The Great Hilly Plains

I would just like to set the record straight on one thing: The Prairies are not all flat.

 Not Flat!

I’m not sure who made up the popular you-can-see-your-dog-running-away-for-three-days joke, but whoever it was clearly had never spent any time in Southern Saskatchewan.  And thanks to that fellow anonymous, and my imagination/gullibility, I’ve spent much of my life assuming that everything East of the Rockies and West of the Canadian Shield was flat as a pancake.  One should never assume, I suppose. 

Grain elevator at Wood Mountain

There are flat parts to the Prairies, but as per usual we spent most of our time as far from the Trans Canada Highway as possible, which meant that we avoided most of them.  But although we missed out on easy riding, we were well rewarded for our efforts. 

Sagebrush

The landscape in Southern Saskatchewan was absolutely breathtaking.  There were massive plots of farmland, wheat fields and the like, but there were also extensive tracts of rangeland filled with prairie grasses and fragrant sagebrush.  Wildlife included Badgers and Pronghorn, Mule Deer and Prairie Dogs, and at night the ever present yipping and howling of Coyotes on the prowl.  The air is crisp and filled with the scent of newly baled hay, and the silence left when the sound of the only vehicle to have past you in the last hour fades, is near perfect. 

When you need a cup of coffee,
you will go to any length to get it.

The Saskatchewanians were amazing as well.  We had more offers for places to stay then we had nights in the province!  People were very friendly.  They would always stop to talk to us, perhaps give us some homegrown produce, and went out of their way to make us feel welcome.  

Crops and grasses make
beautiful patterns

Grasslands National Park was a great experience as well.  We had a "day off" in the park, which involved cycling 64 km, mostly gravel, and walking another 6 km looking for Rattlesnakes and Sage Grouse.  Again though, it was well worth the effort.  The land there looks so unlike anything we've seen in Canada to date.  Very unique, and stunning.  

Two days ago we crossed the border from Saskatchewan into Alberta.  This involved climbing a big hill, and then an excellent long decent into a new province.  That evening we enjoyed the golden hour light on the hills in Saskatchewan, and the sun setting over the hills in Alberta.

Nope, not flat at all.

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"225 Kilometers of NOTHIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!!!"

Hello, Lake Superior!

As we left Sault Ste. Marie and headed north along the shores of Lake Superior the hitchhikers cry echoed in our ears.

"It's a long stretch 'dat way!" He yelled at us in his French-Canadian accent from the where he sat on the roadside with his backpack and German Shepard. "TWO-HUNDRED-AND-TWENTY-FIVE KILOMETRES OF NOTHIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!"

Petroglyphs at Agawa Bay

His last word trailed off as he called after us and we broke out into laughter. Actually, it's been a running joke for us for the entirety of Northern Ontario because for many people there is undeniable truth in his statement.  But it depends on your definition of ‘nothing’. 

We didn't see one...

Its reputation of being 'the middle of nowhere' is not entirely undeserved. There really isn't much to your average city dweller. Every couple hours or so the forest is punctuated with a diner/gas station/motel/hunting lodge, but otherwise the only signs of 'civilization' are the highway itself, and constant stream of semis. However, if you appreciate stunning scenery, abundant wildlife, wild blueberries, and the fresh smell of the expansive northern Boreal forest, well, then there is an awful lot in Northern Ontario! For us it was a refreshing break from the heavily populated, or heavily farmed, Southern Ontario, and a chance to reconnect with what got us started on this trip in the first place: Nature.

(On that note, our apologies for the recent large gaps between postings to our blog.  Part of the ‘nothing’ that is Northern Ontario, made being on the Internet for any length of time tricky.)

"From here all streams flow
North into the Arctic Ocean"

We were amazed by Lake Superior. When you compare it to some of its southern counterparts with their questionable coloured water and accompanying odours, it's clear blue waters and large sections of unspoiled shoreline are, well, superior.  We enjoyed a swim at a secluded beach we found on a tip-off from a local.  It was very cold, but gorgeous. We found it especially so as we hadn’t bathed for a couple days prior, and one gets smelly doing these things. 

We stayed with an amazing woman in Thunder Bay who was kind enough not only to feed us and let us invade her house, but also set us up with her birdwatching friends, and arranged for us to put on a small house concert.  It was late notice as it is always hard to pinpoint exactly where we’ll be and when, and despite a short plug on the local CBC, our audience was small.  But it was a good and attentive audience of very friendly folk and together they donated $105 to our cause!

The Terry Fox memorial
at Thunder Bay

There is a monument dedicated to Terry Fox on the TCH just outside Thunder Bay, the city where his inspiring run came sadly to an end.  Actually, the entire highway between Nipigon and Thunder Bay was renamed the Terry Fox Courage Highway in his honour, and it was interesting and inspiring to reflect on his legacy, as he began his run at the very same place we began our ride (Cape Spear).  The monument itself is beautifully done, and incorporates the epic landscapes of Lake Superior and Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, which stretch out behind it on a clear day. It was unfortunately foggy while we were there, but it was still good to see.   

Gartersnake

From Thunder Bay we made our way, over the course of 5 days, to Kenora, and finally over the border and into Manitoba.  Make no mistake: Ontario is huge.  We were there for a grand total of 43 days, and are glad to finally be able to change the ‘Province’ section on our current location status! 

Thanks Ontario! We had an amazing time.    

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Thoughts at the Halfway Point

Nigel cycling into downtown Toronto

Having reached over 5,500 km, we've now found ourselves at the halfway(ish) point for the distance that we've set for our cross-Canada bicycle adventure.

It's been an amazing experience so far. I am as baffled as the strangers we talk to that we have made it to Southern Ontario from Newfoundland. I wouldn't believe it except that here we are in Ontario with two loaded bikes, achy knees and larger than normal quads!

Jaime enjoying the view
through binoculars provided
by Swarovski!

Everything has held up reasonably well: Our bikes, our bodies, and our minds. We're still getting along too!! We've learnt a lot of tricks for making things easier on ourselves and our wallets. Where to get free internet and where we can stealthily pitch a tent at night and not be found. We've learnt that strangers are generally good people, and that good old-fashioned hospitality has not entirely been squashed out by modern fear.

I can see this form of travel being very addictive. It's just so simple. Eat, sleep, eat, ride, eat, eat, eat. (We eat a LOT! We have to. We plugged our average daily amount of time spent on the bike into an online calorie counter and discovered that we are burning roughly 2,500 calories (over 10,000 joules) from biking alone.... which explains why I'm hungry nearly every hour!) Add to that all sorts of unexpected and amazing experiences in places you would never ever bother going if you were driving or flying, and you have what is arguably the ultimate form of travel. We'd love to do this in Central or South America.

Mist from Niagara Falls

Fundraising wise, we are doing ok. The number goes up with the more birds we see, and we are seeing more and more all the time. We are coming up with new ways of spreading the word. We are planning on printing some business cards to hand people, as we are stopped several times a day by curious folks with questions. We've also made a page on causes.com and, of course, are continuing to blog for bird-o.com. We're also hoping to be able to approach a few newspapers as we go along. We have been interviewed by Monday Magazine, and hopefully will get more opportunities for interviews as we get closer to the end. If you would like to help us in this respect, any suggestions or   connections for getting the word out there would be much appreciated! We're new to this.

Niagara Falls

We finished our final foray east in Niagara Falls, Ontario, yesterday. Now it's west! We are British Columbia bound and excited for the second half of our journey.

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The Vivente World Randonneur after 5,000km

Jaime's Vivente World Randonneur

Jaime and I both purchased a Vivente World Randonneur (a fully accessorised complete touring bike) earlier this year for our ride across Canada. The model we selected was the Drop Bar-No Coupling (DB-NC), in medium and large sizes, for $2,100 a piece. After 5,000 kilometres, in some testing conditions, we are both very impressed with how they've held up.

The Bike Setup:

One of the main factors that lead to us choosing the World Randonneur, was that they come fully accessorised from the beginning. There was no need to worry about finding the right lights, racks, wheels, water bottle holders etc., something we knew very little about. It was all there, and perfect for what we were planning to do.

We have Ortlieb Front and Back Roller Plus panniers on both bikes, and they fit very well on the World Randonneur's rack system. The strength of these racks, as well as the frame, means that even with very heavy panniers, there is little effect on the performance of the bike.

The quality of all the parts of the bike is the real seller I think. Almost all the components (the brakes, drive train and hubs) are Shimano, and the frame and forks are chromoly steel, perfect for touring.

After 5,000km on the Vivente World Randonneur

One flat tyre. That is it.

The quality of the tyres, rims and spokes has astonished us. Only one flat on my front wheel. Jaime hasn't had a puncture yet. When you buy this bike, you are given a bunch of replacement spokes (all of very high quality!), so we were expecting them to break after a while. However, we haven't had to fit a new spoke yet, on either bike.

Our bikes were serviced in Halifax, Nova Scotia after 2000 km. They replaced the rear brake pads (the front brakes are disc brakes), which is not surprising having just ridden across Newfoundland, and recommended we change our Shimano cassette (the cogset) and chain. This was because the wet conditions in Newfoundland caused dirt to collect on the chain, which then began to wear away some of our favourite gears. The guy servicing the bike said we would be lucky to make it off Nova Scotia before the chain broke, or we couldn't change gears properly. We are now in Toronto, and have noticed very little change over these last 3,000 km, but we'll get them serviced again, and make any adjustments needed.

Conclusion

We highly recommend these stylish bikes, not just for the appearance, but for their high quality components, accessories and strength. For the price, it would be hard to beat.

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The Australian Summer is Coming to Get Us...

It's been sitting in the 30's for the past couple of days in Montreal, and apparently there has been record breaking temperatures throughout the majority of eastern Canada. Maybe we brought the Aussie summer with us?? Complete with afternoon thunderstorms!

Bienvenue a Quebec!

Needless to say, it's been a hot few days in Montreal!! We head out of the city this afternoon, having spent a couple of days visiting friends, checking out the town and adding another 80km to our ride searching for Least Bitterns in the suburbs (story on bird-o.com!)

Quebec has treated us very well. People are very friendly and open, much like Newfoundland actually. Several people have offered us places to stay. They are also very patient with our French, which, although we would love to speak it better, is abominable.

Public Enemy#1
Our worst nightmare/reality...
and there's 52 species!!!!

We've also really enjoyed riding along the Route Verte, a system of bike friendly roads and trails that runs all the way across Quebec... no Highway 1 riding for us in this province!! Parts of the Route are better than others, but we've definitely enjoyed taking a break from the roaring semi trucks.

Also, we've just recently received a pair of binoculars from Swarovski to use for our trip!!! They've been magnificent, not only because they're beautifully bright to look through, but also because now I don't have to snatch Nigel's binos from him every time I want to see a bird! It's fantastic!

Vieux Quebec (Old Quebec City)

We're sad to be leaving French Canada, but we're excited to arrive in Ontario tomorrow afternoon... it's come time to tackle the widest of Canadian provinces. Our kilometres here will add up to our total of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and PEI combined! We expect to cross Ontario in 5 to 6 weeks.

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The Acadian Shore

The Acadian flag flies proudly over
 this small harbour

From Cape Sable Island we journeyed to Digby and the New Brunswick ferry via Yarmouth and the Acadian Shore.

This is the epicentre of French culture in Nova Scotia, and has a distinctly different flavour to the rest of the province.  Many of the shops and restaurants we entered had English on the menu, but the customers were mostly conversing in Acadian French!  Many people in this area are bilingual and switch back and forth between the languages with ease.

Taking shelter from a thunder storm

In Yarmouth we had a quick visit to the local farmers market.  After a 40 km dash, we barely made it before it closed, but managed to score a few fresh local veggies!  We then went looking for a Snowy Egret that was reported for the area, but got caught out in a thunder and lightning storm.  Thankfully we found a baseball field with covered benches to take shelter as the storm passed over!  The Snowy Egret was nowhere to be seen...

St Mary's Church, the largest wooden
 church in North America

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Rain, Rain, Go Away...

We've spent the last few days in the Halifax region of Nova Scotia, trying (unsuccessfully) to track down a Yellow-crowned Night Heron, replenishing gear and supplies, and exploring Halifax.

Drying the tent and tarp on
a rare dryish afternoon

Unfortunately though, the rain has put a bit of a damper on our Nova Scotia experience, since returning from Prince Edward Island. We've spent several of our riding days drenched to the core, and one particularly wild windy night in a Provincial Park picnic area. We hadn't planned on staying in the picnic area (you aren't really allowed), but when we got to their campground it was fully closed, getting dark and pissing rain. And Nigel had a flat tire, broken brakes, and loose handlebars. My hands were so stiff I couldn't shift my gears or even tie my bootlaces!

Cycling through the fog on the
Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge

There were no closure warnings on the parks road signs leading up to the campground. This may not be a problem for people in cars, but for folks on bikes, it takes some effort to turn around and come up with a new plan. This has happened twice in Nova Scotia so far (though the first time we were only after a shower so that was ok)! So our options for the night were to camp illegally at a government picnic area or on private property. We chose the government land. The cops did show up in the morning, but when they saw Nige trying to fix his bike, they just left again. As it was still gusting wind and raining, presumably they felt sorry for us! (Or just didn't want to bother getting out of the car for such a trivial violation)

Anyway, the forecast is set to improve, so here's hoping we get some sun so we can enjoy the rest of this beautiful province!!

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5 Nights in Canada’s Smallest Province

Jaime and I have spent the last six days on Prince Edward Island, an ocean-locked province famous for growing potatoes and hording Canada’s sandy beaches. We tracked an anti-clockwise course around the eastern coast, before cutting south to the capital, Charlottetown. As per usual, we camped in our Hubba Hubba, except for the one night we spoiled ourselves to a B&B in Mount Stewart, where coincidentally we could watch a crucial game of ice hockey, as well as take part in the village’s annual Bald Eagle Festival the next day.

The top of the lighthouse at East Point is a great place to watch gannets, scoters, eider and cormorants.

Great Cormorants are found around the world, but to see one in Canada you must visit the Atlantic coast. At East Point, we saw many flying close to the lighthouse as they made their way to the nearby breeding colony.

These Red Fox kits were denning underneath a wooden building. The mother kept her distance up the hill, but the kits didn’t mind us watching them chewing on grass and scratching themselves behind the ear as they basked in the late afternoon sun.

One of many sandy beaches on PEI. This particular beach is a strong reddish colour from the erosion of the nearby sandstone cliffs.

A wind farm on the northern shore. PEI is a very 'green' place.

Pigot's Trail in Mount Stewart. We spent a couple of hours exploring the wetland and talking with the locals at the Bald Eagle Festival.

New Birds:

119. Veery

120. Blackburnian Warbler

121. Chestnut-sided Warbler

122. Rose-breasted Grosbeak

123. Bobolink

124. Blue-headed Vireo

125. Chipping Sparrow

126. Common Yellowthroat

127. American Kestrel

128. Great Cormorant

129. Black Scoter

130. Blue-winged Teal

131. Ruddy Duck

132. Pied-billed Grebe

133. Bonaparte's Gull

New Mammals:

10. White-tailed Deer

11. Woodchuck

12. Harbour Porpoise

13. Harbour Seal

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McLobster and Biting Flies

The hockeys on tonight, and Nigel being a rabid Canucks fan we've managed to stake out a television in a nearby golf club (can you believe they let us in with our hiking boots and scruffy hair?!) Let's just hope the Canucks do better this time... no more 8-1 losses.. I'm not sure I can handle Nigel's mood after a crucial Canucks loss on a closequarters biking tour.

We are in PEI at the moment. The weather's warm, the suns sometimes shining, the

freshly migrated birds are singingtheir hearts out, and the whine of millions of biting insects rings in our ears as they buzz mercilessly around our heads. Yes, it's black fly season. It's also mosquito season and no-see-um season. And each seem to have their own unique strategy for claiming your blood for their most recent meal. The black flies seem to like to target your hairline just under the edge of your touque or hood, whereas the mosquitos seem to favour the swarm-and-randomly-stab approach. No-see-ums.. well you don't really see um until they've nipped any exposed flesh they can find. Can't wait for late summer when they all die down. In the meantime, cooking tends to be accompanied by wild dances punctuated by frequent cursing.

Oftentimes along the road, our only opportunity for checking the internet is to head for the local McDonald's. Now, I'm not a

McDonald's fan, but they do have free wireless, and a cup of tea is a cup of tea. The first McDonald's we hit up in Nova Scotia had a sign out front that absolutely blew my mind. "It's McLobster Season"... !?!?!?!

Macca's sells LOBSTER sandwiches?! You bet. Lobster with mayo, celery and lettuce on a bun will set you back all of about $6.50 at a local maritime McDonald's. Lobster fishing is a billion dollar industry, and here in the maritimes we find ourselves in the heart of Canadian lobster country.

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Rain and the Mystical Moose of Avalon

The last few days have been so wet we probably would have been better off in canoes, paddling along the ditches lining the Trans Canada Highway, or on the rivers running down the middle.

All is well though. We've had ample opportunities to dry ourselves off between drenchings, and the weather is looking up for the next few days.

We are currently in Deer Lake, about to head off on our second side-track in Newfoundland, to Gros Morne National Park. It's a UNESCO world heritage site, and any pictures we've seen look stunning! We'll be taking a day off cycling there, but we won't be sitting around. We are planning to hike up Gros Morne Mountain in search of Rock Ptarmigan and Arctic Hare. Hopefully any remaining snow is not deeper than our boots!

We also saw a moose. FINALLY! Two actually, between Grand Falls-Windsor and Deer Lake. We were beginning to think that they were a myth that the locals had made up as we were told all around the Avalon Peninsula that we'd see them for sure. No longer a myth. Now that we've seen two I'm sure we'll see hundreds before we leave the island in a week!

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Newfoundland Hospitality

We've had some fantastic times so far, and have been amazed by the hospitality that Newfoundlanders show to us grungy looking, stinky cyclists. And complete strangers to boot!

We've stayed with friends of friends (Julian and Krista Kennedy), and friends of those friends of friends (Natasha Roth), in St. John's and Grand Falls-Windsor, been invited for lunch by folks in St. Anthony's (Pat and Joanne Singleton), and offered a cozy room instead of our tent in Lewisporte (Lloyd and Clara Fudge)!

We've been given hours of lively conversation in Ferryland with Charlie and Maxine Dunne, who called their family in Renews (Doug and Clara Dunne), and set us up to stay out at a lighthouse!

In Terra Nova National Park, we met up with the Bonavista Bay Search and Rescue team, out doing a bit of training. We enjoyed a little social with one of the crews after our epic search for the Boreal Owl, who fed us Capelin (smelt like, small salted and sun-dried fish) and Kippers (smoked herring) warmed in the wood fired oven, and sang us a couple of traditional Newfoundland tunes.

One of their members invited us to stay the next night at his home in Glovertown (Alton and Marie Reid), where we met his lovely wife and their son and his wife (Shaun and Amanda Reid), who invited us to stay with them the next night in Gander. And we had moose sausages in the morning!

We are so very grateful to all of you for your amazing hospitality! We've appreciated every delicious meal, and warm shower, especially when the weather has behaved poorly.

So this is why Newfoundland is famous for it's hospitality!

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Update: The Irish Loop

Jaime and I are making our way "up" the Avalon Peninsula, locally known as "The Irish Loop". It's been doing my head in though, as when the locals say "up", they mean "south", and when they say "down" or "out", they mean "north".

Every cove "up" the Avalon has a small community, and every community has a steep hill leading down to it, with what always seems a steeper hill leading out. Last night we stayed with Charlie and Maxine at Dunnes Bed and Breakfast, in the most spectacular of these communities so far, Ferryland. Ferryland was first settled in 1621 I believe, and there is a long headland that juts out to the east from the centre of the village. Out at the end is a red lighthouse, that hosts an annual pilgrimage where visitors picnic, while watching icebergs and whales. It is now so popular that you have to  book far in advance if you'd like to take part in the organised lunch. 

Everyone here is very friendly and hospitable. Today, Charlie and Maxine arranged for us to stay in a lighthouse at Renews, where we'll have the whole place to ourselves! It stands above a cliff peering over the Atlantic, and won't be heated, but at least we'll avoid the wind. Charlie's brother Doug is generously providing some water so we can flush the toilet. Could be interesting!

A quick update on the birds. We're up to 40 species now thanks to a Northern Saw-whet Owl at our campsite yesterday in La Manche Provincial Park, and some Common Eider in Ferryland. We'll do a full post in a few days once we've explored some more.

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We've Arrived in Newfoundland!

Three nights of not sleeping on planes later, we have finally arrived, deliriously tired, in St. John's, Newfoundland.

After an overnight flight from Sydney, perhaps a three hour hike up a mountain in Honolulu wasn't the best way of conserving energy, but there was a great view from the top. We are fortunate enough to have friends living in the Aloha State, and so rather than spending the day kicking around the airport or taking expensive trips to Waikiki, we explored some of Oahu with our mates as guides. After a long, all four limb, climb up Hawaii Loa, a swim in the Pacific, and some great Mexican food and local beer, we had rather hoped that at least we would be exhausted enough to sleep on the next flight. To no avail.

Another red eye brought us to Vancouver where my brother picked us up to visit my folks in Sechelt. It was a brief visit as it takes some time to get there from Vancouver. We drove from the airport to the ferry terminal, caught the ferry, drove half an hour after docking to Sechelt, kissed hello, ate dinner, said goodbye and then did the whole thing again, but in reverse.

In the Vancouver airport everyone was glued to the television screen, including stewardess' and pilots. The Vancouver Canucks were playing the Chicago Blackhawks in a vital game that determined whether the Canucks were to continue on in the Stanley Cup playoffs or no. Nigel is a diehard Canucks fan. Chicago scored in the last few minutes leaving them tied 1-1.

Needless to say the tension was incredible. When the Canucks scored the winning goal in overtime, the entire airport erupted with cheers. Nigel beamed.


Then came another sleepless, bedtime flight to Toronto. Then on to Halifax. By the time we arrived in St. John's everything was feeling like an out-of-body experience. Plus my quads were aching. Probably from the hike in Honolulu, but there's a chance they were aching in anticipation for our coming ride.

We spent a couple of hours in the St. John's airport, assembling our bikes, packing our panniers, drinking Tim Hortons coffee and sleeping on the floor. Then we set out to our temporary home with friends of friends, on fully loaded bikes for the very first time. And then it started to snow.

We had anticipated cold. But it is a fair bit colder than we had expected. Temperatures are hovering just over 0°, and it has snowed and spewed freezing rain. Canada's weather is welcoming us home with the sort of spite the cat welcomes you back with when you've left it with a house-sitter for 2 weeks. Frigid temperament. However, it is supposed to be warm tomorrow and we are holding out hope that that trend continues for us, as we start out on our journey in a few days. Australia, send us some thoughts of sunshine.

The bird list began day one. Our ride from the airport had us passing Kent's Pond where we spotted lingering Tufted Ducks and Mallards. Bird number one was a Common Raven. We are on 14 species. We'll post a list page in the next day or so for those of you who enjoy that sort of thing.

Tomorrow we'll continue exploring St. John's.

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Next stop, Honolulu

Today's the day. Our bikes are all boxed up and we're excitedly (and nervously) awaiting our 9 hour flight to Honolulu (Hawaii) at the Sydney International Airport, sitting between a sushi restaurant and a currency exchange. Fortunately one of the nine "free" internet connections our iMac has detected actually works.

In case you're wondering what that red bag is hanging over Jaime's shoulder, it's one of our rear panniers, which will attach to our bikes on our ride. Jaime chose red, I chose graphite (which is basically grey). We aren't taking any suitcases or backpacks, so we've stuffed everything into the bike boxes or the two panniers that we'll carry on. According to the Jetstar scales, our bike boxes weighed 29 and 27 kilograms. It is unknown what our carry-on bags weigh.

Tomorrow we will visit our friends Felicia and Jane in Hawaii for the day, going for a hike, swim and then dining in Honolulu, before flying to Vancouver that night. Arriving the next morning, we'll catch a ferry to the Sunshine Coast (a misnomer, for an Aussie anyway), and spend the day with Jaime's family, picking up all the gear we ordered at great prices from the States.

Right now, Jaime is off duty free shopping for some last-minute practical items. She has done unexpectedly well at finding them so far. I'm glancing over my right shoulder towards the sushi.

We'll update soon!

Nigel and Jaime

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Thanks to the Bar Orient and our awesome Fremantle friends!

Friday night was my final night at the Bar Orient, playing keyboards with my cover band. A little impromptu fundraising, and a generous shout from the owner of 10% of the bars profits for the last two sets, resulted in $264.35 AUD for the AFA!! We are so grateful to get such a good send off from our Aussie mates!

It was an entertaining evening. The singer, Ben, did a fantastic job humbugging the crowd to donate spare change, and our British guitarist, Pete agreed to strip down to his boxers for donations. A little unorthodox, yes, but highly successful fundraising.

A special thanks also to Stacie and Nathan Waugh, who allowed us to invade their home and store our belongings in their shed while we go off on our adventure. You folks are awesome!

We are currently on the east coast of Australia in Bellawongarah, New South Wales, staying with Nigel's parents and finishing off our final planning and organisation.

More soon! Now that we're so close to the ride, expect much more frequent posting.

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Introducing: The Vivente World Randonneur

A quick update on our status:

We've ordered our chariots for the upcoming ride!

We decided on the Vivente World Randonneur.

The World Randonneur is an Australian brand, and the bikes come properly spec'd up for loaded touring. We've heard tell the owner of the company, Noel McFarlane, actually tours on this bike. As a result, he's put a heck of a lot of attention into the details. Especially details that typically go wrong on lengthly tours. This is a big plus for us!

... and it's pretty.

Related Posts:

• The Vivente World Randonneur after 5,000km

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