An update from sunny Melbourne, where I have been for almost a week, having successfully completed the Great Ocean Road cycle trip last Saturday. The final 2 days of cycling were quite different to the beginning of the journey. The fourth day, where I completed the ocean road proper, was probably the most varied day of the trip. Starting out along the coast, the slowly undulating coast road became steeper when crossing a number of creeks running into the ocean. ...

I always considered Australia as the main event of my travels. Asia was really just getting lost on the way, although other than India I had a fantastic time. The flight to Australia was the first point when I realised things to be different. As opposed to the bus and train journeys through asia, and even the flight to singapore, this was the first real travel where I was surrounded by westerners. I could actively feel the asia defences that I'd built up over t...