Farewell with Dan & Agnes

Date: 14-03-2010 - 16-03-2010
Day 37-38: Queanbeyan, NSW

Our planned departure was on Tuesday morning at 6am. We were both stressed to the core on finishing the manuscript as well as some preparations prior to leaving. Then we thought, “Why not stay for another day?” So we did. Revised planned departure became Wednesday 17-03-2010.

On Monday, Dan (Sue’s brother) and Agnes (Sue’s brother’s work mate) farewelled us with a good authentic Indian dinner out and dessert at Koko Black. For those of you who haven’t heard of Koko Black, we were told by Agnes that “it’s like Max Brenner, only better”. ;p So on your next visit to Canberra, make sure you leave room for some chocolatey dessert!

As much as we would like to, Tuesday became a full day of ‘things to do’ rather than a relaxing afternoon and an early night. With the TV series Dexter playing on DVD in the background, we both ran around almost frantically preparing some documents, packing and trying to follow Dexter on their hunt for the ice-truck killer. Who is the ice-truck killer?!?!

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

Bed? This foreign thing is so soft and comfy…

Day 13: Queanbeyan, NSW

For dinner the night before, Dan cooked up a storm (literally! You should have seen the food flying out of the wok) and made our favourite fried rice (Lee’s version) despite his long day at work. We also finally had a chance to call home and speak with our families.

After yesterday’s milestone, our first 3-digits kms clocked, we had the day off. We made sure that our 5am alarm was turned off and we slept in… on a bed, with mattress! Except for the times in Heathcote and Robertson when we slept in a hotel/motel room, our sleeping bags have become our bed since this New Year. Changing the way we live once in a while makes us appreciate that much more what we have. The rest of the day was R&R after we took care of some logistics. Oww… yeah~

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