Australia

I'm going to Australia (traveling eastcoast from Cairns to Sydney) and was wondering if there are fixie/bikestores I HAVE to check out? Suggestions welcome!
Cheers.

go to the interior mate, not shops.

the smaller the spider, the more it will kill you!

Did you not watch the last few episodes of home and away? The east coast is like basra right now.

No.

Go to Gear in the west End of Brisbane... Run by a Dutch fella called Erik, good people...

@ teenslain. Thanks, I'll check it out...

Spend a day in Sydney, then change your plans and go to Melbourne where the nightlife is good, the food choices are world class and the people will talk to you.

Spoke(n)
Brunswick Cycles
Fyxomatosis
Shifter

There you go... you've done Sydney.

balki, without plugging an indian takeaway in shadwell can you tell me why sydney is shit?

Full of Brits.

I prefer Sydney to Melbourne tbh.
As for bike shops, apart from the second hand market I think it's too expensive. Aussies feel free to contradict me on this.

balki, without plugging an indian takeaway in shadwell can you tell me why sydney is shit?

Sydney is not shit at all... Its a fucking great city and one of the most beautiful in the world.

Melbourne is the ugly sister... but it runs deep.

If you only had a week in Oz, I'd send you straight to Syndey.

if you only have a week in Oz take a 6 day boat trip to New Zeland, allow a day for transfers

east coast- up /down= imagination fail.

I know, but we want to visit relatives on the east coast...can't expect them to move just to make our trip more interesting, or can I...?

Bike shops: I can recommend a few (Ribble, Wiggle, PBK et al, all cheap postage, no VAT, $A1000 before any questions asked)
enjoy being a tourist.

Anyone know of anywhere (shops) or anyone in Brisbane that could be talked into loaning/renting me a road bike for 10 weeks?

I had all my gear packed up with my bike in it's box and when I got to the airport Quantas tried to charge me £700 to put it on the plane! All in all it weighed 35kg (not bad for 10 weeks worth of stuff, a bike, tools all in a my huge bikeboxalan) and they wanted to charge in the order of £50/kg to put it on the flight. The worst of it was that it was a BA plane with BA staff all the way here and if I'd only booked my seat through them it would have been £40... Anyway, I had to do some hasty repacking and left my bike and box at the airport with my friend to take home and now I'm here with no bike, I'm off running and feel a desperate need to train. Would also like to be in reasonable shape for the Etap Cymru when I get back.

Sob story over, but I want/need a bike... any suggestions?

ewanmac, Brisbane local here. Not sure about any local shops that do road bike rentals. What size bike are you after? I have a house full of the suckers, but they are all on the large side, so if your over about 6'2" I'm sure I could get your riding.

Thats awesome thank you. I won't take you up on the offer just yet, I'm still slumming it in hostels and also have a possible offer from someone in the department, but I'll let you know. I'm just shy of 6' so also maybe a little short.

I rented a road bike from this shop in January, although that was just for a day, so no idea what they'll say about ten weeks! Worth asking mind, they seemed very friendly.

Anyone used any couriers to post a bike to Australia? I need to send mine over! Cheers.

Seriously, the Magpies hate me at the moment. They need to take a chill pill.

Who lives in Aus these days? Or has anyone got Melbourne-based buddies that could provide a bit of advice about jobs, accommodation, beer, cheap stuff and maybe even some bikes?

I've been in Melbourne for 3 years. Happy to answer some questions mate!