Easter Island belongs to Chile. For about 50 years, from around 1900 until 1953, it was leased to Williamson Balfour & Co. Williamson Balfour & Co are the BMW concessionaires in Chile. They are owned by Inchcape, who also own (amongst others) Cooper Reading, my local BMW dealer. I have shares in Inchcape. So it would be rude not to go there on my way to Santiago, wouldn't it?

The bike will, allegedly, be crated tomorrow morning and collected by the shipper in the afternoon. I blame the Oz Police, because it's the late delivery of one of their new bikes which has caused the delay. Never mind - it's been nice weather and I've had some decent rides around various National Parks and the Blue Mountains.

Some of the TV here is a bit strange. As well as reruns of Dr Who (I'm not scared of the cybermen any more) they have home improvement programmes which include items such as "How to stop cockatiels eating your furniture". Adverts range from the hilariously un-PC to the intelligence-insulting stuff we're all used to.

People encounters have encompassed everything from the very friendly Welshman in the traffic jam who recognised the Newbury phone number on my numberplate to the unreconstructed male person in the Outback who asked "Does being bisexual give you any problem while travelling?"; to which my answer was, of course, "I've no idea - why don't you ask a bisexual?"