East Coast Australia

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Hello,

We're in Sydney now, we've been here about 10 days - a very enjoyable city with lots to see and do.. we've had some great luck with the weather as well, which means i've been at the beach nearly every day working on my surfing and tan. Sydney reminds me a bit of Vancouver with the harbour right by the downtown core, as well as beaches all around the city. I've been working my way through the checklist of things to do here, including walking the harbour bridge (beautiful views), seeing the opera house (nice, but not as white in person as in pictures), the aquarium (great collection of sea animals), bondi beach, the famous beach here where the olympic beach volleyball was held. also been having some 'barbies' on the beach in true aussie fashion.

backing up a few weeks, i arrived in melbourne from KL. we spent some of the time there looking for bikes, before Richard and I settled for two new, lower-end bikes that are good for longer distances, but that weren't too expensive in case we don't get a good buyback rate. we spend about 6 days in melbourne, enjoying the western touch (but not the western prices, about 5 times more expensive for everything than in SE Asia). We spent some time with Cathy, an old friend from Rome, who showed us around the city and took us to some bars and beaches. the three of us (richard, joti and I) also rented a car one day to drive over to the great ocean road, with some spectacular views of the southern ocean and relaxing time on the beach.

after outliving melbourne, we began biking up the coast to Sydney. in total, it took 8 days, and as there isn't too much to see in between melbourne and sydney, we spent almost all of the time biking. we did save a lot on accomodation, as we camped out every night along the way, in parks, next to highways, and when we got back to the coast, on beaches. it was hard work, although doesn't compare at all to my europe bike trip as the hillyness was on a different level there. However, we did find out that there are some big hills along the way, as the southeast of Australia is the country's most mountainous region. Everything worked out fine, just a few flat tires and no bike problems, so I have no overly humourous stories to report. we did meet a nice guy who allowed us to shower at a place he knew, but he became a little over-friendly when he insisted on going to every restaurant in the city to find out what time they close so that we would know where we could go for dinner. No harm done, however, and the shower was very refreshing after 5 days of exercise all day without a shower. As well, a day outside of Sydney i managed to send a 69 year old man to the hospital after a minor (i would call it minor) bike collision. he was alright, he injured his shoulder however, so they decided to take him in as a precaution. i'm ok, if your curious. not that anyone worries about my health and wellbeing, least of all my mom and my grandma. ha ha ha.

so we rolled into sydney (literally) last wednesday, and have been spending the last week and a bit relaxing a lot and enjoying the city. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the Canucks playoff push. I'm thinking it's our year for the cup.

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