and horses thief was buried here. He holds no other achievement than stealing and being the Bushranger on the run for the longest period - six and a half years. Still, somehow there is a statue of him in Uralla and he seems to have become some kind of legend. There are also two butchers, one grocer, three antique shops, lots of cafes and a small museum. And we must clean our stinking socks. Plenty to keep us busy!

 

A spectacular Wollomombi Falls and gorge

 

(above) The typical tablelands landscape, the rainforest giving way to drier grasslands and a changeover from Cattle to sheep

 

(left) The incessant rolling landscape of the New South Wales Tablelands. Hardly a flat stretch of road to be found - but the quiet roads and fabulous views more than make up for the weary legs.

 

Wall painting in Uralla

 

Late in the day long shadows and a rush to find somewhere to camp as we approached Nowendoc

 

There was the story of the murdered man who was too tall to buried in one fence pole hole, so the murderer dug two adjacent fence pole holes and buried the unfortunate victim with his bum sticking up (the murderer, a local, was caught rather quickly) - but escaped from prison and is still at large in the community (much to the amusement of the drinkers when they pointed out we were in a tent!)

We left Nowendoc with a sad heart the following day as we were going to miss a big party on the town for the local policeman's retirement.

The road was supposed to be downhill to Gloucester, and the Great Dividing Range was well behind us. We still did a hell of a lot of climbing amongst hordes of motorbikers (they are out in the hundreds every weekend). As we gradually lost altitude, the forest thickened and turned into rainforest and the temperature rose sharply.

Overall it was a lovely day cycling on relatively quiet roads, which always helps introspection and noticing small details such as the regular appearance of towels and men underpants by the side of the road.

Can somebody help us solve this mystery? In Mongolia for instance, there were many caps and hats in ditches. This is because hats and heads are sacred in Mongolia (and buddhist religions) so nobody will pick up somebody else's hat. Is there some kind of holiness to Aussies' pants?

(above) The only stop for 200 kms and one of the best ones - the store at Nowendoc

There is one thing you won't find the Aussies spending money on: letter boxes. Everything from old milk containers to guitar is cleverly recycled.

Being on top of the Dividing Range we thought that all our climbing was over - we were very wrong, it was very definitely not downhill from here

 

The next part of the ride took us from Gloucester to Stroud, definitely familiar names to us. Despite loosing a 1000m in altitude the previous day, the ride was still pretty rolly up to Stroud. We stopped in this pretty and oh-so-English looking town to visit their small museum. Stroud (and the nearby Karuah valley) is a small piece of history in itself: it was the site of the initial settlement of the Australian Agricultural Company, the first public company to be formed in England, especially for the development of land in Australia. The town was built out of brick, in a typical British fashion, by convicts and named Stroud because of the resemblance with the Cotswold landscape. This explained all these hills around and the very curious brick throwing competition held each year in the town.

From Stroud onwards the road was flat for the first time in a very longtime. As we approached the coast, the traffic grew denser and the roads wider. Once on the East side of the Pacific Highway, we were not to find another quiet bit of road. We quickly headed to Stockton, North of Newcastle.

 

Very cheeky and everywhere in Australia - the Australian magpie. During the breeding season cyclists tend to paint eyes on the back of their helmets to prevent attacks from these birds

 

 

 

 

(above) Stroud was a town built of bricks by convict labour - the memory still lives on with the annual competition with participants from the Strouds of England, Canada and the USA

(left) One year ago we left Worcester and ended the cycling day in Gloucester - we were definitely reaching the end of our trip

 

One of the many city beaches in Newcastle - the worlds largest coal exporting port

 

After a few drinks of whisky, our friend opened up and told us a bit about him. He was an ex-lorry driver and has driven three times around the whole continent throughout his working life. Immigration is a hot topic in Australia and we quickly found out that he did not like the Japanese and Germans, who should all be shot, but the Chinese and Indians were okay. So we asked which Asians exactly are a problem (the term Asian, loosely used in New Zealand and Australia, always tend to confuse both of us). The answer was enlightening: the "Asian Asians" are the problem. Then he told us that he used to have a pet kangaroo with whom he boxed until it grew too strong and then shot him. Isa spent a fitful nights sleep full of nightmares - we were happy to leave Newcastle and its cabin dwellers behind us.

 

We did not enjoy the rest of the cycle along the coast down to Sydney. We passed fantastic beaches and coastal lakes, more rainforests, but the roads were so busy that we did not really get a chance to let our eyes wander on the surrounding landscape. The only restbites were through Munmorrah reserve, on the ferry from Ettallong to the ever so posh Palm Beach and from the ever so posh Manly to Sydney which was a fantastic way to reach the city.

The only highlight was our meeting our first couple of cyclotourists in Australia. And what a couple! Jude and John were respectively 69 and 70 years old (and may I add that they looked it apart that they were cycling fit, John found it difficult to walk 100 metres).

They picked up cyclotouring 14 years ago, when John got retired and since then rode more than 15,000 kms in South East Australia. They have a printout of a small excel table and a marked up maps with all their rides and various distance and time statistics, which confirmed Isa in her belief that Terry's predilection for collecting numbers and creating pie charts is unlikely to ever decrease. Jude and John also followed the same hilly road as us across New South Wales but in the rain. Once again there is no excuse for not getting on your bike and riding!

 

Our first view of Sydney from the Manly ferry

27th May to 5th June 2006 - Sydney with an Irish touch

We had a warm welcome from our old friends Ivan and Avril in Sydney, and more importantly a real bed to stay in and some great advice on what to see and where to go in the big city.

There is absolutely no shortage of places to eat and snack. The city is full of cafes, restaurants and eateries of all sizes, shapes and flavours from all continents. We stayed in the Surrey Hills region of the city, near Oxford St, a walk to the city centre and 15 minute bus ride to Bondi beach. The bikes have been rested before they were packed up in boxes and flown back to Europe.

In between filling our bellies in the restaurants and pubs of the city, we had time to walk from the famous Bondi Beach to Coogee along the coast. Pretty beautiful. But the best natural wonder around Sydney has to be the blue mountains where we went walking with Ivan. Our legs are still aching from it!

Arrival at circular quay and the Sydney Opera House

Bondi Beach - with only two courageous surfers under the clouds

Ivan and Terry clearing their headaches in the fresh air of the Blue Mountains

An English hooligan warming up for the World Cup took a dislike to Isa's accent. Beware: this man is now set loose in Sydney. He will name you "fella" and move his head from side to side before attacking. Worst of all, Rushie is a friend of ours!

The Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains - thus called because of the blue vapours given off by the eucalyptus trees in the heat

Emu and kangaroo at Sydney Zoo

And in order to catch up with all the animals that dodged us while we were cycling and to finally take that kangaroo picture, Ivan and Avril took us to Sydney Zoo. It is built on a hill and has commanding views on Sydney city. Our big favourite in the zoo was the bird show, featuring flocks of parrots and pigeons, cranes, eagles and owls. Very impressive.

These three happy specimens were caught wandering outside their normal enclosure - the Cricketers Inn

Georges et Annick so surprised their legs gave way

The plan is for the time being to stuff ourselves with nice fresh cheeses, drink a little red wine and then send Terry off on his bike back to England while Isa rests her legs. Apparently 18,000 km were not enough for him!

For more information or questions please contact us at isaetterry@mac.com