Bustin' outta S'Melbs

Hi all,
Wow, it's been a while since I've updated this! It's been a busy last week in Victoria and I'n set to start the second half of my Oz adventure on the east coast in Queensland and New South Wales. (From fires to floods, so it appears!)

In my couple of extra days in Melbourne waiting for those crazy Otesha kids to come cycling into town I managed to do a ton of exploring. Most exciting was a trip to the Queen Victoria Market to check out the seafood. One of the girls on tour had a very dedicated "gentleman caller" who managed to meet up with us in a few towns. He hosts a radio show every week on sustainable seafood eating so, naturally, I was pretty excited when he brought pocket-sized guides for good seafood choices in Australia! Now I can jump back into eating seafood in the rest of my travels knowing that its healthy, caught in a way that doesn't wreak havoc on the environment, and from sustainable stocks! Wheeeee! Anyway, I wandered around the market checking out all the fishes for sale with my handy little guide. It was absolutely fascinating to see great options out there for really reasonable costs - sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less than terrible ones! For example, a Tasmanian salmon caught a couple days ago was less expensive than icky farmed Atlantic salmon that was previously frozen! Imagine my delight! Unfortunately, I couldn't lug around kilos of fish that I could not share nor cook, so I downgraded to some organic fruit bread, local cheeses and Australian grown figs for a picnic in the park.

The crew came home all in one piece (and not a bit toasty!) full of smiles and pride at finishing up their last 100 km ride into Melbourne. We had a great three-day retreat to decompress after the tour which kicked off with a huge party and a ride in Critical Mass. The whole crew made costumes for the ride of our favourite "Eco-Heros and Villians". I went as "The Green Spirit" and we had appearances from "Clean Coal Bandit", "Water-Wise Woman", "Perma-couture", "Mellow-Yellow" and "Granny Gear". (I have pics to chare soon!) We met up with 150 other cyclists and took over the streets of downtown Melbourne for an hour on bikes. It was INSANE! Teams worked together to block traffic so that the whole group could stay together, there were people on recumbent bikes, homemade bikes, bike outfitted with stereos and salsa music blaring!, everyone in all shapes and sizes cruising around to celebrate cycling. The Critical Mass ended at our party (a great way to get people to show up!) and we danced, drank CO2-neutral beers (don't worry, not flat... just offset and solar-powered!) delivered by bicycle, and performed the "adult version" of our skit (I managed to finally throw off the crew by an outburst of "f-ing EH!" and had to cover the next section of lines). Such a great way to end the tour.

One morning in the retreat, I got up a lot earlier than the rest of the crew and went for a 10 km run along the ocean. It was such an incredible morning. The sky was overcast and just enough that the sun couldn't quite overcome the clouds and there was a soft pink sky over the bay. It was quiet and cool and the smell of the water was so fresh, it was impossible to feel tired! 5 kms away from the place we were staying brought me all the way around the boardwalk in Mentone and up into the docks where a handful of sailed boats were moored. I turned back around and ran back home, managing to get myself lost somehow in the very last km of my run. I arrived to find people just getting up to start the day! Vanessa, I'll definitely be ready to run the half with you in May! ;)

I stayed with the friend I mentioned above on Sunday night and her boyfriend made us an incredible sustainable seafood feast! Whiting (caught that day in the bay around the city) and Kingfish (the molst delicious fish I have ever had) and salads and veggies grown in the garden behind his house. (I have been so inspired to start my own garden when I get back... hopefully will do better than I did with my poor basil last year!) After that, I've been in Melbs for the last couple of days on my own in a backpackers in the downtown core. Shipping my sexy lycra bike shorts and panniers home (forgot to wash them, sorry Mom and Dad for when you open that box to get your bday prezzies!) and shipping my bike to a store in Sydney that has offered to keep it safe for me until I arrive in a few weeks to pick it up and take it on the plane.

I hope everyone is well! I'm off to Cairns!
Cheers,
Candice

PS> Tons of pictures to come soon!