Catch up

Stuff in Sydney

We had a really good day today. We headed up to the Domain, by the Art Gallery and botanical gardens,  found car parking for a cheap flat rate fee, then headed off on foot for the city. 

First stop though was Speakers Corner, apparently moved here from Speakers Corner in Hyde Park ( the Sydney version), set up to do the same thing as the original in London. However, there was nobody there, and even when we  came back several hours later, there was still only one bloke standing on a box, talking to himself. Maybe nobody had anything to say, although I very much doubt it. 

I was a bit disappointed because its the impromptu nature of the soap box brigade that makes places like this, well at least in London. Although many of the speakers do it regularly and their words are really show, the hecklers are always new, and so its all very reactive and quick witted. And the crowd is as interesting as the speakers. But not here; this crowd consisted of three birds; a pigeon, a myna bird and an Ibis, and they were distracted, arguing over cake crumbs.

The pigeon had got bored and  wandered off

The Domain and Mrs McQuarrie’s Chair over look the harbour and the Navy Yard, so we headed down to the waterfront and followed it round towards the Bridge. 

Pinchgut Island, ( which I think is now called Fort Denison) lies out in the middle. A funny old name, derived from prisoners being sent out there as punishment on punishment rations.

The screens and frameworks left over from the NY fireworks were still up, and much of the waterfront was shut off but set up for various forthcoming events.

After a quick detour up through the gardens, we popped out on the waterfront again, right next to the Opera House. 

I thought it looked a bit grey instead of its iconic white, but they are doing some work on it, so maybe that’s the cause; dust and crap in the air. Or maybe its just not as white as I remembered it.

And a pretty impressive mural opposite it too. 

The Oosterdam ship was in port too, anchored at circular Quay,but due to leave later that evening. As we wandered, passengers arrived with piles of cases. There was loads of stuff going up that gangplank. I suppose you need it too if you go on cruise - outfits for this and that. Not my thing but that’s their choice and good luck to them. I guess I’ve just got used to travelling light, all my worldly possessions fitting into two small panniers. But it is nice once in a while to have a choice of what to wear, and even better, when its something not covered in dust.

\

The lucky pig....rubbing his snout apparently brings luck. Looks like a few people have tried rubbing something else too ( bottom left)

We wandered back through The Rocks, and I didn’t recognise any of it, despite having spent quite a bit of time there in years gone by. But to be fair, it was a long time ago, and the area is now substantially poshed up, once for the 2000 Olympics, and then just because it has been.

Not sure what this was about though, but it amused me. And right on Circular Quay too.

Sometimes, things work out very well, and today was no exception. As usual, we had a couple of jobs to do at various places in the city, and they worked out perfectly. 

After a quick stop to pick up some stuff, we went over to Hornsby see Gary and Sue, whom we had met at the Snowy Ride in Thredbo, back in November. They are nice people, and it was good to see them again. 

On the way back, we stopped off at Nadine’s cousin/aunt. That was a nice little interlude, particularly as she her five lively children were there, eager to show us what they had had for Christmas, the spiders in the garden, the field where the snakes live, and the local train to Sydney which stops just beyond the end of their garden.

Back to Port

We had left the bikes in Port while we nipped down to Sydney, which was a great move as we were able to get around and collect stuff in the car, which would not have been possible on the bikes.

One of the jobs that we needed to do was to stop by the Thermarest supplier in Artarmon,  and get new mats for our beds. We all use camping cots which were originally made by Ultralite, but then bought out by Thermarest. They are great bits of kit, and Nadine and I have used ours extensively, down through Africa, across Europe, and across Asia. But the seams were beginning to split ( and no, not because we are too heavy!) and Thermarest kindly agreed to honour Ultralite’s lifetime warranty. So we picked them up, gave them a bit of feedback re wear patterns for their R&D people, then drove up to the National Motorcycle Museum at Nabiac, not far from Taree.

That was a very cool museum, packed full of all sorts of bikes, most dating back to the early 1900s, with an old Daimler from the 1890s. 

How not to camp off a bike....although there is one person we know who tried to cram almost as much on a postie bike, including two cast iron pots and a full set of cutlery, including steak knives.

 We had a good look round.... under the watchful eye of Bella the super hound, kept lean and mean to sort out difficult visitors. We behaved.

The fruit bats were out in force last night, after the palm fruit in the adjacent trees. I’d never seen them close up, nor heard them. They are big , the size of a crow, and just like most other Australian wildlife, bloody noisy. They woke me at about 0430 too, rowing with some kookaburras over nest space or something. I don’t know.

Kempsey yet again

I had to get my leg fixed again today ( the major fixing was last week) so rode to Kempsey with Nadine who was going back to her parent’s house. However,it pelted down with rain during the night and was still having a go this morning. Consequently, the dirt road was quite pleasant to ride, dust clouds having been replaced by puddles. So my jacket stayed clean but my riding pants, clean again only last week, are now grey/brown again, being caked in ginger dust. Oh well. Had I been worried about that sort of thing, I’d have gone on a cruise.

For some of the way, we were paced by a young roo, hopping parallel to us about 100 metres to our left. He stayed with us for a while and was keeping up easily. Or most probably, it was us just about keeping up with him.

While we were in Kempsey, Gordon got his clutch fixed. The courtesy bike which they had promised him was no longer available, so he ended up with a Yammie TDM 900 instead. Unfortunately for him, the clutch job didnt take as long as he’d expected so he only got to ride it for a short while.

Nadine and I managed to do some jobs which had been outstanding for a while, including printing some forms at the library. but how complicated was that? Swipe this, load that, press her, wait this long. It went on and on but the lady was nice and helped us. And all for a couple of forms which we couldn’t then fill in because some of the information we needed was missing. 

Then it was time for us to go our separate ways. She went to her Mum’s, while I rode back on the dirt road, which this time was much drier so my jacket got covered in dust anyway. I got back to the tent and new neighbours, and felt compelled to explain my filthy appearance. I don’t think they cared but at least I made the effort; an attempt at decorum never goes amiss, particularly as suspect that I have crossed the feral rubicon where wild hair and dusty clothes have become the norm.

I really don’t like this campsite but its been convenient for what we needed to do over the past few days. It’s all families in big camping outfits with every convenience known to man aboard, the outfit usually being parked up and packed up, save for this two weeks of kids summer holidays. Except the bloke next to us; he is a truckie and when he’s not a-trucking, he lives in his caravan. 

We're off up north tomorrow. Not too far, but we'll see how far we get.