Survivor Hinchinbrook

After making it around the bay a week before, it was time to take up the second physical challenge for the year - completing the 4 day Thorsborne Trail walk along the east coast of Hinchinbrook Island. The island itself is uninhabited by humans and with no mobile phone coverage we were really thrown into the wilderness....along with its other inhabitants.

The journey begins: 3 hr flight to Townsville followed by a 2 hr drive to our last night in civillisation at Lucinda - a small country town whose main claim to fame is the 5 km long jetty (below) used to transport the locally grown raw sugar out to boats

....and finally a 1 hr boat trip from Lucinda to Hinchinbrook Is, seen in the background (below). The team (from L to R): Bonnie, Terrie, Dr Dopey, Andrew, Kristen and Paul ("The Terminator")

The Beginning: the boat dropped us off at George Point on the southern end of the island and we set out along the beach with our tents, clothes, food and water packed on our backs

It wasn't long before the boys found a distraction

The Dopey sisters

After walking about 2 hrs along the beach, the track into the rainforest began and it was a welcome change after being out in the hot sun. An hour later we had reached our first camp site, Mulligans Falls. It was a beautiful spot and the waterhole which the falls runs into was great for cooling off and washing away the sweat and dirt. We spent most of the afternoon by the falls, swimming with the fish and sleeping in the sun, it was perfect.

Andrew and Kristen drying off in the sun (above) and Terrie having a mid afternoon snooze (below)

Heaps of time for a game of cards before starting the evening meal of tomoto-based pasta with onion, mushroom and salami

Plus we had a friendly lace monitor at the capsite

It was all going well, we were clean, well fed and rested, piece of cake. Unfortunately Mulligan's Falls had lured us into a false sense of security, we had no idea what Hinchinbrook Is had in store for us ......to be continued

I made it around the Bay!

Sunday October 18: a day that has been highlighted on my calandar for the past 6 months, the day I would attempt to ride 210 kms around Melbournes Port Phillip Bay along with a few thousand other stupid cycling enthusiasts. I had managed to coax a work collegue and fellow bike rider, Sam "The Man" to take on the challenge with me and we were both pumped and ready to go, sort of. Would we make it or wouldn't we, only time would tell (I kind of spoiled it in the title).

The Journey: ride begins in Melbourne (top of the map) and proceeds anti-clockwise around the bay for 110 kms to Queenscliff where we board a ferry to Sorrento, followed by another 100 kms back to the city.

Sam "The Man" and Dr Dopey grabbing a quick bite to eat at Geelong (80 kms mark). Still smiling after riding most of the way into a head wind and suffering the boredom and smells of the old Geelong Road

The Queenscliff to Sorrento Ferry (above) marked the half way point, time for lunch and a chance to catch up with some of the other riders (below).

Sam and I after leaving the ferry in Sorrento for the remaining 100 kms along the coast (above). Mentally ready but legs, bums and bits not so sure.

The Finish Line, finally

The Proof: 210.01 kms

Ride time: 8 hrs 25 min

Avg speed: 25 kms/hr

Food Glorious Food....and Beer

The last week has been moving from airport to taxi to hotel to taxi to airport, but you've still got to eat and you've got to try the local delicacies. So here's a few those we've tried.

Andrew enjoying Germany fast food - Currywurst in Dusseldorf. Its a sausage with a lot, and I mean a lot, of tomato sauce on top sprinkled with curry powder and paprika. Pretty good but it doesn't beat a snag in bread. They do make good chips in Europe though

Andrew sampling the Dusseldorf speciality liqueur, Killepitsch. Its made from the essences of 98 herbs, berries and fruits and contains 48% alcohol. Our local rep says it has medicinal properties and is best taken in shot form after having a big night. He also said too many shots of Killepitsch may be bad for your health, its all about balance.

Andrew and I sampling the local beer in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, as recommended by Doug

We also sampled some fresh pasta in Turin, Italy which was great and I finally got an Italian hot chocolate that was exactly what I was after, thick and rich and oh so chocolatey, mmm. Plus I found some cocoa powder so can try to make it at home. I've also had pepperoni pizza and lots of Ben and Jerry's icecream and I've OD'ed on onion rings and crispy bacon. So really can't complain on the food front except my lack of self control my have impacted my waistline! All good, carb loading for the big ride in a weeks time!

It was supposed to be chocolate heaven.....

After passing up a chance to grab my favourite hot choc from Cafe Nero in London I have been dying for a good hot chocolate, European style. All attempts since then have been disappointing - hot watery drinks with a layer of froth just don't cut it when you've had the thick chocolatey delight of the Cafe Nero Hot Chocolate Milano. So when we stumbled upon a chocolate bar in Amsterdam airport I just had to try their version which looked just like Cafe Nero's. Here your given a mug of hot milk and you select a chocolate spoon that then melts into the milk (its really just a wooden spoon with a block of choclate on the end)

I wasn't able to wait until the chocolate melted completely into the milk, I just needed to try it! The chocolate tasted good but the final product was just as disappointing as all the others. They also had these parfum bottles with different types of choclate in them, which of course I had to try

Fortunately theres a Cafe Nero at Heathrow Airport and we have to fly through there anyway, maybe I'll pick up a hoisin duck wrap from Pret while I'm there

What's Dr Dopey doing now?

Baby went to Amsterdam

My first visit to Amsterdam and my list was ready....

#1 Canals (actually canals was not on my original list as I didn't know there were canals in Amsterdam, but there are, heaps, which was great. The buildings lining the waterway are all slightly crooked as they slowing sink.

#2 Visit the red light district at night: No photos of this one but it definitely didn't disappoint. Narrow windy cobbled streets lined with window prostitutes of every variety. The tiny rooms behind the window where the lady was on display had just enough room for a bed and probably not much ventilation as we saw many of them trying to air out the room by fanning the door or spraying cans of air freshener....noice

#3 Dykes: For this we ventured north of the city and decided the best way was on bike. This sounded like a great idea until we realised Dutch bikes are a little different to the ones at home. I'm sure there great for your posture but they can be difficult to balance on and manouever due to the wide turning circle. Fortunately Holland is extremely flat so no major issues

The dykes are great though, with bike paths running along the top so you get a fantastic view of the large expanses of water on either side

Amsterdam 9 kms to the left, Marken 3 kms to the right (and below)

#4 Giant Clogs: They were there, it had to be done, say no more

#5 Windmills: After searching high and low for windmills we finally found one on our ride back to Amsterdam. The guy even let us inside and gave us a run down on how it all worked. Its the only working windmill in Amsterdam and its used to break up and grind rock and chalk into fine dust

Windmill from the outside (above) and inside (below). The large wheels are made of stone and their rotation driven by the windmill is what crushes the rock

Overall, Amsterdam gets 2 thumbs up, its a great walking city and very bike friendly with the coutryside only a short bike ride. Plus there's lots to see and do during the day and into the night, what more could you want?

Enough fun, back to work tomorrow and more travel. Next stops....Turin, Italy and Dusseldorf, Germany before heading over to the US

Around the World in 18 Days (Part 1)

Another work trip but there's always time to sample the local cuisine and do a bit of sightseeing. First stop, sunny Scotland....not. Wokka (work colleague and travelling companion) and I had preplanned to spend our afternoon off driving around the Scotish countryside in search of the Falkirk Wheel, the worlds only rotating canal boat lift. It functions to connect 2 different canals that are at different elevations by lifting boats from one to another. Also it only requires the same amount of power to run as boiling 7 electric kettles.

The Falkirk Wheel in its stationary position with a canal boat (blue) moving into the bottom gondola. When its ready to lift, the gates close keeping water in the gondola and it starts to rotate around (images below)

Pretty impressive but is it worth the £17.5M spent to develop it?


We also drove to Loch Lomand and stumbled across some highland cows and discovered a new taste sensation at one the country pubs

Aberdeen Angus beef burger with onion rings - yes they are eaten in the burger and it tasted great!

Next stop, Amsterdam