Heading south – a long way south!

Background to this trip

In the beginning when the world was young, a small group of us lived in close proximity in and around South Wimbledon. A significant number of that group were moved by water and members at Kingston Rowing Club. Annabel who lives a couple of streets away was our cox and shared a house with Simon who worked with me at the time at Superdrug HQ and Bill who rowed at UL and also worked at Superdrug HQ). Jo and Annie lived relatively close by in West Byfleet and Kew respectively. Vince another key group member, lived around the corner (and was the best chum of an old secondary school friend), kindly tolerated us endlessly talking all things water whilst he talked all things horse racing and football.

It is these fine people and our respective partners who are convening in Sydney for the wedding of Annabel’s and Simon’s eldest, Rosanna . (Annabel and Simon having got together whilst in our happy South Wimbledon community and decided Aus provided better opportunities than the UK)

It’s also worth saying that our friendship has remained strong throughout our lives, especially in Covid times when we would meet on line every 2 weeks to discuss how we were bearing up and the merits or otherwise of each of our respective governments approaches to handling the pandemic. Bearing in mind that we lived in 4 different parts of the globe this was not always easy. Jo was in Scotland, Annie in Canada, Annabel in Aus and myself in England.

“The wedding” has been some 18 months in the planning and we have all been excited by the prospect of a global meet up since we heard the news. However, sitting here on our Boeing 787 on the second leg of our journey (1 hour stopover in Singapore) it feels like it has gone from a “long time coming” to “it’s now” in a very short space of time.

The Plan

To cut a long story short, we are spending a couple of weeks with Simon and Annabel and then doing other stuff around the edges. Our “other stuff” was a plan to start with a one week bike ride, which you might think would be relatively simple. Not so! Whilst completing LEJOG last year there had been 5 Australians in our group who assured me that the cycle infrastructure in Aus was very different to the UK, How can that be I thought, followed by surely not. However having spent a considerable amount of time researching routes we might cycle pre-wedding and bikes we might possibly hire in order to do this it was clear they were correct. Bikes were either e-bikes or off road , whilst routes were self contained and in reality not quite as brutal as we like to make our rides. (Or Jeeves does). End result we left home with 2 bike boxes , 2 bags crammed with wedding attire (black tie), cycle kit, work clothes as Jeeves was visiting clients of customers for a week after the wedding and I was going hiking with Annabel to Tassie, plus cabin bags. An 8 seater taxi got us to Heathrow , none of which was without stress, but end result we were in our way.

Sydney to Canberra

Simon and Annabel havjng been more than hospitable in keeping us awake by walking and feeding us, plus having had not too shabby a nights sleep, we were feeling slightly more joined up this morning in terms of body and soul as we said our goodbyes and with bikes built and panniers loaded headed to the local station to take the train to Sydney Central and on to Canberra.

The trip from Pymble to Canberra by train was both super efficient and good value at $1. Although our train was not leaving until 12.01 we were required to arrive 1hr 30 ahead of schedule to take the bikes apart (oh yes) and box them for the 4 hour transit. Being relatively well practiced it was completed swiftly and with bikes boxed and weighed we headed for what the station staff told us was the best brunch or anything stop within the concourse. When you see signs like this it is rude not to!

In Canberra we staying overnight with an old friend from my early working days. Jayne and I had known each other since the late eighties when we both worked on the same merchandising team. At Presto \Safeway (more brands long gone!). Last time we had caught up had been some 6 years ago just outside Belfast when we both stayed with another of our good friends from that time, Diane McInnes, to whom Jayne had been bridesmaid a number of years back. Jayne has been in aus since the early 90’s so a catch up is a rare and treasured event.

Canberra Station to Florey

Having arrived Canberra train station, the first thing that hits is the fact there is just one line in and out,- so very different to the busyness of Sydney. The train had a character, a 3 carriage diesel that wound along into small and smaller stations, accompanied by staff who had bags of personality and were given to making unorthodox announcements. “We are also serving kiddie mac n cheese with something indescribable on it” etc

The first thing to do was collect and build (yet again) the bikes. Whilst Jeeves bike was fine, on getting mine out of the cardboard box we found the chain had twisted around the rear derailer and needed some TLC before heading out on the 19k ride to get to Florey where Jayne lived. We did the best we could and took to the streets of Canberra en route to Florey.

Canberra is so very different. It has cycle lanes , is bonkers busy with traffic, & is very organised in its layout. The lake in the centre with its boardwalk , work out parks, high rise office buildings with big name organisations reminded me of Toronto \ Chicago waterfront. With the work on the bike and the checking of routes and swapping of cycle lanes to cross various freeways AND cycling via Parliament House in the way through, we eventually arrived at Florey, a well organised suburb on the fringes of Canberra. What had also become obvious on the way over is that my bike was not behaving in that it was self selecting it’s gears, it clearly needed further work but that could wait until the next day.

On arriving (eventually) at Jayne and Gus’s we were greeted with a huge welcome which involved sitting in the garden, eating mussels and prawns ( no time to change) with the obligatory beer \glass, followed by the best barbecued chicken ever. After much talking and making merry it was time to sleep which was very welcome after a slightly stressful bike day.

The next morning we were accompanying the guys in their 6 am constitutional down to the local park. This seems to very much be a thing to do given the amount of other locals doing the same.

Again as Canberra much thought had gone into the layout including a zip wire as part of the work out zone which Gus was keen to demo.

However all very good things come to an end – and Jeeves having done his best with my bike chain, me having talked even more to Jayne and Suli their daughter, looked at photos, been in awe of Jaynes black belt 3rd Dan certificate in Marshall Arts, it was sadly time to go.

Some last minute hugs and more photos and a promise not to leave it so long next time, we were off.