Australia's East Coast - Finally!

To say that Kosciusko is easy to hike is an understatement. You'd think that after 2 weeks of 8+ hour days of training, we'd run up the thing in about 2 hours. For the record, our planned run turned into a stroll that most grandparents could manage and we wore enough clothing for temperatures 20 degrees warmer. To say that the hike up Kosciusko was miserable is well beyond an understatement.

The food poisoning we last told you about, you know, the one that sent Aaron to the not so lovely lieu every 30 minutes, well, it wasn't food poisoning. And it didn't stop at Aaron. Half way up the hill Eric's stomach began feeling a bit like Spielberg made D-day look in Saving Private Ryan. Aaron had to make a few emergency stops and Eric just hoped he could manage to avoid the same fate. Aaron pressed ahead like the soldier he is but Eric felt like he had the energy of a lion after he's shagged for 22 straight hours.

To add glamor to the wonderful time we were clearly having, the weather was creeping in to say hi, since it had been nearly 24 hours since it last screwed us over, it was due for another summer snow shower. This is where our super thick, down lined and fur infused wind breakers and running shorts came in handy. oh, and the refreshingly breathable running shirts we opted for. Hmmm, good call.

To say the least, once making it to the top, we grabbed the slightly pathetic picture you'll see, tried our best to enjoy the beautiful view from on top of the world's highest peak ever in Australia. On our descent, the clouds dropped the temperature to just above freezing, with about a 100 yards of visibility. Our stomachs were about as averse to running as Hillary is to privatized healthcare. But, we literally couldn't take the cold the weather had brought in, the cold wind, rain, and eventually snow. After 6 hours of hiking our "3 hour hike" we made it to the heating room of our hostel and fell asleep for an hour trying to raise our body temps. Turns out Aaron's food poisoning didn't miraculously jump to Eric, we had both contracted Giardia. Suck.

At this point, neither one of us could eat. We barely made it up to our rooms only to crash for the night, minus a half-hearted attempt at eating some chips and a sandwich.

The next morning we faced the daunting task of continuing the bike ride we thought was such a good idea only a few weeks earlier. Again, neither had an appetite, and we were a bit less than confident in our ability to control our bowel movements. Then we met Vince.

Vince the Man was heading thru the town of Cooma, our overly ambitious next planned stop. Then we found out he was going thru our 3rd day's stop, Canberra. Then we found out he was going thru Canberra on to Sydney. We both looked at each other and thought, this is too good to be true, then Aaron said, "Eric, we better get more toilet paper." Vince and Bruce loaded all of gear into his monster 4wd Kia, unbeknownst to his mom, the owner of the car. Seven hours and 4 near misses later, Vince was a great car buddy, making the 6 day ride on our bikes really enjoyable. He's a stud earning his PhD and was doing field work on the mountain from the cold part of hell.

Arriving in Sydney, his mother had started a BBQ for all of us and we all enjoyed a truly unforgettable meal. Too bad we were still suffering a bit from our flirtation with Giardia, though Aaron was taking the lead on the effects. We wound up canceling our hotel reservations and stayed with Vince at his father's place in Croydon, a town Aaron became particularly fond of. Just around the corner was a bike shop that we in dire need of, given that Eric's bike had 2 broken pedals, a broken rear spoke, and a precariously loose cassette.

We headed into the city to find out that night was Mardi Gras, Sydney's 300k person gay parade. Aaron claims to have pictures of a man trying to groap and steal Eric, these allegations are erroneous! Erroneous on both counts! Any pictures to the contrary are probably fabricated. We met up with our Fiji to Sydney airplane buddies, Devon and Kristin for some afternoon drinks and parade watching.

The next day was our day trip to the Blue Mountains and the old mining town of Katoomba. If you ever go to Sydney, visit Katoomba, hike around the Blue Mountains, and go to the Common Grounds Cafe for lunch. What a great spot! Great food, awesome environment, and chicks with unibrows.

Having spent the last three weeks in colder than expected weather, we were thirsty for some sun! We now chill in the beautiful little town of Coff's Harbor, a few hundred k (kilometres) north of Sydney. Using the train to leap frog north, we arrived in the city at 1am, and for a city that just about shuts at 5 pm, this was no good. We were lucky enough to have the front door to the YHA hostel propped open slightly, which was more than enough of a welcome for these two nearly homeless guys. We crashed on their lounge couches. Despite having not slept in about 23 days, and getting to bed around 2am, we were up and out of there before they were the wiser.

We spent the day off the bike, and instead enjoyed a run, swim, and workout day. Awesome! We ran for a few hours all along the coast here and loved the views and trails. Oooh, we saw a bearded dragon lizard just hanging out. Eric was able to get a solid swim in around the pier while Aaron made good use of the surgical tubing for a beachside workout.

We will be getting to bed early tonight as we're planning on hammering out two big days on the bike to get up to the debaucherous town of Byron Bay.

But really, we're just jazzed that we're finally on the coast with warmer weather.