Hi guys,
I arrived safely in Sydney yesterday, after the
plane
ride from hell. It seemed like the plane seats have
gotten smaller
since the last time I flew to
Australia, making it impossible to sleep or
even get
comfortable, and making it seem like the flight would
never
end.
I spent most of yesterday getting over my jet lag.
After about 10
hours of sleep (no kidding!) last
night, I'm feeling much better.
But
the best news is that I picked up my bike today.
Through sheer luck, my
hostel is very close to the
shipping agent who had my bike. I took a 15
minute
taxi ride from the hostel to the shippers and got the
bike. After
paying them for customs clearance, fees,
and storage ($850A) they delivered
the crate to me,
and I proceeded to uncrate the bike.
The bike
survived fairly well, though not unscathed.
Lenny, the crossbrace ripped open
the seat and wore
through the foam and into the side panel. And
more
suprisingly, the two rear straps both burned through,
through I don't
know why. Perhaps when they broke the
bike moved around causing the
crossbrace to rub and
wear through the seat. The front straps held,
but
they shifted so that the right side was very tight and
the left side
was loose. This may also have
contributed to the crossbrace wear on the
right side.
Other than that the bike seemed ok.
It took me about 2
hours to uncrate it and reassemble
the fairing, mirrors, etc. One of the
forklift
operators at the warehouse wanted the crate so I
didn't have to
pay more $$$ to dispose of it.
I loaded the bike back up and rode it
back to the
hostel, trying to remember to stay on the left side of
the
road :-) Luckily the never-ending traffic gave me
cues to help me remember
which side of the road was
"right". It gets much tougher to remember when
you're
on the open road with no other traffic around (that's
my challeng
for next week ;-)
Tomorrow I'm going to get a day pass on the
Sydney
rail/bus and tour around the city. On Thursday I'll
load the bike
and head north up the coast. The
weather has been great - sunny and about 70
degrees -
and I'm really looking forward to riding.
I'll talk to you
all soon. Drop me an email if you've
got exciting news, or just to say
hi.
With love,
Story |