My wife and I have just returned to Australia after almost a year of
travelling around the world. We had our bicycles with us and used
them
to cycle in three continents, concluding our trip with over 3000 km
of
cycling around Southern Africa (Zimbabawe, Mozambique & South
Africa).
Nowhere did we experience any problems; to the contrary - travelling
on
bikes seems to arouse people's curiosity and we had many friendly
chats
with the locals.
We arrived back in Australia and thought we would stop over in WA for
a
month or so, to catch up with friends in Perth and cycle down to
Albany
& Esperance and back, before continuing on home to the East Coast.
It only took one little, slow ride on the beach bike path from
Duncraig
to Cottesloe for us to be pulled over by two gun-carrying police on
mountainbikes. Reason? Australia's favourite: No helmets!
Upon learning we were not WA residents, the police decided not to
issue
us with traffic infringement notices - probably too much hard work,
having to chase payment from Qeensland! Instead, we were ordered to
walk
back - that is, 25 kilometers! Naturally, we refused to do this, and
were subsequently formally placed under arrest for disobeying police.
One of the cops attempted to call a paddy wagon on his two-way radio,
so, he explained, we could be taken to the station, fingerprinted and
locked up in the watchhouse for the time being. He was, however,
usuccessful in getting through (comforting thought for victims of any
possible real emergency), so they let our tires down and let us go,
wishing us a "nice walk back to Duncraig" and warning us not to
attempt
to pump the tyres up and continue riding, or we really would be taken
into custody.
What a homecoming! I must say it's great to be back in Australia and
only through travelling overseas one can fully appreciate the quality
of
life we Australians generally take for granted. However, this damned
helmet law is one major blot on that lifestyle. Nowhere else have we
been hassled for peacefully riding along a road, minding our own
business. No other country we visited penalizes its citizens for
exercising their bodies and using an environmentally friendly mode of
transport at the same time - not even some of the semi-dictotorial
regimes!
Having had a read through aus.bicycle, I notice the "great debate" is
still raging - and the authorities are still taking no notice of what
failure this law, this infringement of civil liberties, has been. The
helmet zealots are still bleating their naive message of "if it saves
one child's life, blah, blah, blah..."
In some ways, it is disappointing to see how easily some people are
brainwashed into believing whatever the authorities want them to
believe...
Alas, I don't think we'll be doing that Albany bike trip after all.
Who
wants to be constantly hassled? Hiring a car, maybe? Now, there's an
idea I'm sure would fix the helmet problem - as it has already fixed
it,
once and for all, for many ex-cycling commuters. Shame it's nowhere
near
as much fun...
Australia and New Zealand · Public discussion
Cycling in Australia
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- Australia and New Zealand
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- 2 October 2007
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Quoted message said:
My wife and I have just returned to Australia...
Shouldn't that read "My husband and I have just returned to
Australia..."?At least that seems to be the original version posted here on 11
January 2001, with subject: "Cycling in Australia? - Not Much
Fun!".John
-
John Henderson said:
Shouldn't that read "My husband and I have just returned to
Australia..."?At least that seems to be the original version posted here on 11
January 2001, with subject: "Cycling in Australia? - Not Much
Fun!".So it wasn't just me.... I had this strange feeling of dejavu when I read that post.
-
Quoted message said:
...
Alas, I don't think we'll be doing that Albany bike trip after all.
Who
wants to be constantly hassled?
...Seems to me that buying a $15 helmet is all that's required to avoid
being "constantly hassled". If you're that keen on confrontation with
the authorities, why not make it about a significant issue and travel
to Burma to sit around with monks in the street?BTH
-
Quoted message said:
We had our bicycles with us and used
them
to cycle in three continents, concluding our trip with over 3000 km
of
cycling around Southern Africa (Zimbabawe, Mozambique & South
Africa).<unimpressed>Wow, that much!</unimpressed>
With the whole world to travel there's just 3000 k's done on the bike.
You'd barely have any tyre wear over that distance!--
BeanRemove "yourfinger" before replying
-
On Oct 2, 12:37 pm, MikeyOz <MikeyOz.2xt...@no-
mx.forums.cyclingforums.com said:
John Henderson said:
Shouldn't that read "My husband and I have just returned to
Australia..."?Quoted message said:
At least that seems to be the original version posted here on 11
January 2001, with subject: "Cycling in Australia? - Not Much
Fun!".So it wasn't just me.... I had this strange feeling of dejavu when I
read that post.--
MikeyOzI had a strange feeling of "get stuffed you whining [censored]". But it
would be a bummer having to walk a perfectly good bike - evil cops
were probably laughing their arses off.Donga
-
"John Henderson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
My wife and I have just returned to Australia...
Shouldn't that read "My husband and I have just returned to
Australia..."?At least that seems to be the original version posted here on 11
January 2001, with subject: "Cycling in Australia? - Not Much
Fun!".John
You can tell it was a poor copy pasta job by the way it shows in the news
reader, a very amature troll at best. -
Hello, [email hidden]!
You wrote on Mon, 01 Oct 2007 18:30:09 -0700:Your story is a HOAX
-
On 2007-10-02, Boostland (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:Quoted message said:
"John Henderson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
My wife and I have just returned to Australia...
Shouldn't that read "My husband and I have just returned to
Australia..."?At least that seems to be the original version posted here on 11
January 2001, with subject: "Cycling in Australia? - Not Much
Fun!".John
You can tell it was a poor copy pasta job by the way it shows in the news
reader, a very amature troll at best.We call him Bratton. Probably a 12 year old little brat too.
--
TimC
"If American bicycle advocacy leaders had championed the civil rights
movement, the "Dream" would have been reserved seating in the back
of the bus." - Jack R. Taylor -
TimC said:
We call him Bratton. Probably a 12 year old little brat too.
Nope, they call it the Boxtard.
-
MikeyOz said:
John Henderson said:
Shouldn't that read "My husband and I have just returned to
Australia..."?At least that seems to be the original version posted here on 11
January 2001, with subject: "Cycling in Australia? - Not Much
Fun!".So it wasn't just me.... I had this strange feeling of dejavu when I
read that post.There was a 2005 version also.
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