The Fembocks on tour...

The Fembock's final tour....

2008-11-11T17:25:00.000-08:00

Some seals asleep on the beach near Monteray...so cute..

Someone is excited about being in Hollywood

We managed to drive through LA without a proper Map

Protesters against Prop 8..banning Gay marriage.........Prop 8 passed in California.....weird..

The view from Santa Barbara's old court house

The Hoover dam bridge......it was HUGE!!

The dam Hoover Dam

The Bellagio Casino....awesome water show

Andrea got the FEVER.....needed to drag her out...haha...not really

The Venetian.....check the ceiling, painted like the sky

Angel's Landing at Zion National park...you don't want to be afraid of heights

The view from top

Death Valley

From warm Death Valley to Snow in Yosemite....just got through without chains

Another waterfall....Bridal Falls at Yosemite

The General Sherman Tree....The largest Tree in the world

Some people have way too much time on their hands

Well goodbye for now......til next trip

We make it to San Francisco

2008-10-30T23:16:00.000-07:00

Some wine tasting in the Sanoma Valley

Great wines in the wine cave at Bella Vineyard

Our last night camping before San Fran

After so much good weather it statrted to rain as we rode into San Fran......after riding over 10,000km and then you just get to your destination and then that's it

All over... now what?

Well there had to be one more hitch in the plan and a screw straight through the tyre in the last 1km....aghhhh

Now we have a hire car for 10 days and will do a drive to finish Hwy 101 and go to Vegas......stay tuned

California

2008-10-25T19:13:00.001-07:00

We have made it to California

People are passionate about the election!

Avenue of the Giants

This is one tough tree

We stopped at a farmers market....check out the beans........not magical but tasty none the less

Agh the Hills have returned...after a 2500 feet hill we had days on end of up and down, up and down, up and down....you get the picture!!

Saw this sign in a shop after we had eaten an entire chocolate bar each!!

Strange to ride through Eucalyptus forest...this place is drier than Bendigo!!

The weather has been spectacular...20-30C and this is Autumn??

Some strange cultural event is going to take place soon, we haven't worked it out yet but they seem to be going pumkin mad over here.....

It is raining pumpkins here......honest

We are now in Wine country (Sanoma Valley)....will try and take some pics if we can taste and still work out how to use the camera!!

Washington and Oregon

2008-10-16T16:16:00.001-07:00

You would think there was an election on soon wouldn't you!!!

Having Oyster shooters.......they were huge

One of the many amazing beaches along the coast

One of the tunnels we had to ride through...You have to press a button which indicates you are there riding so the Log Trucks supposedly slow down then you peddle as fast as you can to get through the other side.....

Some more hills along the coast!!!
"Do my ears look big in this?" one of the friendly campers along the way...tasted beautiful in the stew at night too...

Depoe Bay...saw some Grey Whales or is that Gray Whales as we are in the US???

Not everything is HUGE in the US
Agh who says coffee isn't a religion here....seems like every parking lot has an espresso drive through

Oh well when in Rome...they did look at us funny when we rode up to the window

This was the most amazing day the weather cleared and has been like this the whole way down the coast

Hawaii

2008-10-03T20:40:00.001-07:00

Andrea's first trip to Costco

A great sign on the way to Seattle before Hawaii
A Banyan tree swing

The view from near Waimea Canyon

The view from our tent

Welcoming the Tourists

The wedding we went to at waimea Plantation

One lazy local.....looks like Oscar our dog

The Banyan tree outside our room at the resort

A resort holiday.....agh beats camping

Hiking along the Napali Coast

Paddle surfing....great to watch while drinking cocktails

AGHHHHHH....no more PIE.....need to get back on the bike

The Yellow head and the Rockies

2008-09-17T21:23:00.000-07:00

The World's Largest Fly Rod

Mt Robson..the largest mountain in the canadian Rockies!! This was our view from the Cafe after the fog lifted!!

The Icefields Parkway

Nice stop for a hair wash and swim....brrrrr Glacial feed water no chance fo swimming!!
Cycling the 93A almost back in beautiful Jasper

Riding up THE HILL.....

Almost at the pass at 2000m

On the way through the park
At the Glacier....all downhill from here......Yeah

Andrea's Brakes wear through...quick change for the long downhill sections ahead

Morning coffee break to warm us up
This water was so turquoise...photo doesn't do it justice
After a Sauna a quick bucket of freezing water to cool you down....check the cyclist tan!!
Here was our Hostel for the night....great spot

Moose Lake...feed the Fraser River which goes all the way to Vancouver...over 700 miles

Another tough morning tea break

Bears don't seem to poo in the bush they seem to do it on the roads.....as you can see we have a lot of time on our hands but the scat was almost all Berries......hmmm that puts a stop to Berry picking for us

Here we are again at Mt Robson

Canada's version of Mc Donalds...but with good coffee

The last of the Stroh rum and hot chocolates in the evening to keep us warm
Our last morning in the Rockies

Riding into Jasper

Our train back to Vancouver....already 1 1/2 hours late at the start of the trip

Leaping Salmon

2008-09-08T20:13:00.000-07:00

Steelhead Salmon

Here's an easier way to fish...saw the guy take out ten fish in five minutes....hmmmm sport???

Morning tea break along the Yellowhead

Stopped and picked some berries...whilst making lots of noise for the bears

Skagway ferry terminal
A massive grizzly at Smithers which had eaten about 30 cattle and avoided capture for a few years...when they finally snared it as the officers apporoached it snapped the steel cable and charged within 7m of them before they shot it...repeatedly...reckon they might have had to change underwear that day

and here it is the Salmon leaping the waterfall

Alaska

2008-08-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

Just one of the horrible campground views we have had to deal with

Whitehorse airport....lucky I had the helmet on!!

Chicken Alaska

Denali National Park

Dawson City

There was a festival on the weekend we were there....the of the really good weather

Carribou on the Top of the World Hwy

Moose in Denali

Our log cabin near Whitehorse

Nothing beats a warm log cabin when it's wet and cold

Dawson again.....result of perma-frost melting
Dried fish for dogs in winter in Nenana

Denali or the great one.........amazing

Our campsite at Wonderland Campsite, Denali

A rent a dog at one of the campgrounds in the Yukon

Andrea at the North Pole Shop...almost had to drag her out!!

Nenana Ice classic...they drag this onto the ice of the river and bet when it falls through in spring.....hmmmm exciting!!

A grizzly bear playing on the side of the road....luck we saw him from the car not our bikes....

North to the Yukon

2008-08-10T20:50:00.001-07:00

Totem pole on Northern Vancouver Island

A bear on the side of the road

The OP shop queen gearing up for the cold all for $6:00

Our new house thanks to Mr Ebay

Salmon Glacier

The seven sisters (although we counted eight)

2.25kg porridge anyone???

Jade city....guess what they mine there?

Lunch at a lake somewhere

The weather is so warm although the water is still refreshing and 2 days without a shower I was starting to get on the nose

A lazy fox at the side of the road

Leaving Prince Rupert

Met some great people on the ferry ride

This was the same route that had a ferry sink a few years back....hmm...just checking the escape routes

Grizzly Bear viewing at its safest

The bear was so good at catching the fish and ate it in about 30secs

We hitched the ride to the platform and got picked up by an Australian family that have moved to Canada

Broken chain # 2 for Andrea

Provincial park lake ...not a bad view

We met Tim and Cindie Travis who have been cycling for 6 years and are still going strong.....don't worry Mum and Dad we are coming home!! They have a website which shows where they are and have been, http://www.downtheroad.org/ if anyone wants to check it out

At the intersection of the Cassiar Hwy

Cheeky Chip Monk wanted our food and put on a real show

Agh the cyclist's tan.....the price we have to pay

Bear Glacier

We met someone who was driving past the next day and stopped to give us a beer break....like a scene out of a triathalon where they hand you refreshments...only better because it was beer and we had peanuts!!!

Boya lake...lunch break

Our breakfast table

Finally making it out of BC and into the Yukon

Canada

2008-07-24T20:46:00.000-07:00

Vancouver Skyline

Cycling around Vancouver

Ferry ride

Surfing Canada

Tofino

Greenpoint

Our neighbours in their Deluxe RV
The Salmon river
Cycling around Whistler

getting to the top of a ride

Permberton
Our first bear encounter
Our first Mountie
Our luxury boat ride in Vancouver

Some more pics during our trip

2008-07-03T02:31:00.000-07:00

The disposable BBQ....gee the germans love to grill

The Konig See.. (Kings Lake)

What??? Snakes in Europe...to date have seen three!!

Speed limits for Tanks

Hungary

2008-07-02T07:38:00.000-07:00

Stork nest

Who says the Russians can´t build great cars

Budapest

The view from the balcony

Our apartment in the background

Outside Budapest enjoying a fireplace

Finally some bad weather
Enjoying a thermal river

Going for a swim in Lake Balaton

Slovenia and Austria

2008-07-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

Hmmmmm some people have too much time on their hands

Agh Slovenia the country with no camping

Back in my homeland!!

Salzburg

Start of summer festival

Andrea coudn´t help herself at this historical Sound of Music site

Innsbruck

Skiing at the Hintertux Glacier

The European Leg

2008-07-01T02:15:00.000-07:00

Okay so it’s time to update you all on the European leg of the trip. We flew from Bangkok to Dusseldorf and were picked up by Andrea’s Dad who some how managed to fit out bikes in the back of his car

We then started our second wedding here in Andrea’s home town of Krefeld there was much to do and the two weeks went quickly.

The wedding was fantastic and the only hiccup was me having a brain explosion and pretty much forgetting all my German and stumbling through the wedding service. The reception went through to about 4am before we finally got to sleep but it was shortlived and we had to be up early for breakfast and more food for the rest of the day.

We left Krefeld on Wednesday and caught the train to Lindau, where our tour was to start from the Boden See to the Konig See.

We slept in and left late cycling, here was our morning tea stop)

We misread the map and missed our campground and as the light faded we became desperate and decided to free camp here in a pine plantation, hoping there wouldn’t be a forestry truck driving over us in the early morning or the police telling us…”Zer ist no campink here!!”

Here is a pic of the first glimpse of mountains which we were to follow for the next week and a half.

Not just the beers are big here in the south!!

The beer here is fantastic and my sorrow over leaving Laos faded fast as every 500m there seems to be a beer garden with people having a beer at any time of the day….agh cycling in Germany!!

more pics to follow.....

some more pics from Cambodia

2008-06-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

After a few days of relaxing in Phenom Phen it was time to head to the school we had fund raised for before we left Australia

Here we are near the school after a 75km ride at 35C and meeting up with Sopich the soon to be teacher at the school

The kids came from no where to sit in the school and look at the strange visitors that had ridden bicycles to the Village

This kid was an absolute classic really keen..and cheeky too!!

These two look like trouble

Here is the school almost finished and ready to go

We finally made it to the coast and stayed in Kep for a few days recharging the batteries and just relaxing after a tough tour

Here is our bungalow

The sunsets were pretty fantastic too

After spending another few days in Sihanoukville we finally left for Bangkok and a caught mini bus after the border and made our way back to Bangkok ready for our flight to Germany......we had survived crippling heat and some crazy drivers and had a fantastic time during the 5 weeks.

Road challenges in Cambodia

2008-05-19T10:25:00.000-07:00

We are in our 3rd week now and have arrived in Cambodia. Both, Laos & Cambodia have had major road upgrades in recent years and the bad and bumpy roads that we had heard so many stories about have all but disappeared (or so we thought). So, in good spirits with a long day of cycling ahead of us we left Kratie, a town in the Northeast of the country, planning to follow the Mekong river 110km down to Kompong Cham. A few kilometers out of town it started raining. Well, admittedly we had prayed for some rain since the heat makes cycling a really hard business here. Happiness, however, ended for us together with the bitumen road after the first 10 kms where the rain had transformed the dirt clay covered road into a muddy slippery slide.

Rob didn't manage to stay upright, to th amusement of many Cambodians, just before they too fell over

Residents happily sat outside their homes watching and laughing as motorcyclists lost balance on the slippery clay and landed in the mud. One by one almost everyone

The Cambodian equivilent of a car wash

After a grueling day and stifling heat we made it to Phenom Phen and had a few days of luxury.......as I left the card with the remaining pics of Cambodia we will now jump to Europe in our next edition of the Fembocks on tour..

Thailand and Laos finally uploaded

2008-05-19T03:26:00.000-07:00

The land of a million elephants – but where the hell are they?

Our journey began in Bangkok on 13th of March 2008 where we found ourselves in the middle of a busy city where the traffic never seemed to stop and every inch of space was occupied by cars, street vendors and people being in a hurry.

Needless to say, this was not the right place for us to relax and after a few days we took the train out of Bangkok and swapped the smoke for the green scenery of Khao Yai National Park, in Thailand’s North-East. Khao Yai is a Unesco World Heritage site and incorporates one of the largest intact monsoon forests in mainland Asia.

It is well known for its wild elephants and large hornbill population, which are both, as we found out, not that easy to find. For no particular reason I got this idea into my head that spotting a wild elephant was a “must do” on this trip so we cycled a never ending winding road up the mountains to visit their salt licks and water holes.

We spotted a small elephant, which we startled in the bush whilst riding past (I guess, considering the mountainous area of the park, cyclists are somewhat of a rare find and this must have been his first encounter with one). Seconds later she or he had disappeared back into the thick forest and all I can remember is its bottom, of which I saw the most. The thought of the elephant mother lingering nearby made us a bit uneasy so we moved on from our, what turned out to be the only encounter with these grey giants.

(we were later told that wild Elephants even these smaller Asian ones are extremely dangerous....would have been nice for someone at the gate to tell us that instead of just taking our money and waving us on)

We continued our quest to spot a wild elephant in Laos, where the village of Ban Na, approx 80 km outside of Vientiane offers overnight stays in the nearby elephant watching tower. It was a fantastic night, but elephants … we did not spot one.

Riding into the town of Ban Na

Here was our home for the night

Cycling through Laos has been a great so far. Leaving the traffic mad Thailand behind we found a country that is changing quickly, opening up to tourism and welcoming travelers from all over the world. Laos feels relaxed, chilled out and easy going. Nobody seems to be in a major rush. Even the capital ‘Vientiane’, where we spend two days, feels like more of a town than a city.

Here we are having our first meal on the Mighty Mekong River

A lot of foreign aid money has flown into Laos in recent years and the country has upgraded their road network and supported the development of ecotourism. Many villages offer treking tours into the mountains and forests, as well as homestays. People get excited when we cycle through the villages and children come out and run alongside us, greeting us and waving. Wherever we stop, we get surrounded by people, touching the bikes or just looking at us in what may be curiousity, disbelieve or pity, I haven’t figured it out yet

Cycling out of Vientianne

Here we are going into the Khong Lo caves a 7km cave was awesome

Inside the cave with our guide

And lastly Rob's last Lao beer...it was an emotional night for him and I am sure the Lao beer shares dipped in the next few weeks when we cycled into Cambodia