DAY 1: 6th Oct 07 - Perth to Mandurah

83 km @ 13.7 km/hr
light headwind

I was already aware that I have done little long-distance training for
this task, but figured that I would get fit in the first few weeks.
The effort today was quite a bit more than I had expected however.
After a few last errands in the city I didn't leave Perth until 1000,
much later than will be the norm once I settle into a routine. Much
better to get going as soon as it becomes light, during the coolest
part of the day. It is a pleasany sunny day, about 23 deg C - perfect cycling weather.
I left Perth via the excellent Swan River cycle path, which eliminated almost
all the city traffic. After about 12 km it was not clear which
direction I should be going in, but as luck would have it a fellow
cyclist soon came along and saw me reading the map and asked if he could help. In fact
just a few hundred metres away was the start of a dedicted cycle track
running for some 40 km south parallel to the freeway, Highway 1.
Although the sound of speeding traffic was never out of earshot the
track was a reasonable distance away and landscaped with trees and
bushes. I saw many other cyclists en route. The cycle network extends
all around Perth and seems to incorporate most residential and
business areas, which are all well signposted. It's an entire network by itself, largely separated from the traffic.
After the track had come to an end the last 25 kms or so were ridden
on a wide verge safely away from the speeding traffic.
To cut a long story short I arrived at Mandurah around 1730 and after
a very warm sunny day the shadows were already starting to lengthen. I
was a little concerned that it might take me a little while to erect
the new tent (MSR Hubba Hubba) and I could be working in the dark,
however I needn't have worried, it was extremely easy with only 5
lines of instructions necesary. I am impressed with its spaciousness
and attention to detail, and it is very light at only 2 kg. Unfortunately I seem to have camped where there are hordes of mosquitoes and I was bitten to death in every accessible part of my body - and beyond!!

I had no food to cook so went to the local chippie and chose delicious
grilled red snapper from the choice of around 20 types of fish. An hour later I was asleep, but unfortunately was woken by a loud gathering nearby and had difficulty getting off again,
surprising since I was pretty tired. Oh for the peace of the outback!?

--
A year cycling around Australia supporting WaterAid - starting in
Perth 6 Oct 2007 and heading anticlockwise :-
http://www.davidddinoz.blogspot.com/

4 October 07

The plane from Hong Kong was 2 hours late leaving due to early-morning fog at Perth so it was an 8 hour wait in total last night - finally touched down in Perth 0900 today. The bike arrived OK but the box was quite well-bashed with a large hole in one corner - luckily the blow missed the bike itself because there was no damage. No real hassle with immigration, although I did get asked whether I'd been in a foot and mouth area in the UK, which I hadn't; and the guys doing the quarantine check got some bits of the bike out, but quickly realised that I'd done a good job cleaning her up and fitting new tyres, and let me go. That still took a couple of hours in all though.

I asked where I could assemble the bike and was directed to some cardboard skips where I could recycle the empty box, and I found a shady spot nearby as the sun was rising in the sky and things were warming up - about 22 deg c or so, nice. I was getting somewhat dehydrated already though because I'd forgotten to refill water bottle and there was nowehere near open for drinks.

About 1230 I set off to cycle the 20km or so into the city. Most of this was not too pleasant - lots of traffic and traffic lights / road junctions, however the last 4km was along the Swan River cycle track well away from the road. To be honest I was too tired / hot to enjoy it (I didn't sleep at all last night on the plane)
I found the YHA place I'd booked in for 2 nights (2 days in Perth to get the bike / baggage sorted out and buy a tent etc) and it was 1530 by the time I got to the post office to collect my 15kg parcel I'd sent on (to avoid 30 pounds a kilo excess baggage). However it was not there - just a letter from DHL about a 'Customs problem' - they may want some duty off me. My understanding was that you needn't pay this if you take the stuff out of Australia again after your stay. Anyhow it was too late to contact the Sydney phone number to see what it was all about - I'll have to wait till tomorrow.
Cooking dinner was a bit stressful what with 12 other people trying to cook at the same time - only for 2 nights though.
So all in all not the greatest start, but then the feeling of tiredness is getting to me - I'll sleep well tonight I hope despite the 24-hour access to the hostel.

Plans taking shape...

A couple of weeks on and things are progressing well enough. I've been granted a 1 year visitors to Oz visa, been looking at flights to / from Perth WA, I've drawn up a (long) list of all my requirements, and wondered what it's all going to cost. Well, I need a new camera, tent, stove, pots and pans and lots else, however the first thing is to buy the new bike. I've plumped for a Thorn Raven with the Rohloff hub gears.

One big advantage of Rohloff is the lack of wearing parts common to deraleur systems, one just has to change the gearbox oil every few thousand miles. The unit has 14 gears entirely contained within the rear hub with a single gearchange lever on the handlebars - no front deraleur is fitted. The systems are expensive at approximately £700, however the Raven is good value to include this feature and still only cost £1200 in standard spec. I'll be adding a few extras which I'll go into in a later posting about bike spec for those who are interested.

I am also weighing up the overall financial situation whereby I will not be paid anything for a year whilst in Australia. Although I have the security of being able to walk back into the same job, same desk, there are nevertheless some hard decisions to make to make this trip viable. To this end I have decided to sell my home of 8 years in a lovely corner of Caithness, so that I won't have mortgage, house insurance etc. to fork out whilst away. I did consider renting, but it's quite a lot of hassle, and there are no guarantees of letting in what is a well-supplied market at the moment around here. I was also persuaded to sell by bringing into play another wish of mine - to build another house, or possibly renovate an old property, after I return. The house will be up for sale in March or April, and if it sells quickly enough I may buy a plot or old property before I go - I may be able to store some of my stuff there rather than pay for commercial storage.

I've also decided on which charity I'll be supporting through this trip - Water Aid. This is a great organisation that aims to provide clean water supplies and sewage facilities to a million people around the world in the next few years. Water is something we take for granted but it's presence and quality is a matter of life and death for some of the worlds poorest people. I am about to set up an account on the Justgiving website which makes donating secure and easy.

Anyway that's lunch over and must get back to work.