EPILOGUE

At the beginning of the Tour, on the big flight to Sydney our seats were near the galley where the flight attendants spent some time. When the flight landed and as Kristy and I were gathering our carry-on bags to deplane, the flight attendant said, “Welcome Home!” I responded by telling her we were from the U.S and she responded to that by saying, “Oh! We thought you we’re Ozzies for sure. Have a good holiday, then!” But the flight attendant was in fact prescient. The “Welcome Home!” WAS appropriate, for all our friends, old friends and new friends alike, welcomed us as Ozzies and made us feel as home in OZ as we have ever felt anywhere.

Our trip to OZ was more fantastic than I’ve been able to describe in a blog on the run; it was the Tour of our dreams. But it wasn’t a dream – it was a place; a real, truly live place. It was beautiful, and since "Home is where the Heart is" in our Hearts it will always be Home.

Thuh End

PART V

Chapter 15 - Before the Balloon Goes Up

We are again welcomed into Sydney. As soon as we get to Denis' house his daughter Nikki and her two daughters come by to kiss us a "Welcome Home". I give Nikki an introductory lesson in Monkey Shoulder and it's all great fun.

On Wednesday it's up and about for yet another tour of the area. Denis lives right by the water so first it's a tour of the beach front neighborhoods (magnificent houses) and then it's down to the beach itself; Cronulla Beach, a surfing destination. The weather is perfect and Kristy and I walk along the beach and wade into the surf, and marvel at all that is Australia.

We go have a look at more motorcycles, one in particular, and then it's back to the house for a snack. We're soon off again; this time to Olympic Park, the site of the Sydney Olympic Games of 2000. We sit in the shadow of the stadium and have coffee with our friends Vic and Lyn who have come in from the Shire to kiss us again before we leave town.

After a couple of hours chat with them we head back to the house to get ready for the Farewell dinner. Denis assembles his entire family for us at the best steakhouse in all of Sydney; actually maybe even better than that because while I consider myself an expert when it comes to eating steak, the prime rib I had was the very best I've ever eaten, ever. There was Denis, Kristy and I, Nikki and Adam, Sally and Wayne, Tamika, Layla, Emma, and Kate for a great night of wine, food and conversation. Kristy and I thank you all so much for making us feel a part of your family. We love you all and can't wait for the chance to see you all again.

Then it's off to bed to prepare for the heel click.

PART IV

Chapter 14 - Return to the Emerald City (1375km)

Leaving a bike rally is always a little sad and anti-climactic in a way, but it comes and leave Mildura we must.

It's a three day road trip back to Sydney. The weather cooperated fully all three days; it was T-shirt and a vest for nearly all of it. The only clouds in the sky spelled out the words "Come Back Soon Alan".

Sunday, the first day back on the road, we headed to a picturesque port town on the Murray River named Echuca. Beautiful day, nice scenery, no demanding roads. With only about 40 miles to go to our destination and just when I was thinking, "not much to blog about today", events unfolded. One of the bikes had a bit of electrical trouble and, through the comedy of nonsense, had to wait at the side of the road for a tow for three hours amongst the heat and flies. It happens. It's happened before; it will happen again.

We all managed to assemble in Echuca in time for dinner but as we sat down our good mate Steven got bad news from home that his father had passed away. Love 'em while you got 'em. We enjoyed the ride with you Steven; here's to Dad.

Monday morning Steven took off early for home and the rest of us split into two groups to enjoy the different roads in the area. I went with Frank and Wayne. I followed Frank (Yeah right, like I had a choice) as he led me through some magnificent countryside and showed me the moves that made him famous during the war as we took the pass through the Mt. Granya area. Wowsa. FUN. My arms got tired. That evening we spent in Tumbarumba (Kristy dances when she says it).

Tuesday morning we kissed Frank and Wayne goodbye and Denis and Kristy, Bob, Rob, Ron and I stayed together as we headed towards Sydney. A "Hamburger with The Lot" in Harden for an early lunch. Beautiful roads and beautiful weather into the Sydney area.

We pulled into a service area just outside of Sydney to kiss Bob, Rob, and Ron goodbye. It was a poigant scene. I missed the photo op as I got onto my bike to leave but, Boys, be assured that the portrait I have in my mind of the three of you is etched there forever. Now I know just how Dorothy felt.

Denis wasn't through with me yet as he led me on some more terrific roads on the way to the house, on twisties, past dams and scenic lookouts. Incredible.

And just like that, the motorcycle part of this trip is over.

PART III

Chapter 9 - Off to the Paces

It’s Tuesday at the AGM. No clutches out; we get to sleep in a bit. Then it’s a short distance to the Rally site proper. Tents and bikes, food concessions and trade booths, and factory displays with test rides. We do some gear shopping and then it’s a snack and walkabout to meet everybody. Denis is the National President after all so he knows everybody and everybody knows him and now we do, too. We do a meet up with our friends Russ and Jan to make arrangements for Thursday (more on them then).

We drive into town proper to do some grocery shopping and lay in supplies for Monkey Shoulder. While we’re on our way back to the Resort we come across the “Whirly Wind”. Evidently the City fathers have been following the Pale Riders blog, heard of our impending arrival and erected the tornado artwork to welcome us and forever commemorate our visit. Who knew?

It’s back to the Resort for a rest and then Kristy and Denis and I are off to the reception thrown by the Mayor and City Council for the executive board of the Ulysses Club in honor of the AGM being held in their fair City. A super reception with a great catered spread held at an historic homestead site. The reception proper was held in the old, but converted, shearing shed. There were some speeches, and Kristy and I got a shout out. I had conversations with the Mayor and City Council members and also got into a quite lengthy chat with the Superintendent of the Victoria Police, a position that, while not translating exactly, is as close to the same position of Undersheriff which I held in Teton County, Wyoming as they can get here in Oz.

We were then rushed out of the reception by Max, and taken “Off to the Paces”, literally. Among other distinctions, Mildura is a horse racing hub and Barry, the President of the Mildura Harness Racing Club, had invited Denis, Kristy and I to his private table at the finish line to watch the harness races, which they refer to as “paces”. Good company, food and drink while watching the ponies run; all great fun. There were even more shouts out for us on the public address system.

In honor of the Ulysses Club being in town the 7th Pace was named the, “Ulysses Grow Old Disgracefully Pace”. Denis, Kristy and I were given the distinct honor of presenting the award to the winning trainer of the pace in the Winners’ Circle. And just to make everything even more perfect, the award for the pace was a slow cooker, a crockpot; which was fitting indeed because that’s where the horse I bet on in that race was headed.

It’s all too fantastic.

Chapter 10 – Races; No Kidding This Time

We slept in again this morning and then headed on over to the AGM proper to continue looking around at bikes and booths and bike booths.

Word got around that “Alan from America” was around and the lady disk Jockey running the radio station that has set up broadcasting from the AGM for the entire duration of the event, tracked me down. So there I was, broadcasting live on Ulysses 92.3 FM (the station even changed its name to “Ulysses” in honor of the AGM coming to town); American accent intact.

Back to the resort for a hot tub with the Bob, Rob, and Ronnie and clean-up, and I even had a chance to catch up on the blog for all youse guys (American accent intact). Then it was off to a Happy Hour reception; everyone is so nice here. Immediately after the reception we were waylaid by a new good mate, call sign “Darkie”. Trust me, a character.

Once we got Darkie and his entourage to turn loose of us we we’re off to the races. The Mildura Motorcycle Club was holding a special event in our honor on their dirt track oval. Our seats were so good that whenever the racers came in hard around the corner we got dirt thrown on us. There were quite a few sidecar races and it was great fun to watch the Monkeys leaning hard on the bikes.

Alexa, Stephen Dearnley’s (“Old No. 1”, the Ulysses Club founder) daughter, sat with us to make the evening that much more memorable.

Lots of fun here.

Chapter 11 – Celebration

The day started with a sleeping in and then a sorting out of the room. We were then handed off to our dear friends Russ and Jan. We first met Russ and Jan back in 2010 when they were passing through Jackson the same time as the “American Wild West Tour” with Vic and Lyn, and now we have become fast friends with them as well.

The first item on the agenda was the Memorial Service for Ol’ No.1, Stephen Dearnley, the founder of the Ulysses Club. The Service was moving for many reasons, and for many reasons Stephen was loved. You can find out more about him by going down the column on the right to the “Grow Old Disgracefully Memoriam”; click that picture for more information on Ol’ No. 1.

After the Service, Russ and Jan took us for a tour of a local winery. We did some tasting and had a great snack of local delicacies at the winery right there on the bank of the Murray River.

After closing down the winery we went to town for a walkabout where bikes were starting to line the street in preparation for an evening street concert for the Ulyssians. We sat at a café table and watched it all go by as Russ kept checking his watch.

Russ was timing our arrival for our dinner reservation which was a surprise for Kristy and me; a dinner cruise on a paddle wheel boat at sunset down the Murray River. How fantastic! Great food and beverage on an old style boat with well over a hundred others, mostly Ulyssians, with a live band and dancing included. There was so much fun some were dancing in the aisles. That lasted for hours and we were sorry when it had to come to an end. Russ and Jan, thank you so much, again.

Chapter 12

Denis is still so busy doing what Club Presidents do so today Bob, Ronnie, Rob, Kristy and I piled in to the car and went down the road a ways to a town named Wentworth.

We went on a tour of the old “gaol” (that’s “jail” to all yous Pale Riders). It was all very historic. After gaol it was lunch at a pub. Lamb fry for me; it needs the sauce.

Next was the lookout at the convergence of the Murray and Darling Rivers. Quite interesting.

Then we did a bit of a walkabout at the AGM before it was back to the resort where I had to give a “you may think there is a WiFi internet connection to the guest rooms but there really isn’t” lesson to the resort manager who had insisted the guest rooms had WiFi until I invited him to try for himself. It was all taken courteously and in good spirits and I was invited to continue using the internet connection in the reception area where it really does work until they actually fix what they thought had been fixed yesterday. Fun. The curious part is that none of the guest rooms have had WiFi internet all week and I’m the only one who has brought it to the attention of management. I guess I’m the only one blogging his friends back home; lucky yous.

In the evening we head off to the AGM event Friday night banquet. 4,000 people in one big tent, the “Hoeckker”. They manage to provide food and beverage to this huge crowd effortlessly and without anyone waiting in lines. Good work. As guests of Denis, we were seated with the Mayor of Midura and the Mayor of Frasier Coast, the site of next year’s AGM.

Old friends came up to chat and new friends came up to introduce themselves. What a fabulous time. At 9:00 the live entertainment started and the huge dance floor became jammed with revelers; a sight to see.

And just when you might think that I ran out of Wizard of OZ references, check out Denis, Kristy and me with all the scarecrows from the Hills Branch in the photo below; no shortage of hearts here.

Chapter 13 – Everybody Loves a Parade

It’s clutch out at 0745 to get out to the starting point of the Parade, ours of course. This is one of the big highlights of the AGM. Everybody, over 3,000 bikes, rides to a staging area on the outskirts of town where we mingle and marvel for a while and then at 0900 sharp the parade starts. Denis led the parade, of course, as a local police car with lights flashing cleared the way in front. As a visiting dignitary or whatever, I’m assigned to be near the front of the parade, but as we departed the staging area just the way we were positioned in relation to the staging area exit and without even planning it Bob, Rob, and I all ended up just a few bikes behind Denis at the lead. As thousands of Mildurians lined the streets of the city we drove triumphantly through town waving back at all the locals the whole time and acknowledging the signs many held up saying “Come Back Soon”. First time I’ve ever had a police escort actually lead me INTO a town. Great fun!

The parade ended up back at the big city park next to the river where a big rally was held with the Ulysses Club recognizing accomplishments of the branches and members, and recognizing others whom have been given awards by the club. The Mayor of Mildura gave another speech and, as he and I have become good mates, Kristy and I got another shout out from the stage. Denis congratulated everyone as he proudly announced that a study being done by Cambridge University regarding the declining membership of service clubs in the world has acknowledged and recognized the Ulysses Club as the only service club in the world to actually be increasing in membership. WELL DONE.

After the parade it’s a quick snack and then off to the AGM meeting proper. Club business is addressed and Denis and his entire national committee is all re-elected without challenge.

After a bit of a rest we’re off to the farewell dinner; another huge production in the “Hoeckker”; this time featuring a steak dinner; well done!

Many Club branches dress-up in their traditional costume regalia; honey bees, waldos; etc. Wild. We met new friends and talked all night. The huge dance floor jammed up as the band played on.

We kissed our new friends goodbye and went back to the hospitality suit for a lesson in Monkey Shoulder and to make our plans for the next morning’s departure from Mildura.

PART II

Chapter 5 – Road Trip! (620km)

So, it’s clutch out at 0740 for me and Kristy, Denis and Ian. We head down the road a ways to a McDonalds to meet up with the rest of travelling band; Ronnie, Rob, Bob, Wayne, Steve and Frank. It’s out of McDs at 0840 and a’questing we go.

What a day; the Snowy Mountains, beaches, enchanted forests, twisty windy roads, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, SNAKES, a huge lizard crossing the road. We were even on a dirt road for a while, fantastic. The weather mostly cooperated. It cooled a bit as the day went on and within 50km of our destination there was kind of a freaky rainstorm, but all in all pretty decent. There was a bit of wind, however. We’re not talking about Patagonia type winds (see South by South South - The Broken Compass Tour 2007) but at times it was annoying none the less. Annoying enough that several times I actually did check to see if there were any flying houses from a faraway place like Kansas.

We arrived in Cann River at around 5:30 in the afternoon and at 6:00 we wandered to the Pub across the road. The food was good, I had the lamb shanks; imagine a Turkey drumstick made outta lamb, and Kristy went for the Schnitzel. Beer was good all around; Toohey’s Old for me, which is a lot like Moose Drool and Polygamy Porter, our official Pale Rider tour beers in the U.S.

There was a bit of a lesson in Monkey Shoulder and then a shower and the bed. Good night!

Chapter 6 – Meet the Relatives (520km)

Clutch out at 0750. A beautiful ride outta Cann River though it started out with a little rain. But, that’s okay, ‘cause that’s how you make rainbows and we had our first about an hour or so into the ride. More great roads through the forests and countryside and a ride down to the South Coast.

We lunched in Yarrum where Kristy had her first taste of an Australian pie, which we pronounce as “poy” here down under. Hot and spicy beef pie, and I went for the beef curry pie. Mmmm, good. Kristy likes “poy”.

We stopped for afternoon tea in Tooradin where we met up with some of Denis’ relatives, John and Anna. Very nice. We gathered for a group photo here as we gathered ‘round the bikes.

Speaking of bikes, I’m riding Denis’ BMW 1200GS, the one with the arrow on the windscreen pointing left to remind me that I’m in OZ. We’ve got three more 1200GSs in the group being ridden by Ronnie, Bob, and Steve. Ian rides an 1150GS, Rob is on a Suzuki V-Strom DL1000, Frank rides a V-Strom 650, and Wayne is on a Honda ST1300, for a total of 8 bikes. All the riders are one-up. Denis is driving with Kristy as his passenger for a total of ten of us in the bunch. And what a bunch of riders we have! Everyone is an experienced and expert rider; what a pleasure that is. And, everyone is a “ready” rider; when it’s time to go, you’d better be quick about getting your gear on and starting up.

We spent the night in Mornington which is not far out of Melbourne and right around the corner, literally, from Denis’ brother Bill and sister-in-law Barbara. Bill and Barb had us all over for dinner, and what a feast! Australian beer and wine, sausages served Aussie style and then some homemade rissoles. Did I say there was wine? Oh, so good. I don’t know what story Denis gave them, but all I know is we were treated royally. What gracious hosts; great food and drink, stimulating conversation and plenty of jocularity. On behalf of everyone in the group, “Bill and Barb, thanks so much!”

Chapter 7 – “Oh My” God (460km)

Clutch out in the dark at 0600. Yep, about a thirty minute ride to get to the 7:00 am ferry to take us across Port Phillip Bay, about a 40 minute ferry ride. Then it was more beautiful riding until we got to the “Great Ocean Road”.

Here’s where the “Oh My, God” part comes in. “Great Ocean Road”; spectacular. For those of you back in the States, picture Pacific Coast Highway, the good part, you know, north of Cambria on up to Monterey. Now, try to imagine if it was beautiful, try to imagine perfect twisties, and try to imagine well over 100 miles of it. Pacific Coast Highway is good but sorry, ya gotta face it, the “Great Ocean Road” is, well GREAT.

Anyways, the Road and the entire coastline of the Great Ocean Road is magical; the 12 Apostles, the Bay of the Martyrs, London Bridge. I'm tellin' ya, put that road on YOUR bucket list. Thank me later.

As a personal little added bonus for me, at the very beginning of the GOR, just as I went under the GOR sign and past the first twisty sign, just by pure chance my playlist was at that portion that begins with “Ride of the Valkyries” moving on thru the Doors, Hendrix, Creedence; those songs. Life has a soundtrack, “Ride of the Valkyries” is in mine, and I got a blessing.

It’s overnight in Hamilton where we dine at the “Alexandra House”, just past St. Michaels’s Church. Other Ulyssians have gathered on their way to Mildura and when a newcomer, Graham, seated next to me realized who I was he asked me to autograph his issue of “Riding On” which features me and Denis on the cover. Shucks, I'm totally famous!

After that there was a coin presentation to the newest Pale Riders and then a lesson in the finer points of Liars’ Dice. Then it was back to the motel for another lesson in Monkey Shoulder and a good night!

Chapter 8 – Race Day (520km)

It’s clutch out at 0800 for our ride to Mildura, the site of the Annual General Meeting, or “AGM”. At morning coffee we kiss Ian goodbye as he has to get back to Sydney. Turns out he just wanted to ride with us for a few days before he had to go back to work. We love ya, Ian. Great fun. See you soon!

We ride into Hall’s Gap and through the Grampian Mountains. Twisty turny mountain roads.

Some back story, here in Australia and especially Victoria, there is a zero tolerance policy for speeding. Lots of speed cameras, radar, and even average speed radar camera stretches, and big consequences for getting nipped. Smile. We don’t push the speed limit. Bummer. But for several reasons it’s a little different in the twisties.

Anyways, we’re going up into the Grampians and I find myself in the lead. Two turns and I’ve got nobody behind me so off I go. I do a “stop turn” at a fork and when somebody catches up I’m off again. A few minutes later I see Frank in my mirror and figure the race is on; good I can show him what I’ve got. That thought was fleeting as Frank sped by me. Okay, I can play in second position, I’ll just push him. That thought was as fleeting as Frank was as the harder I pushed the further away from me he got. A minute later he pulls over, I figure so he can collect the trophy, but it turns out there was a side road we were supposed to take that I didn’t know about so Frank was just going in front of me so I didn’t miss the turn off. He wasn’t racing at all; he was just riding. Sheesh. I told you these guys were good.

So we take the side road to the overlook; more spectacular scenery. Back to the road. Going downhill now with Denis and Kristy in the race car, Ronnie behind them and then me, I like pushing on Ronnie a bit. In my mirror I see Frank again so I know what’s coming, but thinking back to the Broken Compass Tour 2007 and that bit of no man’s land in the dirt between Chile and Argentina when I was racing with Sir Gator John (passing him on the outside of a left hand turn and how THAT worked out), this time I took the inside line and Frank and I both leaned hard as he went past me on the outside on the apex. Brilliant. What great fun! When we collected ourselves at the bottom, Kristy confirmed that the only thing we were missing was the pinwheels.

After the Grampians the topography flattens out and the next few hundred kilometers looks a lot like Oklahoma.

We stopped for lunch and fuel at Hopetoun. More poy. There’re two gas stations in Hopetoun; one of them is closed and the other is unattended. Pay at the pump is rare here in Australia, and now I understand why. They haven’t quite got the delivery tech worked out completely yet. Even the Aussies wonder at it and I tried two different cards before I gave up. There was a handwritten sign on the side of the display giving the phone number to call if the tank runs out of petrol. I’m thinkin’, “Where’s the mayor?” Anyways, we resolve it and head to Mildura.

Beginning at the city limits of Mildura there are welcoming signs for all of us Ulyssians attending the AGM, over 4,000 have registered. Some of us are staying at the official hotel of the AGM, the Mildura Golf Club and Resort; very nice. I give myself the self-guided tour of Mildura, then find the resort reception in spite of the scarecrow. I check in to the resort and then meet up with Denis, Kristy and others at the official AGM site for check-in and registration. Done, all good.

It’s back to the room on the fairway for a clean-up, a strategery session, dinner at the club, then a bit of Monkey Shoulder (at which I’m getting quite good), and then it’s off to bed.

PART I - Chapters 1-4

Chapter 1 - Bon Voyage

In typical Pale Rider fashion, the Tour starts before the Tour starts. In this case it started early Sunday afternoon when "MOP-2" arrived to issue me my flight jacket. This isn't an ordinary flight jacket, or even a Pale Rider flight jacket; no. This is an Official USAF ACC 17TH WPS flight jacket issued to me for recently becoming the Honorary Commander of the 17th Weapons Squadron out of Nellis AFB. Learn more about the 17th WPS by going down the column on the right until you get to the 'Shouts Out' and click on our unit patch. My flight jacket is fitting armor for a quest upon the likes of which we are about to embark. I'm now suited up, as it were.

Later in the day, Kristy, call sign "Ms Teton" and I, "Tatanka", were joined by "Rhino" and "da Judge", "Pool Man" and "Ms Shirl", "Ram" and "Bear". We feasted. We talked of our quests and adventures past, and those yet to come. And because this particular vigil was in in preparation of the Yellow Brick Road Tour, when it came time to toast the adventurers with the traditional corn likker, it was "Ride or Die, to Oz". And, in traditional fashion the vigil lasted well into the night. After all, why start an adventure well rested?

Chapter 2 - The Black and White Part

Monday morning it's a standard early departure, to the airport anyway. You know how the airlines let you check in early online? Well, maybe you. My emailed docs said I had to use the machine at the airport; no prob. We get to the airport at 11:00am for a 2:10 flight and when I scan my passport at the United Airlines computer ("United Airlines computer" my first joke of the story) says it never heard of me. "See a representative at the counter", where they've taken slow motion to a new standard. The representative (of the snail racing team) takes my passport to the same machine and pretended he was me. It didn't know him either. He comes back and says, "I can't help you. Next!"

"Whoa, who can?" He looks at me disgustedly and walks to the end of the counter to speak to a manager. Actually "walks" is non descriptive. I could say "crawl" but "crawl" is too fast a word; you get the idea. 10 minutes later he comes back to where I've been standing, mumbles something about an "E-Visa" and starts "helping" (yeah, right) another customer.

I walk down to the nice lady who has the passports and she asks me about my visa. What? Yeah, when you buy a ticket to Australia the computer (there's that joke again) is supposed to get you an E-Visa. Nope, not for me. So, after telling me she has been at her job for 24 years the nice lady representative has to issue ours; $40 please...and an hour. That's right we stood at the counter for over an hour while she inputted our passport info into the computer (hah) at least six times, I stopped counting. She mumbled to herself and moved her lips when she read. The first two managers she asked for help said they had never seen this problem before either. Finally somebody that knew what they were doing showed up, looked at the screen, pointed and said, "Scroll down...more...again".

"Oh my, there it is!" So after more than an hour at the counter the issue was resolved. When I thanked her for her time and acknowledged her hard work she actually said, "It would have been easier if I knew what I was doing." Really? Really.

Now I know what you're thinking. They haven't left Las Vegas yet and already they've encountered the Flying Monkeys. Nope. Our flight out of Vegas was delayed for over two and a half hours (There's probably a Two and a Half Men joke in there somewhere, but even they haven't been funny since Charlie left.) So, while the United Airlines employees in Vegas are certainly monkeys, they really haven't got the flying part down completely right yet.

Anyways, once we finally get to Palm Springs we make our connection to LAX and then onto the BIG flight to Sydney. Good seats, magic pills, efficient flight attendants, great pilots (they get to use the plane again); even the food was good. This group wasn't monkeys, but they did know how to fly. Beats a house in a tornado anytime!

Chapter 3 – Welcome to OZ

So, after landing it’s through the airport without delay. We’re met by Lyn, Vic, and Denis, our dearest friends in all of Oz. I’ve traveled all over the world several times with Vic and Lyn, and we were all featured on the cover of the November 2010 issue of Riding On with Mt. Rushmore, and that’s Denis with me on the cover of the February 2012 issue of Riding On, with Devil’s Tower. After kisses all around Denis takes some of our luggage and heads home; we’ll see him soon.

Lyn and Vic take us back to their gorgeous home on the outskirts of Sydney, “in the shire”, for a quick clean-up then it’s out for a bit of adventuring. Featherdale Wildlife Park; how great was that!?! There were 2,200 different animals and birds indigenous to Australia. Everything. It was so cool. If you ever get to Sydney it is a must do for you, too! http://www.featherdale.com.au/

After Featherdale it was on to the Nepean Rowing Club for a bit of “tucker” and wine while we sat on the veranda and watched the crews scull down the Nepean River. Beautiful; idyllic actually.

We came back to the house for a quick combat nap and then the party started. The Sydney Chapter of the Pale Riders came over to Vic and Lyn’s home for a “Welcome to OZ” barbecue; a great spread, champagne included, of Aussie delicacies followed by a mixed grill of different meats prepared by Vic with only one small explosion. It was grand, and lasted into the night.

Also in attendance wearing their Pale Rider t-shirts and carrying their Pale Rider Challenge Coins were Lollipop Guild members Warren, Jack, Dennis, Neil, Pauline, Ross and Cathy. Kristy and I couldn’t have gotten a better reception to OZ even if we had dropped a house on the local witch!

Chapter 4 - Sydney; The Emerald City

It's up first thing and a little "brekky', Vegemite sandwich, an OZ staple for me, of course. Then it's out of the Shire and into the Emerald City, Sydney proper.

We parked at Darling Harbour and did a bit of a walk about until it was time to board our Sydney Harbour lunch cruise. Sumptuous feasting and drinking on the ship whilst we cruised around Sydney Harbour; under the Harbour Bridge, past the Opera House a few times, out towards Manly; fantastic! We disembarked at Sydney Harbour proper and did the walking tour of the Opera House itself, along with that side of the city. A stop for coffee along the water with a view of it all again, and then onto a ferry to take us back to Darling Harbour and the car.

From Sydney it's a car ride through the City Center Tunnel and south to the town of Sylvania, Denis' haunts. Ian, a fellow traveler, and a wine expert to boot (imagine) has arrived shortly before we did and after a quick catch up on the email it's off to the Korean BBQ for dinner where we are joined as well by Nikki, Denis' daughter. David, the Korean BBQ owner, said he recognized me as one of his regular customers (go figure) so dinner and the service was great, matched only by the company.

I meet some more Ozzies, Ivan and Gai, at a nearby table and now have more new friends in OZ.

Sadly, however, Vic and Lyn won't be joining us on the road trip so this is "Farewell" to them. To Vic and Lyn, we love you both. XOXO

Tomorrow, it's on the bikes and headin' south!