Australia – Queensland

In catching that first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean it dawned on us that we’d actually done it… We’d cycled across Australia!

Since crossing the Queensland border over a month previously and finding a pretty fatal crack in our rear wheel had appeared way out in the outback it seemed that at times the odds may have been stacked against us. We’d have to get to The Gold Coast (2000kms away) to have it fixed & at the time riding the distance seemed pretty damn unlikely.

We pressed on though and somehow in the end that extraordinary ‘mcneilsonwheels’ providence (and quite a few zip ties) won through.

And aren’t we glad it did because it’s given us some incredible experiences & adventures along our way… Witnessing the beautiful, harsh and at times bizarre natural phenomenon that is the Australian Outback; riding through the historical time-warp of Queensland’s bush towns, and all the while marvelling at the consistency with which the our ranks of ‘Road Angels’ keep on swelling (keep an eye out for the upcoming, well overdue, updates) – from being gifted a homemade trailer, to some very timely dental treatment; being allowed to excavate real dinosaur bones to getting bought a few rounds in Crocodile Dundee’s Walkabout Creek Pub, the Aussies have proved themselves to be absolutely ‘golden’ time and time again.

Now, with Telia the Tandem back on track, we’ll turn our wheels to the South for what is (with our flights booked to NZ in a few weeks) really the final straight down to Sydney.