I was thrown onto dry land at the east end of the Great Ocean Disappointment with a diluted faith in ever finding the one thing in Oz that would surprise the hell out of me. After all there was nothing left but the dreary coastal highway to Sydney. That’s when it happened; the Oh-I’m-bored-center in my brain made a coup d'état of my body, and I helplessly watched myself do a left turn in a crossing with no signpost. The road went up in the Snowy Mountains, and after two days and a very cold night I arrived in a place so seldom seen that it is called just that - Seldom Seen.
.I was thrown onto dry land at the east end of the Great Ocean Disappointment with a diluted faith in ever finding the one thing in Oz that would surprise the hell out of me. After all there was nothing left but the dreary coastal highway to Sydney. That’s when it happened; the Oh-I’m-bored-center in my brain made a coup d'état of my body, and I helplessly watched myself do a left turn in a crossing with no signpost. The road went up in the Snowy Mountains, and after two days and a very cold night I arrived in a place so seldom seen that it is called just that - Seldom Seen.
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Lamborghini
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Seldom Seen was not much, just a very remote petrol pump run by the David Woodburn and an emu. In 2003 it became even less when a bushfire roared through the area, too far away for any firetruck to assist. David barely saved his life by sitting in a dam with a kangaroo. He lost everything including his roadhouse and emu friend. But nowadays he has a new buddy, the sheep Lamborghini, a new petrol pump, and two campervans where they spend their days making art of rubbish. David seemed happy to see me (ref: see somebody), fired up the coffee kettle, and we sat for hours in a pile of debris talking about this and that and then some more. It was all very weird and wonderful. Note that the petrol price at Seldon Seen depend on what football team you support (no kidding). If you're low on gas and support the wrong team you're f***ed.
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David Woodburn has the bushiest eyebrows in Snowy Mountains
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Switzerland upside-down
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Snowy Mountains is stunning and far from the stereotypical Australian landscape. Imagine Switzerland with kangaroos... When roaring along a narrow gravel road carved into a steep mountainside in the middle of nowhere I knew that if I accidentally drove over the cliff nobody would see me or my bike ever again. It would be one of those mysterious disappearances that would never be solved. Heck, there was probably a couple of mysteriously missing motorcyclists down in that canyon already. I spent another two days in the mountains before I began the decent to Cooma and Brisbane, and then making the final run to Sydney where my camping kitchen quickly was replaced with the finest of metropolitan cuizine.
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A chocolate lunch break with Dew, the chronically happy owner of Manly Beach House. Check out that giant truffle... nam nam
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Sydney is not the average big city. With a few distinct landmarks and a laidback atmosphere it has an intimate feel only shared with a few other major cities round thew world such as San Francisco and Cape Town. I wish I had more time to explore it, but my exams were my first priority. I also had to arrange shipment of the motorcycle to the US, so I was pretty busy. I got a room at the Manly Beach House, bought a roll of scotch tape, and decorated the walls with queue words. The exams where held in the Norwegian Church, and with such an almighty exam guard it became impossible to cheat.
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Priest Torgeir Vea and his wife Margit. Thanks for all your help!
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