Packing

Only 5 sleeps to go... Last Saturday was the somewhat stressful event of packing down Patience. Alas I had hoped I wouldn't need to remove the steering head system and cables, but alas the bike was just too tall to fit into the QANTAS bike box - so it was undone. I am reasonable confident to getting it all back together again... but will plan to do this somewhere very quiet and with lots of space.

Now just in case your wondering what I'm taking the following is a summary of my bits. The colour reference is to the small ziptie I have added so I can tell the bags apart:
Large Blue Panner 4kg
Sleeping bag
Small Raincoat
Underwear
Bottomes
Gloves

Large Red Panner 4kg
TopsDress/Shirt
Trangia & kitchen stuff
Tent pegs

Small Green 2kg
Cables
Mirror
Seat rope
Flags
Manuals - Rohloff, spd clips, iRiver
YHI Book

Small Yellow 2kg
16 x 1 3/8 AV 4 Tubes x 3
20 x 1.50 AV 6 Tubes x 3
Patches
Oil
Levers
Bolts & tools
Kean shoes

Red Duffel bag 7kg
Tent
Iceland lonely planet
Manual - camera
Diary
Bike seat padding
Pillow
Towel
Toiletries

Bike Box 31 kg
Patience in bits
2 spare tyres
Therarest
water blader

Those reading this will note that my total travel weight is around 50 - 52 kg. QANTAS give me 25 for free and the rest is at $48/kg... The price goes up to this rate on the 8th April and I fly out on the 10th April. I'm looking at $1000 to $1200 in excess charges one way to take my bike. Whilst its too late for me to change my plans others may want to consider the options of buying a bike over there.