On the new niece Mummy is now in Gander giving Anna her first visit from a relative, and doubtlessly giving much desired motherly advice on mothering to Alice. I met Mummy at the bus station and we went to Chinatown for lunch at the No.1 Cristal Restaurant, a quick and tasty Vietnamese place I quite like. I gave Mummy bagels and Chinese barbecue pork buns for Alice and Mark, a onesie for Anna and a DVD of the King's Speech for Mummy for her birthday, which was yesterday. After lunch, Mummy caught the 747 bus to the airport.
On the nephew At long last, Margaret has posted a new batch of photos on Picasa. See them here.
On bike trip dates I received confirmation from my superior for my vacation dates. Newfoundland will be the second and third weeks of August. I have worked out a very tentative, and approximative breakdown of roughly where we are likely to get to on any particular day. There is ample room for change as there is about 3 days unused (not including rest days) at the end assuming I am on the Rock for the absolutely longest possible period of time. I don't see this as a problem, just an indication that Margo, Chris and I will have time to spare. I had known that the trip was a relaxed two weeks. Now, I know just how relaxed it will be. The Oz trip will be starting the third week of October. I started looking more carefully at how I would get to either of my proposed starting points (Kalgoorlie and Broken Hill). Unfortunately, while both are rail accessible, their rail services both have frustrating prohibitions on them. Kalgoorlie has wonderful high-speed rail service from Perth, only bikes aren't allowed on board as apparently the high-speed train doesn't have a baggage car. Broken Hill has three trains a week from Sydney. Two are Indian-Pacific services which arrive in Broken Hill early on Thursday and Sunday morning (too late and far to early). The other is the Outback Explorer which leaves Sydney early Monday morning, i.e. just before I would arrive in Sydney, assuming I leave Montreal on Saturday. Of course, I could theoretically leave Friday, get to Sydney on Sunday, and get on the train on Monday, though that might be pushing it. Then again, I could just fly into Broken Hill or Kalgoorlie, but that almost seems like cheating. Plenty o' time to think about it.
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