Coogee Beach NSW, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and in that neat bit of symmetry after having lunched at Coogee Beach, WA, on the Indian Ocean two days before we set off.

We did consider doing the wheel dip here, but we really couldn’t be stuffed unpacking the car, untying the bike, and getting it down onto the sand.

We spent a couple more nights in Sydney, staying at my sister’s place. We had some business to attend to in the city. We visited my folks and also managed to grab a beer (or maybe two) with Malcolm and Sam.

Time then to drive home.

It was a weird feeling to be home, and we were both feeling a little lost for a bit. It took a while to absorb the fact that we had done it.

Indipac is a different thing altogether compared to our usual tours. I usually try to throw up a daily post – with at the very least a few photos – on our blog while on tour, and maybe a handful of people have any idea of where we are.

Having a tracker, and the Indipac Dotwatcher FB group, AND our TwoUp FB page was next level.

Marc expressed it for us both on our TwoUp Facebook post, and on the Dotwatcher group:

There are so many people that we owe a debt of gratitude to for making our ride something we will never forget:

~ dotwatchers, the ones that met us on the route as well as all the comments and likes on our FB posts. It really lifts the spirit when people go out of their way to make your day just that little bit easier for no reason other than they want to see you succeed, and we can’t thank you enough for whatever contribution you made.

~ family and friends who supported us with encouragement, by looking after things while we were away so that we could do this and in a couple of extreme cases (Mic and Derek) who made camping at 1500 m comfortable and great fun.

~ the other IndiPac riders who supported us even with their own rides to worry about and even when back in their regular jobs.

~ the people who do ‘stuff’ to make the ride happen each year.

Marc also wrote this:

Finally, to @Tracey Schmidt; how can I thank you enough for indulging my crazy idea of doing the IPWR on our tandem? And not just agreeing to do it, but actually seeing it through despite the problems with it. It wasn’t easy, but hardly anything worthwhile ever is.

Now we can let the retrospect set in.

I was still pretty overwhelmed with it all for quite some time. It took some months before I could even face the idea of getting started on writing it all down for posterity, and it has taken all these months to complete. (Other life matters getting in the way!)

So to @Marc Schmidt: Thank you for sharing another crazy, challenging adventure with me, and for, yet again, making me realise that I am capable of more than I think I am.

This one was a doozy. But, yes, it was absolutely worthwhile, and I think I can now say that, yes, the retrospect has set in.

51 days riding. 7 rest days. Officially 5,471km with 34,450m of climbing. Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, via most of the capital cities, AND the high country. 16 starters; 8 finishers. We were, of course, the last of the finishers – the lanterne rouge – a mere 16 days after the 6th and 7th! (Which is, coincidentally, almost the exact number of days it took the fastest rider to finish – Otters did it in 17 days.)

First and only tandem, and, so far, the Lanterne Rouge record. We’re pretty proud of that.