Australian ParkRun Bicycle Tour

  A good meeting, a strange meeting and a WTF!!! January 28, 2019 Just prior to arriving in Brisbane Norman and I stopped over for a night with a fellow cyclist in the suburb of Beenleigh. We had met Stephen in a park a few days earlier in the town of Lismore. I was supposed to be watching the bikes while Norman went into the information centre but like a bad soldier had fell asleep at my post. I had lay down on the bench and drifted off with the soothing wind blowing and a full belly of food. A kind of sixth sense of someone standing near by had woken me from my slumber and I sat up quickly startling the nearby person. It took a few seconds to get my bearings and still half asleep noticed a gentleman standing a couple of meters away looking at Norman’s bicycle. Can I help you I asked? The man, who looked as startled as myself said “sorry I didn’t mean to wake you up, I was just admiring the set ups you are using”. He introduced himself as Stephen from Brisbane, a fellow cycle tour...

  Food Glorious Food January 20, 2019 Food is a major part of a bicycle tour. Usually as I excerpt so much energy cycling I’m thinking about and looking forward to the next meal as I finish the current one. When touring there are certain foods that are pretty much in the bag constantly. Oats, powdered milk, tea bags, sweetener, BBQ sauce, whole grain wraps and pasta. Then you have the items that you add and usually eat within a couple of days. Cup’o soups, pasta sauce, muesli bars that are chopped up and added straight into the oats, fruit, vegetables, tuna, baked beans, yogurt, eggs and assorted beans like chick, cannoli or lentils. Australia has a few main stores that are in most decent towns. Woolworths, IGA, Coles, Aldi and Foodworks. Smaller town usually have a general store where naturally the prices increase.   A typical days food for me could be: Breakfast: Oats with a chopped up muesli bar and a chopped up banana added. When you add the hot water and teaspoon of ...

  Camping and Guesting from Sydney January 10, 2019 The tour has gone into short day riding mode. This may be because there is now two of us. We could knock off 60 miles a day but it would be mostly the Pacific Coast Highway which it not quite the same as it’s American namesake. The Australian version is slightly inland with no stunning views once your a days ride from Sydney. For this reason we have taken it only sporadically and instead have been on the quieter but less direct side routes. The places we have slept at since Sydney have been a mixture of camping and hosts. 1st was a previous host of mine from 2015 Rod and Deb in Wamberral. Possibly the house with the best view on Warmshowers. Here we were served vegetable lasagne and had the run of the house. Next was another previous host, Kedan and Kath in Newcastle. This is the Bike Bag Dude and all round  Masterchef. We stayed two nights as on the Saturday after I did the hardest Parkrun so far is was just to hot to cycle....

  Sydney January 2, 2019 The big display on the harbour was an amazing sight. Watched from a distance at the top of Rose Bay Hill could not have been more perfect. For a city that had a million extra visitors just for this day everything seem to work like a finely tuned machine. Except of course if your from the opposition party and spent the whole following day moaning on the news channels. No matter what country the opposition whines like babies. There was an enormous thunderstorm around 8pm that lasted until 11:30pm. Luckily I watched this from the comfort of my hosts living room so was able to time it right to leave when it stopped and walk the 200 yards to the hill for the show.  3 different parts of the world connected in delightful conversation whilst sitting back from the beach in a shaded garden the morning after the night before. I took a packed lunch out mid morning to do some people watching, read my book and chill out. I found a perfect spot 10 yards back from the...

  Canberra - Wollongong December 30, 2018 To be free to tour without worry is a wonderful situation. Where to sleep each night doesn’t now even reach the rank of concern. Since Canberra, twice I have set off without a confirmed camping location and twice I have slept comfortably without hindrance. On the third night I had secured a host in Wollongong but even before that I had no worry of where I would set up for the night. Obviously different countries would bring different situations but Australia is as easy as it could be. If you aim for rural areas then certain possibilities diminish in some ways but increase in others. Less places to pitch due to the smaller size of the village or town but more chances to be disturbed in busy towns or cities. The more rural spots often lead to connections with local people who are interested in my travels. Maybe because the people are less busy, more laid back and because of that more inclined to approach. There was the offer of Christmas cake...

  Jindabyne - Canberra December 26, 2018 It’s been few days since I left Thredbo. My first major stop was at Jindabyne where I wild camped at the side of the lake. A perfect location as the Parkrun was along the lake side. I was once again made to feel very welcome and introduced to the other runners as a tourist on a bike from the UK. My time was pretty good again considering I have replaced lots of running with cycling. The hardest thing seems to be the early morning heat. From Jindabyne I had a few days cycling to make my way to Canberra for Christmas Eve. I had a host sorted who had said there was no room in the inn but the garden would be very comfortable. I woke early but not quite as early as their children who were busy unwrapping Christmas presents when I walked into the house. As per usual in most households around the Christian world the parents were hoping to get a few hours lie in but the massively excited children were having none of it. I did the Christmas Day parkru...

  Burroweye to Thredbo December 22, 2018 I had planned on an easy ride after Burroweye and this turned out to be true. I needed some camping gas before going up through the mountains for 2 days and the only place I could get it would be Corryong. This unfortunately would be 20 kilometres out of my way but I couldn’t risk being caught out. I arrived in Corryong quite late as I had pulled over half way and had a shower and a sleep out the back of a closed down pub. It was a pub I had camped at a couple of years earlier but apparently it had fallen on hard times and had to shut. I wasn’t complaining as the water and power still worked. Once in Corryong I parked up for a coffee at the information centre and logged onto the WiFi. Fantastic news. I had gotten a reply from a host a couple of days away confirming I could stay on the Thursday night or even the Wednesday as well if I arrived a day early. I had my route mapped out but this early arrival seemed unlikely due to a mixture of the...