From Rostock to Graz....

Aha! Since last time.... I managed to find myself at Dirk's house in Rostock (NE Germany), where I picked up my bike and, after a pretty action-packed weekend, started riding south towards Austria.
Over the next two weeks I covered over 700km by bike, slightly busted my knee and spent 4 days in a caravan recovering, ate enough bread and salami to sink a ship, caught too many trains, and discovered the joys of gondola-assisted downhilling in Tirol!
Now I have finally made it to Angi's house near Graz (Austria), and some more adventures are in the pipeline....
Here are some fotos of my bike trip:

Heading off from Dirk's house in Rostock.

Radwanderweg! (Rad = bike)

The first night's camping was quite reasonably priced...

Hans and his dog Purdy, the knee-saving team.

'Work sets you free'...yeah right! Entrance to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, Oranienberg.

Landeck Castle, Tirol, Austria.

About to roost downhill from 2400m, into the fog - yeeehaaaa!

Endless switchbacks down the mountain face...downhill heaven!

Altfinstermunz, ancient Roman toll bridge on the Inn River, Tirol.

Gotta love riding in the rain!

Europe so far...

Awww hi!
Well I'm in Europe now, have been for a few weeks. Have so far spent a week in Switzerland (Mutathal) and a bit longer in Ivrea, Italy - site of the Wildwater World Champs. In between wanderwegs I have been in charge of donkey duties for the Aussie WW team, and will keep up this for another two weeks for World Cups in Karlovy Vary (Czech) and Lofer (Austria). Fotos yah:>

Toad, Foo and Stew Teams Race Practice

Ivrea Sprint Course on Worlds Race Day

Swiss Vistas

Wanderweg!

Toad in action at Swiss Champs, Mutathal

Kampala to Cairo

From the hustle of Kampala to the bedlam of Cairo, via loose times in Sudan.....

From Uganda, I passed through the Kartoum airport in Sudan just a few hours before the latest rebel attack on the city, which could have somewhat interrupted my plans - hello Africa. I managed to find mum in Cairo, home to 22 million crazy drivers, and have been out and about seeing the sights of this ancient place for the last week or so.
For those fleece enthusiasts, come to Egypt - you only have to walk another metre to find someone else keen to rip you off, take you on a tour with his brother's mate, or charge you triple the going price for a taxi (taxi drivers are quite shifty here) - gotta be on your toes the whole time!

So far highlights have been the pyramids and sphinx at Giza, the Egyptian museum including King Tuts treasures and ancient mummies, a 3-day bedouin trek in the Sinai Desert, the ancient city of Petra in Jordan and the Abu Simbel temple - we have been busy! Next up is a Nile cruise, a day or two extra, and then its off to Europe. Gold.

Here are some fotos:

Sphinx! Large pile of stones!

Mum, always the beduoin, tromping across the Sinai Desert

The ancient treasury building in Petra, Jordan

Felucca on the Nile at Aswan

Me at Abu Simbel, trying hard to fit in

Mt Elgon National Park

A week or two ago I traded in the kayak for my walking boots and hoofed it east to the Mount Elgon National Park, to do a 5-day bushwalk up to the summit at 4321m - I think its the highest I've been so far!
Twas a great walk, with my own private army of 4 guides with AK-47s, just in case we stumbled upon some buffalo, leopards, poachers, illegal immigrants from Kenya or aliens from the moon...you can never be too careful ay?!
Any how here's some fotos from the walk.....

'Leopard Cave', last nights camp spot, site of many a leopard spotting, and hordes of bats

On the top with my guides, the Kenyan border in the background

Ugandan 'alpine' country, at about 4000m

Here's one for you Toppa - the villagers chowing down on a nice roasted cow's head for morning tea.......mmmmm

Second day at Sasa Ranger's Hut

Collecting firewood (bamboo) for cooking

The White Nile - big water, small boat!

Ahoy there!
Well I am in Uganda these days, and have had a busy last 2 weeks. The first week was spent at Bujagali Falls, near Jinja in the central east, the adventure capital of East Africa. Jinja is home to the source of the legendary Nile River, the longest in the world, as it flows out of Lake Victoria and heads North to Egypt.
The first 40km of river contains some big rapids, often split into 2-4 channels, mainly huge waves, holes and other scary white things! Most rapids are in the 3-5 range, with warm water making it one of the best play rivers in the world.
I hired some gear and got myself spanked on the river for a week, paddling half the time with the local safety kayakers, and half the time with Gert and Rob. Here are some fotos!!

Gert paddling the lower half of Itanda (the bad place)

Myself running Overtime

Using the towrope and local help to surf Nile Special, the best play wave on the Nile

The view from the back of the shuttle-truck...hello Uganda!

Pics from the Cape Epic....

Just sorted out the fotos I have from the race, here are some of the gooduns....

The finish!

South Africa nearly over....

Jeepers! - quite a lot has happened since the last installment...

The Cape Epic - well we did it! Dirk and I finished 164th overall, out of the 600 teams that began the race. I'm not really sure how, but most days we were riding for 6, 7, 8 hours, often in pretty hot conditions with no shade, in some of the most diverse landscapes I have ever seen. From juicy forests to sandy desert to coastal towns, this race was gold.

Dirk after Stage 3

The toughest day was Stage 2 - the 'hardest stage ever', which was gonna be a bit of a goat anyway, turned out a balmy 46 degrees. Pretty warm for a Tasmanian/German team?!

Anyhow, after countless ups and downs, long gravel stretches, the best singletrack EVER, and about 966km, we made the finish line in Laurensford - stoked.

Thanks to Nordex and Wildside MTB for their invaluable support!

Since then, I haven't touched my bike, and have been a massive tourist spud. Dirk and I hired a Corolla (quite good at creek crossings), and have been on safari (good corolla), surfed at J-Bay, climbed Table Mountain, checked out the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Arghulas (where Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet), and today went shark cage diving with 4m great whites!

Where the oceans meet - Cape Arghulas

Addo Elephant Park

Ostrich!!

Would you trust this man with a corolla?

After a few quiet days in Cape Town, Dirk heads home and I fly to Uganda for some kayaking on the White Nile. Yeehaaa!