Australia Postscript

The bike riding is over and we're now traveling with Jamie and Natalia and they are getting to know some of the Australian wildlife that we've enjoyed for the last two months...



Amongst our enduring memories of Australia are the birds - here are a few more photos from the last few days...


Kookaburra

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

 

 

Sulphur-crested White Cockatoo

...other memories of Australia...

• the Outback - nothing like four weeks of riding anywhere from 120 to 170 km per day in 40+ degree heat to make you appreciate how vast and harsh it is
• the Outback road trains which were greatly feared at the outset, but we finished that stretch with enormous respect for their drivers who always gave us space whenever they could
• unfortunately we'll also remember that other Australian drivers have little respect for cyclists - even when they have two empty lanes to their right, many will hug the left side of the road when passing cyclists and the cyclist has little or no shoulder. Pedestrians are no better off unless they are on a marked zebra crossing.

Afterthoughts:

• another great adventure, a new part of the world, another super experience
• reunite with old friends, make new friends... just a great group of people, TdA staff included
• our Specialized Sirrus Comp bicycles performed wonderfully - no mechanical problems for the third excursion in a row - thank you Dave at Corsa Cycles in Squamish for selling us the right bike and for keeping it in tune and ready for these trips
• similar thanks to Schwalbe for the Marathon tires - the front ones have now done about 16000 km without any problem - we replaced the rear ones at 10000 but carried the old ones as spares because there really was nothing wrong except a bit of tread wear

Tour d'Afrique on the whole did great work, but the one disappointment was their reluctance to accept suggestions that might enhance the experience - in fact they were defensive about things and dismissive of suggestions on the grounds that they couldn't accept responsibility. Come on... we're all grown up people and as much as we appreciate that TdA might like to hold our hands the whole way, we can look after ourselves.

Notwithstanding that one criticism, we haven't found anybody that offers these experiences better than TdA. Henry Gold, his staff, and all the other riders, are a great family and have facilitated us seeing parts of the world we might not otherwise have seen.

Bye... until the next trip...

...and we wish all our followers a very merry Christmas, happy Hannukah, and all the best of health and happiness in 2015...

... Ursula and Rae