We've arrived! ...almost!

We've arrived! ...almost!

It's true! As I whittle away at this post, typing with great care on
the iPhones tiny keyboard, we're just fifty some odd kilometers south
of Townsville. We said that we would cycle from Sydney to Townsville
whilst in Australia and now that we've almost finished the 3000+ km
ride it's time to pause for some reflection. (actually we plan to
cycle on to cairns so this is a bit premature but we're still assesing
the weather and a good downpour could cut the road and so on and so
forth). E. says that the closer we get to our destination the less it
feels like it's about getting to our destination, it's more about the
journey inbetween. It's hard to start from somewhere on a bike and say
"okay we're going to start here and end some obscurely long distance
away.". It's been essential for us to break the trip down into daily
portions which figure in about 90km distances with pit stops, pee
breaks, and usually a fail safe camp spot in case we're not feeling up
to par that day. Sometimes we exceed our own daily goals and sometimes
we decide it's just too hot to make it the whole way but either way we
end up somewhere interesting.
Z says that he's found that every place is interesting and that his
attitude has everything to do with how hard or easy, fun or torturous,
bearable or unbearable each days riding and each nights camping is.
Some places have been beautiful with great bathrooms, free showers,
entertaining campers, and favorable cross breezes through the tent -
while others have had dank cave like bathrooms, barren post-
apocolyptic feeling landscapes, and smells of the nearby chicken farm
wafting on the breeze. The quality of each ride and each campsite is
completely up to me to decide. I choose how I interpret each situation
and in doing so I determine my own satisfaction, or lack there of.
We joke and poke fun a lot in our posts here but overall we're both
incredibly struck by this beautiful place and we feel a great sense of
gratitude that we've led lives that have afforded us the opportunity
to see the world the way we are, and I don't just mean in a monetary
sense. We've had great support from and lifted insights off of well
traveled friends and family as well as being mentally and spiritually
inspired by people we look up to and love. Long hours are provided to
us daily for reflection and thought and we have many wonderful
conversations from our lives to recall for fuel during those times.