Sitting at the Portland Airport, awaiting my flights heading to Australia. Long flights ahead….. But I am almost back on the road!!.
My bike is awaiting me in Sydney Australia….. and I will look forward to being back on this next part of my journey!! 
Landing in Sydney, will catch up with some friends old and new and then figure out which way I will be riding No real plan, just some ideas and time to figure them out! One of the parts I like best is not having it all planned out…… Just taking each day at a time.
Waking up really early May 10th…. made it 51 years, who would have thought I would make it this long? Blessed to be healthy, strong and out seeing the world. New birthday, New country to explore, old and new friends to meet up with! Life is good.
WOW thanks for all the birthday Wishes!!
As I arrived and left Auckland it was raining ! This sign was in the airport!
I arrived at the airport in Auckland with all my gear at 3 AM on a local shuttle bus. As we arrived at terminal 1, I ask if this was the terminal for LAN airlines…. another woman on the bus says… You going to Sydney? That flight is canceled. 
Sure enough
Guess I have been traveling awhile…. I did not panic, because I knew there would be another flight. Sure enough …. They put me on Air New Zealand to Sydney just an hour later!
NZ airport has a few Lord of the rings reminders.
My last “flat white” in NZ….
Signs are always fun to see…. Must have been an issue. or bad aim.
Had a really rainy day in Auckland….
But after a quick 3 hour flight…. I landed in Sydney.
Made it through Customs …. First order of business was to get a Sim card for my phone. Fortunately they had vendors in the airport!!
Grabbed a cab to go pick up my motorbike. It was awaiting me at an Importers office! I had let them know when I was picking it up, but when I arrived I called the cel number and he was not around
But I walked inside and there she is! In our phone call he told me where the paperwork was and my Carnet paperwork was in his office so I could retrieve it. One of the other company guys in the office, pulled the bike out with his forklift!
I stripped off the crate and checked out my bike!
The crate took a bit of a beating
I found that my Kickstand spring and the place it attached to the bike was broken and gone. 
Cannot really figure how this happened as everything else was OK.
Used the forklift to pick up my front end and put the front wheel back on.
Reconnected the battery…. and she fired right up!
Looking good (accept the side stand)
Back on the bike again. Had loaded OSM maps on my Garmin, and it loaded right up. I punched in the address of my friend that lives in the western Suburbs of Sydney….. and off I went!! felt great!
Turned 51 today and arrived to a new country. Sun was shining and I was meeting up with Craig and Jenny to stay over and we were going out to dinner to celebrate!
I met Craig backpacking in Scotland back on 1987 Wow 26 years ago. We traveled together with some other travelers for a bit, then I met up with Craig and Jenny in there home town of Canberra in 1988, then they came to visit me in 1990 while I lived in NYC area. We lost touch over the years until Facebook… and somehow we reconnected! Very cool.
Rolled up to their home, They were both off working and I have been texting and talking to them on the phone…. They had a key out, I could make myself at home, shower and they would arrive soon. !! 
How cool! We chatted all evening and then went to a great dinner place nearby!!
So now that I have arrived, I need to start to get a plan for riding 
Will hang out in Sydney for a little bit, fix my side stand… and explore a bit before heading off!
