My flight from Sydney (Australia) to Vancouver (Canada) has reinforced some past thoughts—the most clear being that I actually look forward to travelling with a pack and nothing else. As an aside, airlines are getting finicky about travelling with gear.

I went for another ride out into the Dharawal State Conservtion Area (SCA) today. I had previously ridden the old Weddernurn/Minerva/Lysaght Road route (the latter runs along the edge of the SCA) a number of times and had recently picked up a National Parks and Wildlife Service trail map listing major trails on which riding is permitted. This was my second trip into the SCA itself, though this time I stuck to the 10B ‘management’ trail and also...