Update from Oz!

Well hello there!

This post is brought to you from the Royal Lounge in Sydney, Australia. We went on a nice little dinner cruise with Captain Cook Cruises this evening and caught the sunset over the city (including the Opera House) which was quite spectacular. It was an open bar so I took serious advantage of that for as long as possible! Unfortunately it was only 1.5 hours but I did my fair share of consumption. To top it off Cath and I are doing our own pub crawl back from the harbor to our hostel. Second stop is the Royal Lounge (our current location).

So as I'm sure all our faithful readers have been waiting for, I will provide you with an update of our cycle tour so far:

Basically it went like this:

8 days total, 1 rest day, and a $&@" load of climbing. We only did a total of about 440km in the 8 days of cycling which works out to an average of around 63km/day. As any of you avid cyclists will know, that is not a large amount... But, when you do it carrying around 50lbs on your bike it's a bit ridiculous, especially when you go over the Great Alpine Road which takes you from sea level to 1800m with more than it's fair share of ups and downs... It was definitely a challenge and I was concerned we were going to have to turn around at a couple points along the ride... Alas, with a positive attitude we made it over the top (Mt Hotham) in one piece and eventually to Albury where we caught the night train to Sydney. For those interested in our route, here it is:

Day 1: Sale, Vic to Bairnsdale,Vic
Day 2: Bairnsdale, Vic to Ensay, Vic
Day 3: Ensay, Vic to Omeo, Vic
Day 4: Rest day in Omeo
Day 5: Omeo,Vic to Dinner Plain, Vic
Day 6: Dinner Plain, Vic to Bright, Vic
Day 7: Bright, Vic to Yakandandah, Vic
Day 8: Yakandandah, Vic to Albury, NSW

Total km's was around 440km and we went from around sea level to 1800m and then down (not sure what Albury is but definitely above sea level - go figure... :) ).

Anyways, it was hard, but awesome. We had a little rain on day 2 and 3 but after that it was quite nice. Day 6 included the longest downhill either of us had ever done, coming in at around 20km straight - it was awesome!!!!

Fall was in full force and with the elevation we were hitting it was extra cold. We stayed at some great places including sole pub/hotels as well a an awesome lodge in Dinner Plain which we had entirely to ourselves!

If anyone is interested in more details just let us know and we will fill you in - I highly recommend it! Definitely a challenging adventure!!

I will also throw in that in general the traffic was light and everyone was very respectful and gave us appropriate space. Keep in mind that it was late in the season...

Ta Ta for now..

Kyle (I can't wait to find a kebab shop on our pub crawl... I know it's out there... Somewhere... Maybe I'll set a new record??)