South Coast New South Wales, Australia

Hi everyone sorry we have been slow in the updating but it has been busy. We cycled from Sarah and Paul's home in Kerrajong and spent the first night in Camden. It was a lovely day through rolling hills and small towns. Coffee shop stop in the pm. Hot day. The next day another hot day riding through more lovely rolling hills with farms and small towns. Diana was not good at keeping hydrated and got a little heat stroked in the afternoon. We found a caravan park in Mittagong which was home for two days. We had our first close encounter with the parrot wildlife here and visited a lovely cut sandstone Angican Church.

Then we were off again. It rained through the night but cleared in the morning so we pushed off. We had to go through the McQuarie pass which everyone kept warning us about, to get to the coast. It was lovely riding through farming territory, a light rain began mid morning and as we pulled into Robertson it started raining harder. We stopped for coffee and found out we were actually at the top of the pass, the rest was down - imagine our pleasant surprise! Now the down was hairpin and narrow but the rain let up enough to make it pretty good going and fun! We camped that night at Killalea State park. It cleared as we put up our tent but drizzled or rained most of the night and next day. It is a lovely spot cliffs to beautiful ocean beaches. Very hilly towns. Encountered the Australian equivalent of a raven which is a very chatty bird indeed. Also saw a kangaroo again alive. We have also been seeing kangaroo road kill :-(

Much of the next day was through small towns on bike paths and some highway riding. It isn't so bad riding in the rain when it is warm! We finally decided to stay at Werri Beach as it was getting later and the rain was wearing us down. There were some amazing views though. We seem to have missed the worst of the rain there were wash outs and flooding ahead of us on the road but we were thinking it would be clear by the time we got there. Next day clear skies and lovely riding - this is a beautiful place the beaches are fantastic water blue blue. Surfers paradise.

Kiama

We stayed in a lovely campground at Tabourie Lake and these guys came in to see what we had to share with them - nothing of course but they took good photos. So we rode on weather has been great!

lunch

large waves

We decided this is a big country much like Canada and getting to Tasmania which is where we want to get will take longer than our leg power will allow us so we hopped a bus in Narrooma and are now in Melbourne. We have hooked up with the Bike Friday folks in oz. We may do a tour with them the end of March but in the mean time we are going to a bike shop that knows BF's for some tlc before we take the ferry to Tasmania.

Talks to you later.

Diana and Ian

Australia Emergency cell #

Hi Everyone we are in Batemans Bayn New South Wales Australia. This is the south east coast of Australia. We have been putting on miles and not on the computer much. We have had all kinds of weather from sticky hot muggy weather to cool and rainy. There was some hot and rainy too and some lovely breezy warm weather.
For anyone who hasn't gotten this Sarah and Paul lent us a cell phone our emergency number is
0457085864

There of course may be country codes as well consult you phone book for that.

hope to find some time to write soon complete with photos!

love and hug from
diana and ian

Contacting us in Australia

Hey there Mates,
our lovely friends down under here Paul and Sarah have lent us a cell phone for emergency purposes.

The number is  0457085864.

Remember to put the country code with it from where ever you may be calling.

We are planning to hit the road on Tuesday the 9th of February.

We had a fun time this past weekend in Sydney being tourists and taking an Anusara yoga workshop! with Julie Smeardon.

Caio for now.

Diana and Ian

HI from OZ

Sarah and the gang

Hi Everyone

We are having a wonderful time here in OZ. This was the longest flight Diana has ever been on and despite some yoga in the San Diego Airport before the flight it ended up being one of the most uncomfortable due to something she ate likely. There was a boxing match going on in the tummy and major achiness. Having the window seat only helped for resting the head when not making trips to the toilet. Actually it wasn't too bad we landed safely got our bags and through customs relatively quickly. Sarah gave us very exact directions for the train so that went very well also and them Paul picked us up in Penrith and brought us to the lovely abode in Kurrajong. He left us to get settled and went off to the airport to pick up Sarah who was coming in that evening from her last sailing with Australia Customs which is her work. We timed it just right she could have been out for three weeks but she is in for three weeks.

Squirts has been taking us around showing us the lay of the land and helping us plan our cycling down to Tasmania. We went to the rodeo with Amelia and John on Saturday. They live in the lovely town of Bathhurst, we drove up and over the Blue Mountains to get there a lovely drive.

Sarah and Amelia getting ready for the rodeo.

 Sarah used to live up that way and seemed to know everyone. It was quite fun several of us had never been to a rodeo before so that made it all the more fun. The "clown" who gets the bull away from the bull riders was a friend of Sarah's that is him in the rink with the bucking bull and rider.

Brendan and the bull rider

 Typical Australian Rodeo goers.

Kangaroo's

Diana got to see her first real live Kangaroo's on the ride back home. They are in herds like deer in Ontario and Nova Scotian. Apparently Paul says they are just about as much of a nuisance too. The kangaroo bars are for a reason.

We are enjoying the different sounds and smells. The eucalyptus trees and parrots and Cockateels as well as beautiful Wrens and Bell Birds

We took a bike ride up to the cold climat Botanical Gardens at Mount Tomah. The ride was lovely but we got our first taste of how steep some of the riding could be in Australia.

view from the Botanical Park looking over the blue Mountains.

Diana has discovered Passion Fruit mmmmmm.! 

The coffee pot

the espresso pot

Hi Everyone,

We have forgotten to report a major event in our travels. Just before we crossed into Mexico - when we were at the KOA outside of San Diego Ian broke the coffee pot - again. This espresso pot was purchased by Diana in Whitehorse when her friend Gordon was coming up for a visit. Gordon was a big coffee drinker and this seemed the best easiest way to provide coffee while were were car camping around the Yukon and Alaska. That was probably 1991.

This post has faithfully provided a good cup of coffee every time since then. The little knob on the top needed re-securing a one point so I fixed that. Then Ian started taking it on NOLS trips with him one time he broke off the little attachment that the water pushes through - so I fixed it with JB Weld. Another time he lost one of the handle pins - so I replace it with a piece of nail and secured it with JB Weld. Then the handle top got broken so I mended it. Well the little end on the filter broke off again - no need to say who did it but we had no JB Weld and I wasn't sure I could get it to stay on anyways. Ian suggested in light of the difficulty to find coffee beans in Mexico and the difficulty he had had finding white gas for the stove and the weight/space issues with bike travel maybe we should try and go without coffee..... A radical thought!

Well it wasn't that hard for me as I do like tea as well so it was up to Ian. Well he decided to try it. So the parts of the pot went into the recycling and we went off with the remaining ground coffee. By San Miguel we were coffee-less and none the worse for it.

Now we will report that we still drink coffee! we just drink it when someone else makes it for us.

We have had our fair share here in OZ.

bye for now

D and I

Haramara Nov. 07 - 21

Nov. 07-21:

So where were we? Oh yes, I had just arrived in Santa Barbara after cycling down the coast from San Francisco. Diana was off in Whitehorse working for six weeks and I was preparing to catch a flight to Puerto Vallarta to attend two weeks of Yoga workshops at the Harramara Retreat Centre http://www.haramararetreat.com/ in Sayulita http://www.sayulitalife.com/ just north of PV.

I caught an early (05:45) flight out of Santa Barbara to Phoenix where I connected with a PV bound flight. As it turned out my two seat mates were also headed to the same workshop so we chatted on the way down. They were a great couple (Russell & Nancy; see below) from just south of Tucson.

After a relatively uneventful flight we gathered our bags; of which I had the most by far; and found our shuttle driver. There were six of us plus the driver in the van. Traffic was dense and chaotic getting out to PV but we made it safely to our little piece of paradise. (For more photos go to the Haramara web site above.)

The next two weeks were a blur of Ananda (bliss) filled yoga; eating; reading and sleeping all in the company of great folks from all over the country. The instructors; Darren Rhodes http://www.yogaoasis.com/ week one; Sianna Sherman and Kenny Graham http://www.opentograce.com/ week two, were stellar. The location was magical; small cabanas constructed along steep paths in the tropical rainforests just a few minutes’ walk from the ocean. The views out over the open ocean were spectacular. There was a hill top open air yoga platform, an east facing meditation platform and a beautiful communal dining area. The daily schedule was usually 07:00 to 08:30 breakfast; 09:00 to 11:30 or 12:00 morning asana practise; 12:30 to 13:30 lunch; 13:30 to 15:30 personal time; 15:30 to 17:30 afternoon asana; 18:30 to 20:00 dinner.

 

Two weeks went by quickly; too quickly and soon it was time to think about the next leg of the adventure. Back on the bike!

Changing plans

Hi Everyone,

Well change of plans. We are off to Australia on Tuesday flying out of San Francisco.

This is a photo I took from the moving car as we left Santo Tomas. This was basically dry when we cycle by the day before and it continued to rain off and on for the next few day so we think it got worse before better.

We had left the Ensenada area and gone down the road 40 km or so - it has been raining and there was a break in the weather so we thought we would head out south we were ready for a change of scenery. We stopped at an RV park and set up just as it started raining again. We went to the Restaurant for dinner that evening rather than cook in the rain. On our way out the owner Emma said you know it is going to rain a lot tonight and tomorrow - we said more than what we had already had - which was a lot and she said yes and were we sure we would be ok - we assured her yes. Well it rained hard all night - Ian got up once and checked around the tent and bike and all was ok. In the morning still raining we stayed in the tent till our bladders would burst and gave in and put on our rain gear. We made tea and breakfast and went up to the office Restaurant Motel. Well there was water coming in the roof and a mud slide out back and no power. At least one bridge down the road in the direction we wanted to go was washed out. Then she said come with me and she took us a few meters down the road to see the river which was a torrent. Everything in the valley it ran through was flooded it was a black horrible raging water and she was afraid for our tent?! She said come stay with me but then she said all the flooded land was hers - crops animals - she was stressed. This is all in half Spanish English. Then a guy showed up from the way we had come and he said the road was still passable and he was going back and would give us a ride. We packed up but couldn't fit in his car as he had a ton of other stuff. So we started hitching. A nice older man and his wife stopped and had room for our stuff but it was a truck so no room in the cab so the first guy would take us and the other guy our stuff. We squeezed in and off we went. Unbelievable flooding; all the rivers were large brown and black fast moving water sooooo much flooding; homes under water, animal trapped. Could be a while before this is cleaned up Emma said she had not seen it this bad since 1976 or 1978.Mexico is a great country we met wonderful people who were kind and helpful we will be back but perhaps we will try to go when it isn't raining.

We are now exploring San Diego - we quite like this city. It is lovely easy to get around nice ocean breeze. We had a wonderful time at the Maritime Museum.

This is the ship the Surprise which was used for the filming of Master and Commander, Russel Crow will have touched this wheel.

 This is the Star of India a metal hulled Bark the world oldest active ship! She is huge 212' beam 35' launch 1963. 21 round the world trips amazing.
There were also two submarines and lots of smaller sail boat an ocean steamer the Berkley. We spent 3 or 4 hour on the boats. The exhibits were very informative and the kids programing (there was a pirate thing going on) looked like a lot of fun.

The water front sculptures are lovely and fun in San Diego. This one inspired us so much we went to a movie. We saw Invictus good movie I don't know much about rugby but Ian does as you all know!

We are going to explore San Diego a little more today and then tomorrow fly to San Francisco to catch the plane to Australia. It will be great to see Squirty and Paul and meet their hound clan!

Till next

Diana and Ian

Estero Beach Resort

Hi Everyone as I write this blog we are hunkered down in a hotel room with a raging storm going on outside, pretty big wind and serious rain. Nothing we haven't seen in Nova Scotia but different when it is palm trees swaying in the wind.

We weathered a similar storm last night in the tent and thought we would make our way down the road but the rain and wind came on just as we were packed so we drove over the the registration desk instead and got a room. We took a quick ride out when there was a break in the weather for provisions but got caught on our way back.

The rain is truly a blessing here in Baja California where, as one of the gardeners said "has no water" or at least not fresh water. Even the shower water is slightly salty. It is beautiful on the estuary here lots of bird activity seals fish and when the tide is out folks are out digging clams.

There was also an amazing sunset.

We have been around Ensenada now for almost a week just recharging and catching up on some email work. Earlier we were at San Miguel or Punta San Miguel for the surfers. It wasn't much of a camp ground more a community with a gate and a parking lot but a busy place for surfing apparently it is one of the best places for surfing around and the island you look at to the west in Todos Santos where the waves can be even more impressive. We found this all out talking to Brian a photographer from Half Moom Bay who was down with a couple of very good surfers he was photographing on the wave. They also went out to the Island because apparently the weather was looking good for big waves. "All the big names in surfing were around". Watching them on the waves the day after we did see some amazing moves. Would have been fun to go out and watch.

Punta San Miguel

We crossed into Mexico through Tijuana. It was all pretty straight forward once we figured out where to go - there are no signs saying " this way to the boarder" and then getting through the gates we just squeezed past the cars made eye contact with all the official looking people and just biked through. Now we knew we needed Tourist Cards so we stopped once we realized we were through and I asked someone who looked like a fellow tourist and she pointed us to the right door we paid our $20 or so each and got stamped and that was it we were in. We followed #1 up a terrible hill breathing what felt like the most emission fume filled air I have ever experienced oh I forgot to mention the bank sign just before crossing the border read 95 degrees F. We got up the hill and proceeded till a couple cops pulled us over and said " you can't go through there" in Spanish of course meaning the toll booth ahead. Well they realize we couldn't go back either so they offered to shuttle us in their Jeep Chrokee. Well we had to go one at a time what with the two trailers and two bikes. I had my first lesson in Mexican money and accidentally gave him more money than Ian really wanted me too for the toll - lets just say it was a nice tip for the cop. Sadly we got around the toll and Ian promptly got a flat. Fixing that put us back a little time but the cycling was pretty good as the toll road has a wide shoulder. We got to Playa de Rosarito and couldn't find an  RV park but did find an affordable hotel.

Fountain in Rosarito

We hit the road after a nice walk on the beach. We got to an RV park we had found on line with an impossible road in down and gravel. We got there and it was nice quiet - shower, cold but hey, and they said they could give us a ride back up to the road because there was no way our bikes could climb it. The ocean fog rolled in thick as we cooked dinner.

Next day bright and sunny beautiful spot! got the lift to the highway in a beat-up but reliable Ford 4x4.

At the toll booths we were escorted to the sidewalk and got through that way (this is how Ian got through them when he cycled from Haramar to Tucson) The last Toll Booth was San Miguel.

 And that was the start of our stay in the Ensenada area. Folks are very nice foods good. Roberto at TNT Cycle did a wonderful job tuning up the orange bike and providing us with tubes for our tires.

So we are hoping to hit the road early tomorrow.

San Francisco to Santa Barbara Nov. 02 - 06

Having Diana depart for Whitehorse on an early morning (read 04:00 hr. pick up) flight made it relatively easy for me to have an early departure from S.F.  There is something surreal about riding the streets of SF @ 06:00 and not really knowing where you are going!

Day one: Out of SF and headed south. It was a great ride the streets were nearly deserted and the weather was super. I liked the early morning ride so much I inadvertently added on about 30 to 40 extra Km by taking a wrong turn somewhere along the way. By noon I had made it to Half Moon Bay after a screamin downhill coming from the east side of the peninsula. Made it to Santa Cruz that evening and was completly happy to grab the first hotel I saw. In my defense however it was already dark and Diana would have killed me if I had gotten run over on the first day of the trip!

Day Two: After some zigging and zagging through the streets of Santa Cruz I finally made it to the open highway. You know all those fruits & vegetables that say California on them at your local supermarket? Well I think I rode past pretty much all of them on day 2. There were miles of strawberry fields with the requisit migrant workers as well. The route essentially followed Monteray Bay and after going through several small towns ended up going through Monteray itself. The two pictures that follow are the town of Marina. I still don't know what the plant was!

By days end I had made it to Andrew Molera State Park and was happy to set up the tent and crash after ingesting a huge meal!.

Day 3: As cycling days go it doesn't get much better than this. The ride from AM State Park through Big Sur is spectacular to say the least.

A large day took me through some exceptional country and saw me ending up at San Simone State Park just south of an area where elephant seals come ashore. These are large smelly creatures; for sure!

Day four: By now I am tired and sore and thinking that it would be nice to have a rest day. However there is this small issue of having to catch a plane out of Santa Barbara on the mornign of the 7th that means bienig in SB the evening of the 06th. Hmmm what to do? The solution; Amtrack. I take a leisurly ride into Morrow Bay and then figure out how to get to the Amtrack station in San Lois Obisbo. The next day I hope a bus with my Bike Friday stowed in its travel suitcase and make my way to the station. By 18:00 I am in a hotel getting ready to fly to Mexico for two weeks of Yoga retreat followed by what would turn out to be a three week bike ride through north west Mexico. More on that later!!

More Souther California

Hi the last post was very frustrating as the internet connection kept logging out so I have some more photos today that would have gone with that post.

yes that is a rig.

Seal Beach

The surf scene

The ferry at Newport Beach

Oceanside Marina

Misson Beach path

Bike Path just before Camp Pendilton

Friend we met at Torrey Pines Beach Park