During a short break from cycling, touring and blogging, I’ve refocused my energy on simplifying my life a bit and downsizing as much as possible. I left Canberra, after working for three years in the public service and there were some mixed feelings. On the one hand, I farewelled my closest friends, the few people I can talk honestly and endlessly to, but I also felt boxed out in a place that I used to call home. I’m glad I didn’t linger, I kept it short and sweet and before I knew it, I was hauling my 95kg of my possessions to the airport and wrapping up my Canberra life.

My final ride in Canberra, with Myra, my new and shiny bike.

Returning to Perth was nice, I had forgotten how beautiful my home town is and it’s an ideal place to cool off for a little while. After my first tour in NZ, I had less than 10 days to plan, pack and rush into my Europe trip, in this case, I’ve got six months until the next tour, so it seems like it’s painfully far away. My priority at the moment is saving up some money and once I have found a job, I’ll reward myself with an all-nighter of itinerary planning, Google Maps plotting and Excel spreadsheet mayhem to set my goals for a cycle tour across Canada.

The Perth skyline, silly bin, get out of the way.

In the meantime, a friend of mine has recruited me for The Great Southern Crossing, a virtual cycling challenge to ride 5200km in a team of five, during November, to raise money for Oxfam Australia. Our team, The International, is made up of three Aussies from Perth, Brisbane and Canberra (technically he’s a Kiwi) and two Brits from Leeds. I’ll post updates at the end of each week, as we inch closer to our 5200km target, I’m optimistic we can tackle it and hopefully we can raise some money at the same time. If you’re interested in donating or know anyone else who might like to donate, just go to our team page and click “Give Now”.

I’m not sure what’s in store over the next few months, but I plan to keep cycling and tackle a few mini tours in Western Australia. I look forward to being a tourist in my own country and showing you some cool stuff in my end of the world. Cheers!