ARRIVED IN AUSTRALIA

YOU HAVE TO READ THIS RIGHT THROUGH...

Arrived Sydney Australia last Thursday after about 9 hours flight from HGK. Weather very different and much hotter than we have been used to. Some small trouble at Customs with bike wheels (clean of dirt) but Fay's bike shoes cleaned by courtesy of Customs officers. Australia seems a nice place to be, no one else has offered to clean our shoes on arrival. Met by a Margaret and and younger lady Deb, (who had a baby with her!). they greeted us like long lost relatives and insisted we stay at Deb's place without any argument. Deb even had a rent a truck for us, a silver Pajero 4WD, much bigger than our Peugeot from Europe, but also a diesel. Stayed a couple of nights in Sydney and met some other very keen bike folk( Jim and Lyn). Seems Jim is in charge of Bike for Bibles in this state or something so I will probably go for a bike ride with him as soon as possible. the banana split fits into the back of the Pajero easiily but it also has bike racks on the roof and Deb has promised access to some half bikes in the immediate future. The Pajero even has a pink and blue towel for each of us to use and a pair of leather gloves under the drivers seat when you go to a fuel station.
Anyway after a few days in Sydney this Deb and her hubby and little kid (Fay got on well with the little kid but at this stage he is not into biking so I am a little reserved about him!) Deb advised us she had a house for us for a week or so. It is in a place called Dubbo which was about 4-5 hours away from Sydney. The Pajero has a compass thing and Deb said "Just drive west for five hours." We travelled through a place called the blue mountains but they are much smaller than the mountains we are used to in recent ten months. No small narrow winding roads but plenty of smoke and bush fires. After a few hours the road flattens out and you travel much more easily.
The house in Dubbo is very nice and Fay has her own room and as there is no one else in the house I might even break convention and sleep in the same room. A small ensuite and also a separate bathroom. There, in the garage as promised, are some half bikes. A small problem not explained by Deb was that it seems we have to cook and wash up ourselves so had a look around Dubbo for a few shops and stocked up on some tucker. This seems a good place and guy could settle down here. No serious hills for a good bike ride though. Think Deb said we only have it for a week until the real owners come back; we have to go and live in a caravan in the next week or so but Deb said we can keep the Pajero for a little longer until we have to give it back to her. Think that is about all the news for now. We will have a look for a church tomorrow and probably go the Baptist Church. If I get up early I will go for a bike ride and look to see if anyone my age is playing tennis. Wouldn't mind a game. So that is the first epistle of our time in Australia, when I get a bit more time I will send photos of the Pajero, the fuel gauge, the compass thing, the mountains and even the people we stayed with or who met us at the airport.

The house in Dubbo is very nice and Fay has her own room and as there is no one else in the house I might even break convention and sleep in the same room. A small ensuite and also a separate bathroom. There, in the garage as promised, are some half bikes.
A small problem not explained by Deb was that it seems we have to cook and wash up ourselves so had a look around Dubbo for a few shops and stocked up on some tucker. This seems a good place and guy could settle down here. No serious hills for a good bike ride though. Think Deb said we only have it for a week until the real owners come back; we have to go and live in a caravan in the next week or so but Deb said we can keep the Pajero for a little longer until we have to give it back to her.
Think that is about all the news for now. We will have a look for a church tomorrow and probably go the Baptist Church. If I get up early I will go for a bike ride and look to see if anyone my age is playing tennis. Wouldn't mind a game. So that is the first epistle of our time in Australia, when I get a bit more time I will send photos of the Pajero, the fuel gauge, the compass thing, the mountains and even the people we stayed with or who met us at the airport.

Well, would you believe I gave my brother Alan power of attorney! Now he's even writing my blog for me! How cool is that? Yes, he wrote the above and emailed it to me just a while ago!

Even so, it's pretty accurate. Thanks Al. Not everyone gets a speech writer do they?

We are somewhat worried about the cooking aspect having not done much for 10 months. Pajero did run well and we won't be handing that back in the near future.

Hey it's good to be in own bed! And our grandson.... Logan Jack.... he's a corker! A bobby dazzler! That means I reckon he's tops!

We had a celebratory Chinese dinner in Sydney last night. Great to have Jim and Lyn and sister Margaret there as well as son Jeremy and close friends from Colombia, Deanna, Hugo and Valentina. I think she is going to marry my son Jeremy even though she is only 5 years old!

Thanks Deb and Bren for having us and Deb for picking us up from the airport. That was great.

Our tennants did a great job of keeping the house ship shape. Thanks Brad and Marli. You're wonderful. They moved out about a month ago.

And now... to bed. Thanks for the blog again Al. Seeya soon.