17th Oct - 20th Oct - Sydney

17th Oct - Bike tour of Sydney with Dan

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THE TRIP REALLY STARTS......


Main first impression of Aus:

1. It is sunny and beautiful. The weather is like a hot British summer right now.
2. It is really expensive.... About double to the UK for food and everything else. My budget of £15 per day for everything (food, accommodation, equipment, outings) is going to be very tough!
3. The Australians are crazy fitness people. Skinny and beautiful! There are people running everywhere, there are random monkey bars etc all over the place for people to do their exercises. All I did in South Africa was eat and drink.... I think I might shed a few pounds here. I will not be buying much food anyway with the cost of it....(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=94909&id=1408960696&l=be6b6badb9).
4. Dan Simms is a lovely man.
   

I faffed about in the morning organizing my stuff and then Dan took me out on a bike trip around Sydney. It was a fantastic way to see the city.Coffee and Bonsai Beach. Lunch at the Harbor. Finished off at the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge to take more pictures.

Major Problem: Although my bike had been tuned and serviced in the UK before I left and there where no problems, there was a terrible noise coming from my back wheel whilst riding today! Not sure what it is but think that it is the bearings on the back wheel. The noise is there even when free wheeling.

When we got back Dan very kindly took the wheel to bits to check it. I now need some grease and other parts from the bike shop tomorrow to try and fix it. Not 100% what the problem is. I can't leave Sydney until it is all sorted :-(

FB: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=94710&id=1408960696

18th Oct - Bike Fixing, Organising, Run Round Park
Dan went to work leaving me to explore. I spent the morning online organising my stuff and then headed out to the bike shop for the part that I needed to fix the bike and also had a short walk round Sydney exploring.

In the afternoon I spent hours phoning banks and phone companies trying to sort things out. It seems that however much organisation I do companies are still rubbish. The Banks stopped my cards even though I told them I would be in AUS before I left the UK. VODAFONE customer support is terrible! DO NOT SPEND MONEY WITH THEM!!! I get to Sydney having spent days and days organising in the UK only to spend more time on the phone to companies, shopping for parts I can't afford and fixing my bike (which was working fine in the UK!). ARRGG - I just want to get going now. I do not think that the Jetlag helped either.

I went for a run round the park just round the corner from here. It cleared my head and made me happy to be exploring again. There are so many other runners - it is madness! They stop and do press-ups etc. Ummmm - lots of fit people not wearing much..... Lovely weather too.

Dan very very kindly greased up the wheel and took it out for a spin to see if it fixed the problem. The noise had gone but while testing it the outer cable of my gears went. I had taken it in to a bike shop to be serviced in the UK and for all of the cables to be replaced. Unfortunately they had only done the inner cables. I am really glad that the problem was found in Sydney before I headed off up north. Dan again very kindly replaced the cables while I went out and got a massive take away. Thanks so much Dan! :-)

19th Oct - Checking bike, Wander Round Sydney, Harbour Bridge and Opera House at Night
Up really early to take the bike for a spin to check that it was all OK and that I did not need to take it too a bike shop. There were no funky sounds and it was changing gear better than ever. THANK YOU DAN!

It was gray and miserable this morning and so I spoke to some friends on Skype for a bit first thing in the morning and then realised that the jetlag had kicked in and so went to sleep for a few hours in the day. It meant that I did not manage to fit in all of the organisation stuff I needed todo today and so I decided to chill and possibly leave on the 21st instead. Dan had gone to Melbourne for a couple of days this morning and so it did not really matter to him whether I was here or not.

Having gone to the bike shop to get an extra bike lock, some spare cables for my bike and a couple of other things from the camping shops, I headed for an explorer over to North Sydney on my bike and then walked back over the Pedestrian part of the bridge to take photos of the Opera house. I wandered around until dark so that I could see it all lit up and take some more photos etc. I had a great explore and headed back to the flat late.

FB: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1408960696#!/album.php?aid=94766&id=1408960696

I watched the long way round until 2am (still not sorted with time change) whilst I tuned up the bike and caught up on organising photos, diary, emails, blog and organising accommodation for the next few days.

The long way round has inspired me to do a video diary.

All I ate today was the left overs from yesterday's curry. Ummmmm.


20th Oct - Shopping, Wander Round Sydney Harbour and Opera House in Sunshine, Watched the Long Way Round

I decided not to head out of Sydney today as I had not managed to get accommodation organised for tonight and I still had some planning stuff to do online.

It was lovely and sunny today and so I went back to the habour bridge and opera house to see it in all of its glory. On the way I went round several shops to get camping and touring maps of the East Coast and a couple of bits of clothes. I now have only light weight, hiking/biking clothes for the trip.

Good day round Sydney.

FB: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=94908&id=1408960696&l=555462b07d

Finished off watching The Long Way Round.

Yippee. I am writing this blog now and I have just received 2 emails from couch surfing. I have accommodation for the next couple of nights....

It has been fantastic to have a base for the last few days to really sort out all of my equipment and test it and to get over the lack of sleep. Thanks again to Dan.

I really like Sydney. It is a very friendly place with lots going on. If you are paid in AUS $ then it is a great place to live. I am excited about seeing the rest of AUS now...