New Blog - Top 40 Countdown of best days and or experiences of my trip

Unfortunately I never kept this blog uptodate, but now I'm back home in the UK I'm counting down my top 40 best days and or experiences of my trip, along with photos and even some video clips!

Check this new blog out HERE

Jan 23rd – Night ride around Brisbane’s river

It was so hot and humid today I decided just to chill out in the hostel and on it’s fantastic rooftop terrace, once the sun went down in the evening and it had cooled down a bit went out for a 25km bike ride around Brisbane’s river, was a very nice ride first in the twilight then at night.

Jan 22nd Brisbane - My Final Australian destination

Today I was to reach my final destination in Australia, Brisbane.

I had decided last night that after all the cycling I had done in Australia the only way to reach my last stop was by bike, it was to far to cycle all the way in the humid heat so planned to ride 10km to the nearest train station and take a train to about 45km South of Brisbane and cycle the rest.

I nearly tore up by greyhound bus ticket that I had booked but thankfully didn’t as after about 2km of cycling I got another broken spoke I had no other option then to get the bike back to the Greyhound station and get on my originally booked bus, I made it to the bus station just in time thankful that the spoke hadn’t broke further away leaving me stranded, but extremely disappointed that I would not be able to ride into Brisbane.

Got into Brisbane by 3pm found a bike shop to fix my spoke, and went to my Hostel which was a very nice one with air conditioned rooms and a fantastic rooftop terrace where this nice shot way taken from.

Jan 21st - Observation Deck, Cycling, free Red Bull then almost disturbing a porn shoot!

The reality that I was leaving Australia very soon, drew closer today when I closed my Aussie bank account.

Went up to the observation deck on Surfers Paradise tallest building, which gave fantastic views over Surfers Paradise, the gold coast and beyond, although it was more overcast today. While up there I planed a good bike route to cycle that afternoon, it was so humid and I was feeling rather exhausted and almost out of water when a red bull promotion car drove passed stopped and gave me a free can of Red Bull, I don’t usually drink the stuff but this time welcomed it with relief!

Towards the end of my ride I found a lovely quiet looking bay and was about to go down and sit on the beach, but noticed a women being photographed in the distance with a very impressive looking professional camera setup. I then realized the women didn’t have many clothes on and in fact had her bits (probably plastic ones) hanging out, now I didn’t practically want to disturb a porn shoot so made a quick getaway!

With it being my last night in Surfers Paradise I went out on a bit of a pubcrawl, starting with a fantastic meal at the Hard Rock Café.

Jan 20th - Which is scarier the worlds biggest freefall ride (125m, 400ft) or the Spider?

Well if you’ve been following my blog the past week, then you will know that for me the answer is obvious, an Australian spider is far scarier than being winched up 400ft and left to admire the view for 45 seconds before plummeting to earth like a stone giving 6 seconds of pure freefall and a G-force of 5.5 upon hitting the rides magnetic breaks!

Had a great day out at Dreamworld theme park from crazy rollercoasters to an impressive Tiger show, and a wildlife section with koalas, kangaroos and a hungry looking croc!

Jan 19th - Arrive in Surfers Paradise to a nice surprise.

Had the morning in Byron Bay before catching a lunchtime bus to Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast, the Bus took an hour and a half but due to an hours time difference we arrived only half an hour after leaving Byron.

After the hostel in Byron, I was looking forward to an air-conditioned hotel room that I had treated myself to for the next 3 nights, it was cheap at $72 (£38 per night) so was only expecting a basic budget room, so was amazing when I walked in my room and found it was actually 2 huge rooms, with an open plan kitchen, and living area complete with comftable couches & and a LCD cable TV and a huge separate bedroom with en-suite , was the perfect place to stay and cool off!

Went out for a shortish 16km bike ride, rode down past so of the stunning coastline and back alongside some of the inland waterways which was very scenic, like this pic with the skyscrapers in the background.

Stopped at a supermarket to buy myself ingredients for a nice pasta meal and a bottle of wine and had a quite evening in the comfort of my apartment hotel

Jan 18th Byron Bay - Australia’s most easterly point.

I did not think much of my hostel in Byron bay, my room had 10 people in it with no air conditioning, now when 10 people are paying $34 each that’s $340 or about £185 for the room, now you would think when there receiving as much money per room as most 5 star hotels in a major city that they could afford to put in air-con, obviously when your travelling on a budget you cant always expect too many frills but in a place where for much of the year it’s hot & humid and they pack you in 10 to a room I would have expected Air-con as a bare minimum!

On the plus side however the staff were friendly and helpful and after a crap nights sleep, I got up and ended up bumping into Michael who I had met at Townsend Lodge in Perth way back in August! At times this huge country can seem small after all, we arranged to meet up that evening and I went off to finally get my Bike fixed 7th bike shop lucky, 2 in Newcastle, 3 in Port Macquarie were closed and the first one I tried in Byron was too busy.

Pleased to have a good working bike again I cycled upto the most Easterly point in Australia, Cape Byron. It was a very tough climb but I made it and not only was I riding at the most easterly point possible in this huge country, the 360 degree views were incredible, I stayed up there for quite some time before enjoying the downhill ride down, I then lazed about by one of Byron Bays amazing beaches before going for another ride early evening.

That evening treated myself to a huge steak and met up with Michael for a few beers, It was great to catch up and talk about our travels and some of the great times over in Perth!