Respecting that this was originally a bike blog, I wanted to return to something I had always wanted to do: ride a tokyo-bike in tokyo.
The first time I came across tokyo-bike, they had a community event in sydney where you could ride their bikes in this grassy obstacle course. one-handed sharp turn? no problem. I instantly fell hard for the sturdy grounding of the bike, how responsive it was to my lightest movement and like all beautiful things, something that could last a thousand years. Sadly, there’s not just the market in sydney for these bikes at $1k AUD each, they were too expensive for the cruiser type (me) and too simple for the lycra folks. The store closed as quickly as it opened. They are common in japan and every single time I’d see one, I’d delight in it. It remains my dream bike. When my papillionaire rusts (which it’s still in amazing condition after all these years), I’ll invest in one.
After many nights turning into mineral sulphur in zao onsen (ph 1.6, powerful water) and nyuto in akita (ph 6.7 mermaid times), it was a nice change of pace to be back in one of my favorite places – ueno in tokyo. To be clear, ueno, not tokyo. I’m a city girlie but when I get to tokyo, I can’t want to leave tokyo. Like all of the busiest cities in the world, there is a green refuge – giant lotus garden in ueno. I always stay in this area, it means somewhere quiet in the early morning to run – the giant lotus leaves swaying breezily and committed photographers trying to get the perfect waterlilies shot.
On the last day in tokyo as well as japan, I discovered a tokyo-bike store. It was forecasted to rain so they gave me a discount and it was 2000 YEN for the day (until 5pm). No bike helmet needed there (love this – wind in hair, or turns out washing my hair in the summer rain). As soon as I was on it, the bike just felt like an extension of me – mode 2.0 part human, part-bike.
I weaved through the crowds on the pavement or when it suited, pedals blazing on the main road, I loved moving through the city so freely. Whenever I’m riding, the destination has to be water so I pinned down getting to asakusa and followed the sumida river. I slowly cycled around kuramae which is the bike shop owner’s fav place, full of little alley ways, artisan stores and hipster-y looking retro diners outside of the tourist pocket.
I turned into a public menace. I get distracted easily and want to stop and check out the sesame speciality store, so I’d park the bike close by. Each time I thought I’d parked it in a reasonably safe place, I got tagged with a bike warning at literally every place I stopped. I collected five of these! I never actually worked out the bike system parking – my conclusion is you just can’t park anywhere.
City cruising means city snacks, during this trip I ate ridiculously well. Two things I was constantly digesting was the azuka salted red bean daifuku ($100 yen, don’t ask me how many I ate) and their red miso canned sardines (gotta hit those protein macros, tasty, $150 yen).
On this last day, I reflected on some fav trip moments, I really enjoyed moving slowly through the north of japan. The main quest was onsen but many little fun surprises on the way – hiking a knee high jungle of daisies to the onsen, falling asleep to the smell of bbq from the rooftop resto next to my hotel window in sendai, sam (fellow bike adventurer) over pouring detergent into the bubble machine while sitting over the akita alps, the zao water imprinting me with pink leopard spots, melt in your mouth fatty beef tongue and my on going obsession with sendai’s taikichi nakakecho.
When I was in matsushima, another thing that stuck with me during the trip was the area around temple. Very dramatic towering cedars along the seaside mountains. Stone tablets in caves. In the temple, there was a piece of calligraphy – mumonkan, the gateless gate. This sent me on a zen koans rabbit hole (prayers to my sanity) where this idea of how active the mind is on creating all these ‘gates’, though all this time I’ve already been in the garden. I love this.
I was also inspired by one of my high school girlfriends to shelled out on a lux stay at Taenoyu Onsen Ryokan ($400 AUD a night). I’ve never spent that much before on accommodation – so worth it. They have their own waterfall where the onsen looks upon, the meals were all mountain specialties with a memorable smoky radish, honeyed tomatoes, and of course insane diary soft serve. The onsen views were in sharp contrast to zao onsen where it’s a 10min gauntlet soak. Will you survive this water? I needed to break regularly from this sulphuric kettle. I do prefer zao waters ph, give me the hard stuff.
This last day riding through the city, the summer rain finally caught me. I returned my bike completely soaked. I did pass a CIBI’s cafe on the way back (japanese cafe where the only other one is in melbourne) which was a cute bookend to the trip. A half-year reset before my next big mission. A little treat – tokyo-bike in the big city.
onsenearly runs in the ueno parkblack sesame crackcute bike parkingzao templebeef tongues!sendaiakita red bean daifukudaisies
This was my first time in Peru. Aside from glossy Machu Picchu postcards, I had no expectations. My fellow traveler and long-time friend had been before. He’d done the Inca Trail and, eager to get into high altitude again, suggested a lesser-known hike, the Huchuy Qosqo trek. I’d never even heard of it.
We looked into a two-day guided tour, but at $250 USD per person (donkeys carry your stuff), we decided to just do it ourselves as casual hikers. I’m so glad we did. This turned out to be my favorite experience in South America, Machu Picchu included. After weeks of busy cities, restaurants, and flights, this trek made me feel wild again.
What is Huchuy Qosqo? It means “Little Cusco” in Quechua. huchuy meaning “small” and Qosqo being the original name for Cusco itself. It’s an anicent ruin sitting high above the Sacred Valley, 3,650m above sea level, built for the Inca ruler Wiracocha in the 15th century as a royal estate and ceremonial hub.
Getting Ready
Gear up: We rented everything from Speedy Gonzalo in Cusco. We got winter sleeping bags, a two-person tent, cooking kit (with gas), head torches, down jackets, a 60L pack, and blow-up mattresses = 210 soles total. Technically, that’s a five-day rental, so you can hang on to it if you plan more hikes. They’ll keep your driver’s license as a deposit.
Stock up: We hit up Orion supermarket and kept it simple. We had sandwiches for day one, instant noodles “upgraded” with eggs, sausages, and broccoli for dinner, granola with yogurt and eggs for breakfast. You’ll end the trek in Lamay for a late lunch. Important: bring tea – anise or cinnamon. Peruvians swear by them.
Acclimatise to the altitude and sacrifice to the weather gods: Cusco sits at 3,500m, so take a couple of days before trekking to adjust to the altitude. Two clear days are ideal, if you can plan around it, do it so you don’t miss out on the views. Hike to view ratio – 10/10.
Get your map:Download the trail on AllTrails before you go. It’s well-trodden but not signed at forks, so the offline map is your lifeline.
Bring cash: Collectivos (shared vans) cost 6-10 soles, taxis around 40 soles, the entry fee to Huchuy Qosqo is 12 soles. Peru runs on exact change, so bring small bills.
Day 1
We caught a collectivo from Calle Pavitos in Cusco’s historic center, it’s 40 minutes to Chinchero. Make sure the driver knows to stop at the main plaza (look for the big colorful 3D town sign). Otherwise, you might get the scenic detour, we did when he nearly forgot us.
From Chinchero, some kind local women hooked us up with a taxi to Tauca, near Lake Piuray, the starting point of the trek. There are a few routes, but we took the one with the steeper climb for sweeping alpine views and wow, did the Andes deliver on the drama. Falcons soared overhead. Everything just felt enormous and alive – no wonder the Incas believed the mountains were gods.
Of course, I had decided earlier that week running through wet cobblestone markets at altitude was a great idea. I stacked it and banged my knee. Adamant to still do the hike, I took painkillers and packed light. That morning, I got some unexpected news and sunk deep into my feelings, turning my friend into a full-time sherpa and therapist. I cycled from feeling a little numb from the painkillers, sad and pensive to free, in awe and animal-wild – hitting all these notes in different orders during the two days.
We packed 4L of water and refilled from streams, my friend convinced me that boiling for three minutes would make it safe. I very reluctantly agreed to do this and though still alive now, am a high profile hypochondriac and don’t want to have parasites eating at me from the insides. Science works right?
We moved through many different environments. The high plains, sandwiches on silver lakes, the mountains, the cliffs, a little stone village and walking the razor blade which is my favorite. The surroundings are rough and sturdy, deep red earth, electric green moss, and ferns clawing out of rocks like an angry birth.
As you reach the canyon, the trail dips steeply and suddenly. And then, out of nowhere, a perfectly built Inca stone bridge appears. There’s an ancient archway, too. From a distance, it’s truly surreal, a magic doorway – am I just really tired now? I felt as I was passing through it, I was walking into a different world, a wild one – your animal self takes over. All the feelings I’ve been pushing down with rational thoughts, these feelings crack through and then flood in.
The canyon is cold, quiet and an adventure in itself. Did I say the razor blade was my favorite, I changed my mind – it’s here. I’m grateful for my rented down jacket. After walking in such open plains, the cliffs are tightly wrapped, the perfect hideaway. We make camp, right at the back of the canyon so we’re directly under the cliffs. It’s also looking out into a clearing with the mountains making a perfect ‘V’ in the distance. It’s spectacular. We make tea and an early dinner. There’s moving flashes of light in the mountains far away, we speculate what it is – fireworks? a take over from Bolivia?? Finally we realise it’s a storm, handful of lightning. Twilight happens and then just a faint silhouette of the canyon cliffs around us. We can hear the stream and a river of stars appear in the sky.
My friend retires into the tent. I stayed out for a while longer. I listen to ‘Claire De Lune’ on repeat from my Iphone while looking up into the sky until it’s a complete black out, swallowing up the canyon and me.
Day 2
I slept in my down jacket + sleeping bag. Hot tea.
We pack up and start over the open plain again, still with cliffs around us until we get to the end of the road. The views are incredible, you are on a razor blade again and you look down into little towns well below while having the Andies as the backdrop to give you scale. Don’t have vertigo here – you’ll never recover.
The walkway is narrow, it’s hard not to be distracted by the view and walk off into thin air. As we near the end, we pass a Sun Temple, marking our arrival at Huchuy Qosqo. A groundskeeper appeared from nowhere to collect our entry fee (12 soles each) and then vanished again. Checking the visitor log, the last people had come through two days before. Having this entire site to ourselves, vs. crowds of Machu Picchu, was a gift.
I sat on what must have once been an Inca throne, a perfectly carved L-shaped block. One side facing a towering cliff, the other toward the valley below. You can see why he built it here.The cliff feels like a solid wave suspended in motion, too late to run from. A great vantage point to see your lands and get chatty with the gods. The landscape is infinite here.
We lingered for hours, soaking it all in. The craftsmanship is exceptional – stonework all locked in, terraced slopes, and remains of ceremonial plazas. On the way down, you get the money shot – Huchuy Qosqo layered in stone terraces, framed by the mountains. We couldn’t help take a million photos here.
The descent down is no joke – steep and not to be rushed. Take small steps down into Lamay. At the bottom, we find a hammock and a fresh orange juice. As soon as you walk into Lamay across the river, there are buses there to take you back to Cuszo. If you want a DIY adventure away from crowds in Peru, this is it.
a throwback to a bike day trip that happened a while back has been on my mind recently. I wanted to document it as was such a treasure find and one of my most memorable days in hokkaido. recently, I’ve felt I haven’t had a lot of time alone and so I’ve been thinking about this one day where I really enjoyed my own company on this solo-adventure.
after an onsen-hopping roadtrip around hokkaido, I found myself with a couple extra days in sapporro. the area is lush + japan’s cycle culture, I knew there there must be good day cycle options around to feed my greedy appetite for just one more onsen session. after a thorough internet rabbit hole of the keywords ‘cycle to an onsen’, before the days of chatgpt, I found this blog to get to the onsen mori-no-yu. what I liked about it was 1) seemed local and not landing me in some touristy place, 2) iron-water onsen to help some of my summer mozzie bites and 3) was 90% off road so I could cruise.
getting the bike –
there’s a lot of lycra cyclist in sapporo so it was hard to get just a simple geared bike step through. I had to email a few places, finally securing one at e-motion bikes (admin@e-motion.bike). cycling is popular here so it’s encouraged to book a day before. you can email them. price was 1000 yen for the whole day from 10am to 9pm which is a steal. the shop closes at 5pm, but you can self-service check out at the end (I dropped it back at 8:45pm).
once I got the bike, I followed the river south to the start of the track at sapporro convention center. don’t forget to stop by a 7/11 to pick up some snacks for a day trip. the start of the track was hard to find at the center, it’s joint up with a walking track so you need to look out for a sign that says ‘eniwa station’.
the cycleway is such a generous mostly flat off-road ride passing through the border of the city, then quickly into sapporo suburbia – the parklands with little kids playing baseball decked out in all their equipment, elderly people coming back from the markets with their roller bags. it’s such a delight to be just a part of the normal slice of life. charmed by the sense of community and slower pace of not-corporate japan from the big cities.
there’s some fun bridges that dip down so you enjoy the downhill, I’ll stand on the bike to really feel the pocket down, a bite of freedom. there’s still some construction on cycleway so there’s some confusing on-road pieces to navigate but main thing is to ask the workers where the track joins up again.
soon, you end up in a leafy forrest and on a weekend, fairly alone. it’s a joy to ride and have a break. originally I was just planning to go straight to the onsen but I was enjoying the ride so much that I decided to go right to the very end of the track at eniwa station. there’s facilitates there like lunch places etc for a proper break but aside from that no much.
I swung back on the track to the onsen – by this time it was mid-afternoon and getting cooler, perfect onsen weather. though cruisey, it was a long ride and I was sweaty, the workout deserved a reward. to get to the onsen, you leave the track and follow the main road up into a fenced reserve, it’s quite a hill to push the bike up to the onsen itself. there’s bike parking, then you’ll see mori-no-yu opposite a golf course. it’s 9000 yen for adults with a 300 yen towel hire (a little dear for japan but cheap as chips compared to australia). you’ll need to buy a coupon voucher at the vending machine first and give it to the host at the entry.
though there so were many memorable onsens in hokkaido, this one was one of my favorites. the baths get as hot as 43 degrees and is a brown colour from all the iron (good for blood flow). the best thing about it is the view of the outdoor bath. It looks into a forrest valley from on high. I spent 3 hours of my life here, and gained another +5 years on my life span. the mountain valley air – cool on my face, then an ice cold shower, to throw myself back into 40+ degree hot mineral water again with this view was a borderline addiction for me. if it wasn’t starting to get dark (didn’t want to ride in the hard as I didn’t have lights), then I would of stayed until closing which is 10pm. this is a traditional onsen so no tattoos and bathe naked.
here are some pics of the outdoor bath, dreamy. the ride back was relaxing and in the twilight hours, to come back into the city much later than I thought. parked my bike for a sushi bowl, and dropped of my bike. a perfect day.
bike side quest– another day, I did ride to the university and found a lily pond there. a peaceful place where I read my book and was keeping this artist company while she captured the lilies in seasonal bloom with all the dragonflies. she was talented, if my japanese was better, I’d offer to buy her sketch. my other fav memories/recommendations of sapporo were –
1. toriton sushi – my fav sushi place in all of japan. this is a must order to eat sushi train. the best picks are the fatty albacore, the fatty salmon and tuna, as well as the strawberry almond pudding. high quality food and fish cuts.
2. the minimalist aquarium – I enjoyed this more than I thought. it’s a lab-feel 3 level aquarium with some really fun water life.
3. bar orb – tiny bar upstairs with a chatty owner and unexpected conversations. extensive drink selection from local makers but my fav thing about this place is they serve green tea into late hours of the night. great for a rainy/snowy night.
4. dairy things – picking up a cream bun here is like crack to me. the diary here hits different. beware.
km: 49.9k
hours: pick up the bike at 10:15am and dropped it back at 8:45pm, bathed for 3 hours, so rode slowly in between with lots of little break and dinner. it’s full day trip that I did extra slow.
x red bike
After a sequence of unexpected events, I booked a very last minute flight to Egypt 2 days before flying out. The only thing we had booked was our studio in Cairo on what would be a 14 day trip with my old friends from Seattle.
Even the flight over I felt like I was no longer in Sydney. An arabic guy next to me asked me to swap seats with his diabetic aunt, I did. Grateful, he offered me an Eid walnut scone and got into conversation about our careers. He was running multiple businesses in property development and just started a new venture in perfume vendor machines. This was such a constant theme on my trip and I haven’t even landed in the country yet. Everyone in Egypt has a business.
He told me to be careful in Egypt as everyone will try to ‘finesses’ me. I’ve never heard of anyone using this word in that context so I looked it up – “bring about or deal with (something) by using great delicacy and skill”. Thank you, internet.
Once landed in Cairo, I got an uber into Zamalek which is a little island next to Downtown. It’s known to be the more up-market part of Cairo with lots of little coffee shops and art galleries. The driver taught me the 3 basic arabic phrases I pretty much used on the entire trip – salaam ʿalaykum (greeting: “peace be upon you”), shukran (thank you), naam/laa (yes/no), and bikam? (how much, which wasn’t that useful as I didn’t know any of the arabic numbers). My driver stopped by an alley and walked out with a sugarcane juice and spiced liver hotdog with sour roots for me to try. Everyone in the country is trying to feed you.
Zamalek is a ‘walkable’ neighborhood, in Cairo standards. It’s not quiet, but it’s quieter than Downtown Cairo. Cairo is heavily congested, with cars on the road honking 24/7 as a way to just other car’s know they’re there. There’s no lines on the road so people just herd themselves. The roads are a constant negotiation, just like all interactions here. Zamalek is in abundant supply of excellent turkish coffee (according to my friends as I’m an exclusive tea drinker), as well as specialty shops and little restaurants. My first dinner was a Zooba, a reliable chain that does Egyptian pie (kefee) and mezzas. I had a ful pita bread (slow cooked fava bean dip and this was my food obsession for the rest of the trip).
I make a small prayer every time we cross traffic as my friends and I make a human linked chain with our arms as we walk straight into incoming traffic. We found a little breakfast stand surrounded by locals, mostly men. They serve up a bunch of roasted veggies, ful and pita bread. It’s all delicious. A security guard gave us half his breakfast to try – ful pita again with a marinated baby lemon, it’s spicy and you eat the zesty skins. I’ve had some of the juiciest lamb kofta at the old bazaar. Tahini everything. Be prepared to “eat your fingers” as the locals say.
We do the touristy things and go to the old Egyptian museum. They’re moving a lot of the artifacts in here into the new Grand Egyptian museum (GEM). The original one is a giant junk draw of ancient things, which would usually be ultra precious, but because of the sheer volume, they didn’t have time to organise it all. There’s little information on all the treasures, so we used ChatGPT and uploading photos to help us piece together what we’re looking at. I’d recommend once they hard launch the GEM, to go to that one instead which is the polished curation.
The giza pyramids are not overhyped. When you’re there, it remains other-worldly that humans built this centuries ago. The sphinx as well is impressive and carved out of just one stone. The pyramids were tombs and shrines, built high to bridge the distance with the afterlife and their god of the sun, Ra. It’s amazing to me that these beliefs/ religion can be so inspiring to humans that it moves the imagination to be able to build something as grand as this. Also got me wondering about this obsession humans have with what happens after this life, I felt all ancient Egyptian stories were about crossing over to the afterlife, this one was just a test run.
One of the places that took me by surprise was Serapeum in Saqqara, a large burial ground for apis bulls. When you walk in, the size of the tombs shocked me. They only found one tomb with a mummified bull in it, all the others were looted. These oversized tombs by themselves are one of the most interesting things I’ve seen – don’t miss it. It’s a 45 min drive from Cairo – we did it as a part of an Airbnb tour (roughly AUD $50 per person). When we left the tombs, the islamic prayers started across Cairo, it’s on very speakerphone and you can hear the echo like a cloud above the city as you watch over it from the desert tombs. A collective peaceful moment for a place that is organised chaos.
On food, Egyptians love carbs with a side of carbs. The most memorable food moment in Cairo was a restaurant called Koshary Abu Tarek. It’s their national dish. It’s rice on pasta on chickpeas on lentils with sauces – bizarre but absolutely tasty. The waiter makes theatre out of showing us how to eat it. Spicy – loved it.
There’s lots of hustlers in Egypt, when they see foreigners, everything becomes a USD currency and they will give you ‘tourist’ prices that may be x10 local prices. This is why you must negotiate. What’s going to happen is you’re going to collect a bunch of Egyptian men on your Whatsapp of people offering tours/ drivers etc. Everything is done through What’sApp here. It’s important to compare and see if you can get a honest fixed price with no-add ons later. The pattern I see is they will build a relationship or trust with you early on, with the unspoken expectation they will receive it back later e.g. give you a gift for free like a hat at the pyramids, take photos of you and then wait to be tipped.
The great thing about last minute trip planning is that you have more in-country information to choose your own adventure. Instead of going to Alexandria, we decided to go to Faiyum – a desert oasis. We stayed the night at an Airbnb (Tunis) with our host, Fady. The breakfast there is amazing, my fav thing was mish – a fermented buffalo cheese, salty and spicy. We had a dip in the actual oasis, the magic lake. We discovered pigeon mills (can confirm it’s tasty though boney). Explored the little pottery town.
Another last-minute decision was that we weren’t going to do the nile cruise. We were at a yemen restaurant and my friend read some of the itinerary and said there was going to be a boat party in the evening. I had a fast allergic reaction to this and realised I wanted to avoid cruises for as long as I’m physically able. This was absolutely the right choice as we did bump into a few cruises groups on at the sites, they came in droves and completely wiped out the magical vibe of area. Imagine being toured around and getting on and off boats with 80+ people with all cruises docking at the same time and being on the boat all night (halp!).
Luxor, a place “beyond your imagination”. Valley of Kings. Luxor Temple. This is the place to drink deep on history and stories. There’s new information on the tombs everyday and we saw them excavating while we were there. The tomb ceilings are my favorite, never forget to look up and see how they tried to connect a space with the heavens. I’m also now obsessed with pylons. My favorite site was Medinet Habu, it was the first time to see a mostly intact temple, with my favorite goddesses, Sekhmet, at the front and next to zero people around, the space gets under your skin. I met a Belgium woman here and she has been travelling solo – she had a very different experience. She received a non-stop amount of attention from locals and was harassed with inappropriate comments/unwelcome following. This was to the point where she was relieved to leave the country. I was travelling in a larger group with men and meant a really different experience.
She recommended checking out Abu Simbel (which we did) and listening to an electronic set by WhoMadeWho x Rampa (who played there live a few years ago, crazy venue) while you’re walking through the site for the vibes. Very atmospheric. Also she helped us discover the local bus down (200 epg for a 3 hour drive – this is a mini-adventure in itself, if you’ve worked this local puzzle out, surely you’re Egyptian now). Thanks Margaux.
In Luxor, we stayed in the west bank so you need to take a boat transfer over the Luxor Temple. We suggest going at twilight so you can see it lit up, it’s stunning. I loved walking down the 3km of Avenue of the Sphinxes. Once you’re 500ms into the walk – It’s a regal stroll, just you, podiums on either side – the prayers start, the sky goes on forever and with the right company, you just feel infinite.
We started everyday with a slow turkish coffee (I BYO’ed my matcha) and our morning to dinner conversations which honestly, were some of my favorite parts of the trips meant we really leaned into rest and moving on our own schedule and the pressure to see ‘everything’ is off, instead we choose a few key things to appreciate at pace and I loved that.
Sailing in Aswan was a highlight of the trip. Forget the cruise boats or sailing in Cairo, charter a private Egyptian sailboat and spend the day on the prettiest part of the nile in Aswan. We stayed at Nala Narty on an island in the middle of the city. It had White Lotus vibes as you get the ferry there and greeted by waving hosts to their organic boutique farm. We set sail and it was the dreamiest part of the trip.
Returning to Cairo, we had cocktails at Carol Bar in Downtown and chatted with (well-off) Egyptian locals on current state of country. A reoccurring phrase I heard from locals was ‘there’s the good side of Egypt and there’s the bad side’/’you’ll have good experiences and bad experiences’. I’ve never heard this said so much compared to other places I’ve visited. Though aside from being hustled on prices and the hazy air pollution in Cairo, our experiences were very positive. This table of Egyptian locals were talking with so much animation, their hands were flying everywhere. Every passing comment was dramatic – “what is quality/ and what is not”. With every new person that joined their table, it was a club-welcome with bear hugs and men arm in arms. I loved seeing the very physical affection between Egyptian friends.
They gave us a great breakfast ful recommendation, bashandy’s (get the ful and the green burger). This was our last meal here, menu was all in arabic and so we asked a local to order for us. He was so generous, he paid for our meal and refused to take our money. He was the one person I remember that didn’t then tell us about a business he owned afterwards haha. Thanks Asim!
Overall, Egypt and Egyptians left a strong impression on me. From a city that is a series of loosely held systems, people need to become very self-advocating and relationships here unlock a lot. They are generous and charismatic. Everyone has got a hustle going on and trying to see if you can help them connect the dots. Everything is negotiable. As the desert sun is hard, they are night-time people and wake up late. You can feel the physical energy coursing through the cities. They speak heavily with their hands and body, because how boring is it to just speak with words if it isn’t accompanied by a grand hand gesture.
The whole trip reminded me, just like Sekhmet – the goddess of destruction, war and healing that you need some chaos in your life to reset the order of things getting too structured. I had a lot of laughs and peace in this spontaneous fly-by-seat-of-our-pants trip with no expectations than to just want to spend some time with people I love. More of all of this please.
Transport – We didn’t do the nile cruise. We just got flights into Luxor and private drivers until we finally flew back up to Cairo from Aswan. The longest drives we did were 3 hours max from one place to another. We were planning to do a wild 10 hour drive from Aswan to Hurghada to snorkel in the Red Sea but in the end decided to take the last few days just soaking up Cairo, it felt like the right choice instead of losing so much time in transit to just tick off another place. Ubers work well in Cairo and dirt cheap. In Luxor and Aswan, you need to get private drivers/taxis that will range from $15 USD to $30USD daily. You can also get local vans which we did to Abu Simbel for $400 egp (3h drive).
Food – There’s a range for everything. Fast brekkie like a ful pita is like 30 egp, I had a whole grilled nile tilapia fish dinner in Abu Simbel for 350 egp. A hot tea/coffee is 50 egp. The more local you eat, the cheaper it is/ and usually the tastier.
Travel Money: I brought 7000 egp into the country for a 14 day trip and just used the ATMs while there. ATMs are everywhere as most of vendors will want to be paid in cash (drivers etc). Some ATMs will charge you commissions to it’s good to cash out in the cities. Card is good for some restos, supermarkets and some online bookings etc. Most tour providers can generate an airbnb payment link even if they say that can only do cash. Push for card where you can.
Skincare vs. Desert: Coming back my skin was sandpaper and I needed to do some intensive skin care over a week to revive it. 1000% bring sunscreen, a good hat – it get’s windy in the desert so have a cap or a toggle. I brought sandals, the sand will wear out your heels within days so wear socks with sandals or just do closed shoe. My friend’s foot was bitten by a camel so closed shoes helped her keep her toes. If I could do it again, I’d bring a few korean face masks haha (but also for real).
one bucket list thing I’ve always wanted to do is swim with whales. many years ago, I had a dream where I was swimming deep in the pitch black ocean floor. The current changed and I could feel something giant was coming right at me, a monster. I was terrified. Then, I realised it was moving slowly right above me, a whale! and felt an overwhelming sense of peace. Seed planted for this recent adventure!
Earlier this year, my friend’s friend’s friend (yes, 3x) just started their own whale dive company called Tonga’s Whale Adventures and by luck had an extra spot in their group. This whole year, I’ve been trying to improve my open water swimming and even ended up doing a PADI free diving course (didn’t pass though, couldn’t equalise my ears!) in anticipation for the dive trip.
The tour is 5 days on the water, with a weekend thrown in for a rest (no commerce on Sundays, including touring). So we went to Tonga from Sept 6th to the 13th.
Right before the trip, I just started a new gig and was working some tough hours. Before I got on the plane for Tonga I had two nights each with only 4h sleep, not smart at all – wish I had managed that better! before going on the trip, definitely clear up your calendar to go with a 100% health bar.
There’s only one Qantas flight (4h flight there, 5 hours back) from Sydney to Tonga daily so when you get in, you’re ready for dinner – first day is a transit rest day. The tour picks you up from the airport and takes you to Winnie’s B&B, a big local house with spacious rooms, well furnished and meticulous daily cleaning. Tonga is a developing country. If you go outside of town, you need to bring your lunch supplies as there’s not much around in other parts of the island (apart from beautiful nature of course). Our drives were past mostly farms with wild dogs and pigs roaming. It was good to be off the grid.
Early start. The first day out on the water, it’s a scramble into wetsuits, water was crystal clear and not a wave in sight. Within 20min on the boat, we found a mother and calf chilling from their swim south. Lonni, our expert skipper + master whale sighter can get the boat within 10m for the best drops and the shortest swims over. In the ocean, it’s a blue haze, dancing radials, all the outside world noises goes quiet. It’s weird you can be very close to a whale in the water and not know. Then while you’re swimming, suddenly, a silhouette of something big, something massive appears. While you’re in awe of being in another world and seeing an other worldly creature, the mum whale is completely nonchalant about you. The calf is shy under it’s mother’s flipper, then will rise up for air and come up to the surface, curious but cautious, making the same circles, each time a little bolder. There are no words to describe their company in the ocean. It’s overwhelming.
The second day, conditions changed and carried over the week. Greg, our guide, said it was some of the roughest conditions they’ve seen all season. Swells up to 3m and water so choppy, it was a see-saw on the boat (motion tablets for brekkie). It’s much harder to see the whales with white capped waves everywhere. We didn’t see anything before lunch and settled for some snorkeling – I had given up a little that we’d see whales that day. In the distance, another boat radio’ed in that they had been chasing a whale and calf for 45mins with no luck of the pair slowing down. Very unlikely we’d have a longer encounter and not a swim-by. We swapped out with them and after following them for 30mins, struck a golden moment. A rare occurrence, we saw the mum’s enormous dorsal fin rose up in the air and held there, she was tail sailoring. It’s not 100% clear why whales do this, some believe they are feeding from the bottom of the ocean, other’s believe it’s to allow her calf to feed. We dropped in, ocean was a washing machine, crashing waves at the top, but again calm right under – or the pursue of whales distracted us from the conditions. While the mum whale was relaxing, the little calf curiously looked up at us from her gnarly flipper. Little calf started to rise up, coming right for us, it had made the decision that we were friends, here to play. Up close, the little calf seems so big, the little guy swum right up to the surface, eye to eye with me. It spun around with it’s belly and flippers in the air with it’s eye never leaving mine. I felt it’s flipper splashing around was just inches away – my friend had to pull me back a little so its rubber flipper didn’t bump me on the head. I felt so alive – being considered their friend and them feeling safe enough to play – though also terrified at some sudden too joyful moment, they could accidentally squash me into ocean putty.
The second time we approached them, the calf lost interest in us. The current was strong and pushed us closer to the mum whale. Regulation says we’re not meant to be more than 5m close to them. As she finished sailoring, she balanced out in the water, rising up – this huge 14m living thing. The current pushed us closer and she felt just inches away. We could see each barnacle on her body. We huddled together, to not lose each other in the current, but also out of excitement, and also out of being a little scared. A tiny handful of flies floating right near her closed eye. Then suddenly, her big eye opens – absolutely non pulsed by us as she knew all along we were there – with one swift movement, she gathers her calf and fades away into the deep blue. Just magic.
Swimming right over a whale while it’s flippers are gliding and it’s powerful dorsal fin pushes away, it’s just a sensation that never tires and will always feel new. To want to be close to them and yet shocked on contact. To be so excited – to experience something for the first time, and be overwhelmed but also weirdly at peace. Being with the whales is a guaranteed meditation. All my daily grind thoughts get pushed back and my mind just goes blank in wonder.
The last day, we had a couple of swim-by’s, the whales were on the move, pausing in pockets here and there. It was tricky to find a pod that would stay. Suddenly, there was breaching on the horizon. We found ourselves in a hot spot, whales swim but they also fly. We spotted a mum swimming backwards, her belly out and then her little calf following, teaching her little babe how to surf the current, how to breach.
The last swim was the best bookend – so memorable. Two big boys – the first time we had seen male humpbacks. They are a little shorter in length, but they’ve got some big bellies – it felt a little more intimidating. We had a perfect drop, within seconds – I could see them, a very different encounter to the mum and calf whales. Their big curious eye upon you, one bold one so close, I feel I could reach down and touch it’s massive flipper gliding pass. The second, shy, in the other’s shadow, deeper in the water. Very active. They swim pass, then circle back – they want to know more and figure you out. They are curious about the boat, and they circle us making their own current. In the water, they make an unexpected connection with you – eye to eye. You can hear their sound. How can something so big be so graceful in the water. He’s playing, his flips over showing us his big white belly, his eye still on us.
I’d love to come back again one day. In the busy work days that follow, I find that there’s somewhere new my mind can go – back in this ocean again with the humpback whales.
Food: Our awesome guide, Greg, toured us daily. In the evenings, the dinner places we went to were mostly upmarket restaurants -playing it safe on the stomach. Though if you want something different/more local, just let Greg know and he is pretty flexible to take you somewhere more low-key. My fav meal was when we stopped at an island for lunch during the dive and our skipper had spearfished some local fish for us, bbq’ed it like a pro with fresh coconut and orange as garnish. Dinner cost is not included in the tour package, though most places take card. Breakfast is continental at the B&B and on the boat you’ve got sandwiches for lunch.
Travel Money: The tour suggested getting money out at Tonga and not before, I found this pretty easy to do, there’s a bank ATM right outside the airport. I took out 200 TOP (~$164 AUD) for that week which lasted me to the very end because most places took credit.
Total cost of the trip was –
Padi Costs (Optional)
$500.00
Flights (Qantas Return)
$600.00
Tour Costs (inc. hotel/food/boat/guide) *discounted
$5,850.00
Other (dinners/ snacks)
~$500.00
Total Whale Diving Trip
$7,450.00 (AUD)
*I had travel insurance with my credit card. Definitely get travel insurance 🙂
Credit to our guide at Tonga Whales Adventures, Greg for all these photos.
so it’s been a minute, my little bike blog! thought I’d post a seperate little adventure, minus the wheels. If you want a remote island adventure, where you can be rebirthed in the clearest waters (true birth of venus style), spy on little colourful fish and slip on a sting ray, broughton island is a skip away from sydney (2.5h drive to nelson bay marina with a 1h boat transfer).
we stayed two nights across the australia day public holiday on this bird island reserve with 5 camp spots (we booked two of them). we had a group of 7 happy campers packed to the rafters in two SUVs, a very bright and very early start of leaving sydney suburbia around 7:30AM. we mostly beat traffic and was at nelson bay ALDI by 10:30AM where filled up a 50L container and 2 eskies with food and drinks.
we planned to have our last meal in civilisation at lil nel’s but they were closed on the public holiday so instead we swapped out for a local pie shop called red ned’s. a billboard of over 50 different pies including spaghetti pie! highlights being the mint lamb pie and the white sauce seafood pie with lobster (the shell kind, not the crab stick kind). shout out to this memorable local pie shop!
we’re in the marina by 12:30PM to load up with let’s go adventures charter who at this time, were the only charter we could find going to the island. sadly a bunch of the other charters no longer operated after the 2021 covid lockdowns. the 1hour transfer there and back again was $1,200 return so definitely power in numbers y’all. tom, the let’s go adventures rep is a friendly guy that will let you know if you can go halves with another group to help with the costs of the transfer. we dropped off all our stuff in front of the shop to be loaded into the boat, we thought we had a lot of stuff but it fit no problem. boat over was on very calm waters, with that saltwater on your face, you can’t help but smile! on the way back, it was choppy as so best to cover anything you want dry with a large garage bag. water conditions change very fast there.
once we approached the island, there’s a little inflatable motorboat where they will do a couple of transfers on to the island (3 transfers for all our things! 2 people can join the skipper in each transfer). it’s a-lot sturdier than it looks! nothing was wet!
first night, after setting up a castle of a 10 person tent in the afternoon sun (size of the decks in campsite 1 and 2 are 9m x 4m), we nearly boiled over and threw ourselves into the bay. cooling right down until we saw a sting ray glide past – got spooked and decided it was bbq dinner time. to end the day eating like royalty on little poverty beach.
perfect day, then the storm rolled in at night, heavy rain all throughout the night made for a good soundtrack to our ‘werewolf’ game. after sunset, you’ll hear little tree frogs and no, that’s not ghost babies in the long grass, it’s the wedge-tailed shearwater birds howling and scuttling in the dark. fluffy grey birds with burrows all over the island, kinda cute and very clumsily. for a good sleep, i recommend getting a pair of earplugs to muffle out all the loud nature sounds.
morning after, tent still going strong after the storm, we were gifted another perfect blue skies day. we headed out to providence beach on the other side, a very short 400m walk to a panoramic beachside with a long sandy strip. the water on this side was even better. we spent the whole day there – you can snorkel, by the rocks is a little reef and there’s lots of different colourful fish there. we brought a paddle board to explore, some saw a big turtle! there is zero shade on the island so make sure to bring your own.
in the afternoon, we walked over to see coal bay, where there’s a dramatic cliff that cups a very private beach on the side for sun set watching. the other group of campers let us know you can get down there with the help of a rope (to climb down, and then climb up). we skipped it for a dinner before sundown to catch the last moment of pink sky.
second morning we snuck in a last swim, and after 48 hours of a cycle of saltwater, sunscreen and sweat, excellent meals and not a single email, we were satisfied to get back on the charter to for a freshwater rinse off before the drive home.
we nerded out on some detailed trip planning, especially as we couldn’t just ‘swing by the shops if we missed a bag of marshmallows – which we did, oops!’
so sharing some of the details of what things we carried with us and costs of things, to help you with your trip planning.
total costs: trip total costed us a total of $1,809 ($258 per person) with the big ticket items being the boat transfer ($173pp return as we shared with another group) and camping spot booking (2 decks for $50pp for 2 nights) and the rest being food, petrol and camping supplies (tent cables, butane gas for cookers etc).
things to bring!
Shade Shelter x 2/ Beach Umbrella etc. there’s no shade, bring whatever you have to offer you shade both for the camping area but also portable. we brought a cool cabana to have shade on the other beaches too – it’s worth it or hard to stay in the sun for so long.
Bug Spray – bushmans, the hard stuff. some horseflies on the beach that bite.
Tents x 7 people, rope to secure tents to timber platforms with hoops on the deck for you to tie down.
Water, 3L per person, per day (for drinking + utilities) = 21L per day. 53L of water minimum for trip. we nearly ran out on the last day so pack more if there many be bad weather and you can’t get back. You can fill up these collapsable 20L water bags with toggles on them from bunnings, cheap and super portable.
Food – girl gotta eat.
Garage bags – you need to take the rubbish off the island but also good to use to cover your stuff for the boat. Get a 50 roll.
Swimmers, snorkel, water sports gear – enjoy the water!
Sunscreen/ biggest hat you own – for the third time, there is no shade! most of us brought rashie for spending so much time in the sun.
Sleeping bags/matts/pillow
Torch/headlamp
Water shoes – a must!
Cookers and your kitchen gear – we brought 3 gas cookers to have them all going at the same time. it was a good idea.
Coolers, x 2 for us
Camping chairs – a must as well cos girl gotta sit and enjoy the view.
Earplug for sleeping – island can get pretty loud at night, highly recommend! it got me through a storm peacefully.
Big picnic mat
Small tub for washing dishes
Dry bag for your valuables
Powerbank for your mobile if you want to take photos.
Speaker
First Aid Kit – the boat transfer can get pretty choppy so best to have some sea travel tablets you can take beforehand if you get sea sick.
Go Pro if you have!
50L containers to store food and dry goods – really handy from bunnings, cheap.
Camping Menu – we were lucky to have some excellent head chefs on our trip.
if you know there is a little cadel evans in you – there is a great training ground at sydney festival this summer to prep you for the tour de france.
the tour de insolit (parlez francais ‘unusual’) course is located in prince alfred park, parramatta.
there is a spirited commentator and a full crowd of locals so you know how it feels to perform under pressure. this is no private spin class.
the course is a race so choose your opponent and your bike – your classic australian colours, green or gold. the green bike is the outer track so i feel gold has the advantage.
be prepare to take it from 0 to 100 in an avg. of 60 seconds thigh burn (the longest 60s of your life) to win the course.
the little model bikes have magnets on the bottom and travel on the metal lines that make the course. the faster you pedal, the currents from your bike push them faster. here’s a little demo.
red bike vs. black bike.
conclusion: red bike won, she also won over the people.
it’s summertime and if you’re wanting a weekend getaway out of sydney and into wine country, fuel up for a 4h road trip to mudgee.
now we’re approaching end of year, a therapeutic country cycle from winery to winery was on our agenda. with 40+ cellar doors, you can clean up just on wine tastings alone (remembering drink cycle responsibly – always have a plan b: walking)
we picked up fat wheeled no gear cruisers at peiter van gent winery ($10/h, great port).
you’re on the main road mostly, upside is that it’s very flat. the wineries are all grouped together so hydrate yourself with white/red at lowe, peiter, short sheep, di lusso and robert oatley. di lusso estate is known for their ovens so get a bite there.
the country skyline sure looks different from sydney. blue rolling mountains, never ending rows of vineyards, green and yellow fields spotted with grazing cattle.
flat track is true until you get to the outskirts, our final visit to lowe is on a hill. the track changes to gravel with grooves is like making very rough love.
worth it to get to lowe, they have their own little cycle course in the vineyard with lookouts to all of mudgee.
don’t get drunk, cycle into a vineyard and eat all their grapes like someone on this trip.
if you’re looking for a place to nest in mudgee, can recommend perry st hotel ($250/night) excellent location, fully fledged kitchen and bath salts included.
return distance: 11.6kms
estimated time: 20 mins real time: 3h 30mins (lunch inc.)
red, the colour of chinese new year (happy new year!) and the theme of 2015 gear up girl to support the heart foundation. the costal track is set marking 3 years for this girl gang ride.
the ride is on 8 march and you can peddle 20-40-60k. if keen to join the redbike team, please drop us a note! best way to celebrate summer, check out all the good times from last years ride. we welcome all sorts of wheels.
st leonards park > sydney harbour bridge > iron cove > sydney olympic park
spring chickens at spring cycle this year. the red bike gang took on the classic polygon ride from one tourist attraction, the sydney harbour bridge to the next tourist attraction, the olympic park.
7am start. the journey to nth sydney was tetris. in one side of the carriage we stacked 16 bikes, no one could get off or get on. carriage demographics: lycra population 15, no gear cruiser population 1.
highlight. we rode over the sydney harbour bridge with 360 views!
after the bridge we did a spin around the botanical gardens at mrs. macquaries point and headed back into suburbia through glebe and haberfield, missing anzac bridge all together.
this means inside of the spiral climb up to anzac bridge you got the corkscrew which is the first real gradual climb (saw a man on a unicycle, i don’t know how he did this – respect). somewhat hilly in the city and inner west until you get to iron cove.
at iron cove we had a breakstop and ate the energy bars given in our packs (food rating, 8/10). by this point, my preferred breakstop meal would have been a lasagne.
from iron cove you detour around bicentennial park, cross concord rd bridge and back on silverwater bridge. the park underneath was holding this fancy old automobile showcase with dapper gents everywhere.
the track around meadow bank to the finish line is easy going.
look at these winners below (medals medals medals):
we finished up at the cathy freeman park, how fitting because we are olympic gods in olympic park. you know it must be true because we’re wearing 24 carat gold medals to match our precious metal thighs.
there was a little stall called bike n’ blend where you had to use leg-ectricity to make your own smoothie. once you’ve pedalled for 3 minutes, ring the bell and you get to drink your creation. excellent innovative homeware to have in your new kitchen.
a big congrats to the bike gang, another 55k bites the dust. from the north to the west, for some, completely new terrain.
x red bike
company: crouching tiger, mike-the-bike (cell fixie), bikebikebaby and figure8.
the red bike 
