Update

Hi, it has been a while since I've updated the site. I'm now at a YHA hostel in Batemans Bay at around 300k from sydney. Unfortunately I can't upload any images or docs i've written because I'm on a webpoint. THe riding is going ok,sometimes it is very hard to get up the next hill with soar legs. But when you arrive in the next town everything is forgotten. The first day I had trouble with my chain which snapped three times. Luckily I could buy one in Wollongong before the shops closed. My credit is running out so i'll update soon, with some pictures i hope.

Flight Cairns

After three months of hard work at the Wackett Centre I’m finally going on a deserved vacation. Old colleagues probably started laughing by now… I really had a great time the last three months. At first it is always a bit difficult to settle in a new environment and workplace. Many uncertainties like, will I find a room in time etc. Luckily the people at the Wackett Centre were always willing to help.

The first week was very hectic. As you may know I had some trouble with my visa. In total I spend 600 bucks on visa crap. And hours spend waiting at the Immigation office. I’m very very happy that’s over now. First a Working Holiday, followed by an Occupational Trainee visa to be able to work at the Wackett Centre and finally a tourist visa, kind of a stupid mistake. As I was saying the first week was hectic. Going to the immigration office and finding a workstation, thanks Christian for logging in all the time… The assignment for the internship was not really clear. I didn’t know what to expect but after a meeting with my supervisor Cees Bil and the contact from GKN, Robert (Bob) Hood.

After theory studies on the web and in some e-books the assignment started to become interesting for me. It appeared the is a real concern in the conversion of CAD models to different programs. A nice and all saying example is the Airbus A380. Due to different CATIA version at the departments in Toulouse and Hamburg there was an interoperability problem. A change in design at the Hamburg couldn’t be checked at the Toulouse headquarters. I notice now that I’m accustomed to jargon in the computer aided industry. Well this problem at Airbus led to a delay in delivery, angry costumers and loss of profit of many billions of dollars.

Back to the Wackett Centre. A Dutch guy from the same university, Jacob, helped me to know my way in Melbourne. Also the trip to the Great Ocean Road with some of his flatmates was really cool. Come to think about it, I wanted to do a lot more trips in the neighbourhood (relative) of Melbourne. Like the Grampians and Wilson Promontory. I did go to Philip Island with my bike. I was ‘very nice’, kangaroos in the wild and a helicopter flight around woolaamiaaaasaai bay, or something. After some time we, Nadia, Philip, Omar, Jacob, Dipesh, Florian, Fabio for some time and later Koen, formed a nice group. We went to party at the CBD, St. Kilda and Brunswick (Bimbo’s)…Money disappeared out of my wallet to fast.

From the beginning of my Australia-trip, since I took my bike with me, I had the plan to drive from Sydney to Melbourne along the coast. This being not a very easy feat, I had some thoughts about it. Begin January I started booking a flight to Cairns, because I really wanted to see the Great Barrier Reef, and Sydney. Before I was thinking to do a trip from Cairns to Sydney with a bike and the trains. Looking at the map of Queensland I realized that in some part the Bruce highway is the only road along the coast. This was even to dangerous for me. So I settled for the hopefully better roads from Sydney to Melbourne.

Here I am in a plane to Cairns. After a nice farewell barbie at Omar’s place. Of course taking a bike brings trouble. The bike has to be packed in a special Bike box, which I actually got free, yeah. Also the bike has to be protected from the rough stuff of getting on and off the airplane. A stupid error I made concerned the pedals. These have to be removed to get the bike in the box. Because of the rust they were really tight. After much sweating I got one side loose. Of course the airport isn’t build with a stupid dutch guy in mind trying to take his bike, in a 1.8m wide box. This is a very nice flight because the airplane isn’t full. The two seats next to me are empty so I can create some leg space. I also can’t complain about the VB in my hand… and the stewardesses.

I’m looking forward to arriving in rainy Cairns. The first day I will just look around and try to find an internet café to upload this blog. Of course a trip to the Great Barrier Reefs and probably Kuranda. The 21st to Sydney where I’ll meet a friend and than the 24th I’ll start biking. I’m staying positive that my bike will make it to Sydney in one piece. I’ll probably write some more on this blog but if I don’t, see you in Melbourne…

First Post

Hi, as you may know I'm going to drive from Sydney to Melbourne with a bicycle, or like aussies say, a pushbike. The route is along the east and south coast, crossing towns like Wollongong, Eden and Bairnsdale. The journey will be approximately 1500km in total to be completed between the 24th of Februari till the 14th of March. Compared to the entire Australia continent it is still a tiny trip. This is the route in GoogleEarth



Route, check out the elevation