Taking our time We spent a few days in Bunbury, it is a very comfortable city and is easy to waste time in, we visited the Dolphin Experience where the only dolphin we experienced was swimming away from us out of the bay, the Mash Brewery whose beers would be so much better if they were served a few degrees above absolute zero and the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery where there was an exhibition of local schoolkids' artwork, Dali-esque and fantasy graphic novel appear to be this year's themes, however there were a few pieces we liked, most of them made out of nuts, bolts and anything else found on the shed floor. We also visited both the lookout points for views across the city and surrounding area and spent a lot of time getting pummelled ... read more

2010 has not been a very good year; the lowest point being Vernon's father dying in September. Before he died he said "Tell those buggers to live their dreams, they mustn't worry about me." So this one's for you Mick, you're with us in spirit(s) mate! Preparation Since we got back last time we've been making plans for finishing the RTW trip, plans which have grown bigger and more extravagant as time has progressed. This culminated in the purchase of a Santana Fusion SE tandem from JD Cycles in Ilkley, we picked the bike up on 6th September and have been learning tandemish slowly since then. Due to personal issues we hadn't sorted our flights by the time we had to move out of our flat in Southsea, so we were homeless; all our possessions went ... read more

Doing the soft shoe shuffle 31/07/06 We sleep for most of the 6hr flight to Narita but still arrive feeling knackered, we stagger like zombies through immigration and customs and find a space to rebuild the bikes near the bus stops. People keep wandering up to have a look (see the silly Gaijin getting hot and sweaty). Next to us is the pick up point for one of the buses to Tokyo, each time a bus leaves the porters all bow to it which is really weird to see. As we are about to leave they approach us and the best English speaker asks us where we have been and where we are going, she then translates for the others, there follows a short Q and A session about touring with the bikes then they wish ... read more

Land of sugar cane, rum and ginger beer 03-05/07/06 We set off north towards Bundaberg, taking a lovely quiet back road through the "hills" to Howard where we have lunch before getting back onto the Bruce for the rest of the day. Our route is now through fields of sugar cane and as it is the start of the harvest season there are a number of cane trucks on the road and also a lot of cane trains, these are narrow gauge trains which run from the farms to the processing mills with the harvested canes, the tracks run alongside the fields, crossing the roads at angles designed to catch bike tyres and throw unsuspecting riders into the ditch. We develop a kind of swing out to the middle of the road and swerve back to ... read more

Stuck in Port 23/05/06 - 03/06/06 We decide to spend a day in Port Macquarie so we can visit the koala hospital, it's probably the only way we will get to see any of them! Spend a pleasant couple of hours ooohing and aaahing at the patients, they are incredibly cute although we are told they have a nasty bite and very strong claws; we are happy to keep our distance and just look. The koala hospital doesn't allow visitors to touch the animals because they need to be kept wild if they are to have any chance of survival when they have recovered and are released into the wild. The next day we arrange a visit to the doctor as I have lumpy armpits AGAIN and Vernon is also suffering, but in his case cycling ... read more