It’s airport day. Our car broke down. Why does this always happen on airport day?

Halfway over the hill we overtook a clapped out campervan when our car stopped. I’m blaming Mike for not getting it serviced and for his views on speed limiting cars to 100km/hr. Dora obviously took offence (not that she can do more that 100 km/hr anyway but probably just a car alliance thing)

We managed to get Dora going again and crawled the rest of the trip behind the smelly old camper. We have Lord of the Rings to thank for this.

We decided to catch the bus from Thames ‘cos nobody likes to do the airport run. Dad dropped us off after putting our car into storage. (Thanks Dad!)

The bus was chocker full of BO ridden people and there were no seats left for us. With a bit of a defrag we managed to free up some space so we could sit together.

Mike read his book:

We had to wait for a change of bus at Manukau. Manukau is a multicultural experience. It’s like all the foreigners fly into Auckland and don’t get any further than Manukau before deciding to settle there.

Overall the public bus experience wasn’t too bad and we got to sightsee all the nice suburbs of South Auckland. The only downside is getting to the airport 8 hours early. Oh well – guess we will just have to sit in the Koru club and drink free beer.

The air is full of volcanic ash
And the planes wont fly ‘cos they don’t wanna crash
Jo and Mike don’t wanna get stuck
‘Cos having a winter would really SUCK!
Best thing to do is just sit tight
And hope we don’t have to cancel our flight

Someone on this farm is responsible for the theft and brutal mutilation of this corn:

Suspect Number 1 – Colonel Cluck and his Harem of Hens

The Colonels residence is adjacent to the corn so this makes him a suspect. However he has an unfortunate twitch which would prevent him carrying out the task alone. We suspect his harem may also have been involved.

Are The Colonel and his harem of hens really smart enough to carry out a heist of this kind?

Suspect Number 2 – Levi The Arrogant Racehorse

Levi’s paddock is also adjacent to the corn – and he is arrogant enough to carry out a crime such as this.

On closer inspection however – there were no horse prints in the dirt – and the fence was untouched.

We suspect Levi was probably too busy plotting ways to terrorise Farmer Mike.

Suspect Number 3 – The Three Ducks

The ducks have a history of bad behavior which is why they have been placed on the suspect list.

They are always playing in the hen house despite being told repeated not to do this.

They swim in the hens water when they have their own private stream down the bottom of the farm.

They are hungry ALL the time which gives them a motive.

But are these mischevious little ducks really capable of such a brutal crime?

Suspect Number 4 – The Buff Orpingtons – Buffy,Fluffy, and Puffy

We figure the Buffs were probably too busy with their open home that day to bother stealing corn. “Buffy the Corn Slayer?” – I don’t think so.

Suspect Number 5 – Bessie the Dog

Bessie likes to slink around the farm in her black frock and britches.

She is constantly picked on by the other animals – the cats tease her, the cows chase her, the ducks nip her tail and the fences give her shocks.

Bessie was also caught hiding in Grandpa’s car trying to escape the crime scene.

We suspect this may be an act of revenge.

Suspect number 6 – The Australian

The prime suspect for this brutal massacre is The Australian. We haven’t seen him but we know he is out there. We have set the trap and when he is caught he will be interrogated and shot!

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We tried out our new headcam yesterday and had our first swim.

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It’s only a couple of weeks now before we head home. In my attempts to get fit enough to run up Paku everyday, I seem to have strained a muscle at the gym yesterday. I didn’t do anything different, so really dunno what has caused it, but found it was agony to walk after my session. Anyway I have been RICEing it so I hope it comes right before we head home. Plus the weather is crap so it looks like a DVD day today.

Here’s a couple of photos from our new fisheye lens for a bit of fun:

Click on any of the photos below for a larger image.

Check here for a slideshow of many images: slideshow gallery

Catching the ferry from Poole to France:

First days riding:

First nights camp after 75 kms riding and Mike cooking us dinner:

Mike is all colour co-ordinated:

And so is Lynda:

We did a boat trip for part of the way:

Alcoholic Drinks:

The view from one of our campsites:

Oh my god, they have Wurfelnatters here?

Cycling through wineries:

View from one of the gasthofs that we stayed at, right on the cycle path.

Castles on hills:

A man blowing his own trumpet:

A little drinks hut in the middle of nowhere. We stopped for coffee while sheltering from the rain:

Last day of cycling. It rained all day and we got wet, cold and lost:

Catching the train back:

Goodbye:

After 925 kms of cycling in 14 days, we have arrived in Vienna.

We have decided against going on to Budapest due to poor roads and heavy traffic on the route, and also time constraints.

We had planned to catch a boat back but they are full and the trains wont take our bikes so it looks like we are cycling back!

Yesterday was a fun day. All accommodation was booked out, so we ended up cycling 92 kms in pouring rain before we found a guesthouse that had rooms. It turned out good as we only had a 30km ride into Vienna.

A poem:

Before the ride I was so fat
Now I cant even fit my hat
But really I am not that thin
I’ve only lost my double chin!

We have successfully cycled across Germany and are now in Passau, on the german-Austrian border. We have ridden almos 600 kms and our bums are very sore. Next leg is Austria.

The last couple of days we had an awesome tailwind which helped heaps. We are cycling on average 70km per day. My daily calories burned has dropped from 2800 to 1800, so I am definitely getting fitter.

We always seem to get rain when we camp, and it stays fine when in guesthouses. At least the rain has mostly stayed away during the day.

We are having a great time and enjoying the beer very much.

Saturday 6th June

On Saturday we awoke to rain. It just rained long enough for us to pack up our soaking wet tents and bundle them into garbage bags. Cycling was a hard slog with lots of pushing the bikes up steep hills.

One hill was so steep, Mike failed to change gears in time and had a spectacular fall, tumbling down a steep bank, arms and legs flying in all directions. Thankfully he was ok. We pushed our bikes up the rest of the way. There was no way we could cycle it.

We stopped at the top for a rest. Lynda found a table and chairs outside someones house and started laying out our fresh rolls, meats and cheese. A lady came out of the house, yelling at us.

We managed a panicked “nein sprechen zee Deutch”. The lady then started gesticulating wildly at the chairs. We think she was indicating that we could not use them. She then disappeared inside, and came out holding a cloth to wipe the chairs down, some coffee and some biscuits for us. Really sweet.

After a low 48 kms, the rain was threatening again so we found accomodation in a gasthof (backpacker style accommodation) for the night. There are no tourists here, no one speaks English here and we are having fun with our phrasebook.

Here is a poem from the evening in the restaurant:

I’m sitting in a restaurant
I really don’t know what I want
Nobody here speaks any English
So I’m having trouble choosing my dish!

Sunday 7th June

Sunday we rode a massive 85kms. It may not seem like a lot, but when we are loaded up with camping gear, cooking gear and clothes for a month, it is a struggle, especially on the hills.

We stopped off in Ulm for lunch where they had a big band playing for us in the town square.

The black clouds were looming so we waterproofed the bikes and continued on, hoping to out-race the storm. We got 5 mins out of town and it chucked it down. We sheltered amongst the trees and falling branches for about 10 minutes. Then it stopped and was a gorgeous day again.

My bum is sore upon my seat
As I cycle through fields of wheat
I think the crops are oh so pure
Until they sprayed with cow manure

Monday 8th June

Monday we rode 75 kms, up a lot of steep hills. Well, we pushed our bikes up the really steep hills.

A poem composed nearing the end of the ride:

As we cycle through fields of corn
our legs are feeling very worn
Do not worry, do not fear
We’ll soon be having our first beer

We stopped the night in Neuberg, where I managed to find beer for only 39c. So we drank a bit too much and felt a bit drunk. So we went in search of apfel strudel, but there was no apfel strudel to be found. Instead we found apfel fritters and ice cream.

We camped again and awoke to rain. Now it is time to go and pack up our wet tents – again!

We have been cycling for two days so far and still haven’t found the Danube river, but we seem to be following one called the Donau.

We have cycled 130kms in two days of glorious sunshine through open fields, forests and pretty villages with castles in the sky.

Today (Saturday) we are having a lazy morning in the liquid sunshine waiting for our tent to dry (which is not going to happen).

There is not a lot of internet about so the blogs may be a little slow. Will post some photos when we get a chance.

A poem:

If we want to ride to Budapest
We cannot stop to take a rest
We need to pedal every day
If we want to make it all the way.