Sydney & Queensland

Adventure Ride. Cairns to Melbourne. 6000+ km. 

4 weeks. Nearly everything went wrong.... 

Sydney. I decided on a two day layover to acclimate to the time zone and also visit this city. 

I usually make fun  of the hop on, hop off buses but it helped me orient to the left side driving

and was a great way to pass the time until I could check in. 

Got whacked with a few branches too!

Local transit systems all accept your chip credit card tap.

That's right, no proprietary transit cards to fiddle with.

Bondi Beach. Plenty of surfers here. Epic waves. Crystal blue water. White sand. 

Another gorgeous view of the 'coat hanger' bridge and Sydney skyline.

I generally don't like big cities, especially on a motorcycle, but thoroughly enjoyed Sydney, on foot and bus and Uber. So much so that I developed a blister under one of my feet.

Dotted around the city are a unique type of home that made me think of 

New Orleans style shotgun homes.

These were built for the working class back in the day and apparently are now in high demand despite being so narrow and tiny.

Super yachts of the rich and famous. 

This is the another great shot of the skyline and an important bridge.

Drove by the Japanese Gardens....this is where I got whacked by a tree branch.

The Coat Hangar Bridge. 

The bus operator said that this Art Deco pillar has no structural purpose. 

It was later added to give people more comfort. 

Multi colored and patterned brick buildings peppered between modern, creative skyscrapers.

Even some Art Nouveau.

And the Shell themed opera house. 

I found a cute bar called Lil' Darling. 

This drink is the candy floss cocktail. 

Yep, complete with a glob of cotton candy.

I sat here and worked for a bit, had the place to myself.

Then went to a Sicilian restaurant. 

Negroni week is wreaking havoc on me. 

I need to get to riding so I stop having cocktails.

These meatballs were delicious. 

Wagyu.

Complete with a small loaf of garlic bread wrapped in foil like a swan.

One of these, as a towel, scared Grindle in Peru.

Each time I bit into it, butter would drip out. 

Lots of these neat glass squares like in San Francisco. 

The drinking fountains have a human side and a dog side. 

I don't think this pigeon cared. 

Then there is Peter Alexander. 

The cutest snuggle and sleeping stuff you can imagine. 

The mascot is a Dachshund.  

They license deals with fun things like Cookie Monster sleep pants. 

Then I turned the corner and saw this and nearly squealed with delight. 

It was tragic that I couldn't buy anything, where on the bike would it go?

I had some drama with my first Airbnb. It was disgusting. 

So I found another one which happened to be above a motorcycle shop. 

It was much better and comfortable. 

Took my next flight to meet up with King Bob in Queensland.

Rented this cute cottage.

Comfy room with.....

SHELVES.

Enough shelves for everything.

Then found this cool Gin distillery in town.

Fun Murals along the alley to get there.

Gin flight.

Much more fun than my flight from Sydney to Cairns.

Due to weight limits, I had to wear my 25 lbs of gear on the flight

and was relegated to the last row on the ailse.

I loved the one on the right, plum.

They made superb cocktails too.

Then it was grocery shopping, we have 5 days here to dial in the bikes, 

snorkel the GBR, and explore the surroundings.

There were so many 'cream' options, I bought this one by mistake.

Think whipped cream.

Found a burger joint that had grass fed beef.

Was hoping it was as good as NZ grass fed beef.

It wasn't, but it was still yummy.

Coffee.

A long black is like an Americano, but not quite.

The hot chocolate here is also good.

So again, having learned, to not order a Mocha.

I ordered both and then put them together myself.

Australia has a huge swimming culture. 

This is the public pool (one of 4) in the small town of Cairns. 

(pronounced cans)

Spring fed. Cool. Covered with canvas panels. 

No kids allowed (they have their own pee pee pool)

It was heaven.

Picked up the motorcycles.

I have a lot to mount (in that white plastic bin).

Took about 3 hours.

Starting with the most important. 

Michelin Man. 

An ADV rider helped me make a custom machined mount to work with ram mounts.

A few tools from the bike and voila.

Then an extension to the busted windscreen.

Temperature gauge. 

Rubber tip pen for the phone touchscreen.

(taking off sweaty gloves constantly is a pain)

Ram mount for GPS

Ram mount for Phone

All crammed around the massive, annoying, unasked for GPS mount that came with the rental.

First short test ride, Cape Tribulation. 

Gorgeous, tropical, twisty road with plenty of landslide detours.

About 3 hours to get there. 

Weird patterns in the sand.

A local said this is how the tiny blue crabs roll up the sand to kick it out of their holes.

The bay looked serene but....don't swim!

Australia is a dangerous place.

Weird glowing gorilla along side the road. 

And finished the day with a steak. 

As usual, King Bob ordered the same thing as me.

And as usual, the waiter gave him the plate with the larger cut. 

And as usual, KB switched plates with a smile. 

We've learned that Aussie's put BBQ sauce on everything.

Breakfast sandwich of egg and bacon.

Lamb ribs and even, gasp, steak. 

Careful to always say no BBQ now.