On Michel’s birthday we got up at 3.30AM to make most of the day. It was the day we were to say good bye to New Zealand. It had still been dark, when the plain took off at Christchurch about 6AM. 4 hours later and two time zones further westwards it landed again in Melbourne before 8AM, not long after the horizon had been coloured in deep orange. We were still in the luggage claim area when we unpacked all our stuff, fixed the bikes and hooked all the bags onto them. Like that we then rolled it all comfortably through customs. The Officer ther didn’t even check for traces of dangerouse New Zealand soil. He only remarked, that this was clever to unpack and allowing him to see the bikes all free, and that he whishes us a good time in Australia!
Out of the building the GPS didn’t search too long, before it guided us out of the labyrinth of roads around the airport. And not far away it found a great bike path for us. We had accessed the excellent network of paths along creeks, through parks, under Motorways allowing cyclists to move away from any traffic. That way we cycled peacfully 60km from northwest to southeast of Melbourne right through central town untill we ended up at our friend Ei’s doorstep. Only once we lost the track due in a detour due to maintanance work in the inner city but found it again along the Yarra River. Australia has developed very positivly towards cyclists !
It still felt unreal though to be in the country of the kangaroos and not any longer in the one of the kiwis. However the gumtrees everywhere and even more so the suddely risen temperature didn’t leave any doubt about that. Allready after 100m our pores had opend and we were wet through. A little dizzy from dehydration we drank from the watertaps along the path. Due to the heat we arrived at Ei’s with deep red heads and aking muscles although we had have enough time for training the last weeks. The next days Ei’s mother spoiled us with delicious burmese food, which we so far hadn’t come in contact with. It had also been very interesting to learn more about Myanmar in our conversations. Together we explored Nepean Point at the end oft he Peninsula, which forms the southeastern shore oft he harbour of Melbourne. On Nepean Point a fort and an impressive tunnel system as part of the defence as well as the former Quarantain station has been situated. Here the new arrived immigrants with Infulenza or other infectious diseases had to wait till were cured before beeing allowed into the country. It definately had been easier for us to arrival! On our last day in Melbourne we participated in the yearly Oppy ride, an initiative for sports, or to have people cycle or run more often. Ei had entered us and herself for the 25km bike ride and t we all made it!
