al in down under land

Home time

Last two days in Melbourne and was basically just hanging out with JD. Really cool thing to do to finish off. I have always looked up to Jackie and admired her 'can do', no nonsense attitude. And she's a laugh as well. We've got to know each other so much better. We went phone shopping... for her this time, saw some stunning art at a gallery in the city, especially the Aboriginal paintings, drank and ate. Talked politics, history, relationships and a whole load of nonsense too. We also had lunch with the 'new' relatives. Keith was lovely bloke. His wife Pat was there too, though she wasn't too keen on the food at the Japanese restaurant we'd booked. Hey ho!

But finally, it's time to come back to earth.... As I type I am at Hong Kong... Halfway. More later, as only a brief stop this time.

Hey. That was quick! Now on bus from Heathrow to Reading where Karen and kids will be waiting to collect me. Really excited to see them... And more than ready for a cup of tea and a change of socks. Flights were both fine and hassle free. And now I'm back - journey done.

Except, all that 'me' stuff that I've been pondering in recent days probably needs a line drawn under it... And Michelle's been badgering for conclusions. What I think I HAVE been able to do, which was really what was needed, was just breathe fresh air for a bit and take stock. Sure, there have been amazing distractions along the way. But the one constant has been ... me. I was there throughout. I'm the same bloke who set off, suffering from recent stresses and running away from it all, five weeks ago. I now have a few new tales to tell, and a few more greys to pluck. I am holiday chilled... and after so long away, I bloody well should be! But I think aside from that, I am more at peace with myself than I was a few weeks back.

You know, if there's any conclusion I draw, it's that we are each in control of our own lives. We make the choices and decisions that matter, and drive ourselves forward. Or we don't. Of course we can't prevent stuff like motorbikes breaking down... but that's not what's important. The direction we choose to take, and I don't mean left or right. In recent weeks I've literally been making it all up as I went along, with just a vague plan in mind, and it's been fine to just wing it. In fact, it's been brilliant. I've come to trust my own judgement a bit more.

In my recent life, I've acted with my head screwed on, though I hope also with a mind to the impact my decisions have on others. But I also recognise my choices have been in my own best interests, ultimately. Have I been selfish? Maybe. But I know that I'm a decent, kind and considerate bloke. And I quite like me, and that little adventurous, independent spirit I've rediscovered. I know that I can cope with just about anything. Stay calm and carry on! And my time in Down Under land may be over, but the 'journey' never stops. Moving on and forward. Big open road still ahead with, I've no doubt, a few more devious twists and turns for me. I'm going.... thataway. And I'm going to enjoy the ride.

something fishy

After so many days of pushing on, driving forward, it feels oddly decadent to have a lay in in the morning! Wherever I've stayed I've been awoken fairly early on by the sounds of nature ... cockatoos squawking, waves lapping, dorm mates coughing (and farting)... and while under canvas I've invariably been cold, and usually wet too. But back at Jackie's home, the quiet, warmth and comfort means I've been laying in, which isn't like me at all.

Anyway, yesterday I headed into the city around lunchtime for some shopping and rode around on the old fashioned and iconic circle tram. It's a slow way to see the sights. Wandered about, sipped tea, ate cakes and generally enjoyed myself doing nothing much at all. Later in the afternoon I finally got to meet some of JD's gang... and they're all lovely. Judes and Keith are Jackie's oldest mates in Australia, and were SOooo lovely. While at their (stunningly beautiful!) home, I was served, and ate, little salmon things on cream cheese and bread. Jackie eats fish but doesn't do meat, and hadn't mentioned to Judes that I was a veggie. But - here's the revelation - I really quite liked it. It didn't 'taste fishy' if you know what I mean? It was a 'clean' taste, and really delicious. Not at all what I'd expected salmon to be like. I must've seen some cheapo stuff in the past, I guess. And not to be too polite, I polished off several more, ha ha. I'm a convert! Sat in the immaculate garden, sipping champagne and eating salmon, and chatting to two of the most genuinely lovely people you could hope to meet... it was a great afternoon.

From there it was a taxi to another of Melbourne's seventeen trillion excellent restaurants. And three more of JD's closest pals. I've heard tons about them all individually, and it was good to finally puts faces to names and tales. And again, the most amazingly lovely food. And lots more wine. Both Jackie and me were slightly sozzled but happy as we tottered back to her home, thankfully just a short walk away.

And today, the beginning of the end I guess. I got up (after another lay in!) and washed Blue before riding him for the last time back to the hire shop. Yes Mum, you can breathe again -and sorry to any of you who've been worried by my self indulgent desire to do this on two wheels, and alone. It's been a fab journey, but not ready to write up my conclusions JUST yet Flo. Bike needs to be checked-over by mechanic before I have it confirmed that I'll get my full $2,000 deposit back. Fingers crossed!! But I like and trust them, as the hire firm have been great at every stage so far. Should hear tmrw.

More touristy stuff and just generally pleasing myself in the big city again this afternoon... walked through the huge covered market, ate an enormous bag of delicious cherries in the park in the sunshine, took a tour of Captain Cook's cottage, and tonight, I'm off to the theatre - again- with another of Jackie's old pals. Remember I couldn't name the BMW Bruce because I didn't want to cause confusion or smutty innuendo? It's Bruce who I'm out with tonight. Another face to a name. He has a great telephone voice, and that's about all I know. Will be a bit like a blind date ;0) And Brandon, you'll be delighted to hear we're going to see Love Never Dies. Bargain tickets on sale. Love a bargain... then, depending on our moods later, we could be gaying it up. I really like this ... such a lark!

friends reunited

Back on the road by mid morning, after limping Blue along in first gear to a one man mechanic a few kilometres outside town. Not a fun ride. Especially over gravelly roads where I fought to control the back end, even though I was crawling. The screw was a big one, about 5cm long, and had made a sizeable tear in the inner tube. But it was a relatively easy fix and we were back in business.

Despite the hiccup, I'd worked out there was still one final challenging route left to ride on my way back into Melbourne. The Black Spur run comes down through a steep, tree and fern lined valley. The trees are tall and straight, and come right to the edge of the tarmac. And there were more of those devilishly delicious twists and hairpin bends to keep a biker boy entertained! The biker atlas author reckoned this to be one of the best runs in the country, and I wouldn't argue with that. But it was short too... just 13km. I did 845km on a single one of the other top 200 roads .... THAT'S going from one real extreme to the other.

Back into traffic and a crawl through the sprawl of the Melbourne suburbs in mid afternoon traffic. Not nearly as much fun. Back at Jackie's home and I dumped my gear outside ... I'd forgotten the code to her alarm and didn't want to set it off. Didn't want to wait too long, either, as I had a date with a mate.

Claire was a good pal during my first job on the Reading Chronicle a hundred years ago. I lost touch with her down the years but knew she and her husband had moved to Melbourne. All my attempts, on and off for several weeks back in UK, to locate her had drawn a blank. But Google in Oz must be different, and I traced her to a charity where she used to work, and some kind soul there put us in contact. Spent a lovely evening catching up on what we've done with our lives in the twelve or more years since we last met. Promised I won't lose contact again.

Persisting down as I rode the twenty five minute trip back to JD's. Got soaked... yet again. I'm now warm and dry without the prospect of a long journey ahead again tomorrow. And while I've been out this evening, Jackie's kindly done my washing too! Probably the last laundry before I fly home. It's good to be back here again for my final few days. I can relax awhile....

abridged

Keeping a journal like this serves two purposes. It means I'm not travelling completely solo, because the people most important to me are sharing the ride... at least in spirit. And hopefully when I look back and re-read my ramblings in the future, it'll remind me of some of the things I'd forgotten. Every day, and every place I've visited, has been interesting and rewarding, but of course I can't write it ALL down. Some just wouldn't translate, and it'd take too long for me to type on my phone, one fingered.. and may be a bit dull for my nearest and dearest to read, which I wouldn't want.

But there have been so many, many moments which I've tried to commit to memory. Little nuggets of pure joy that make me smile in delight. Usually simple, tiny things, like an Aussie lady shouting at her dog, Eddie, to ' bloody well shut up, you mongrel' this morning. Maybe you had to be there....?

I stopped and had breakfast at a small town called Towong. A pot of loose leaf tea and a toasted egg roll. In the sunshine outside. Simple pleasures.

Riding along, I was back in the hilly country when the noise of my approaching engine must have startled a flock of at least sixty cockatoos. They took flight, sqwawking into the air as I reached them, their feathers brilliant white in the morning sun as they flashed across my field of vision.

Further into the hills, and I rounded a tight bend to see a huge stag in my path not forty metres from me. I was going quite slowly, and as I got closer, he leapt up the bank and into the woods. He was massive... moose size. Must find out what sort of deer they have here. Huge antlers.

I was meant to be following one of my 'top 200 biker roads' and I'd passed several signs warning that the twisty, cunning road I was riding was an accident blackspot for bikes. Could understand why. High in the mountains, there were sheer drops and narrow bends... recommended speed signs suggested 15 kmph on some hairpin bends... that's barely above walking pace. Then I came to a junction and realised I'd gone 15 kilometres the wrong way! So, I turned round and re-traced my path through the hazardous section all over again. What a lark! I may not be as fast as some of my biker mates (you know who you are!) but nobody could have been enjoying this more than me right then !

In my biking atlas I'd seen a photo of a bridge which I wanted to cross. It was at the far end of Lake Hume, a massive body of water created when they'd built a dam across the Murray River. They drowned a forest and shifted a town to do it. But the skeletons of thousands of dead trees stick up out of the water still. It's a surreal sight. I skirted the lake for mile after mile and finally found my bridge, bigger and more photogenic than I'd hoped for. Camera out, I was poised as four bikers came roaring across. Short of getting a shot of ME on it, this was next best thing. So little traffic I could have been waiting an age to get even one motorbike.

I crossed over, then went for a swim in the lake... up to and around one of the drowned trees.

Pit stop in the most picturesque of country towns, called Beechworth. Just how you've always imagined an Australian town to be, with verandahs and covered walkways to escape the beating heat. Then back on the road and headed towards Melbourne, journey's end almost in sight.

It had been a brilliant day .... right up to the point where Blue starting feeling a bit odd... I was riding a gravelly road and put it down to that, but the shaking got worse, so I pulled over. Buried in my rear type was a metal screw. Fortunately it hadn't burst outright, but it was clearly going down. So, I very carefully limped back a few kilometres to the nearest town, Mansfield, found a camping ground, and called the out-of-hours breakdown number - again! Trevor, who'd been so helpful over Russell's demise, laughed! At least I was in the right State this time. He reckons he can get a tyre repair crew to me in the morning. So, there was nothing more to be done than to find a pub. All's fine... another minor blip in the big scheme of things, and certainly not enough to spoil a really special day - one of the best.

river deep, mountain high

So I'd decided not to rush away from Canberra as it a beautiful sunny morning. Instead I went for a swim in the river. It IS a recognised swimming and cruisy sunbathing area, on the Murrumbingee, and a fair few others had the same idea. Spent a couple of hours with my kit off, alternately sunning and reading, then swimming in the brownish, languid water. Together with some pretty big round fish. It was quite a rocky area, and I think at another time of year there'd be rapids. Finally tore myself away knowing I really needed to make up some miles. So back on ol' Blue and we were hitting the highway, heading for perhaps the last 'challenge' of my big road trip adventure... the Snowy Mountains range.

My plan was to cross the mountains and find somewhere beyond to camp for the night. By the time I reached the area it was already mid afternoon, and there were ominously dark clouds ahead. But, when's the weather stopped me so far? I pressed on, entering the Kosciuszko National Park, and into the shadow of Australia's tallest peak. I was the only person headed IN... and lots of bikers and four by fours were heading out? It was a Sunday afternoon, after all, and people with jobs to go back to tomorrow were rightly headed back home.

The lady at the park gateway reassured me that it was Ok to press on, and I'd be out the other side in around one and a half hours.. Which probably would have been the case had I not been having so much fun. This was biking nirvana. Not since the Great Ocean Road four weeks ago had I had to contend with such devilishly twisty roads. Winding up through the forest covered hills, my ears popped twice with the change of altitude and I really felt the fall in temperature and strengthening winds. Still no traffic headed my way, and I passed just a handful coming down. And then there was snow! Mercifully high above me on sheltered areas of the mountains... it probably won't last much longer as summer hots up.

The road was generally good, though loose gravel and potholes in places mean you have to stay alert, not just gaze in wonder at the scenery. Every time I rounded a bend I felt like stopping to take another photograph. It was SO peaceful when I did stop... which was far too often. Passing through deserted ski resorts and places whose names related to their history. Dead Horse Gap and Perisher Valley weren't exactly friendly-sounding! But those dark clouds passed peacefully by, and in the early evening sunshine I rolled into the village of Khancoban... an hour and a half later than if I'd just stayed on the bike, but where would have been the fun in that? I set out to breathe everything in, and that's what I did.

Tired, but exhilarated, I stopped off at the only pub in town for a cold 'schooner' of beer, then another, and a hearty meal. Chatted bikes and routes with fellow customers and landlord before stumbling off to find Blue and a tucked-away piece of grass to camp for the night. Sat there in the twilight until dark, just totally chilled out. and then crawled into the green coffin again and slept soundly. All that fresh, clean air had really blown me away....

war and peace

Bright and early today, off to take a tour round Parliament. It's a striking building, inside and out, modern architecture, opened in late 1980s. I rolled right up to front doors virtually... amazed that there was no security to speak of. Very different to home. Parked up in the underground carpark, and strolled in. Ah, security was inside, scanning bags, etc. But still surprisingly easy to get inside. Here, the emphasis is on giving the people access to their Parliament. The design of the place, literally sunken into the hillside, reinforces the fact that people are 'above' the Parliament... and you can literally stand on top of it on the grassed roof to prove the point. Embarassingly, as one of the early birds, I was first to get into the lift to the grassed roof area... and when the doors closed, the lift didn't move. And the doors didn't open. I pressed various buttons, before finally pressing the alarm. Security guard had to come and rescue me! Apparently I was supposed to use the OTHER lift. Who knew?

Tour was great - really fascinating, the parallels and the contrasts with our system back home, which was the foundation for what they do here, but again, the Autralian system seems so much more accessible than the stuffy Commons and Lords set-up at Westminster. The tour guide was a former barrister and we had a great chat afterwards.

Then I moved onto the Australian War Memorial - THE attraction for this part of the nation. It's a museum as well as the national focal point for remembrance. I visited on 12th November, but the previous day the place was really busy. Not only were they marking the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh mnonth, but of couse it's 2011 too. Alex and me had taken the kids to the Imperial War Museum in London just a few months ago, and there are similarities, but the whole ANZAC story is so much a part of the Australian psyche, it was fascinating to hear it being told by another excellent tour guide.

Wandered a bit after the formal tour - found quite a few Sinclairs among the 102,000+ names of the Australian war dead. Wonder how far back we'd need to go to find the connections to me? I also saw some stuff on the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan, and it reminded me, in a really brutal way, of the horrific things I saw there just before Remembrance Day two years ago. I was quite shocked by how vividly it came back to me, and I sat and blinked back tears - yet again - at my own, tiny experience, of war and the bravery and sacrifice and futility and madness. The young, vital man who I saw die from his IED injuries. I sent him and his family my thoughts and sorrow.

Back out, deep breaths, and glad I'd been, but I needed an antidote, so took myself off to the pictures to see 'Anonymous'. More Shakespeare, kind of. The conspiracy theory that the man who wrote the plays wasn't old Shake-y but a nobleman, and bastard son of Queen Liz herself. Really good entertaining stuff, thoroughly recommended, and all the plays were in perfect Received Pronunciation - none of the fun of Aussie accents this time ;0)