Artarmon

March 1, 2024 to March 4, 2024

Friday, 1st of March 2024

Here we are in Sydney, Australia within fifteen hours of leaving Gqeberha. A short journey compared to the start of most of our other tours in terms of the number of hours. We even managed to squeeze in about five hour's of sleep.

Passport control and customs was quick and painless, despite our worries about Australia's strict biosecurity requirements. We had scrubbed every piece of equipment meticulously to the point of dismantling each pannier down to their component parts and cleaning each screw and connector individually. Tent, sleeping bags, mattresses and stoves etc were so clean as to belie their years of use. The bicycles had been cleaned and then sealed in their boxes by our LBS with certificates stating the same. We had made such an effort that it was almost a disappointment when we were waved through with barely glance, even though we had stated that we had sporting equipment and that we had arrived from Africa (it turns out that South Africa is not on Australia's list of #$%@hole African countries).

Then things got a bit tricky. It turned out that our LBS had stripped our bikes for packing by removing the handlebars from the stems rather than removing the steerers from the frames. This meant that they had to remove our handlebar bag mounts, something that hasn't happened in over seven years. What is normally a half an hour job stretched to over two hours and we ended up leaving the airport with our handlebar bags unmounted and stuffed into my rackpack along with their mounts.

The next challenge was to find our way to the cycle path that leads from the airport to the city. After a few wrong turns and a few kilometers extra we were on a pretty average route, mostly shared with motorized traffic and pedestrians. It was a stop-start affair through Friday rush hour traffic taking in some of the less salubrious parts of Sydney. This included our first ever experience of tranc addict hunched over in the typical pose in the middle of the cycle path near the city center. What should have been an hour and a half's ride took almost three hours.

Darkness was almost upon us by the time we had reached our nephew's apartment in Atarmon. It was the first time we had seen him and his wife since their wedding more than four years ago so after a welcome shower and a nice supper with some good Champagne we ended up getting to bed just before midnight.

Saturday, 2nd of March 2024

First chores this morning was to go shopping for some essentials we hadn't brought with us due to QuantasAirline's 30Kg per person weight restriction. Then it was onto a train into Sydney where Pete and Teg took us a tour of some of the sights.

First stop was the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Natural pigments on a piece of bark. One of my favourites.

And another. This is actually a 3D creation.

My favourite. Bags of Asian spices. Each part was giving off a different delicious aroma. A multi-sensory experience.

Then it was on to the Botanical Gardens.

Aloe baberae, a plant from our home province in South Africa. We have one in our garden back home.

Obligatory photo of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

Leigh, Peter and Teg at the Opera House.

Once back in Artarmon, with no pressure on me, refitting the handlebar bag mounts took twenty minutes.

Sunday, 3rd of March 2024

We slept in late this morning, only getting up as Peter and Teg returned from their morning run at about nine o'clock. Then we headed off on an eleven kilometer walk along the trails leading to Manly on the coast. We enjoyed some lovely views over the Sydney waterways and had some good nature experiences, from interesting plants and animals to petroglyphs of fish, whales and kangaroos.

Some lovely plants reminiscent of Cape Fynbos.

An Australian Water Dragon (Intellagama lesueurii).

Our first iconic Australian animal - a Red-necked Wallaby (Notamacropus rufogriseus). EDIT: This is actually a Swamp Wallaby (Wallabia bicolor). Thank you Ian Wallis for pointing this out.

Our second - a Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae).

Once in Manly we rewarded ourselves with a couple of beers before taking the ferry back up the river to catch the train home.

One of two cruise ships we passed on the way back to the Harbour Bridge.

Monday, 4th of March 2024

Today was our last day before we start cycling so we needed to get our last minute shopping done.

Peter and Teg have been so kind to us since we arrived in Australia. They were back at work today so we were left to our on devices. However, we are now au fait with the public transport network after buzzing around Sydney with them so it was a doddle.

We're still rather unsure what are plans are but Friday's ride from the airport has convinced us it will be best to take the train to the outskirts of Sydney and start cycling from there. One option is to head to Cronulla and take the ferry across to the Royal National Park (where there is a campsite) before heading further down the coast before turning inland at some later point. We'll see how we feel tomorrow.

Today's ride: 28 km (17 miles)
Total: 28 km (17 miles)

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