Category Archives: Blog in english

Blog in english

One day, many cyclists: on perfect days and making do

Leave a comment

September 5th, 2015

Annika and Roberto over at Tasting Travels came up with a wonderful idea: They picked a date (September 5th 2015) and invited lots of cycling friends to document that day. Timetables, cycled distances, food, encounters and problems and everything else. We thought it was a great idea and immediately decided to participate. Then September 5th rolled around and we took it quite seriously and that started with taking a lot of pictures during that day. Way more than we usually take. It was actually even a bit exhausting to remember taking all those pictures. But we did. The next thing was to document all the thoughts, problems and wonderful little things that we encountered on that day. In order to do that in a disciplined way you would typically write that down or even better write this blog entry on the same evening or the next day. Well, we are not that disciplined. The next day was spent with our wonderful hosts relaxing from 5 days of hard cycling. And so some time passed and about a week later we found out that one of our cameras was missing and we lost a lot of pictures from September 5th. So, long story short – this is sort of a compromise, we’re going to make do with what we have. That on the other hand is not a bad motto for cycle touring after all!

Here’s our day (posted about two month later as we are still behind with our blog):

5:45am: Our alarm clock rings for the first time. And then many more times. Oh, how we love the Snooze-function!

7:00am: We actually get moving. It’s another beautiful day in Home Hill, Northern Queensland, Australia. Last night we pitched our tent on the Showgrounds in Home Hill. Many of the Showgrounds in Australia are open for Campers when there is nothing else going on. We especially appreciate the showers and toilets for very little money.

So we finally decide to get up with slumber still lingering in our eyes…

107:20am: We are in the middle of our daily process of packing up. Our ‘house’ has to fit in our panniers and backpacks, so we roll up the sleeping bag and mats, dissemble the tent and pack everything else. We usually try to do that before having breakfast as not to waste too much time afterwards.

27:40am: Torsten fires up our MSR Whisperlite to make some coffee – something we rarely go without. As it’s quite windy we really appreciate the windscreen! Apart from that our breakfast usually consists of muesli. As we only have oats left we spice it up with chai spice – not too bad!

3408:40am: Everything is packed, water bottles are filled up and we are ready to go!

509:00am: We’re cycling along the Bruce Highway towards Townsville. The sun is shining and we are thankful for every cloud to have a little break from it. Queensland is also called ‘The Sunshine State’ and that couldn’t be more true for us. We had exceptionally beautiful weather so far.

609:30am: Our first stop of the day is at the Coles supermarket where we get some more food. Surprisingly Lisi is hungry yet again and has her second breakfast of the day. This time it’s fresh bread, cream cheese with cracked pepper (was on sale 😉 ) and juice.

10:30am: We’re on the road again. Dark clouds are looming over us, but we stay dry.

7We are surrounded by sugar cane which seems to be the most popular crop in this area. With cycling you can actually smell the sugar cane – it’s like a taste of caramel in the air!

8Sadly we see lots of roadkill, mostly kangaroos and wallabies. Usually we smell them before we see them and the stench of dead animal is quite strong in this hot climate.

 12:20pm: Lunchbreak, Fruit: Roadside stall/warehouse with fresh honeydew melons (and more) invites us to make use of their chairs & table. Great! The road is missing picnic areas today, and shade. Apart from fruit there’s baguette, Nutella, Jam, Cheese … pretty much our usual Australian lunch, if there’s no leftovers from the day before.

13:30pm: As the land around us is quite dry (save for the irrigated crops of course), bush fires are not uncommon. Streets often work as fire brakes, so this is why our left side looks rather brown and the right side is all lush and green:

9 1014:20pm: Only 37k to go! And by the way – if you’re looking for your Aims and goals in life – they might be here! 😉

1114:30pm: Flat, third in a row of three days, sucks. But what can you do? Schwalbe Marathon tyres are waiting for us in Cairns 🙂

15:15pm: Roadhouse with chairs – but again, there should be a picnic area … well, we kill our pineapple and have more fruit (it’s a hot day), cookies and resist the temptation for overpriced chips and ice cream.

 16:30pm: Arrived in Townsville a bit earlier than planned – this is rather unusual – and as it was a very hot and humid day we could do with a bit of downtime before meeting with our hosts. So we decide to indulge in one of our guilty pleasures and go for a coffee at Hungry Jacks (much cheaper and only a little worse than at regular cafes) Sometimes it’s really nice to just have a bit of time for yourself and not do much.

 16:50pm: We go shopping for some food and wine as we don’t like to come empty handed to our hosts.  Coles doesn’t have a liquor department here, so we stumble upon another drive in liquor store where people stay in their cars while someone tends to all of their alcohol needs. Funny, somewhat!

 17:20pm: Finally, we make it to our destination for today: Kay, our warmshowers host welcomes us warmly and we couldn’t feel more at home. She and her husband have the most beautiful and inspiring house: It is built in a way that air flows through naturally which works as a natural cooling system. It is surrounded by native plants, a green green garden and a pool! All these perks remain for another day though as we make ourselves at home in our comfy guest room and soon after get to know each other over wine and snacks all the while we are preparing dinner.

12 13Today was a good day. We managed to cycle 98k which was quite easy given the flat terrain and the favourable winds. Yes, we could have gotten up earlier and thus avoided some of the worst heat, but oh well, maybe someday we will. Not much did happen today, it was mostly quiet cycling along the same old highway. But still, there were all the big and small things which make it a perfect day of cycling: enough sun to feel good, enough clouds to give your skin a break, funny road signs, a yummy fruit stand with a table in the shade, drivers giving us thumbs-up and us feeling capable of going the distance. And to top it all we got to meet Kay and enjoyed ourselves immensely in her wonderful company. It felt just like coming home after a trip and that’s really what makes it a perfect day! And there’s pear crumble for dessert:

14

Blog in english

Uncomfortable in Bowen

1 Comment

p1110929Our host Peter told us that the only place to experience the Great Barrier Reef directly next to the coast would be Bowen. Usually you have to go with a tour and pay for a boat to take you out to snorkel or dive. But in Bowen you can snorkel directly from the beach as the reef is very close! Sounds great!

p1110908So we cycle north, find beautiful back roads for the most part, camp once with about 50 other campers and once alone in a dried out river bed. We fight a lot with headwinds and I have a hard time cycling into Bowen. Dealing with my motivation is getting better, but at some point headwinds are just no fun. Period.

p1110949In Bowen we head to a camp site as the local council is pretty strict about free camping. Once we arrive we find out that the town is quite touristy which reflects in the high prices for everything. We settle for the cheapest camp site only to find that reception seems to be closed and no one answers the phone either. It’s not a nice camp site anyway – there is almost no space and it looks more like a crowded parking lot. But we have to stay somewhere. So we wait for about half an hour and still nothing. That’s when we start to get a bit frustrated as we want to get settled in, leave all our stuff here and go to a different beach to snorkel. I try to call a second time, but again no one answers.

So we decide to make some coffee and have a little snack. And to use the shower. I’m a bit concerned that it might be rude to just use the facilities without having checked in but Torsten is unconcerned stating that we are going to stay here anyway. So we shower and that was the best idea in a long time!

After about one and a half hours of waiting we finally decide to leave. We don’t like it here anyway and it’s quite expensive on top. So we plan to go to the other beach, snorkel and then just cycle out of town and free camp somewhere. Of course, just when we cycle out, the owner arrives and nonchalantly asks if it was me calling about staying here. However, I still ask about prices to stay here only to find out that they have even gone up. No thank you.

p1110951So, off to the beach it is and once we arrive I can only laugh about everything: We talk to some people who just snorkelled and they tell us that the water is murky and you can’t see much. Well, so much for that plan.

It’s funny sometimes: We usually don’t go for touristy things or for the must-sees because we care much more for all the small things and encounters by the road. We both really like being spontaneous and being surprised by what the day brings. Still, sometimes we get caught up in the must-sees and dos and snorkelling in Bowen was one of those things and it got us all stressed out.

Once we ditch that plan it’s actually kind of nice. The beach is not too bad and after a snack we go for a nice swim and talk with a local who just loves living here and going for a swim every day. And just as we  decide to leave we meet another local who invites us to set up camp in his backyard. We enthusiastically agree and thus this weird day continues.

p1110952Over the course of the next few hours we make dinner for ourselves and our very helpful host, get talked several ears of and listen to his view about the second world war and how the holocaust was all a masterpiece of Jewish propaganda and completely untrue. He is a Jew himself by the way.

We try to discuss, try to understand where his views come from, but it’s like talking to a wall. At some point Torsten just leaves but I stay listening politely, trying to argue, trying to find a way out of this conversation. I get this churning feeling in my stomach as my core beliefs are attacked and I feel increasingly uncomfortable with our host. Finally I manage to say that I heard enough and we say good night.

I just want to go to bed with a pillow over my head but Torsten convinces me to go to the beach and talk it out. And we do talk and it’s really good. We talk about where our boundaries lie and how it’s hard sometimes to hold those boundaries when someone invites you into their home and you feel grateful for that. We talk about how we want to learn from many people on this journey and how sometimes it’s important to listen and how sometimes it’s important to say what we think and need. We’ll have a long way to figure all of that out.

p1110954For now, with the crushing waves and the sand under my feet, I feel calm again and for that I’m grateful.

Blog in english

The art of doing nothing – relaxing in Mackay

2 Comments

p1110875_v1After long stretches of pastures and nothing else we were finally back with people. We reached our host Peter’s house while he wasn’t at home and followed his instructions to make ourselves at home. He and his wife Jacki live in a beautiful Queenslander house and we couldn’t have appreciated the quiet and relaxing surroundings any more.

On the first evening Peter took us to meet some of his friends which are all active in environmental politics and action in Mackay. It was fun getting to know them over home made pizza and beers. Sadly I was also very tired after all those long cycling days, so we turned in quite soon.

p1110847On the next morning, after a long breakfast, we all cycled to the waterfront where a boat race with funny boats was supposed to take place. And fun it was – different groups of people build all kinds of colourful vessels and proceeded to through rotten fruit at each other before doing a little river loop.

p1110863After that Torsten and I cycled along the river for a bit which has beautiful cycle / walking paths and discovered the botanical garden. But we both felt unusually tired and not very keen on more exploring. So we decided to buy some food and cycle back ‘home’ and just relax. And that’s just what we did. With one or two coffees and a book some previous cyclist left in our guest room I settled on the balcony and was very happy to while away the afternoon.

p1110861Sometimes it’s a bit hard to decide just to do nothing while travelling. There is always something to see, new cities to discover, more trails to wander, beaches to stay at and people to meet. But as I said, lately it feels a bit like having a full time job sometimes as we’re constantly doing things. And I need more time to process everything to stay sane as well as my body needs time to rebuild its energy resources with breaks in between cycling days.  So for the next few days we’re not doing much except for reading, talking with our generous hosts, eating and having coffees. It’s all about just being for now. And that’s just what we need.

Blog in english

Changing routines: introducing siesta in Central Queensland

Leave a comment
p1110873_v1
Waking up surrounded by palm trees

Today, I woke up, feeling well rested as there were no alarms disturbing my sleep prematurely. So after staying in bed a little while longer, I got up. Thinking it would already be quite late, I grabbed my phone to check the time. It was barely 8am. And I had slept IN!
I remember listening to my parents talking about their weekend routines and saying something about sleeping in. Meaning sleeping until 8 or 9am. This concept was incomprehensible to me as sleeping in meant sleeping until 10 or 11am at least! So here I was, feeling rested and ready to start the day at 8am. And thinking about changing routines.

p1110954
Temperatures are rising

Some time back when we first started our tour I remember talking about how we should change our daily routine and get up earlier to have more time for cycling in daylight. Getting up early would be even more important once we’d be in areas too hot for cycling during the midday heat. I also remember thinking that all of this was still a very long time away.
Well, here we are now. Since we took a turn towards central Queensland (away from the coast) a few days ago, I changed into my lightest cycling shirt, applied 50+ sunscreen a couple of times per day and felt the distinct need of a nap during lunch time. It was just too hot to cycle.

p1110791_v1
Morning light

So, we had our first siesta that day and did actually manage to get up at around 6am the next day. As it still takes about 2 hours to have breakfast, pack our tent and all our panniers, we left at 8am. And the morning ride was quite enjoyable. Getting up early and being super productive right away is not the easiest thing to do for me – I like to start my days slowly, have a long breakfast, one or two coffees and maybe read a few pages in my book. But this doesn’t seem to be compatible with bicycle touring in a hot climate. Torsten suggested that I just have to switch that morning downtime to the lunch hours during our long break. So that’s what I’ve been trying to do and I guess it’s better than tackling hills and headwinds under a scaldering midday sun.

But, you know, this is why sleeping until 8am feels like sleeping in and being really lazy now. And don’t worry, that’ll change again.

 

Blog in english

Of inner monsters and lacking motivation

3 Comments
p1110765_v1
Beautiful empty road

Ever eager to get away from highways and traffic we took our future host Peter’s recommendation to cycle the old Marlborough-Sarina Road towards Mackay.

p1110769_v1
Dead snake

Over the course of three days we would cycle along the old highway, meet few cars but many kangaroos (which are always too quick for pictures though) and a snake and experience sun, lots of hills, rather strong headwinds and meet Bruce. And in the middle I would get a lesson in self motivation.

Setting out, we carried way too much food as there was only a small and expensive store in the middle of the highway. And as you know I’m a bit crazy when it comes to food.

p1110781_v1
Dry cattle paddocks

Still the first day was enjoyable, albeit the terrain started to get drier and we couldn’t find any of those waterholes Peter described to us. It hadn’t rained for a long time in this area. There was little shade and the sun was really strong. So while we were taking a little break someone stopped to have a chat and that’s how me met Bruce.

p1110773_v1
Us by Bruce

On his way to a work meeting he preferred the quiet road as well. And we couldn’t believe our luck when he opened his esky and gave us an iced coffee! Seriously, nothing is more amazing than an iced drink on a hot day like that! He even promised to meet up with us again the next day.

p1110771
Bruce and Torsten

In the evening we made it to Clarke Creek, a small settlement in the middle of large pastures. The school principal allowed us to set up camp in the school yard – how very cool!

p1110790
School yard camp site

The next day we tried to get up early to avoid the midday heat. Well, we left at 8am, that is something for us ;). The morning cycling was quite enjoyable as it wasn’t that hot yet. As the day progressed it got more and more exhausting though.

p1110778_v1
Hills in the distance

Somehow the mix of being really away from people, from water and constantly fighting with hills and headwinds in combination under the relentless sun got to me. I was grumpy, did not want to cycle anymore and let Torsten know how beat I was. Repeatedly.

p1110784_v1
Dry dry land

It was really bad until I realized something. It was not my body that couldn’t cope. Quite contrary to the beginning of this trip when I often had to stop during hills to rest my legs, my body wasn’t tired. Sure, the sun was exhausting but my legs were doing fine. It was me, my mind, my motivation that was lacking energy. And as all of Torsten’s attempts to better my mood weren’t really successfull, I realized that I will have to deal with self motivation in order to make this trip an enjoyable one.

And so I tried different strategies which I don’t remember in too much detail now. What had probably the most effect was the realization itself and thus the separation of my feelings from the conclusion. Before I felt bad because I thought I’m tired and this is too exhausting for my body and that’s why I can’t cycle any more. Later I was still tired from the sun but my muscles were fine and I realized I had to find ways to keep myself occupied. Thinking good thoughts rather than all the bad ones (this sucks, this is boring, I don’t want to). Usually this isn’t that big of a problem but with the scenery not changing much and hill after hill and constant headwinds it can get boring and frustrating.

And then we met Bruce again who gave us chilled yoghurt (oh, so good!!) and isotonic drinks out of the freezer. Thank you so much, Bruce!!

In the evening, after a long hard day, we met two fellow campers who were on the lookout for rare birds and we enjoyed talking, laughing and sharing stories. And I realized one more thing. People just make everything so much better. And my lack of motivation had a lot to do with being away from people, too. As beautiful as being alone in nature is, sharing that with someone and connecting with people really is a gift.

Blog in english

Bicycle touring, the full time job

1 Comment

As much as I like riding my bike – and I enjoy travelling by bike immensely – sometimes this bicycle tour feels like a full time job with unpaid extra hours. Lately it seems to me that I’m always busy.
So usually we get up by 7 or 8 am, have breakfast and pack up our gear. That can be a quick affair when we are staying at a someone’s house and haven’t spread our stuff too much or a slightly longer affair when we have to break camp.

Our already deflated tent between lots of campervans on the Marlborough Hotel Grounds
Breaking camp on the Marlborough Hotel Grounds

Most days we are on the road between 9 and 10am. We then cycle for about 30k and have our lunch break. After that we cycle some more (between 30 and 80k) until we reach some sort of destination or are just too tired to continue or it gets dark. In between we usually take more breaks, to eat, to take pictures or have some juice or other rather unhealthy drinks. When we reach our destination for the day we settle in to talk to our hosts or set up camp and make ourselves at home. Mostly we’re hungry at that point so dinner or afternoon tea is quite important then.

p1110467
Making coffee. We do use our stove for cooking as well, though ;).

To facilitate these days with all the riding we usually do lots of things in between: Finding supermarkets and grocery shopping being high on the list. Our favourites for fruit and vegetables are roadside stalls selling local produce.

p1110390
Road side stall

We also have to find water mostly daily as we can only carry so much. Sometimes that’s an easy affair as there may be public toilets with drinking water or just water taps on the beach. Sometimes there is just nothing around only dry land and a farmhouse with a rainwater tank is our only option.

Our camp stoves run with gas canisters or white gas / petrol, so once we are low we have to find fuel. Other errands include finding a bike store selling the brake pads we need, going to the Poste Restante Office to pick up a parcel, bike maintenance like cleaning and lubing the chain and cassette, fixing flats, changing tyres and so on.

And of course we usually dedicate some part of our day to the task of route planning (see where we are in our world map). That is usually done in several stages: Now for example we talk about which islands of Indonesia we want to visit as it is still very far away. Regarding Australia we decided today which road we are going to take for the next four days (this was an easy one as there are basically only two options to reach Mackay) and sometimes we only decide in the morning which small roads we are going to take exactly. Or while standing at an intersection. But still, this is quite an important part.

Another part of the day is taken up by long term planning like how to leave Australia (boat / flight) and which type of visa would be the best for Indonesia. And once every few days we talk about areas that lie even further in the future (mostly SE Asia at the moment).

All in all that is a LOT to do and think about. One of the hardest parts is for me, that very rarely we manage to check these things of our lists in a straight forward kind of manner. Mostly something unexpected happens or we can’t find what we want / need or we just run out of time. It’s not like at home where you find out once where you buy food or sporting equipment or where the water tap is.

p1110741_v1
One of the easier found water sources at Tom’s beautiful house in Rockhampton.

We are finding out about these things all the time every day. And that can go smoothly sometimes and be incredibly exhausting other times. Just like a full time job with lots and lots of overtime. What I miss is time to just be and not have anything planned. Time without errands but time to read and write. Time to get to know someone or time to be alone.

I very often relax once I’m sitting on my bike because then I have time to let my thoughts wander a bit or just concentrate on riding. And for the rest we decided that we need to give ourselves more time and take more rest days (that’s what we call the days when we don’t ride but have time for work and errands) and manage to have some down time as well. In that spirit – I’m off!

 

Blog in english

Festival and Freakouts – on leaving that comfort zone

1 Comment

When we asked Tom for a place to stay in Rockhampton, he replied inviting us to come along to the Yeppoon Village Festival where he would be staying that weekend or just come to his house and make ourselves at home. Wow, I like those options!

As we would arrive in Rockhampton rather late we opted to stay a night at his house and then meet him at the festival the day after. After our longest day so far (111km) we were blown away when we saw Tom’s house. Built some time ago in a typical Queenslander fashion on poles, he renovated it and I’m in love with the toilet and bathroom:

p1110741_v1

p1110745After our first tour of the house Torsten cycled off to do some grocery shopping for dinner and breakfast. We had already seen the supermarket on our way in but wanted to get settled first. About an hour later he returned with cider and beer but no groceries. Well it seems that Rockhampton’s supermarkets close at 5pm on Sundays. And suddenly I’m just utterly exhausted and disappointed by not getting the food I’m craving. I feel like a 4 year old being denied something and not being able to understand why. It’s not that we’re going to starve – we still have enough and Tom generously invited us to his fridge as well – but somehow I’m well out of my comfort zone food wise lately.

Torsten carries our food panniers and as eating out is quite expensive in Australia, we usually cook ourselves. We normally stock up in bigger supermarkets (cheaper) and buy fruit and vegetables in roadside stalls and a few little things we need in smaller shops. Usually that works fine and we both do enjoy cooking and being able to cook as we like it. But: The things we’re able to carry in our panniers are limited after all. That means that sometimes our food choices are limited as well. At home I used to live 5 minutes away from a supermarket and if I had any craving I would just pop over. That system really doesn’t work with bicycle touring. Sometimes we’re in luck and the next supermarket isn’t too far away or we just bought the item I want but sometimes you have to suck it up and settle for what you have.

To my own surprise that hasn’t always been easy for me. Now I could come to all sort of conclusions why that is – being spoilt with too many choices is one of them. But my likeliest conclusion is that food and (known) food choices provide some sort of security. Being able to satisfy my needs with something I know and knowing how to do that can provide a feeling of security and comfort. And sometimes that is very important especially after a day of cycling and being confronted with all sorts of new things and people.

p1110730_v1When we went to the festival the next day it took us a while to orientate ourselves, to find places and the music we like. In the end we did and it was really enjoyable. There was this one singer, Sahara Beck, who has an amazingly powerful voice and it was a gift listening to her. And we finally met Tom and his friends and I really enjoyed talking to him and finding out about his job protecting the Great Barrier Reef from agricultural soil washouts.

In the end I believe it’s always going to be worth it. There is always going to be good food – it might just be different from what I’m expecting. And there is always going to be those wonderful gifts of listening to a new singer or meeting inspiring people. Sometimes it might take longer or you may have to take a different approach. And you never really know how it’ll turn out. That is a whole lot of what travelling is about. Being okay with the unexpected, dealing with new things, leaving that comfort zone. And then finding comfort in unexpected ways, over and over again.

 

Blog in english

Rest days and rain

Leave a comment

Today is all about rest. Yesterday was too exhausting and I need a day or two off the bike. So our goal for today is to cycle to the camp site that we wanted to be at yesterday and do nothing for the remainder of the day. Of course my tyre is flat, so after patching up some tubes and getting more food, we’re on our way at the not so early hour of 11am. But I don’t mind at all, we only have to cycle 13k today. And so we do. It’s wonderfully flat and we arrive at Bush Chooks Travellers Village in no time. And from now on all is good. Chris, the owner welcomes us with the warmest smile and lots of laughs and I feel immediately at home and very comfortable.

p1110705_v1
Tent Area with pool

We set up our tent and I just love the setting of the camp site. It’s indeed a little village with a grassy area for tents and caravans in the middle and some cabins around. And last but not least there is a perfectly stocked camp kitchen which is an awesome change to our camp stove! I think we need about 5 minutes to decide to stay for two nights ;).

p1110703And then Chris and his wife make us the best present ever: They upgrade us from our tent site to a cabin! With our own attached bathroom!

Best relaxing stay at Bush Chooks Travellers Village with Free Upgrade from Tent to a comfortable bed with...
Best relaxing stay at Bush Chooks Travellers Village with free Upgrade from Tent to a comfortable bed with…
... our own bathroom!!!
… our own bathroom!!!

Seriously, at this point of our trip this feels like heaven. And so we spend the next days with doing a lot of nothing, eating and some blogging, working and more eating. This is all we need right now! Thank you so so much, Chris!

The next two days are easy because there are almost no hills. We cycle about a 100k to Gladstone where we learn about Trivia Games to stay awake on the road:

p1110707I didn’t really have problems with staying awake on the bicycle so far but you never know :). Apart from that we cycle on the highway and there is not much happening except for… rain! It hasn’t really been raining since we started in Sydney so this is quite new and actually very refreshing. It’s a light and warm but very dense rain so over the course of the day we get drenched a few times and then completely dry again and so on. But I’m really grateful for a break of the sun!

In Gladstone we meet our host Stephen who has a big house and hosts lots of couchsurfers. We enjoy talking with him, eating together and trying some of his home made alcohol ;). The only shame is that we didn’t get to enjoy his very own outdoor movie theater which is seriously very cool and I so want to have one when I live in one place some time in the future! Thanks for sharing your home with us Stephen!

Cycling out of Gladstone we have a strange encounter: While we stop on the shoulder of a not too busy road to take a picture, a man in a car stops on the road behind us. We continue taking pictures and he continues to wait. We consider that a little strange and move our bikes on to the grass thinking that he might be bothered by us taking pictures on the shoulder. He drives past us and stops a few meters down the road. He gets out of the car and then the following dialogue occurs:

He: “Do you know that I can’t overtake you when you are an the shoulder like that as there is a line in the middle of the road that I’m not allowed to cross and I have to give you a meter space?”

I say: “I’m sorry but that is not true as we just looked that up on the Queensland Government Page. You are allowed to cross single and even double lines on the road to give cyclists the necessary space of a meter.”

He: “No, that’s not right. You’re wrong.”

Me: “We really just looked that up on the Government Homepage.”

He: “No, that’s not…

You get the gist. While the conversation went on like that for a little while, Torsten looked it up again and showed it to him.

He: “Oh really, oh I didn’t know that. Well then I guess we all learned something today.”

Eerm, sure.

p1110716For the rest of the day the road and the weather looks approximately like in the picture above. I still enjoy the occasional rain but am also grateful for a petrol station with some shelter to eat and have coffee. And we are blessed with a tailwind that blows us right into Rockhampton. Here we are going to stop for a few days again as the Yeppoon Village Festival is not too far away but more on that next time!

 

Blog in english

In the woods

Leave a comment

p1110619A new day on the bike begins and it’s a quiet day on back roads. Soon after leaving Rae and Bob’s house we stop and Torsten fixes his wobbling front rack. After that I’m lost in my own thoughts while peacefully cycling over hills and gravel roads. I feel a bit sad, too. Meeting Rae and Bob was just wonderful: I haven’t laughed that much in a long time and we connected really quickly. So leaving was hard and I miss them.

p1110621During our lunch break two farmers stop to inquire if we saw some of their fugitive cows. We decline and talk  bit about our trip. Apart from that not much happens today and we find a place to camp when it gets dark.

p1110631_v1I stomp around loudly to scare snakes away and then we each have a half-bottle shower. Not the most fun thing to do but water is scarce here and our supplies are low.

So our first mission for the next morning is to cycle to a nearby village where we find a kind lady who lets us fill our water bottles on her tank. We chat a little bit and then cycle on to have breakfast on the beach. I could get used to this:

p1110638

p1110649 Later in the day while cycling into Maryborough we discover this awesome bat colony:

p1110660After resupplying in Maryborough our rather long hunt for a place to sleep begins. We mostly use On- and Offline Navigation on our phones and so far that has worked quite well. But today Google Maps suggests a route that just doesn’t exist. So we end up between pineapple fields and forests instead of a place with a shower. But oh well, we manage to find a well enough hidden clearing in the woods and make camp, yet again. In the morning we have a beautiful breakfast next to a small lake…

p1110662 and a pineapple field.

p1110668After that another beautiful cycling day begins. I just love the light and the colours in Australia which makes picture taking very easy: Land and Sky:

p1110669Sugar cane fields aplenty:

p1110675And sugar cane fires (courtesy of sugar mills) to go with that:

p1110680Today, in dire need of a shower, we end up camping next to Avondale Tavern. One of many taverns / pubs which offer a place to camp in exchange for your patronage. Right before the last hill I suddenly find it very exhausting to cycle and feel almost as slow as I was in the beginning when cycling uphill. That is disappointing on a whole new level until I look down and discover my very first flat of the tour. Oh well, it couldn’t have come at a better time! I pump up the tyre quickly, climb up the hill and decide to fix the tyre in the morning. For now we enjoy a couple of beers and even more so the shower in the portable loo / shower / sink block. What a combination ;)!

The next day is a hard one. We found a nice camp site in a small village but will have to cycle about 110km to get there. That alone would be enough but we haven’t factored in the hills and – of course – the headwinds that come on rather strong today as well. At some point it gets quite clear that pushing on is getting more and more exhausting for me and it’s getting dark as well. We considerate finding a free camp but have no such luck as all of the land is either fenced off or otherwise not accessible. Torsten is not too bothered as he has still energy aplenty but when we only have about 10k to go I just want to be done cycling. As we also don’t have enough food for tomorrow, we soon decide to stay in a nearby caravan park next to a Caltex station. It’s basically one caravan next to another right next to a gas station meaning right next to the road.

p1110696This must be the most uninspired place we have stayed so far and I don’t really like it but at least they have fries and we don’t have to cook tonight. So we’re off to bed with a TV show and tomorrow is another day.

 

 

 

 

Blog in english

From city life to paradise

Leave a comment

p1110426

City life

On the next day we’re on our way to Brisbane. It’s an easy day of cycling and I realize once more that my muscles are getting stronger. 75km doesn’t seem like much any more – cool!

In Brisbane we find cool coffee vans (mmh, future business opportunity? 😉 )…

p1110429diverse markets with yummy veggies for dinner…

p1110431old and new buildings…

p1110462and some local wildlife. Scaary. p1110446We also spend quite some time in the library and get work / blogging done and plan our route and write warmshowers requests. And we make use of the big city with all its camping and bicycle stores and buy even more gear like a fuel bottle for our stove. We now proudly present to you our new cooking set up – the MSR Whisperlite:

p1110467I did a lot of research on camp stoves for our tour. We used gas stoves for hiking in New Zealand and were quite happy with them. But in Australia gas cartridges are reasonably hard to find and as we mostly cook ourselves, using gas doesn’t come cheap when you do more than ramen noodles. In addition to that I wanted to be able to get fuel for our stove basically everywhere in the world and that always led back to stoves that run on white gas and petrol. (Or alcohol stoves which are a bit slower but still great – in the end it’s more a question of beliefs I think.) So we found a good offer online and had the Whisperlite sent to Brisbane and so far we really love it!! Fuel is cheap, easy to get, the Windscreen helps a lot with the performance and the handling is easy once you know how it works.

All of our relaxed time in Brisbane is made possible by our wonderful hosts, Fiona, Elizabeth and Donald. Fiona who just came back from cycle touring in Europe and Indonesia 6 weeks ago convinced her parents to take in warmshowers guests and we really love staying with them! We take turns cooking dinner, share awesome coffees and have inspiring talks: Fiona does urban planning and it’s really interesting listening to her point of view. And her parents share some stories of their own when she isn’t there ;). Thanks so much to all of you!

On our way…

The next day brings three special encounters:

1. Pineapple fields! I looove pineapples but I’ve never actually seen them grow. These have already been harvested but look at the colours!

p11104722. Rain. Why is this special you ask? Well, in all these weeks (save for some drizzle in the first two days) we haven’t had any rain. So today we had just set up our tent at a rest area near the motorway and literally as we move ourselves and our cooking gear under the stone shelter it starts to rain. And by that I mean sheets of water are hurling down the sky accompanied by gusts of wind, thunder and lightning. And all of that is over in 5 minutes. Surreal.

3. Nice talks by the bonfire. I meet 3 guys who work as plumbers nearby and as they usually live in Brisbane which is too far to drive every day they took up residence at the rest area. We talk about work and life and dreams and ideas.

…to paradise

p1110493
Blue-faced Honey Eater likes my blue bike

The next day is a long one once again. I fight with hills and headwinds and stress myself about reaching our host’s place in time. As we rarely manage to get up early, our days are still quite short. Daylight fades at about 5:30 at the moment and cycling in the dark is just not that much fun as I want to see what’s around me. So I’m torn between the need to cycle fast in order to get to our destination before it gets dark and my need to go slowly enough to avoid premature exhaustion and to enjoy cycling. Today Torsten actually needs to convince me that taking a break and go swimming in the ocean is a good idea (usually I’m always up for taking breaks 😉 ). I just feel rushed and have a hard time to relax: In the end what’s the big deal if it gets a little dark?

But as soon as I’m in the water all the stress fades away and I absolutely enjoy just being right here in this moment. It is so much fun! And I’m even more glad about this break in hindsight because this marks about the only time we went swimming in the ocean in Australia. In the beginning it was a bit too cold and only a short amount of time from now on we would have to share the beach with crocodiles and that just doesn’t make for a nice swimming experience.

After our break we still have about 20k to go and while it’s getting dark a car stops for us and it’s Rae and Bob, our hosts! They were worried about us and came to see if everything is alright! I feel a bit bad about causing them to worry but they are so incredibly nice that all of that is soon forgotten. They take all of our gear and put it in their truck and with our now unloaded bikes we manage the remaining 5k in no time. Rae and Bob wait behind every corner to see if we’re still there – how sweet!

Once we’re in their house I smile once again about that life of ours: I feel so very comfortable with Rae and Bob as we share tales about past and future travels. They radiate warmth and curiosity about life and it’s beyond easy to enjoy cooking and eating and sharing our time together. And so we hesitate about one second when they invite us to stay a second night.

On the next day Rae spoils us with home made fruit smoothies for breakfast and we enjoy them on the balcony:

p1110529After breakfast Rae and Bob take us for walk around their macadamia nut farm and I just can’t wrap my head around how beautiful and green everything is:

p1110522

p1110521

p1110549We get to meet a carpet snake…

p1110504see wallabies hop around…

p1110568_v1admire their busy beehives from a safe distance…

p1110577and see colourful parrots peeking at us:

p1110615And of course we see macadamia nuts grow on trees…

p1110557and watch Rae and Bob separate the nuts from the shell and get to sort the nuts:

p1110587The nuts taste amazingly creamy and we can’t stop stuffing ourselves. But thanks to all the cycling there’s still room for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And snacks in between. 🙂

In the afternoon we take a coastal walk around Noosa Heads which is another perfect part of this day:

p1110596

Rae and Bob, thank you so so much for sharing your time and place with us – it felt like being on a wonderful vacation in nothing less than paradise!

What it’s about

So this is what it’s all about: to get to know people and their life styles, their ideas and dreams and their routines. People in cities and in the hinterland, people in tiny villages and on farms. It may be frustrating sometimes to get to where those people live, there may be obstacles like hills and headwinds or not enough time but in the end it’s just so worth it. Again and again.