His story

Brendan here.

The wedding day, what can I say that can truly capture it? It had all the usual things I suppose. The skies threatened to rain with clouds rolling in thick and fast. The humidity was at an unbelievable high.

Naomi was late (although she assures me that it was her mother’s fault and not hers. I was not worried though. I’m pretty sure women expend more time then men thinking about the moment they’ll walk down the aisle so I don’t think they would risk missing it).

The choir had called the night before saying they couldn’t make it since they wanted to watch the rugby (bloody Fijian professionalism. Thank god for the wedding co-ordinator!




But, but…despite all this, when Naomi finally appeared the clouds parted for a moment and the sun shone. What kind of cliché heavy thing’s that to say but that’s exactly what happened.

The sun shone for Naomi as she came down the isle, as she stood across from me and spoke her vows.









The readings from various family members (Naomi’s grandfather, Naomi’s mother and my two sisters) were very good and they made you think.

She listened to me bumble through my vows and when we kissed as husband and wife (insert sigh here). Oh what the hell, I’ll try to sum it up with an onomatopoeic device - ahhh...

Her story

I couldn't sleep the night before. I wasn't nervous, just excited! It was like being in primary school the night before camp. The next morning I was still excited but also relaxed...

Corset and nana control underwear is in place. I'm memorising my vows while my cousin is racing around and Mum is doing my hair and make-up.


















The flowers are delivered and I put my dress on.

I remember getting out of the car at the Garden of the Sleeping Giant and seeing Dad there looking very relieved (we were running late by this stage). The garden was beautifully set up and by the time I started walking down the petal-strewn aisle my heart was thumping.











Whose wouldn't be pounding when you're walking towards this?









I was also trying to get Dad to slow down so I wouldn't trip over my dress. No such luck and we made it down the aisle in record time, fortunately without any tripping.

The readings were executed beautifully - luckily since Brendan's sisters had only just received their reading that morning.

It felt like only a second later before I was listening to Brendan speak his vows to me.

"Naomi, I love you. On this day I give myself to you in marriage..."

Then, my turn. "...this is my vow to you..."


Then the rings.

"This ring is a sign of the vows we have spoken today..."

And now we're married!!

'My cycling inspiration' by Naomi

When Brendan and I tell people that we’re planning on cycling from Tokyo to Ho Chi Minh for our honeymoon the two most common responses are:
1) “Why?”, usually accompanied by a look to the person next to them which means ‘bloody crazy hippies, wouldn’t catch me doing that for anyone’ (Incidentally, when I catch someone giving me that look I know that I’m on the right path)
and
2) “Oh wow! That sounds great! I met a person in (insert place) who cycled from (insert place) and they said it was amazing”. Sometimes we’ll meet people who tell us of their epic cycle touring stories. Fortunately there are many people like this in Alice Springs.

But, the answer to the first question “Why?” is simple. Because I want to. I want to travel at a slow pace (very slow in my case). I want to stop at roadside stalls along the way and eat fresh watermelon. I want to have people come up to me at rest stops and ask me ‘Why’ and tell me stories of their own crazy adventures. Most importantly, I want to challenge myself to an adventure and prove to myself that I can push through tough times as well as good times.

Do you remember the story of the Australian women who were prisoners-of-war to the Japanese during the second world war who had to walk on an insanely long march? I’ve often wondered what I would be like under those circumstances. I’d like to think I’d be one of those women who trudged on bravely while their friends around them died of dysentery and cholera. Drawing on some kind of inner strength and fortitude to get them through horrendous circumstances.

Not that I want to go to that extreme on this trip. But I do want to put myself out of my comfort zone and see what my limits are exactly. Plus I want to eat lots of yummy Asian food!

Brendan was keen from the start to go on this ride. Keen is putting it mildly. He was always encouraging to me, but there are two women who really inspired me to do this trip.

The first is an Australian lady in her 50s who cycled from Beijing to Istanbul. Read about her trip over here. She’s an ex-marathon runner who just churned out the kilometres. But it was her photos of the Chinese food she ate on the first month of her trip that made me think ‘I can do that! And I want to eat dumplings just like that!’ Seriously it was after reading this blog that I was convinced to do this trip. Brendan was so happy!

A few months later, after I’d bought my bike and some camping gear I heard about another amazing female cyclist. Annie Londonderry. The first women to cycle around the world. In 1894. And she was Jewish in a time of strong anti-semitism. Did I mention that she was a mother by this time? And not very wealthy? And she started off the ride wearing petticoats?



If she could do it…

Alice Springs to Uluru: Day 4 (125kms)

4.30am Alarm clocks beeped. Time to get up and go.

5.30am Knees creak as we cycle out from Mt. Connor lookout. A spectacular blanket of stars keeps us company until the dawn sky lights our way.

8am I request a breakfast stop. I negotiate 20 minutes.

12.30ish 100kms down. My energy is starting to fade and I'm getting slower and slower. Everyone else wants to push on but I negotiate a 30 minute lunch stop.

2pm I feel like a battery that's slowly running out of juice. We have 20kms to go to Yulara, the resort next to Uluru. Brendan steps in to help by pushing my saddle everytime I drop below 20km/h (I'm still cycling, but with a 'Brendan tailwind'). We power on ahead to get to Yulara. Thanks Brendan!

3ish We make it to Yulara! I take advantage of being a little bit ahead to have an extra 5 minutes of rest. A dose of Powerade recharges all our juices, particularly mine. We were going to meet our lovely driver at the Cultural Centre by now. No time for resting, gotta push on for the last 20km.

Uluru is sited but seems simultaneously close and 5kms away. On and on we cycle, 'it must only be another 5km away surely?'. 1 hour later later we make it to the cultural centre. And, no, I didn't need to get pushed for the last part!



4pm We collapse onto the benches at the cultural centre. Only moving to buy more Powerade's and meet our very patient driver. We revive ourselves to take a few more photos and visit Kata Tjuta for the sunset. Bikes are loaded onto the car ready for the trip home via Kings Canyon. We made it!!

Alice Springs to Uluru: Day 3 (130kms)

With dawn creeping up behind us we stole out of Erldunda Roadhouse at about 8am. A one hour head start from the Alice Springs Cycling Club. With that head start, we reckoned, we could meet them for morning tea.

Good to know that our safety vests work well in the dark as well as during the day.





The milestone turnoff - from Stuart Highway to the Lasseter Highway. Uluru was just down the road...



And here we are at morning tea, with the wonderful tuckshop van. Our bikes got a few looks from the other cyclists - obviously no cyclist worth their salt can resist a bit of a bike perv. We waved them off, expecting that we wouldn't see them again until we were back in Alice Springs.



But lo and behold, we caught up with them at lunchtime, only 20 minutes behind the cycle club (who were on road bikes in a pelaton). They were pretty surprised too, and clapped us in as we turned into the driveway! Best feeling ever. After pinching a sandwich and some drinks from their van they were on their way. I earned a reputation from the food van of being a 'mexican bandit'. The buff I was wearing probably didn't help :0)



30kms on and then we stopped to camp at Mt. Connor lookout. Our lovely driver was there to meet us with extra food and water supplies. We knew the next day, the last day, would be a big one. For the last time, we vowed we would get up earlier the next day...