Ride For Smiles

Got up early for the 10:30am flight from Sydney. For those of you that dont know where I am on tghe Central Coast in Umina is about 1 and a half fromn the international airport so had to get up around 6 which for me is an early start. I had the hire car to drive straight back to the airport so that made things easier, so got up said my goodbyes to my mum and hit the road. Was a nice sunrise happening so stopped and took a photo but quickly got back on the road.

Arrived at the airport and got organised checked in the plane wasnt full so wasnt to many people so that was nice basically walked straight up to the check out counter and off into the lounges to wait the few hours till we left.
Went through the customs immigration stuff in Sydney and the girl at the desk said oh Ethiopia so had a little chat to her about what I’m doing so that made things nice and and easy.

The flight wasnt to eventfull which was nice the last time I flew over here the plane didnt stop rocking nearly the whole way and aI felt like I was still shaking a day after arriving. Got sat next to a girl from Gabarone in Botswana coming home after 6 months in Australia so and we had a spare seat between us which made the trip all that little bit more comfortable not being jammed three in together. There was some pretty big thunder storms over Joburg when we arrived so the landing was delayed a bit and we had to fly around for about 30 minutes in pretty turbulant stuff which sort of sucked. The girl next to me wasnt to keen on it all and after one big flash of lightnening outside the window that made her a tad scared I put my hand on her arm and said it will be ok. Now I’m not a big fan of flying myself and wasn’t exactly comfortable with the flashes of lightening outside as we bumped around but hey cant go down screaming like a little girl can you ahahahah
Arrived and got through the customs and all that shit easily then grabbed myself a phone card from the shop right opposite the exit so that was done, I’m only going to be here a few days but got some internet credits on it and I’ll just find someone to give it to when I leave if there’s any credit still on it. Arthur arrived not long after to pick me up so that was nice and made things easy.
Just had dinner with one of the guys I originally met in June hes back over here working in the mining industry from Finland. I’m a little tiredso called it a night to head back to my room and relax. I did get some sleep on the plane but like alot of people I dont sleep all that good whether its cause your sitting up the noise or just the fact that you could fall out of the sky at any moment lol

Will get the bike out tomorrow and start getting organised to leave which will be to wherever haven’t decided yet either Maputo in Mozambique or Harare in Zimbabwe I was leaning towards Harare cause it puts me north quicker and into Malawi but have ridden those roads so Maputo is a big chance tonight ha ha but we will see its about 700 K’s to both but ones east and ones north.
All in all a pretty good day and here I am back in South Africa and the adventure continues.

Today is my last day back in Australia and I’m looking forward to getting out of here, as much as I’ll miss little Loges I’m really looking forward to getting back to my bike and hitting the road. Ive got 7 weeks to get to Adiss Ababa to meet Jared with the soccer gear for the school’s so will have to get a wiggle on which is a good enough excuse.

Haven’t actually decided on a route yet but more than likely I’ll head back up to Zim to Harare then over to Tete in Mozambique and on up into Malawi. Still might fly from Nairobi to Addis yet but will see how I’m traveling but having to come back to Nairobi with time up my sleeve leaves me open for all manner of possibilities such as India as the flight’s to India are like only 550 bucks, straight to Europe or where ever else I feel like going to if I cant be bothered taking on the north of Africa and all the stuff happening up there.

Had a great time while I was here in Sydney the Gold Coast, Byron Bay, Melbourne and on the Central Coast but not If it wasn’t for Logan I wouldn’t be hurrying back feels a bit like been there done that if you know what I mean. Oh well time will tell never say never.

Anyway hopefully this ride report might become just that now I have to cover 5000 odd K’s in 7 weeks, I know still a snails pace for some of you but oh well it should be interesting.

By the way still no luck with uploading images this new way so Ive spent hours getting my WordPress blog back up and running so it looks like ill be just uploading pics there unless I luck it in here sometime soon in here Ive all but given up, tried picassa, google plus and just copying links from facebook with no luck, I’m sure that’s going to be an issue for those that like pictures but oh well sorry about that.

This picture probably sums up why I rode, drove and flew over 14000 k’s to come home for just a little while.

Had a great time hanging out with Logan and the crew from the north coast the last few days Ive just hung out with Logan at the Sheraton Mirage Resort at Surfers Paradise which is one of the nicest places Ive ever stayed at. Loved the beds Seally executive or something like that i definitely going to remember them really comfortable.

We went tenpin bowling then timezone you know one of these games arcades, was good compared to the one i went to with Channing in Durban where bugger all worked and was a nightmare, the Timezome here in Aus is fantastic. Went back to the resort Loges had a mate with him so he was excited young Mitch and Loges were sitting in the pool bar eating ice creams living the life lol

Went to see the movie Hugo frigging watching them all cry geez dudsville movie OK some might like it but not me or Logan. That made two dud movies in a row we actually walked out of Tin Tin towards the end, was boring too though we did have Logan’s Thai Kick boxing to go to so there was sort of an excuse.

Been pretty quiet while Ive been up here basically just doing stuff with Logan and a few of the crew which has been fun but other than staying in 5 star resorts sleeping on the floor of my mates, getting drunk chasing skirt, riding around on a motorbike and fanging around in in nice hire cars nothing out of the ordinary you guys would like to hear about.

I must admit its hard to leave Logan he left a voice mail last night saying don’t go dad” but oh well hell get over it and one day ill be back again, when exactly i don’t know but the mood grabs me I guess. I must admit Ive spent shitloads of money since Ive been back bought Logan that dog he’s been asking for for the last few years finally his mum agreed a little 8 week old King Charles Cavalier so cute little Sammy is.

Probably the one thing worth mentioning is Peta a mates sister in law I met one of the nicest down to earth chicks Ive met in awhile and we got on really well and had a fun day riding Graes Honda 1000 around the Gold Coast and the hills but all to brief which was a shame, oh well.

Now at Gold Coast airport heading to Melbourne to sort out my Ethiopia Visa and then back to Sydney to finalize a few more things then back on the adventure, riding a motorbike around the world………………….boring ahahahahah

Happy New Year to everyone enjoying time with my son Logan borrowed a mates old Xr 650 so the motorcycle adventure continues.

Had a good day slept in with Loges till 9ish so that was nice we did stay up fairly late last night watching tv and just hanging out together.

Ate the rest of our pizza we had for dinner last night for brekkie and then pack the rest of the shit up and went down to checkout. We still weren’t sure where we were going tonight but first things first lets go buy some stuff I still didn’t get my phone I want and Logan still didn’t get his pressie even if I can find something that will satisfy him anyway lol

We hit Pac fair at Surfers and walked around found a shop that would sell me the galaxy s2 unlocked so that was cool ended up getting it for 650 bucks or something like that so I’m back on the road with communication. Logan still couldn’t find anything he wanted so its still the camera till he can bought him an x box magazine to go with his WWE wrestling mago Jared bought him I actually don’t think anyone will get anything better than that for Christmas, he absolutely loves his wrestling and this book is all on it and the stars from the past and present.

We left the shop and headed up to the Marriott and checked in its a little expensive but oh well we are only together for a few days so why not live it up.

We spent the the day swimming in the pool and snorkeling with the over 200 fish in there Logan was loving it then they opened the slide and he was into that, Jared hung around for awhile then went off to get on the internet. Me and Loges had a lot of fun together was so nice just to be doing fun things again I’m sure ill miss it as he will too when I leave in a few days time. Hopefully ill be able to organize some more time with him but I’m not holding my breath shes let him stay tonight again so that was nice.

As we were driving up the other day I said to Jared that when ever Logan comes with me she always says something is happening at her house so he feels like he is going to be missing out on something and surprise surprise yesterday when we picked him up Jack his other brother was coming home today ahahahah yeah whatever of course that never eventuated it was just so he would feel like he was going to miss a special day when he left her house, I’m sure all the single dads out there have know what I mean its not as if its uncommon just another one of those things you have to deal with when the situation is like that. But on a positive note he is still with us so that’s nice of her.

So we are going to the buffet dinner tonight in the Marriott is 82 bucks Aus for me and Jared 41 for Logan and i reckon the only one that will get the value out of it is Logan he eats like a horse ahahahah Hey the dinner is beautiful here Ive eaten here on a few occasions and its absolutely beautiful, we did question if we should spend that much but hey its only one off and might be awhile before we all sit down to dinner again together so why not make it special.

Having a very special time with the boys so all good here will catch up with the crew in a few days and organize to do something for new year.
Adios

Ended up waking up at 1:30 I’m still feeling a little crook from that Chinese food but nothing to bad but couldn’t get back to sleep so thought stuff it lets go so woke Jared up got organized and we headed off out of there at around 2 am. Was a good time to leave there was hardly any traffic on the road we heard later there was a 5 kilometer bank up in Buladelah a few hours north of where we started so the traffic certainly got thicker later.

I drove half the way up the coast till Kempsey then Jared took over I caught a few winks then got back int he drivers seat we changed every hour after that which made it a little more relaxing but we were both pretty tired when we arrived after leaving at 2. Arrived in Ballina and dropped into Sara Rick Jake and Ryans but unfortunately they weren’t home so we got back on the highway and headed to Logan. Only and hour or so to go till there so was getting pretty excited. Was working out the odds on how Logan would react when we surprised him and I said 30-1 he will run and jump into my arms 2-1 he would just say, hey dad. I knew he would be excited to see Jared he loves Jared I worked hard at building their bond and I’m glad its been worth it to see those two together even if they aren’t together all that much these days.

We arrived at Logan’s, Jared went to the door and I sat around the corner waiting then they came out a few minutes later and Logan walked around the corner and saw me. He just stopped dead in his tracks smiled then started crying then hurried across and into my arms, was so nice to hold him in my arms again Ive missed the little tacker so much as much as I don’t like top think about it much. We stayed like that for a few minutes then just started wrestling so was back to normal again.

We went back to the door to ask his mum if he could go with us she said it would be OK if we weren’t gone long and let her know when we would be back so she didn’t have to sit around all day lol Oh well I’m glad I got to see him at all let alone take him for a little while. We went down the road and booked into a nice resort on the border of New South Wales and Queensland the Outrigger Resort and went up to our room. its really nice there and across the road from Rainbow beach.

After enjoying the room we decided to go shopping for some Christmas presents for everyone. We looked around the local shops couldn’t find anything so decided to go to BFC camping to find Jared a back pack and a sleeping bag for his upcoming trip to Ethiopia and Europe. Bought a really nice one and sleeping bag for about 400 bucks so he was stoked.

We looked for a video camera for Logan but had trouble finding one any good so Ive convinced him to take my underwater high def camera and ill buy him a tripod to go with it. Its still worth a few hundred bucks but will put a big memory card in it so he can take heaps of footage.

I need to go get myself a new phone so looks like we are heading up to Pacific Fair up near Surfers Paradise tomorrow to look there think I’m going to go with the Galaxy 2 I wouldn’t mind the iphone 4s as Ive had the 3gs for years without any drama but the mini sim card would be a problem in Africa as they don’t use them at all over there.
We rang up the gumboot to ask if Logan could (the gumboot got her name cause you know those old runners you should of thrown out ages ago that you just kept till they actually fell apart well she reminds me of that lol). I remember after the shit hit the fan she rang Jared’s mother up trying to start trouble on that front for me and said to Anita Jared’s mum you know he calls you the dragon to which the Dragon responded yeah its better than the gumboot now fuck off ahahahaha I had to have a laugh when Jared told me that story from his mum side.
Has been excellent to have the boys together even if its only going to be such a short time im going to enjoy every moment of it.

Tomorrow another day there is talk of going to book into the Marriott up in Surfers they have an amazing swimming pool where you can swim with the tropical fish which Logan would love with his new cam but whether hes allowed to stay or not is another thing, we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

Christmas day was quiet spent the morning with mum and then just went over to see Sandra in Davistown for awhile caught up with Ashley to which was nice, we have known each other off facebook for awhile now through Sandra but had never met. I did what any decent god fairing guy would do and grabbed her on the ass and gave her a kiss so out first meeting was OK lol Well she didn’t slap me anyway so that’s always a good start.

Hung around there at Sandy’s for awhile and then headed home I was still pretty rooted from the trip still so had a little nap before Jared turned up this afternoon.

Jared arrived around 5′ish and we hung out for awhile, we’ve decided to drive Jared’s car up to the coast to see Logan he was a little worried about it but I took it for a drive tonight and it will be fine I’m sure. We decided to set the alarm for 4:30am to go see Logan that will get us up there sometime in the afternoon its about a 9 hour drive to Tweed from here.

The flight was overnight and loosing the 9 hours to Sydney we arrived at just after 2 pm in the afternoon Sydney time. Had met Tionette on the plane she was over to hook up with one of her friends off facebook, the internet love things strikes again hope she has a good time in Australia. I was able to walk off before her as I didn’t have to do anything with customs and only had carry on baggage so I went to the shop to top up my Aussie sim card and bought her a sim card and some credit to just to help her on her way in Oz. We said out good bye and I walked off towards the station and she to her connecting flight to Brisbane.

Jumped on the train and headed up the Central Coast and hour and a bit north of Sydney to my mums to stay the night and work out what I’m doing from there. Arrive around 5 and sit down for a chat I’m a bit hungry so me and mum decide to get some Chinese food for dinner from down the road. While I’m dropping down to grab the Chinese I drop into Duggo’s place one of mates for a surprise visit. Hes shocked to see me and didn’t think he would be seeing me so soon but we have a good chat over a beer for awhile and then I leave to get the Chinese and head back to mums.
Think why I’m on the movie and seeing people ill drop down to see one of my other mates Gribbo and his family then ill come home and have some Chinese later. I’m getting pretty tired if I ate now Id probably fall asleep.

Get to the grubs and knock on the door they cant believe its me hey hey he shouts its like that with good friends its been 6 months but its just like yesterday in reality. Hung around for a few beers and the kids Paulie, Bethany and Kate’s little girl put on this dance for us it was soooo cute there classic kids, it was really nice to catch up with some of the crew for even a little while. Jared my oldest son will be coming up tomorrow afternoon Christmas day and we will work out what we will do about seeing Logan up the coast at Tweed Heads.

Got home around 10:30 had some Chinese dinner and then crashed out. Woke up at about 1:30 feeling crook you wouldn’t believe it I travel through Africa for 6 months and came out pretty much unscathed from food poisoning and Ive been hit as soon as i walk back into Oz. Felt pretty ordinary but not to bad ill survive.

Got up pretty early and went had breakfast I was pretty keen to find out what the deal was with my bike and how i could go about getting a ticket etc.

Had the standard bacon and eggs brekkie and then went and jumped on the bike and headed over to the customs office just up the road where it all began 6 months ago. It certainly made it easy knowing where all the offices were and that I was so close to them in Kempton Park.

got to the customs office it was really quiet I thought oh no I hope they aren’t closed but went in anyway to the second floor and there was a lady at the desk I asked her about my problem and if I was able to leave my bike and fly home for a few weeks and come back and keep riding and she said yeah as long as the carnet is still valid which it is till June next year so all good. She said just a second ill go and get a second opinion and came back a few minutes later and said yeah its all good you can go leave your bike in a garage and come back to it no probs, OK that’s one issue sorted off to the airport.

Ride the few K’s over to Tambo and walk in thinking there must be a Qantas desk here somewhere, asked a few people no they deal with them at BA and there in terminal B just walking distance away get there sorry no you have to go to this other mob try there now we don’t do it upstairs in terminal A ok walk over there sorry not us try Menzies over in terminal B for fuck sake I’m walking around like a chook with its head cut off so I think OK this isn’t getting me anywhere think OK I’m going to ask 4 people in this one area and then take what the most say and head that way. The first bloke gives me directions totally opposite to the other 3 so I’m not going his way and head off again to terminal A. I think this is it if I cant sort it out this time I’m giving up.

Walk in and the girl at the desk this time says yeah we can get you a ticket to Australia but its not cheap ok I saw them online for around 10 000 rand about 1200 bucks Aussie so think it would be nice to get one at the price but the cheapest shes offering direct is 17000 return or just over 2 grand. She finds me cheaper flights with other airlines that fly everywhere else first like 30 odd hours flying time but I say stuff that I’m not interesting in doing that.
All the flights are booked in the next few days but there is a flight today leaving in a few hours so I think about it for a minute umming and arring and say why not book me on. I have a go at her saying I’m not really happy about it though and she says why and i say well I was looking forward to seeing my kids but would of preferred after Christmas now its going to cost me shitloads in Christmas presents as well, Jodie just looks at me and says oh you scrooge and we both laugh. Hey it is going to cost me but oh well Ill buy on the boxing day sale day and save as much as I can so I have enough to buy her bloody kangaroo toy she put and order in for lol.

So basically that’s it I pay for my ticket and then its back to Kemptom Park to tell Arthur that I’m leaving in a few hours and pack and git. It didn’t take long I just took my venturer back pack took what clothes I needed and few other stuff pc phones etc and parked my bike in the shed with their Harley and Arthur dropped me to the airport and in I went done and done. So basically left this morning at 9 to go suss it all out and here I am at 5 o’clock sitting on an airplane bound for Australia to see the boys for Christmas.

Good stuff I cant wait to see the boys I’m looking forward to it of course even if it is going to cost me in the present department lol