Yesterday's drive started at 5am in Boston and ended at 11pm (Atlantic time zone) in Sydney. We made contact with Jacques - a host on warmshowers.org - who, considering the late hour of our arrival, was nice enough to leave his garden house open for us to crash for the night.
It was a beautiful sunny morning and at 6:30am we finalized our packing and were ready with all our gear by 8:00am. Once finished, Jacques invited us in for a complete breakfast and some conversation. A retired instructor for the Canadian Coast Guard - he moved to Sydney from Quebec and is a driving force for the biking community in the area - hosting road and mountain cycling events.
We did one final check - loaded the bikes - and said goodbye to Jacques & Brit. We had a 12 mile ride to the ferry - a good warm up on the quiet Sunday roads to get a feel for our potentially overloaded bikes. Nicholas is towing a B.O.B. trailer and I am bogged down with front and rear panniers.
There was an initial scare when, at the gate, they told us they were totally full and couldn't accommodate us. Wishing I had made reservations, I took a trip to customer services and with a huge sigh of relief they were able to squeeze us on today's ferry. Good karma?
The last to get tickets but the first to board -- we kinda had the boat to ourselves for a bit as the autos waited their turn to be parked below deck. We were expecting huddled wet conditions exposed to the elements -- but it's quite the contrary and I am no longer dreading the 18 HOUR ferry back (this one is about 6). There are multiple decks with spacious comfy chairs - many televisions - and even a cafe/ice cream shop. Deluxe - with barf bags everywhere you look!! Hoping to avoid using those.
Ship is moving - on our way.
Peace & Blue Skies
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