Friday 13th September Perth, Western Australia.

It's really nice to be back in Perth. We have been very busy transferring all our furniture, etc. out of  storage and back into our house, as well as catching up with family, friends and neighbours. Perth is such a great place to cycle, with all the safe cycle paths.

When we finished our cycling in Amsterdam, we had done a total of 15300 km since we started out in Wellington in NZ two years ago. I think our total for this last European trip was about 4000km.

Tuesday. 25th. June. Vinkeveen to Schiphol return. 64km.

We went to the airport to make sure that they had plenty of bike boxes in stock (they do), and also to confirm check-in arrangements. We would be in all kinds of trouble if we were to arrive at the airport and find that there were no bike boxes available. We had to cross a canal by self-powered pontoon on our ride.

Monday. 24th. June. Utrecht to Vinkeveen. 40km.

It was a very pleasant, short ride through some lovely suburbs and expensive-looking homes. We went past the floating brothels again - they didn't look very busy. We are now just outside Amsterdam, and only 30km from Schiphol Airport. Stayed at Hotel Plashoeve.

Route: Utrecht - Maarsen - Baambrugge - Vinkeveen.

Sunday. 23rd. June. Wijk bij Duurstede to Utrecht. 44km.

Another lovely ride. We are feeling a little sad that our big three month ride is nearly over. We got a bit lost in central Utrecht, which is a really charming city. It's a bit like Amsterdam, but cleaner, less crowded and much more greenery. Stayed at Holiday Inn Express - very nice.

Route: Wijk bij Duurstede - Zeist - Utrecht.

Saturday. 22nd. June. Arnhem to Wijk bij Duurstede. 60km.

As we left Arnhem, we came across literally hundreds of cyclists on racing bikes, who seemed to be in some kind of death-defying race on a circuit which included part of our track. We were pleased to eventually part company with them. It was very windy today, which didn't bother us while we were riding through the forests, but the last 10km of our ride were into a 35kph headwind - really tough. Stayed at De Gouden Leeuw - nice.

Route: Arnhem - Oosterbeek - Heelsum - Rhenen - Amerongen - Wijk bij Duurstede.