Monday 20 July 2009

Epilogue

Thursday July 16, 2009, 4 km (2 miles) - Total so far: 1,013 km (629 miles)

We ended up going back to Melbourne the next day on the 3pm bus. It took 17 hrs and was probably the least comfortable travel experience I've ever had! I was mightily impressed by those lucky few who managed to get to sleep.

I've already slotted back into 'normal life', getting ready for the start of university in two days. Bike touring is definitely on my mind though. Two weeks wasn't very long at all, and I've become very excited about my plan to ride up through Asia and around Europe (possibly with a few flights in there to cut out the politically unstable parts). It's still a few years off, but in the mean time I'd like to see a lot more of Australia and probably New Zealand. The other guys seem keen too, so hopefully we can make it a tradition of getting away for a few weeks every uni holidays.

I'm going to have to do something about my touring set up though. I've become very frustrated with my pannier rack breaking and ruining things for me. It's very tempting to give up on panniers completely and purchase a bike trailer. James and Jono had no problems at all with their trailers and they were able to take at least as much stuff than me while seemingly being less affected by the weight they were carrying. On the other hand, I have invested in top of the line panniers (Ortlieb), so it does make sense to continue using them. Maybe I just need to buy a really good rack. The braze ons on my mountain bike are basically destroyed though, so I'm going to need to get someone to retap the thread for me so that a rack can actually stay on without having to go through the derailleur hanger.

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