Bendalong long long way

One sunny Friday, we started out from Nowra, ready for a cycling adventure, complete with full panniers and happy hearts.

Rob had told me that we would encounter ‘a bit of dirt’ on our trip.

Well, after only 15km the tarmac did infact turn into dirt,

and indeeed was not just dirt but

……………………..incredibly steep hills

……………………………. and gnarly mountain bike tracks

……………………………………………….. for the remainder of our trip.

Rob was happy but after pushing our bikes up hill for 3.5hrs and covering only 2 kms I was wondering if this really was fun after all.

Fortunately, the scenery through Yalwal and the Morton National Park is spectacular and what with the locked gates and bad road surface it meant that we had it all to ourselves.

The fact that the route on our map was all green and those contour lines were so close together should have been a hint as to the difficulty of our task.

I guess that’s why Rob never let me see the topo map

……………………………………. (or the compass, or the GPS device).

We were delighted that Nichola and George joined us at our bush camp on Saturday night and then for the last leg of the trip.

Together we conquered the 54km ride from Tinjara Falls through the National Park on mountain bike tracks to the beach at Bendalong.

…………………………………………….. And yes, it really was fun after all.

Cradle Mountain

Not far from Launceston, Tasmania is the majestic Cradle Mountain National Park.

Our down jackets and gaiters got another work out when we spent two days hiking there.

True to Tasmanian weather, we were able to enjoy all four seasons in one day, and while the rest of Australia is welcoming Spring we found ourselves hiking in snow.

Thankfully, the thermos was filled with warming hot chocolate as the 3 degrees daytime temps were a little chilling.

The Cradle Mountain sits high in the park and it’s snow covered peaks were a joy to discover.

The Park has an amazingly diverse and unique landscape.

Our hiking took us through fields of buttongrass and ancient Pencil Pines, moss covered rainforest and alpine heathland.

What a fun way to spend the weekend!

Let it snow . . .

And boy did it snow!

We were in Queenstown, NZ when they had their biggest snow storm in 50 years!

Queenstown is a gorgeous town at the best of times, set on a lake, surrounded by peaks, filled with skiers – and when it snows there it is really quite magical.

We were lucky that the blizzard didn’t spoil all of our skiing days.

We did manage to get two days of skiing in. What fun!

Rob spent his time working on getting some air.

While it was blizzarding and the ski fields were closed we holed up in the ever-so-cute Cardrona Hotel, sipping mulled wine next to the log fire.

Before it snowed I spent a few days hiking in places like this.

It really is this beautiful.

As you can see we loved it!

East Gippsland Rail Trail

Rob was asked to go to Victoria for work for a week and so we decided to make the most of a trip across the border.

We packed our Bike Fridays and headed to Gippsland where we cycled 100km along a disused railway line.

The trail glided through the gorgeous Victorian countryside through forests, farmlands, through old railway cuttings and past abandoned timber mills. We came across several of these derelict long timber rail bridges.

We cycled for two days. On the first night we stayed in a great old pub in Bairnsdale. On the second night we stayed at the too-cute-to-be-true caravan park in Nowa Nowa in a retro bubble van.

Of course, I loooved it.

Let it snow

On the way home from Sale we couldn’t resist the chance to don our skis and spend some time at Mt Hotham.

On the first day we tried Cross Country skiing.

Fun but not as much fun as …               downhill!

Megalong Valley

A great weekend at the Megalong Valley. Pink an’ all.

 

The Castle

Nestled in the Budawang Mountains, in the Moreton National Park, not far from the coastal town of Milton lies The Castle

The guide book says “The Castle has spectacular views and a challenging ascent. This is a demanding 2 day walk for fit and experienced walkers”.      It did not lie.

We packed our backpacks with out tent, stove, warm clothes and lots of food and set out with our buddy Nichola for a weekend of tough exercise.

On Saturday we hiked all day uphill through dense bush. We climbed, nearly to the top, of the famed Castle and then with tired legs and hungry bellies we were rewarded with a campsite in the middle of the bush – just for us. It was complete with stream and a fantastic view.

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After a very peaceful and relaxing night we left our lovely campsite and explored the Monolith Valley and then make the exciting trip back down the mountain.

We felt well deserved of the beer and pie ‘n’ chips at the Milton Pub.

A good excuse to posh up

We’d like to thank our good friends The Grillers for getting married so we had a chance to get our fancy clothes out.

. . . and so comrades, to Cuba

When your friends ask you to join them cycling across Cuba                                                                                          how can you resist?

So, with some Spanish under our belts, our fold up bikes in our suitcases and our legs ready to pedal we landed in Havana for two months of cycling pleasure.

Here we are, four intrepid (and now very fit cyclists),                                           Charlie, Rob, Steve and Ali, along the coast of the Carribean.

The cycling

Rob and I took our fold up bikes as they were easy to take on the plane. We thought we might have some difficulty but cycling on them was much better than we had expected.

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Cuba has a very diverse landscape. Crossing the Sierra Maestra mountain range, made famous by Che Guevara,  we cycled up roads so steep that they were made from concrete rather than asphalt and we could only make it to the top by zigzagging across the road.

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Down those hills we certainly knew we had small wheeled bikes.   It was not for the faint hearted or weak legged.

Thank goodness for low range gears! The spectacular scenery most definitely off-set the aches in our muscles.

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The flat plains in Central Cuba have small, dusty towns surrounded by fields and fields of sugar cane. When the wind was behind us we really chewed up the kilometres.

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The Cuban coast  is incredibly spectacular!

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We often cycled in the morning and swam and snorkeled at white, sandy beaches with crystal blue water on the Caribbean in the afternoon.

These days were my favourite ones.

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The roads

Often the roads were dirt, full of pot holes, in bad shape,

or hardly there at all.

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Communism

Since the revolution of 1959  Fidel Castro has been in power and Cuba has been under communist control. The country has seemingly stood still since then. It was fascinating for us to experience communism first hand.

Food is provided on a ration card system. These are shops where you buy rice, flour, oil etc. As you can see, although very neat, there is very little to buy.

Internet is illegal,  people are highly restricted in their day to day life and workers are paid a salary of $20 a month!

There were shortages of many things. This stall is selling deep fried snacks. Even to buy bread would mean an hour standing in a queue.

Havana

Havana lives up to its reputation of being a mesmerizing, magical, romantic city.

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Since the revolution of 1959 the city has not been touched and there is dilapidation everywhere you look.

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Colonial palaces are crumbling, decrepit tenements look as if to topple at any minute and stately mansions are in a state of  disrepair.

Despite the city falling apart, or possibly because of it, there is infectious energy everywhere.

Spontaneous music in the streets and friendly, colourful people.

The city is full of atmosphere and we couldn’t help but fall in love with it!

Since the revolution of 1959 the city has not been touched and the Colonial palaces are crumbling and tenements are in a state of disrepair. Nevertheless there is music in the streets, colourful people and it is totally romantic.

. . .and what about those classic cars?

When you think of Cuba you think of Buena Vista Social Club, Che Guevara ,socialist propaganda, cheap rum, mojitos, old men smoking fat cigars, queues outside ration shops, it was all this and more.

. . . and how can you forget those great old American cars?

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.  …… . . Some stats:

We pedaled                      2,300kms

Days on the road               59

Mountain ranges crossed     Three

Punctures                        .One!

Fun had by all                    Most definitely.

………….. If you’re keen to see more of our Cuba pics click this link

Canyoning

Mat, Katie and I spent a few days in the Blue Mtns Canyoning.

Cold and wet but what fun!