Welcome to the land of OZ – 2009 World Tour Progress Report

[Original post by Elliot Mogerman – Transferred from yahoogroups.com]

Ok, so the airport was rather normal except there was no body in the airports today. Holy cow, it was very wierd, but so happy there were no long lines at security, etc. Then on the transfer plane i got a little smoothie/jello snack and thought i better shake it to mix it up before i open it. WRONG. I opened the little plastic container and it exploded all over me, my shirt, and the nasty fat woman across the aisle from me. It was so funny, but she didn’t laugh. So i slowly licked it off my shirt, arms, fingers, and apologized with a smug look.

We arrived in australia and here’s where the bike fun begins. We go to customs and they give us a little stink because we have no exit planned yet but eventually work our way through. Then when we get to the shipping company our bikes are sitting there in the crates, yeah! But wait, we have to go back to customs and get cleared. So we travel back to customs by bus and they perform some paperwork. The quarantine people tell us we have to get a broker or go straight to the main company to pass inspection.

But before we do this, a customs agent will come inspect the bikes and clear it on their side. They are not allowed to give rided because they are not insured if something happens, but she does anyway. All the aussies are so helpful and chatty. We get to the storage yard and she passes her inspection and gives us a ride to the quarantine place. They tell us to go back to customs. After we help them realize passing the buck and tossing us around wont work they send us back to the shipping yard telling us we need to transport our bikes to another location for inspection. The lady at the shipping company argues and gets us an inspection in two days. So for now our bikes sit in wood crates until inspection. Then they can release the bikes, force us to clean them, or keep them in quarantine for up to 2 weeks. oh vey. We at least made it to the hostel, i showerd, mike is snoring, and we had some vietnamese food. Ice cream here i come.