Initially when we were planning this trip we had included New Zealand on our route. As our costs have spiraled, however, we decided to fly directly to Australia, reasoning that it would be cheaper to fly to New Zealand directly from Ireland at some future date and to hire a bike there. The cost of flying to Australia alone justified this since it cost us 2000 dollars just to fly the bikes and our own air fares were equally dear. In fact it would have been cheaper had we taken a flight back home and gone from there. At any rate, though, we are here now and Australia has proved a very good country to visit, particularly as the people are the friendliest we have encountered on our travels to date. We flew into Sydney from L.A.X and as usual there was the near week delay before we could clear our bikes from the airport. These, however, are for me great opportunities to explore places and Sydney is a great city. Looking at it from the panoramic view of the tower in its center you realise what a beautiful setting it has. While we were there a couple of protestors climbed the opera house and plastered NO WAR in red paint on it which the authorities spent the next couple of days trying to remove. Bondi beach, which is a suburb of the town, did not strike us as pretty as Manlay which is on the other side of the bay by ferry. We arrived on the 15th and the following day while looking at the city from the tower we saw this huge gathering of green in the Domain, which is the central park there. Obviously it was a Paddy's Day celebration so we wandered by it in the late evening as only the young expats were left to listen to a U2 look alike band. Earlier that day we visited the world Harley Road Show in the Olympic village. The amount of people there was phenomenal and they had INEXCS playing a free concert. Mind you the cost in was 35 dollars in the first place so free is a relative word .It was certainly a worthwhile show to visit though.

A lot of people seem to put down Harleys for various reasons but I still think they are the seminal bikes of their type and rate the road king as an all time classic, though perversely my favorite is an FLH from the AMF era but whatever we all have problems. Sydney has great shops to wander around in addition to its famous sights and with its cafes and parks, was an easy place to pass the time pleasantly.

When we finally got our bikes out we were speeded along greatly by the help of the customs man who was Irish and a son of the late Professor Tomas De Bhaldraithe. Tomas as he was also called was a fascinating individual who was into sailing and it was nice to be able to talk to someone naturally in my own language. Having got our bikes out Sydney, with its numerous attractions, held us for another couple of days as we explored it further. When we left it, we headed north along their Pacific Highway 1, known as the Bruce Highway in the way that the major roads here are named after significant people in its history. It is a great road but is not a coastal route as such since it is mostly some miles inland as it would appear that mango groves and low lying mud flats prevent a sea-hugging route. To get to the sea therefore you have to ride down cul de sacs that bring you to small little resorts. We used to pull into these seaside towns as we headed up the eastern coast and our first stop took us to Port Macquarie. Another such stop was Coff's harbour where Russel Crowe got married in yesterday so we missed the excitement by a few days. This area is The Gold Coast and it was poignant to pass the area where the late great Baza lived.