Between February 2002 and March 2003 I circumnavigated 12,504 miles around the Australian continent on my bicycle, or push bike as they say there. After that I went to New Zealand for three months and met up with a friend and ended up pushing the total mileage to 14,115.7 miles (22717.02 km). I spent 269 days on my bike, 272 days not on my bike, and getting 67 flat tires over those 17 months.
I started and ended my 13 month lap around Australia at Luna Park in St. Kilda/Melbourne.. The distance around Australia (including Tasmania) ended up being about 20,281km (12,600 miles).
One fun thing I did during my trip was to visit six "confluences", which is where a whole-numbered latitude/longitude mark intersects for The Degree Confluence Project.
Craig
a rare occurance as of late, I'm actually writing a journal entry on the day it happened. Been in Okarito for a week now. Maybe going to head out tomororow, if not definetly on Thursday.
Today is the day I went up to Franz Josef glacier. A couple from town who own the gas station in town were my ride in. They picked me up at 7:30am and away we went.
Got all sorted out with the gear at the guideplace, and we headed off around 9am. The whole day was nice. Walked all around the glacier, into a lot of nooks and crannies. (see the photos!). The group stopped a lot so I hung out in the back and took a lot of photos. Met some of the other guys there and we kept ourselves entertained by telling jokes. (a guy walks into a bar....and says "ouch!). One of the guides, Peter, was an extra in the first Lord of the Rings. He played an Orc and is in the film for about five seconds. I ended up getting a clock picture of him and the other guide AJ. The glacier was pretty amazing. I'd been on them before, but this was this first time I'd crawled around down in the crevasses and such. We got back to the parking lot around 4:30pm. There was a huge Kiwi Experience bus parked there. "Ahh, the fucktruck" said one guy. "Or the Big Green Fucktruck", I added. Another guy jumped in, "Or the Vagina Lina" (liner).
Gave my gear back to the guideshop. Got some book that they give out with a signed "I completed it" thingy inside. Ok..... Got a ride back to Okarito, just in time for yummy dinner with Rich and Edwina. Rich and I spent a good deal of the night talking Rock and Roll...something I haven't done for a good couple of months. (The great Rock and Roll converstations with Steve in Melbourne..hi Steve!) . Quite sleepy now, must get to sleep.