Tropic of Capricorn (Day 12, 899 km)

Greetings from Rockhampton - actually around 650km north of Brisbane, but I have been taking scenic detours, etc. Yes, the juggling act has begun - how long to spend in any given area? Do I want to see everything and never get there, or treat the trip itself as the challenge to be overcome, and never veer off the highway (and end up wondering why I bothered)? Of course, it must remain an awkward compromise between the two (remembering that Australia is close, and Asia is not).

After loading up my bike on Thursday, I headed off at 5ish towards the Bruce Highway in a very roundabout fashion - the first signs were showing that having a GPS doesn't help one take the most direct route through outlying suburbs unless the roads are signposted, or one has a more detailed map than the 1:4000000 one I've got, which just has a big blob called "Brisbane". I aimed for Bribie Island, where I arrived around nightfall, and, after unsuccessfully trying to find the National Park type bush camps, settled down on the beach under the full moon. Well that lasted all of about 2 hours, as a concerned couple woke me up saying there was an unsavoury character who'd been loitering around there for the past couple of days (the lady has a son about my age who's just gotten a bike, so I guess it's a maternal thing?). In any case, Joe and Kerry took me back to their unit to sleep on their fold-out couch, which was a rather unexpected bonus, and a first sign of (at least some of) the locals here being rather more welcoming than back at home.

Friday morning, (happy birthday mum!) after being given toast for breakfast, I headed north, and soon detoured back off the Bruce Highway to the Glass House Mountains Scenic drive and another one that lead onto that, coming out eventually at what they claim is the largest ginger processing factory in the world (Buderim Ginger). So (thinking of you, Susanna!) I went through the tour, and watched vats of ginger soaking up their syrup solution, a 12-day process. All of the ginger is grown within 50km, a case of an ideal climate for such things. After picking up a kilo of ginger seconds, I pressed onwards.

At a rest area I talked with a random couple who offered me some of their homebake Anzac bikkies, and later a can of Coke - this is great!

Of course, as I've been heading north, the temperature has been slowly cranking up, however, as long as I'm moving, things are still bearable inside my leathers (front unzipped for ventilation). However, with the birds and sun getting up around 5:40, I've been tending that way too, and, possibly as a result of time zone variance, haven't found it to be a problem. Before 10 is definitely a far preferable time to travel with my limited air conditioning, so I intend to make a habit of early starts.

As the climate changes, so has the dominant industry - I slept in Bundaberg last night - home, of course, to Bundaberg Rum and Bundaberg Gingerbeer - I decided to skip these factories, as the cost would mount, and I've seen many similar factories by now. Also a case of still having a desire to put some k's behind me...

This morning, flanked by sugar cane, and later banana plantations, I pressed on, and soon spotted my first kangaroo in the wild, bouncing across the road. Later the vegetation changed to more of a savanna, with thousands of eucalyptus trees, and a temperature to match. At another rest area I had my first touring bike meeting. Although I have seen a number of bikes on the road, not many have been carrying much luggage - this couple had a trailer behind them! I have still to meet a foreign motorcyclist; these two were heading down from Cairns to Canberra. Still, a pleasant meeting, and I made a nice pot of instant noodles on my cooker - so good being self-sufficient.

This afternoon, my bike ticked over the 40000km mark (although I've realised the speedo is about 10% out, so I am quoting GPS distances from here on), and I have now reached a place with a menagerie lion running through it - Rockhampton. I intend to stay here tomorrow, and have a day off, hopefully get to a church somewhere, and possibly visit the Capricorn Caverns, but I'm not sure if they're all they're cracked up to be. I am glad that all the motor camps seem to have pools, though!

I don't know when I'm going to be able to upload photos, as most Internet cafe's don't have floppy drives, and they are getting progressively more expensive, although there is still much variation ($2/hour up to $8/hr). [Photos uploaded 1 March 2005]

Until next time...

Ferny Grove, QLD, Australia (Day 10, 82 km)

Weeheeeee!

Yes, 82 km on the clock, back to the home of the Glaums to try to fit everything on the bike... hmm.

This short posting is just to confirm I am out of the clutches of the ports, etc, and am free to roam where I will.

A _huge_ thank-you seems insufficient for Fred, Anne, Tom and Ben, not only for having me to stay for so long, but particularly Fred for helping me at the port this morning.

Next posting will be north of here!

Byron Bay, NSW, Australia (Day 8, 0 km)

Hi all

On Friday morning I caught a train down to Burleigh Heads, on the Gold Coast, where I spent a laid-back day and the night, before catching a bus (15 min) back to Surfer's Paradise for a quick look-see, and then a Greyhound bus down to Byron Bay (170 km south of Brisbane) just into New South Wales.

The past 4 days have consisted of camping, reading, a little walking, at least 2 swims a day in the lovely warm sea, and yesterday, a bit more sun exposure than intended. After a nice, relaxing time, I headed back to Brisbane today to see if I can start to get this show on the road. After all, I'm not here to relax!

(The other side of Brisbane that I neglected to mention before are the prolific security cameras in all the parks, stations and other public places, as well as signs warning of spot fines for smoking, crossing the railway tracks, etc - makes me feel a little bit like Singapore...)

Anyhow, the bike has been unpacked, and Quarantine are scheduled to hopefully have a look at it tomorrow, after which I may be allowed near it, unless they decide to clean it or something. So all going well, I _could_ be on my way by Thursday... I spent the rest of the afternoon mucking about, like going up the Brisbane City Hall's clocktower (just before it struck 3, and cleared the cobwebs out!) and not a lot else.

As to the trip down south, Surfer's Paradise and the rest of the Gold Coast were much as expected, and as most of you already know - high-rises abound (they are just building the "tallest residential building in the world", 88 floors of it), huge amounts of commercialism and attractions to take your money off you, scantily clad people, etc. One day I will come back with some mates and hit the theme parks, but they're not really individual activities, in my opinion. The beach, waves and sea were nice, though.

Byron Bay is still very touristy, but they've passed ordinances to prevent high-rises, as well as banning McD's, etc - the whole place tries to maintain a very eco-friendly, organic, crystal/incense/spiritual image. On the whole, I found it a lot more pleasant than the Gold Coast, although it was still AUD20 per night to find a patch of grass for my tent! The beach is also broken by some headlands, etc, one of which has a lighthouse on it, and is the most Easterly point of mainland Australia... just. I recommend a few laid-back days there.

As the Burleigh Heads library didn't want to know me because I had no proof of my NZ address, I had bought a couple of novels from the 2nd-hand bookstore, and spent happy times reading in scenic spots.

So far I have seen the Rosetta Stone, and Michaelangelo's David, neither of which had I known were housed in Australia.

Ever closer...

Brisbane, Australia (Day 3, 0 km)

Well, for a city, Brisbane seems to be nice - I'm acclimatising well to being slightly warmer (and damper) than I'm used to, the public transport system (trains, busses and ferries) is all interlinked, regular, and well-supported. I've spent 3 days now walking around looking at things in between trying to get the right forms, and, while this wouldn't have been my first choice, I haven't been bored. The whole "river with many bridges" setup is something I'm quite used to from Hamilton, and it has its fair share of parks, with trees to lie beneath, etc. Some things (like petrol) appear cheaper than the exchange rate should allow, although I noticed in passing that sushi seems to be more expensive. Many businesses are the same as NZ, although there are a few very minor differences too - instead of the prolific dairy, they have many "newsagents" where you can buy magazines, chewing-gum and smokes, as one might expect. If someone asks if you have a "trigger" they want to know if you can light their cigarette, and people study at TAFE's, which I assume are like polytechs. Anyway, I'll stop showing my ignorance of ways Australian.

Following on from the Day 1 report - While looking for a cinema I spied somebody wondering by with togs and a towel, and he was friendly enough to show me a free swimming pool by the riverside all made up to look like a tropical beach. It was a much appreciated opportunity to freshen up, and I had good company for a bit with an Englishman I met in the pool. Feeling much better, I eventually found the cinema but nothing really appealed so I wondered back, and slept on the grass for a while. Feeling refreshed, I found a Nepalese Pagoda, with all sorts of intriguing carvings, close-up photos of which I must omit in the interests of family-safe viewing... After wondering around a bit more, and seeing some more parks, gardens, and the outside of the town hall, I caught the train to meet my hosts for the next few days.

Fred and Anne Glaum, and their two sons Tom and Ben, are friends of my parents from before they were married (well the sons weren't on the scene back then...). They have very generously opened up their home to me, and allowed me to stay while I am going through the process of getting my bike released from customs. I even got a packed lunch today! Their home is about 20 minutes' drive from the last station on the line, so I have relied on being able to be picked up and dropped off when required - thankfully I have easily been able to co-incide with the transport arrangements of their two sons. The advantage to being out here is the peacefulness and the natural surroundings - yesterday a fairly large goanna wondered across their lawn, and other animal life is not uncommon (read carpet-snakes, spiders and little biting ants :-) ).

In any case, yesterday I established that my forms had arrived from NZ at the shipping company office, so I caught a train out there, paid their fee, and went immediately to customs to start the process there, however, although they were very helpful and polite, my shipment wasn't yet available on their system. I discovered a few more sights, including another parkland, incorporating themed gardens, a mini tropical rain-forest, and the like. Today I went to customs first thing, but still all I got was politeness. I spent the morning browsing the Queensland Museum - although museums aren't my first choice of activity, I found it an interesting place - partly because it was so Queensland-focussed, and I was able to see specimens of all the unusual Australian wildlife, especially all those ones that might possibly cause me trouble (box jellyfish, specific snake varieties, and to a lesser extent scorpions and centipedes). Plenty of other interesting things to occupy me anyway (amazingly colourful birds, butterflies, thorny devils, etc... and have you seen fossilized faeces before?), until I struck the customs jackpot at 2.30, and was able to spend a happy 45 minutes or so with the people trying to figure out what they needed to do, and being very apologetic at the delays, although, for a government department, I was very impressed and pleased.

Anyway, now that I have all the customs and quarantine forms that I need, I still need to have the goods checked by quarantine, which can only happen when the container actually gets unpacked and my crate becomes available - this is a shipping company delay, rather than anything bearaucratic. So I am planning on going down tomorrow to explore the Gold Coast and a few other places until Monday or Tuesday, as there seems little point in hanging around here for now.

I spent the afternoon after that exploring the city gardens, including a mangrove swamp and another bridge, and caught the 5.20 back to here, where I must leave you, until next time, when I will be just a little closer to actually riding my bike.

Brisbane, Australia (Day 1)

Hi to all. It's a lovely, warm day here in Brisbane. The flight was reasonably uneventful - a slight delay due to a sick crew member being replaced, and some mild turbulence. We arrived in Brisbane just after a planeload from Japan and another from Singapore, but eventually we got through cutoms and quarantine, and they let me keep my milkpowder, honey and assorted other food. (Random Engrish T-shirt spotting: "CARIFOLNIA")

Caught the train to town, and after wandering around town for a bit, found out where to go to start filling out forms - another half-hour train ride and a short walk. But the trains here are great, very smooth and regular. True to form, I ended up (successfully?) giving directions to some random person who wanted to know if they were on the correct platform...

Anyhow, the forms couldn't be done today, and I've been told to expect everything to possibly take until Wednesday, so the trip may be off to a slow start... I've looked around Brisbane Central a bit, but now maybe I'll go and catch a movie or something, because I'm tired of carrying my bag around.

Love to all...

Hamilton, New Zealand (Day Minus-1)

One more day to go... the packing is nearly complete, and the numerous lists are shrinking quickly. Welcome to my trip log, where I will be attempting to keep everyone informed as to the happenings, adventures, ups and downs.

In the mean time, please go to http://anton.architype.co.nz/ for some photos taken while still in NZ.

For those interested in the technical bike details, http://puzzlemint.com/xl250/ is a good place to start.