time to leave (for a while)

Our second week in Sydney is drawing to a close, whatever force is driving us to Brisbane is nipping at our heels and we’ll be remounting the bikes in a couple of days.
We’ve done everything we planned to do and much more!
We braved the sea and had a Surf lesson then headed off to the Aquarium to see with whom we’d been sharing the water. Most importantly we squeezed in a visit to the Zoo; Why does the Aquarium restaurant serve fish, but the Zoo ‘Safari’ Café not serve Giraffe?
Speaking of food… We’ve sampled dishes from all around the world from Italian to Japanese and visited the famous Ribs and Rumps (where the All Blacks feed themselves when in town) and best of all at a Bavarian Haven: The Löwenbräu Keller (Oom Pah Band, Knee slapping, hat dances, Swiss horn and cow bell ringing As well as Bier drinking and Nail hammering competitions.)

Along the way we caught a few other sights - a surf competition & skateboard lessons, volleyball tournaments, masterpiece sand castles and techno-crazy Japanese district. We drank coffee and people watched, and succumbed to a small shopping outing (but we’ll be posting home our purchases.) Managed to see a tradition Aboriginal dance and catch a novelty children’s train that dropped us off in China town.

Beachy Beachy

been beachin and not doing muh, so not a lot to report other than we saw

V for Vendetta at the cinema which was great to watch, (it's great to read too!)

13th April Sydney Arrival

Ann in Sydney. (and john)

Melbourne is apparently 988km away, but we managed to do 1700km to get here. ..Tadaa!(???)

We managed to arrive just in time for the Easter High prices, and aquired the last remaining rentable appartment for 30miles. Believe it or not, the campsites were asking for $200!!.

We're here for a week, but have so much to do, that we may need to stay longer.

life

3rd April
We’ve been on tour for over a month now and it’s really becoming a ‘way of life’. To that end a ‘bad day’ was inevitable. It all started in Tathra after a windy coastal day caused the beginnings of a cold, an early night was planned, but we were kept conscious by the incessant screaming of a child in the tent next-door. Bothered and early we packed up camp in record time, deciding to then relax and prepare for the day over a nice coffee. During this process John took most of the skin off his fingers with the scolding hot coffee pot and used some terms that would make Rab C Nesbit blush. Now we were feeling ready for anything. The cycling book described our morning route as ‘Medium climb 3km, medium climb 4km, hard climb 4km, steep climb 2.8km’; so we were looking forward to it.
Just under half way, two yappy Terriers came tearing out of a property towards us, the first going for John’s front tyre, the second clamping on to his leg.


Once we arrived in Bermagui, we hoped to report the incident but found the police station closed, we later found that they open at 3:30pm, and are closed by 5pm. We did however manage to get to a Doctor and $80 later, came out with a nice bandage and 2 weeks of antibiotics – hooray.
We celebrated at a Bar and Grill over a couple of beers and an enormous seafood platter. Isn’t it amazing that anything out of the sea can be deep-fried?


4th April
Over a leisurely breakfast we admired the dedication of some German cycle tourers who camped near us. They had delightful matching uniforms; Boy and girl lyrca outfits in elegant red and black.
They were packed up and ready to go in under 45min and all before 8:30am. Some time later we also hit the road. After acquiring a little local knowledge we headed along a picturesque coastal walk; which meant missing a few inland hills.
We arrived at Narooma after only 2½ hours of cycling, and headed into town for some food. We found a pleasant looking Noodle Bar and were soon tucking into some authentic Chinese cuisine. Ann had Noodles with Pork and John ordered a ‘combination’; this included beef, prawns, chicken and a safety pin. The first few mouthfuls were delicious. I must admit a slight shortfall in my etiquette knowledge here, so we simply returned the plate to the manager and politely asked, “Is anyone looking for this?”

Out of Eden and into the Wilderness

Hello!!

thank you very much, I had quite a nice birthday riding around Eden, looking for a bloke called Andre. we went to the bike shop to help identify a mysterious creak but it left them stumped so we were sent to Andre's house. Unfortunately the guy gave the instructions to Ann, who after about 30seconds of instruction is only able to hear carnival music in her head and completely forgets (if she ever heard) anything she's told.
She came out of the shop and decisively stated, we have to cycle about 3km, that way.
so off we went, she then mumbled something about the golf course we'd gone past and a lawn mower shop and that his was 'the only house'.... so we cycled around for a bit looking for a solitary house that might have a shed in the garden... and near, past or before a lawn mower shop.
we ended up knocking on doors and luckily people knew exactly who we meant!
He was a old Dutch chap who'd been in the country for years but hadn't lost an ounce of his accent. We chatted to him for ages and decided that the creak was annoying but not hazardous.

Anyway we've made it out of Eden and up the 2nd biggest hill between Melbourne and Sydney. it was Awful! although we did make it to the top it was 2km long and we were crawling up in our lowest gear going at the same speed as the lorries and car towing caravans.
We're in Merimbula at the moment i've written an boring/lavish description but a truly is a lovely place!

We like Merimbula, not just because it’s lovely, but because we’ve decided that we’re town people. Not Townies, or pikies, but town people, Cities are far too big, grey and anonymous and villages everyone knows you and your current affairs. The trick is to find a smallish town, where there’s potential to spot a chum whilst still able to indulge in such luxuries as having the internet and buying your groceries on any day of the week.
We found all this and more at Merimbula, it’s the first Seaside town we’ve come to with a brilliant sandy surf beach and quiet little harbour. Where seagulls mingle with parrots and although the restaurants and pubs are full in the evening the streets are quiet and empty.