June 12-23 Stuck in Sydney

OZ Travel Log for 6.12.2007

Mother Nature must have had a right bloody case of the ass....Sydney and the outback just got inundated with a mega storm that killed 9 people, flooded thousands of homes, and ran ships up on the beach. I sit here with bike still in Customs in Sydney and they won't get to it until latter part of this coming week. Spent the bulk of my time up north at Dural, caravan site, just sitting out the storm and counting the flies crossing the ceiling......talk about excitement!
The Sydney suburbs are just never ending and talk about stop lights, christ I must of gone through 1000 the other day going south for a bit of sight seeing.

The next question is what road is open going north that is not flooded or closed off.
Now as the day continues we find that paperwork is another hurdle that is being ............

I am really having my doubts about this trip altogether when you figure that I left Hawaii on 1 June. Get into Auckland on the 3rd and find out that it is the Queen's birthday on the 4th. Next get the bike sorted out for shipment and get nothing but delays. Fly into OZ on a Thursday, the seventh, find out the bike is still sitting in NZ. Finally get word that the bike made it to OZ over the weekend and of course Monday is the Queen's birthday in OZ.

So with the grace of the almighty, maybe, just maybe the bike will get through customs and quarantine this coming week which means I’ll have it by the 15th .

OZ Travel Log for 6.18.2007

Still don't have the bike.....heavy rains over the weekend and to make matters worse I came down with a case of shingles...

The bike was finally looked at by Australian quarantine and found dust on the bike frame. Lets run through this one time, the bike has been sitting in a warehouse since the end of May. Flew over to Sidney on the 9th of June, Quarantine looks at the bike today......are we having a problem with this....! The bike now has to be taken over to a place that will steam clean the bike (minimum of $250.00AUS) and if the timing is right it will be another 2 more days before I finally get on the bike.

And to add more flavor is the full case of shingles that is going to be a right bloody bear as it covers my groin, back and chest. Just putting on a shirt and shorts is not a pleasant experience and the best of all is trying to sleep at night.

The freight forwarder that I've used both in NZ and OZ has been terrible, just terrible. They should not even be in business, its like dealing with a bunch of amateurs......it is just screw-up after screw-up.....

OZ Travel Log for 6.23.2007

If I thought that New Zealand's Custom's and Quarantine was bad getting the bike through the red tape, the land of OZ has been a right bloody eye opener! Two weeks to finally get clearance and their attitude was, "We will get to it when we feel like it!" The freight forwarder was a big of a bottle neck as ever. I would never use these people again but I don't have much of a choice for getting the bike back to Hawaii. The better of choices would have been buying a second hand bike and selling it when you leave. But again you must have someone here in OZ or whatever to walk you through this.

I am off to Broken Hill from Dural for the first go before heading north up to Queensland for warmer temps and a bit of sunshine.......

This trip has just got to get better from here on out. Or if it doesn't look for me to take up a cabin in some aboriginal town ship some where.

New South Wales (NSW) Dural Caravan Site
Stayed here from June 8 through the 23rd.