Under way....................

Well have made it to Brisbane where we shouldn't be. Our bikes are back in Hervey Bay unable to fit on the plane they told us they would fit on.
They baggage check machine was broken so they only checked bikes & luggage to Dubai & then put a Niko note on the bike box saying to forward to Frankfurt.
Will this work..? who knows. I may have to survive on one set of underpants for 6 weeks...
Greg & Wendy have guested us into the QANTAS Club so things are looking up, as I am eating & drinking copiously.

Greg catching up on todays news at QANTAS club in Brisbane.

 

Leaving'not on a jet plane'

 

Still bright & happy, but this is only our first plane.. bigger as we leave B

The planes are getting  Bigger as we leave Brisbane. We are now at the QANTAS club in Sydney, having arrived under a stormy coloured sky & we are once again eating & drinking. The bike drama is now forgotten until we reach Frankfurt.

We still haven't been advised of our cancelled flight out of Hervey Bay.

 

Leaving Brisbane on a 737

 

Snowy cloudscape kilometres below between Brisbane & Sydney.

 

Sydney city on landing , late afernoon.

 

Decending into Sydney under a very yellow coloured stormy sky.

 

Do the Dramas EVER end ??????

Yep it seems that thing really do come in threes. We received a phone call from Wendy this evening to say she was informed that our flight out of Hervey  Bay was cancelled.
She had organised an alternate flight from Hervey Bay to Brisbane, then to Sydney to pick up the Dubai flight. Wendy received this info by text from QANTAS around five or six this afternoon.
Unfortunately QANTAS has not bothered to inform us, even though they have our phone contacts on record. I therefore  rang them earlier in the evening & yes they confirmed our flight was cancelled. We reorganised flights via Brisbane to Sydney as Greg & Wendy did. We were told a text was sent to us a half an hour ago. As I write this 4 more hours have passed  & we still have not received the elusive text. Lucky we were travelling with someone who was informed.

Now comes the kick in the pants, after waiting for 4 more hours & still not having received our updated tickets by email (they were due in 30 minutes), I logged on to see if they were updated & yes, there were the new flight times. I then looked closer at the flight details & find the return flight from Sydney has been changed to a Dash 8 from a jet service & thus the flight time extended to 2.5 hours. That should be fun after 21 hours in the air from Frankfurt...

OK I've got that off my chest, now I'm going to enjoy myself from now on or ELSE....
Bags are packed & weighed. bikes are boxed & ready, grass is cut, gutters are cleaned, etc, etc. etc.
Kevin will be here tomorrow morning to take us to the airport. We will be pedalling furiously before we know it.
Well its 9.30 next day.. day of departure. The silence from QANTAS is deafening, Not a word about the cancelled flight & no new e tickets emailed.
Kevin our driver is here to take us to the airport & the home security staff (Lynda) has been briefed.
Were off...........................................

This is hopefully everything you need for 5 weeks

And this is where it went.

Ready to roll..Hope they make it in one piece & find us at the other end.

Did I say No More Dramas ??????

I thought all the dramas were behind us, but the toughest was yet to come.
Today we attended Yvonnes' fathers funeral.
Peter passed away on Tuesday evening with his family gathered around him. He was buried this afternoon, Friday 29th of May.
The last couple of weeks have been an emotional roller coaster, for the whole Linsket family culminating in todays celebration of Peters life & his internment in the Gayndah cemetary. It was a blessed release for Peter who had been suffering severe ill health for some time & is now at peace. His family can now move on with the rest of their lives knowing he is no longer suffering.

As for the trip, we have less than 48 hours to go until departure & have not yet started to pack.
The bikes have been dis- assembled & are loose & unsealed in their travel boxes.
We have numerous house keeping things to attend to before departure, so I don't think we will be bored or will be having any afternoon naps.

I will try to get another post up prior to departure & DEFINITELY no more dramas or excitement of ANY sort.

Peters family gathered at the graveside...

Rest In Peace.......Peter

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Here it is..Our first post in our latest blog.
Where to start ????
Since our last blog
Click HERE to view previous blog
we have had several large trips which I have neglected to document for a variety of reasons.
These include, laziness, no internet access (this seems confined to Australian travel) & repeat visits to some of our favorite places, which was great for us, but would be even more boring than our usual boring blog.

So now for something completely different (forgive the Monty Python pun). a cycle journey around Germany. This is something we would have never considered doing ourselves, but after a pleasant bicycle ride around Howard with our friendly cycling group around 18 months or 2 years ago, we were enjoying a nice cup of coffee with our cycling friends when Greg said he & Wendy were going to cycle around Germany & would we like to come ? Of course we said yes, as it seemed to be forever away & something we would not have to think about for a long long time.

Well it seems that a long long time has passed in a flash & the time is upon us & the reality of what we are setting out to do in 2 weeks time is a little daunting.
Our lead up to this point has been quite good up until about 6 weeks ago. Our cycling fitness was pretty well at its peak for a pair of old farts with at least 300 klms a week rolling under our wheels.
Then 6 weeks ago I developed a superficial blood clot in my left leg. 'No worries' says the doc 'no worse than a pimple', 'be gone in no time' says he. Two days later another clot 3 times as big & over the next week at least 4 more large & painful clots.
So after some haggling with another medico, a referral to a vascular surgeon who discovers several more clots & a DVT. So I,m thinking, can a one legged cyclist  manage a trip around Germany ?
Well apparently not, so off to the surgeon for vein ablation, vein stripping & sealing. All seems to go well & with only 2 weeks left to departure a final scan gives the all clear for our trip.
This is very good & a little bit scary as the upcoming trip now seems very real & current cycling fitness is now questionable due to training interruptions with the leg problem.
So I guess, like all good adventures, it has started with a drama. I am hoping not to have too many more.
As it turns out there will be 8 of us cycling. Yvonne & myself, Greg & Wendy,both of whom are experienced cycling tourers & ex military, which means everything is precisely organised & I don't have to do anything & if things do go wrong we have someone to blame, perfect.
Then there is Alison & Stewart, a couple from Hervey Bay who cycle out to Howard every week & often join our group for coffee & the occasional ride. We don't know them all that well yet, but after 5 weeks living in each others pockets, I think we will be pretty familiar with them.
The other couple, who's names currently escape me but will be very familiar in 2 months time, is currently in Amsterdam & cycling toward a meeting with us in Frankfurt. This tends to concern me a little, as anyone who does a 1000 klm ride to warm up for the main event may be somewhat fitter than us.
The departure date is May 31st, very close indeed, with much preparation to go. It is not easy packing for 2 months & still keeping total luggage weight to 7 kg. We are dreading the long flight in cattle class, Hervey Bay - Sydney one and a half hours. Sydney- Dubai 14 hours. Dubai - Frankfurt 7 hrs plus airport waits. I will probably sleep for 3 days on arrival.
I will report more when there is more to report.................................

Here I am in hospital with 4 weeks to go before cycling around Germany. Not a good look.
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