city limits

..... where was I? Oh yeah, distracted by the many attractions of Sydney ;0) Pretty extraordinary couple of days - much debauchery! So, I did touristy stuff.... wandered and took photos which I hope will look great when you come back to mine for cheese wine and the holiday snaps evening. Brace yourself, there's a lot!

"Manly" could be my Grindr tag, ha ha, but it's also the name of a Sydney suburb best accessed by boat. So I hopped on a ferry for the ride, which takes you across the harbour, with stunning views. Caught a bit more sun, and also saw the bats people had told me about. Flying foxes were hanging in the trees.... loads of them, upside down, sleeping. I saw hundreds later that night, flying low over the city's Hyde Park. Their wingspan was well over a metre... amazing sight. Yes, Hyde Park. Those early colonists were either paying homage to home, or were distinctly lacking in imagination. Everywhere has a name from home... lots of Royal stuff too, which seems so outdated somehow. Some Aussies revel in that stuff - for most I think it's an irrelevance.

Then, I went from top to bottom, back on Oxford Street, with my new mate Steven, during a memorable night at various, ahem, establishments. Among the many things we did was go see another drag show which was very different to what we'd see back home. The performers here dance, pretty energetically too, but mime to the songs. They don't actually sing at all. They mouth the words. In parts it was like a badly dubbed karate movie... the lip-synch not matching what you're hearing, ha ha - quite a spectacle with the garish outfits and make-up. Steven was great company, and is hoping to visit UK next year so hopefully I'll get to see him again, and I can return the favour by showing him the delights of The Wynford Arms in Reading. That won't take a full evening then.

Anyway, after drinking and establishment hopping, it was time to creep back to my bed at the hovel... 5am!

Two hours later, I'm awake again, thanks to the girl with the hacking cough just across from me. We were all mumbling, thinking why doesn't she get some antibiotics and sort it. Not much sympathy when you're a bit hung over.

I'd already decided the day before to head out of the city, itching to get back on the road. I've enjoyed the changing locations, and missed riding. Plus I was paying for Blue to just sit there looking pretty. So after sorting myself out, waiting for some rain to pass, and doing various admin things regarding paying road and bridge tolls, I was back on two wheels, and, totally unnecessarily - but unmissably - riding across Sydney Harbour Bridge. Magical.

Making the route up as I went, I was aiming for the Blue Mountains... named because they're covered in dense eucalyptus forests, and give off a grey-blue hue in the sun. The weather had improved hugely... sunny, but also very windy as the altitude increased. Again, the landscape was extraordinary. There's a place called Echo where the land just drops away. Sheer cliffs and all the land ahead for miles and miles is covered in forest. There's a rock formation called the Three Sisters, another of those iconic Oz locations used in all the travel brochures. Yet again I thanked my good fortune in coming at this time of year, because the tourist highlight was mine all mine while there.

Back on Blue, and making for a campsite in the middle of Abercrombie National Park. Passing little isolated towns with extraordinary names... some named after Western places, some possibly Aboriginal, others just plain daft. Amazing, twisty, hilly road, again from my superb biking atlas. Reached the campsite - and there were just two other vehicles there.... I camped quarter of a mile from them, next to a slow flowing river, under the gum trees. A female kangaroo, with a large joey in her pouch(wow!) watched as I put up my teeny tiny tent, then they hopped off as I sat eating my picnic dinner in the fading evening light. Silence again, apart from birdsong and rustling in the trees and undergrowth. At peace with the world... another time to have a little weep, but a smile-y one - and remember just how lucky I am to be alive and doing this.