Australia arrival

4/25

I woke at 3:40 today to head to Australia. Michal was kind enough to wake up so early and drive me to the airport.

After spending time declaring my stove and bike, I was soon on the plane. The Air New Zealand ride was fantastic. Even though it is just 3.5 hours, we had a full breakfast and a personal TV with movies, games and TV shows. I watched two full movies! You won't find that on a cross country air flight in the US...

In Australia I was piked up by my warmshowers host, Michael. A retired teacher, Michael and his wife Rose have been soo so very generous and I could not have hoped for better hosts. It was ANZAC today and Australians have an extended holiday. Both of my hosts were kind enough to share their time with me. We soon arrived at the house from the airport and talked for hours about touring. I am also lucky because Rose is a physical therapist. Based on my pain level and where the injury occured, I am cautiously optimistic.

I watched Essenton play Collingwood (two Melbourne suburbs) play a match of Austalian Rules football. It is a tradition for ANZAX day, a day to remember the military loses during the first battle that Australia an New Zealand fought as independent forces. I find it compelling how Australia and New Zealand share a holiday, even though they are separate nations. We sure don't share a holiday with Canada or Mexico.

Aussie rules football is very fun to watch. They play in an oval shaped field with a ball that is slightly more rounded than a rugby ball. There are 18 players. No pads. Full tackle. You can only punch the ball when passing it off, but you can pass it forward. Scoring occurs by kicking the ball through a pair of 4 posts. I got a hang of the rules and thought about going to game the next day!

Today, I decided not to ride along the coast or high country. I am leaving WED night to take a 36 hour train trip to Brisbane. I chose a train to see the country. I see this as the best option since I only have 3 weeks and Australia is so big. There are two decent rides in North and South of Brisbane. Also, there are a few rides West of Sydney near the blue mountains. This should give me a good taste of Australia landscape and hopefully I will stay with a few local Aussies!