The Bike Story so far..............
Friday 25th February We deliver the bike to the shipping agent in Brisbane.

Tuesday 7th March the boat leaves Sydney

Wednesday 12th April Rang the shipping agent (London), yes the ship is due in tomorrow afternoon and it appears to be on time. Ring us back after Easter - maybe Tuesday afternoonTo keep ourselves occupied in the meantime

We did take that walk to Little Venice by Regent's Canal, it is quite amazing to see all these waterways and beautiful long boats right in the middle of London.

After a fairly long hike we decided we would catch the tube home from Paddington Station, mmmm well that would have been fine and dandy but large parts of the underground were closed for maintenance over Easter so we had to underground hop from one coloured line to the next to get home, it would have been quicker to walk. Anyway we had a swift pint at the local and all was right with the world.

Next day we went to British Museum with every other person in London, we did manage to catch a brief glimpse of the Rosetta Stone as two rather rotund, loud girls stood in front of it obscuring it from view for about five minutes.

Like everything in London the museum is steeped in history and the architecture is stunning. We both really enjoyed the Reading Room with it's squillions of books. My thoughts immediately turned to Dad and Dave (Landy), they would love this place.

After we were tierd of looking at old things it was off to Covent Garden where Skill just had to have a Cornish Pastie. I have to stop doing the conversion thing, but $10.00 AD for an overgrown sausage roll is a bit steep don't you think? Although Skill did remind me that I paid $5.00 AD for 150 grams of beans,($33.00 a kilo) like I said it is best not to convert.

Next day it was off to Greenwich, planned to catch the tube to Embankment and then a boat to Greenwich. Wrong, boarded the tube and sat motionless for ages. Announcement: smoke in the tunnel at some place I could not understand, so off we got and caught a Bus to Tottenham Court Road, (it's the only bus we know how to catch) and walked to Westminster Peir to catch the boat. We had a great day, Greenwich is really something special. Apart from being home to Greenwich Mean Time and the Meridian Line it is a truly beautiful village with so much to explore. The highlight for me was seeing John Harrison's clocks (developed to determine Longitude at sea) at the Royal Observatory. I must confess to being absolutely addicted to the movie "Longitude" so to see the four clocks in the flesh was pretty special.

We also visited the Royal Naval College designed by Chrisoper Wren 300 years ago. It has a magnificant Painted Hall and Chapel with the most exquisitely decorated/mural ceilings and walls, which rival many of the others we have seen in our travels.

Next day we went for a walk on Hampstead Heath with Sarah, Mo and Freddie to Kenwood House which you would all recognise as the setiing for "Sense and Sensibility" and part of "Notting Hill".

Tuesday 18th April Rang back shipping agent, Yes the boat docked on time but the container has been held up in Customs for inspection, ring back the following day. Pressing them for details as to whether this was a random check, they answer "Officially" Yes. BUT unofficially the Government has been threatening job cuts so all of a sudden there has been a dramatic increase in container inspections by British Customs".

Everytime you turn around in this wonderful city there is something else to marvel at, yesterday we sat in the sun and gazed at the Albert Memorial and the Royal Albert Hall. Then off to the Natural History Museum for Skill and the Albert and Victoria Museum for me, which was an all day affair.

Wednesday19th April Rang back shipping agent. Container is out of customs but will need to be delivered to the warehouse and unpacked and processed before we can get it. Maybe Friday or could be Monday. Please, please can we get it Friday. They would try....

Thursday 20th April We get back from a day in town and have a message, the bike will be devaned (container speak for unloaded) at midday Friday, but we will need to get Customs clearance paperwork first. Yay!!

Friday 21st April. D DAY WE PICK UP THE BIKE.

Get the Tube to Tower Bridge then up to Fenchurch Station and onto a train to Tilbury. Arrived at Tilbury with no map on where to go (The A to Z street directory doesn't go that far) so ask the lady at the train station who tells us to go across the bridge, end of instruction. Talk to a waiting bus driver who tries to send us back towards London to a district called Custom House. No we want Customs House Tilbury Docks. Oh well in that case straight up the road and the Dock entrance is on the right.

Do as we are told and arrive at the entrance of Tilbury Dock where we are briefly interrogated by the guards who point us in the direction of Customs House, hopelessly so as it turns out. So find a dodgy old canteen, it was like stepping back in time, all the workers had on those little white coats with their initials on them, just like you see in the old English TV Series. After causing the only bit of excitement in their day they finally agreed that Customs House was in a completely different direction from the way the guards had sent us.

Twenty minutes later we arrived. Up the stairs where Skill proceeded to talk to a lovely young man who was completely and utterly confused, they were not used to mad Aussies wanting to organise their own customs clearance. We had just begun the process when the iron shutters came down and the LUNCH 12.00 - 1.00 sign came out. Buggar. However we must have impressed the young man with our tenacity and he came out through another door and helped us fill out the paperwork and in under 30 minutes we were on our way.

We asked him where the best place to catch a cab from would be. Back into the town centre (which was a bloody long way back through the front guarded entrance, about 50 minutes walk), however he was such a sweetie that he let us out through the back gate (for staff only) and we were back in town in five minutes.

Searching for a cab rank, we spied a huge orange sign that said TAXI and after some skillful negotiations they would take us to the warehouse at West Thurrock for 10 pound. Bargain. So off to West Thurrock (not a place for the faint hearted after dark I should imagine) The container was being unloaded when we arrived and we could see the bike crate looking decidedly worn, but intact. However it would be another hour before the paperwork clearance would be through. So off to the very, very dilapidated "Fox and Goose" for lunch and a beer.

An hour later the paperwork from Customs is through and we pay 75 pound in fees to the agents, we can now start to unpack the crate. What a giggle I didn't even get a look in, all the boys stopped work on their fork lifts and came to help.

We could not have been luckier, they were so incredibly helpful. Most shipping agents charge you quite a bit of money to get rid of the crate, but one of the guys was planning to ship his bike to NZ at Xmas time so he was more than happy to take the whole crate home. Another guy was building a green house so he was happy to take all the self tapping screws. (And I hid the rest of the rubbish in an old wheelbarrow) They kept coming to check on us to see how we were getting on, even offering a battery pack if the battery was flat.

After helpful directions to the A13 and the nearest servo, handshakes all round, we were off, managing to make it all the way back to Central London in peak hour traffic, avoiding the Congestion Zone without a wrong turn. How impressive is that. Thanks to Sarah for her fantastic navigational instructions.

The bike and all our personal effects arrived in perfect condition, and the bike started first turn of the key. Skill is a happy boy.

Well guys on that note I'll say good bye, and now the adventure really begins.

Cheers & Beers,
Lan

Quote of the Week: "The journey, not the arrival matters" T.S. Eliot