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It’s strange how things work out sometimes! Just after I’d posted the Silly Sydney Season post, and just as I was thinking about leaving the comfort of the coffee shop and embarking on the walk back to the hostel in the 40 degree heat, I thought I’d go back onto Gumtree Adelaide to see, for the last time, if there were any house shares available that adhere to my very lax, easy-going selection criteria: near the beach, near the cycle ways, shops nearby, near public transport into the city, close to plenty of coffee houses, cheap rent, flexible month-to-month rental agreement, non smoking, quiet area, no pets, cable TV, housing for Naomi, free WiFi and no sign of students. There was! So within an hour I was viewing it and within two hours it was all signed, sealed and done!

So Adelaide is where I’ll be for a while (not exactly sure how long: we’ll see when the travel bug returns, it always does!). The place I’ve found is about 200m away from pristine beaches, a short walk from Glenelg:

I couldn’t get any decent beach shots because they were full of teens on holiday and walking around with a digital camera avec zoooooooooooom made me feel like an outed sex offender. So instead, you’ll have to make do with a rather poor marina shot and a rather poor beach shot:

It’s a shame I don’t really like swimming or water sports of any kind.

My new landlord [German] is into all kinds of cycling madness including triathlons. Their entire bike weighs less than one of my front panniers. They recently completed the Busselton Iron Man competition: 180K bike ride, 3.8KM swim around Busselton Jetty and a full marathon in under 13 hours. I recalled fondly how I felt after riding 190K with a loaded bike on the Nullarbor stretch: or rather, I recalled how every single part of me felt after riding 190K with a loaded bike on the Nullarbor stretch: My arms, my wrists, my neck, my back, my knees, my ankles, my hips, my thighs, my hands, my shoulders, my calfs and in fact my entire being. I was living in a painful place that day, every muscle on fire, as if I was a lobster that had been dropped into a pot. The thought of running a marathon and swimming for nearly 4K afterwards makes me realize that some people really are just masochistic bastards. There is no other more apt description I can think of. Mind you, I did have 45 Kilos of luggage and a real bike! None of this fancy-schmancy feather-light carbon fibre nonsense! [No jealousy at all!...!]

You probably gathered from my last few posts that I’ve been a bit indecisive about what to do next. Indecisiveness and flapping is something I loathe. Oh, how it infuriates me! I would much rather spend time doing the wrong thing than doing no thing which probably means I’d be safe in Nigeria. Six months of travelling, hiking and cycling without a decent break is pretty much my limit: I’ve never travelled for this long so I had no way of knowing this until now. A rest beckons. And I’ve plenty to do!

I know *NOTHING* about Sydney. I have done *ZERO* planning because I didn’t know when I’d arrive (or if I even would!). Before I get to Sydney, I need to work out where I want to live, where I do NOT want to live!, how to Aussify my CV, sort out Medicare, tax issues, rental agreements, work etc. I was going to leave all of this until I arrived in Sydney but it makes far more sense to do as much as possible before I get there: rents in Sydney are about twice what they are here in Adelaide so Sydney is not a place I want to be unemployed for too long! Oh, and having free WiFi here means I don’t have to race the time-out counter and bandwidth limits that I always get in coffee shops. Trying to organize things or change your plans on the move is a bloody faff.

You would think I’d have learnt that by now. But: NO.

I almost rented a flat in Esperance for four months and spent the summer there but figured it would be better for me if I at least got across the Nullarbor first. So now I’m a-chillin’.

The cycling trip to Sydney will recommence at least after the Silly Season has passed but realistically in March when things start to cool down a bit, accommodation is freed up again because the kids are back at school and the peak holiday season has passed. I’m not too far from the Adelaide hills here so I’ll try to do a few regular rides and at least one big day a fortnight to keep fit.

In the meantime, I will be programming prolifically and might make a few mumblings on here. Otherwise, there probably won’t be many travel-related updates for a while…

Tchau!

Hmmmmmm. These are the kind of prices you have to look forward to if you want to book a hostel over the New Year in Sydney last minute. So others can find this wonderful example of capitalism and supply and demand fundamentals at play, I thought I would use a few keywords so that Google can direct them here: Chilli Blue Backpackers Sydney Australia Rip Off Expensive Profiteering Bastards New Year Poor Value My Opinion.

Fortunately, I will *NOT* be booking a hostel over the New Year in Sydney and, infact, I will never, ever, under any circumstances, as a matter of principle, ever book a room at the Chilli Blue Backpackers at any other time in the future either!

As if I needed more convincing, my route will now be meticulously planned to ensure that I arrive in Sydney *AFTER* the New Year. This is my last day in Adelaide and I am perfecting the fine art of gratuitious perspiration. Tomorrow is going to be a lot cooler so cycling should be pleasant.

L8r!

I can’t believe I’ve been on the move for half a year. It’s exactly six months today since I caught the ferry from Trieste to Muggia in Italy and started hiking along the Via Alpina to Switzerland. Two months ago yesterday, I cycled out of Perth to Woodman’s Point as I started my cycling trip across Australia. I’ve never done anything this physically demanding day in and day out, let alone for six months, and it’s fair to say: I’m knackered.

Having stayed put for a week, I know that I’m getting weary of packing up every morning, unpacking every evening, lugging everything I own on the back of the bike, trying to find accommodation, food and Internet at my destination and generally being on the move all the time. I’m tired of avoiding heat, fighting headwinds and having my life dictated by the weather again. The last ten days in Adelaide have been a refreshing change: like being able to sleep in until after 5:30am because I don’t need to race the heat. I had a fridge where I could put milk and yoghurt. Little things! Yup. Familiarity and routine beckon.

I spent Saturday with a guy who was my project manager back in the UK (Simon) who emigrated about 18 months ago. He took me to the top of Mt Lofty where, despite the cloud, we got a good view of the whole of Adelaide. True to form, I managed to take a tat shot:

It was quite a drive up to the top and the unfortunate thing is that I need to cycle over the same bloody big hill on the same way out of Adelaide when I leave. Simon almost seemed to enjoy pointing that out.

Several times, infact!

Then it was for something different. There’s a place called The Toy Factory nearby with a huge rocking horse outside – it seems Aussies like everything big: Cars, RV’s, roads, Galah’s, Rocking Horses. It’s really for kids but I’m ashamed to say I enjoyed climbing it anyway:

The company makes traditional wooden toys, by hand. Buy them as a kit, or buy them ready made. It’s not the kind of mass produced stuff you’ll find in high street stores made by dedicated, hard working Chinese school children: they’re all hand made inhouse and you can watch them at work in the workshop. Wooden toys, rocking horses, cars, trucks, caravans – all hand made. For some reason I can’t explain, the big kid in me came out and I had a grin on my face the whole time I was there. It was something different and it was superb to see that the skills to make this stuff haven’t been lost.

It was good to see a familiar face again (even if it was Simon’s! hehe) & it was a bit bizarre meeting up with a guy I used to work with 12,000 miles away. Whereas I still need to get settled in Sydney, he’s been here for 18 months and has been through all the hassle that I need to endure once I get to Sydney. His house is enormous and is only 10 minutes away from miles of pristine beaches where every other shop sells Iced Coffee (one word: “decadence”). His kids are enjoying it too & his son showed me a video his teacher had made at the end of the school year. I was awed. Really: that’s not like any school I ever attended in the UK!

I looked around at various rentals but couldn’t bring myself to commit to any. If I stopped here for three months, I wouldn’t be too happy about getting cycling fit again when I leave. Oh, how I remember the pain during the first two weeks leaving Perth! It makes sense to carry on and wind this thing up.

When I pass through Tailem Bend in a few days on my way out of Adelaide, I’ll decide whether to head South to Melbourne or push on across the middle to Sydney. I am undecided as yet.

L8r!