Monday 7 December 2009

Down Under Dream Takes Flight

We are about to embark on a journey that we had planned to do a year ago; a subcontinent called India presented itself last fall and we went east instead of west. This overseas foray promises to be much tamer and more relaxing than the India Butt Buster 2008.

We will be gone for two months with the time being divided pretty evenly between Oz and New Zealand with four days in Fiji at the end of the trip to relax and prepare ourselves for our return to the cold and snowy upper mid-west.

We are flying across the water from LAX on an Air Pacific (the national airline of Fiji) 747-400. After a short layover in Fiji we will continue to Sydney and will be staying with Brian Vanden Hogen there. Brian is a De Pere native whose parents lived down the street when we moved here in 1984. Brian works at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney and we are looking forward to visiting him and tapping his extensive knowledge of the Sydney area.

After five days in Sydney we will pick up our rental bikes for a week-long trip west and north of Sydney. Byron Bay will be our Christmas Day stop--the temps have been running in the 80s there this past week! The next five days will find us in Sydney again in order to see the magnificent fireworks display on New Year's Eve. We will be up at the zoo to look down on the harbor for all the action.

January 2nd will find us winging our way south to Tasmania for a few days of exploring that island on four wheels. We are not worried about riding the bikes on the left side of the road, but have not driven a right-hand drive vehicle since our Peace Corps days in the late 70s in Kenya. I've got the GPS (Zumo 660) loaded up with Oz and New Zealand maps so navigation should not be a problem.

We will leave the island continent and fly to Auckland on the 7th in order to start the motorcycle trip that many before us have raved about. We will start our four week two wheeled experience there on the 11th. The bikes will be dropped off in Christchurch prior to flying to Fiji and the beginning of the long trip home.

In addition to the contacts in Sydney we have four in New Zealand so that should add to the intimacy of the trip. After all of the planning we are getting excited about this journey.

We did a trial packing yesterday and everything seems to fit; after moving a few things from my duffel bag to RA's have the weight distribution just about right. We wear our motorcycle boots and jackets and our helmets are our carry on bags, each in a tail-pack that will go on the bikes.

Follow along with the blog and the SPOT satellie tracker. The link to SPOT will be to the left at the top of any pictures we may post. When we are moving it will send out a signal every ten minutes so you can track us pretty closely (unless I turn in off!). The little numbered tracking flags will be orange in color; when you see a green one, that is where we spent the night. If you switch from the map to the satellite view you can even zoom in to see where we are staying. On the left of the SPOT map will be a control that allows you look at the current day or you can choose to look at multiple days. Just follow the little motorcycle...........(actually it will be an airplane icon for our flights).

Feel free to comment and become a follower--hearing from people back home on these long trips is a welcome thing. You can also e-mail us: sreynen@new.rr.com or rarhino@new.rr.com

Talk to you again in about 9500 air miles............

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