Michi left for work early but Heike had the day off, so we were able to get our final lot of washing done. We also put up the tents to air and dry them for the trip home.
This evening was to be our Abschiedsfeier, or farewell party. War die Hölle los!
We washed our clothes and our bikes. We wanted the bikes looking their best for their new owners, or at least prepared for storage.
Many turned up for the goodbye party. It was an awesome gesture and I was humbled by how many people turned out to say Tschüß. Michi put on the grill and many beers were consumed in our honour. Many more tales of the trip were told.
Was an awesome night.
Sometime during the evening, a mutual friend dropped by, he had told Dennis that he might be interested in one of the bikes. It didn't take much to convince him that mine was perfect for him. We shook hands and she was sold before he left for work. An unexpected bonus.
29 August
The next day We woke late. We rode the bikes into Sulingen to pick up some alcohol and tobacco for the trip home. On the way back we stopped off in the nearby fields for a bit of a photo-shoot of our faithful girls.
We packed our bags but they were over the allowed 23 kg, bugger.
For lunch Scott and I had some of the Ahlewurst and left-overs from the previous night.
That evening, we all ate together and Michi dropped me at the translation in Diepholz just before 22:00 hours to catch the train to Münster and onto Enschede in the Netherlands. Here I would have a 5 hour connection and then onto Schiphol. Here I caught up with Scott, had a couple of beers together at 09:30 and headed to check my bag in. The check-in was automatic, no-one to sweet-talk and my bag was too heavy at 28 kg (I needed 23). We had to do some inventive re-packing to get my luggage below 23 kg, then we sent my bag on it's way.
And we headed to the departure lounge. Security was strict bur fair, although helmets seem to attract a fair amount of unwanted attention. We eventually got through and to our gate where I bumped into one last person who I knew. One of my old boss' from my time in Saudi. Sheila. Man, what a small world.
The flights continued uneventfully, unfortunately didn't manage to grab a drink with Sheila.
At Abu Dhabi we had only one hour to make our connection and almost had to run, but we did make it.
On arrival at Brisbane international, I discovered I had lost my glasses...
We were picked up by Scotts g/f Tara and his parents. They dropped me home, I ate but wasn't tired. Eventually I went to bed and slept.
It was over & we made it back.
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