Adventures in Retrospect

Wednesday 14 October Distance:  67 km Elevation gain:  834 metres From the northern trail head at Blinman to Wilpena Pound About 5 hrs elapsed from 8am to 1pm. Before I could start riding today, I needed to get to the town of Blinman where the Mawson Trail starts (or ends).  We left our accommodation at Wilpena Pound at 6.30am and drove north to Blinman. It was an early start and there was plenty of wildlife on the road - kangaroos, emus and bird life made for a white-knuckle drive hoping nothing ran out onto the road.  We saw the sun rise and it produced an amazing light show on the canvas that was the Flinders Ranges. As we drove north the temperature dropped and wind picked up.  By the time we arrived at Blinman it was a cool ‘feels like’ temperature of 3 degrees. I quickly got the bike out of the car, packed my gear onto the bike and got moving. Mel then said goodbye and returned to Wilpena Pound to wait for my retur...

A new year and another adventure. This time Nick and I took off to Japan for a quick 10 day ski trip to the picturesque Hukaba valley where the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics were held.  Getting There We took a direct flight from Brisbane to Tokyo (Narita Airport). It was a day-time flight, departing at 10am (BNE time) and arriving at 6pm (local time). Uneventful flight but always interesting how many people recline their seats in Economy class for a daylight flight. Poor Nick had an inconsiderate soul sitting in front of him who decided to recline their seat most of the flight. Come on people. When I suggested that Nick should recline his seat he said no and replied "Be the change you want to see in the world." Fair enough.  Tokyo Narita Airport We were mid-plane so we disembarked into the airport with a fair number of passengers in front of us. Now, we didn't run through the airport but we moved very briskly. It pays to get to the immigration line as soon as possible. We h...