A little epilogue...

I spent a week in Dunedin catching up with friends from my film course and am now tucked away in a lesser known corner of New Zealand called Golden Bay, where I'm wwoofing on a farm for a while before heading to Wellington to wriggle my way into its film, media and/or journalism world.

First a mountain, then the return

After two weeks in Dali, enjoying a rest, time to write and potter about and best of all make some local friends, I've decided to finish the journey. The mountain peak will be the point of return.

Yanzi: my past life has been in Dali.

Love and Hate in China

Hello everyone...I've wheeled into the town of Lincang and decided that it's nigh time for a Christmas entry....a quickie while I'm on the road, photos to follow. Happy Christmas to you all! Hope you're all having happy holidays and enjoying the sunshine.

Cycling in the time of Cholera

When you're lying in bed for the 7th day in a row, it really isn't a good time to cycle. But with the knowledge that every day means more snow in China, I really wanted to keep going....but with all the symptoms of cholera (though that's a dodgy ex-medical student self diagnosis) I wasn't going anywhere at all.

A haircut in Thailand

I was only looking for a haircut. But the sound of a crowd in the darkness drew me away from my search for a barber's shop.

Bamboo tattoo: Thanakorn "Korn" Chokprasit

The spirit stays: Anek "Bio" Charoensri

I hope I'll stay here forever: Nanthapon "Toto" Duangkhae

Gallery

A gallery of pictures from the whole expedition.

Snippets: Ranong to Bangkok

A few little snippets from Rangong to Bangkok, Southern Thailand.

Wat a beautiful country!

Sorry. Couldn't resist that headline. Actually, there are more mosques down this end than wats...enough crap. Here's the news, Phuket to Ranong.

OK, ok, I'm alive

Ah, sorry for the big break. I had a bit of a prang just north of Alice, and have been out of action for a while. I hate writing when I'm grumpy, to spare you the blues...

Route & current location

Expedition route details.

I'm here for the soul problems: Kathy Abbott

Ian Purcell: The Godfather

Warrnambool to Adelaide: 968-1586km

Climbing up from the cow paddocks of the coast into the sunshine and gum trees of the hills, my odometer clicked over to 1000km by the Grace West Community Hall. I was on the way to Adelaide.

Erik Chmielewski: the write career

Peter Bond: Deaf and Gay

A spot of sea air: The Great Ocean Road

Mainland meanderings: Melbourne to Warrnambool on the Great Ocean Road.

One latte a day

It's quite neat to cycle your way off a ferry and suddenly find yourself on some suburban street in Melbourne, wondering where on earth you need to cycle to find your friends' house, on the other side of the city. Happily, Melbourne's got that many cycle paths I found one by accident, and despite plonking myself amongst the morning traffic on Spencer Street, I made it to Nick and Graeme's with no accidents.

On the road: Melbourne to Adelaide

Hello everyone...it's lunchtime in Mount Gambier, South Australia...and it's SUNNY. As I just found out, it's half an hour to lunch time, as I've entered another time zone. I'm cycling from Melbourne to Adelaide, another week to go and then there will be a great big update with the usual pictorial extravaganza. Today, I'm on a bit of a 90+km mission to a good looking campsite on the coast.

James Hamilton: space and time

To the mighty mainland

A dawdle through the last of Tassie towards the mainland.

It will be stopped, even if it takes grandmas tied to trees: Sarah Truscott

From that roadside, to the delights of Launceston

A merry jaunt, with some sore knee stress, from a dodgy Tasmanian roadside to the delights of Launceston and friends.

How amazing to be on the road.

An amazing feeling, to head off down Mount Wellington after a send off with friends and Mum, Dad, Naida. As I went down the road Sputnik behaved beautifully and the stress and worry of the previous night slipped away. Pando, on his bike escorting me down, whooped out a yeehaaa at the sunny, cold frosty morning. Hobart, a thousand metres below, was draped in cloud that was wandering down the valley. It was a beautiful day.

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow is the day...dashing around doing a million things today. Thanks to everyone who's helped me out with this project. I can't wait to get started....

Quite possibly the best cycling book I've read.

I had an idea this morning. I was trying to put off doing my tax return (it needs to be done early as I won't be around to do it later, for obvious reasons). So instead of chasing up tax-deductibles and payslips I slipped back into a book I haven't been able to put down all week. Then I thought I could put a review up here to tell you all about it.

Media marvels

I'm famous! Myself and Paris Hilton made it to page three of the local Mercury last Monday, the fourth of June.

Hot toast and a name for a bike

Today finds me munching hot toast and homemade loganberry jam, in the middle of a bit of a mess of gear that appears to have taken over the floor of my room in the night. Getting up in the dark last night meant negotiating my way around tyres, cameras, guidebooks and the various clutter of a bike expedition.

Dayna Trevaskis: It’s more about people than about building

17 days on the island

In ten days time I'll be pushing off the top of Mount Wellington, and beginning the journey. Already, a gaggle of friends is keen to have an early morning breakfast on the summit to see me off. The floor of...

Thanks, Aireal!

It's really nice when someone comes out of the blue and says they want to support you. This week Aireal Australia and I finalised a sponsorship arrangement.

Bike bling: it has arrived!

My mother liked the bell. The bell went 'ping', and the bike was very bling. I won't say that I wasn't watching the driveway yesterday, but I did notice when a large red postal van paused at the bottom,...

A snazzy map (or two)

I woke up this autumn morning to find not only an intrepid scorpion attempting to climb my curtains (he's one tenth of the way up, onya) but also an email from a friend with a fancy map he'd come across.

Stop that train, I'm leaving

An old friend in Melbourne asked me yesterday "are you scared?" Yes. I am. Though perhaps not in the way that might be expected.

For the media types

Hello there. If you're after a round up of information for articles and whatnot about the expedition, this is the place. I'll also keep it up to date with things I've published. Cheesy photos of me with bike: You have...

A bike fit for an expedition

Ooooo....it's lovely. I'll have to admit I stayed up late last night and went all the way...and ordered the most beautiful, lovely, built-like a brick s**thouse (as we might say in Australia) expedition bike. It's a Thorn Raven and...

A scare in the map shop

The scariest thing was the map shop. A bit different to idly flicking the pages of my favourite atlas. It took a full sweep of my head to follow my gaze through a squiggle of roads from southern China up to the top of the Taklamakan desert, and that was only China; all of South East Asia lay before that not to mention cycling across Australia, and all of Kazahkstan and various bits of Europe AFTER that. Holy cow! It's a long, long way. A fantastically long way, most of it beautifully unpredictable, and I'm very much looking forward to it.

Contact

I'd love to hear from you. Send me an email to nick (at) storytransect (dot) net While I'm in Australia, you can also call me: +61 (0)428 22 22 52 Cheers, Nick...

What's the story?

An ambitious journey collecting biographies, experiences and portraits of people in some of the least-known and most remote parts of the world.

Story Sponsors

If you like what you see here, consider sponsoring the next story. Any amount is gratefully recieved - the daily budget for the journey is less than what many spend on a coffee and cake.

Who's Nick?

If you were to sum me up, I'd be a creative adventurer, focused on meeting fascinating people in remote mountainous areas, using writing and photography to show others what I've experienced.

Get involved!

The more people involved, the better. Here's a few ways you can get involved.

Help out

If you'd like to get involved, this is a wishlist list of things and assistance I currently need. Remember, the best help of all is the contact details of people to meet along the route. I'm also open to sponsorship...

Links

I've found some fantastic sites out there as I've researched for the expedition. It's always comforting to know others are as nuts as yourself.

RSS feeds

A choice of RSS feeds, and a small note.