After 4 weeks, we are back on the road

Date: 17-03-2010
Day 39: Yass, NSW 
Distance cycled: 74km

There goes the alarm at 5:30am. After 4 weeks of late nights and not so early mornings, we felt barely rested. But we were both excited to get back on the road and pedal our push bikes. We took off a little after 6am. To our amazement, there are people already up and running (literally) or walking their dog. It was still dark!

Coming from Queanbeyan in the south east of Canberra, it was around 8am when we left the capital of Australia. Canberra was in a good mood with its month-long birthday celebrations and gave us a nice farewell of fine weather. Looking at the road signs, it always felt like we are almost there. We pressed on and finally arrived in Yass just before noon.

Yass is a historical town dating back to the 1800s. The parks have grass as green and well-maintained as you would see in golf courses and there is a walkway along the river that takes you around the park. It was very nice.

Well, pushing on without breaks was a mistake we learnt not to repeat. We were both exhausted when we arrived. We did not have a proper breakfast except for a slice of bread with chocolate spread or a muesli bar. We did not take any proper breaks but were quick to stop and go. We did not pace ourselves thinking that “this will be the last hill” (NOT!) and “we’re almost there, let’s keep going!”. And so we will learn.

When we left Sydney, we carried 80kg on both our bikes. When we left Queanbeyan, we had 40kg. That was another lesson we learnt: to keep learning from the challenges we face. See the challenge as an opportunity to learn and become wiser.

Destinations: [NSW] North Sydney - Heathcote - Coledale - Wollongong - Robertson - Moss Vale - Goulburn - Queanbeyan - Yass 

The end is near...

Date: 24-02-2010 - 12-03-2010 Day 19-35: Queanbeyan, NSW

… of our stay at Dan’s. Some asked: “Where have you been?”

The last 3 weeks and 2 days, we have been staying near Canberra. Despite all the latest electronic gizmos and gadgets available at Dan’s, it was more work than play. Lukas worked hard on his manuscript, reading and coding some newspapers in the UK and Germany for the last 10 years. Sue fuelled and fattened us up with some good hearty homecooked meals (see pics ;p) for the road ahead. That said, we have not completely abandoned our bikes. Some days we would bike about 30km to the National Library or Canberra city centre and back to run our errands. It took time to deal with the logistics, namely our visa, flights, insurance etc.

As spontaneous as we often roll, changes in our plan are inevitable. Instead of having until July to pedal ourselves to Perth, we now have until end of May to fly off from Perth (or Sue gets deported!) Based on our planned route, it should take us about 50 days to cycle to Perth. And if Clea and Garrett made it in 30 days, we should be able to do it in almost twice the amount of time. Right?

RIGHT-O! !
Thank you for all for your support, kind words and for following us! The adventure shall resume in 3.5 days. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that it will NOT be the same ‘wet’ farewell that Sydney gave us! Stay tuned.. ;=)

Next destination: Yass, NSW

And we’re rolling, rolling, rolling…

Day 12: Queanbeyan, NSW
Distance cycled: 100km

Who would have thought?!?! (Not something you would expect to hear from someone – or 2 – who said they would cycle 4,500km to Perth) We made it to CANBERRA!

It was an early start, getting up at 5am for departure at 6am. It was still dark and chilly. Having to put away our tent full-o-creepy crawlies also put chills to our spine. Just a night before, we saw a palm-sized Huntsman spider ‘hanging out’ at the corner of our tent. Any noise we heard, Lukas suggested that the spider is chewing through our tent.

We enjoyed the sunrise as we rolled into Hume Highway towards Canberra. Less than a third of the way to our destination, we passed the Great Dividing Range. From then on, Sue’s imaginary picture came true: we were (mostly) rolling into Canberra! The conditions could not have been better: clearing blue sky, some breeze despite the sun shining, a bit of tailwind if any wind at all, wide shoulders along the highway, and a crazy couple on their push-bikes dreaming away.

We continued along the Federal Highway, partially hoping to find a service station along the way to take a break and have lunch. We never found one. But there were many rest areas along this Remembrance Driveway, which were dedicated to Australians who were awarded the Victoria Cross for acts of valour and extraordinary personal courage in WW II and Vietnam.

One of the highlights of the day was when a Wicked camper honked at us. It was Glen and Gail! We met this ‘Just Married’ couple from Saskatchewan, Canada at the campground the day before when we were making dinner at the camp kitchen. Glen and Gail shared some fun stories including a couple who cycled for a year from Canada to Mexico and back. They were planning to head to Canberra too and said they would pull over if they spot us on the highway. And they did! It was a pleasant surprise. Thanks for the stop and picture, Glen and Gail!

Before 3pm, we arrived in Queanbeyan! WE MADE IT!! It felt good… ;=)

Locations: [NSW] North Sydney - Heathcote - Coledale - Wollongong - Robertson - Moss Vale – Goulburn - Queanbeyan

Next stop: Canberra/Queanbeyan

Day 12: Goulburn, NSW

And so we will! We decided to stay for another night to rest for tomorrow’s ride more than 90km to Canberra or Queanbeyan (where Dan generously offered us a real roof over our heads). We could also spend the day checking out Australia’s first inland city Goulburn, where the world’s biggest merino standing at 15.2m high and weighing 97 tonne stands as a celebration of Australia’s fine wool industry. Too bad (mostly for Sue) we just missed the Australian Blues Music Festival held here last weekend.

We got to sleep in this morning. It is quite amazing (perhaps a little uneasy) to discover how the creepy crawlies have warmly welcomed us and made our home as part of theirs. As we lay in our tent, we could see so many different types and colours of ants, spiders and caterpillars or worms roaming about and around (thankfully) outside our tent.

We headed into the city centre after breakfast and found ourselves sitting in the public library using wireless internet… gratis (free)... thanks to the Goulburn City Council and you, taxpayers! That is tax well-spent. We are finally able to check our mails, keep in touch with families and friends, and blog again. ; ) Thank you all for your patience! Speak soon from Canberra/Queanbeyan.

Locations: [NSW] North Sydney - Heathcote - Coledale - Wollongong - Robertson - Moss Vale - Goulburn