Melbourne is one of the most bike friendly and enthusiastic cities in the world so, of course, I’ve gotten myself a bike. Built in Richmond, just around the corner from where I live, it’s a single speed bike from Jellybean bikes.

I feel so ‘Melbourne‘ when I take to the road on a fixie or single speed bike like this, with its blue tires (or should that be tyres?) and chrome frame. It’s summer, so it’s the perfect mode of city transport. I’ve long had my eye on a Jennybean bike. Designed by Kath Banger and Ben Stibbard I first saw colorful Jellybean bikes when I first came to live here back in 2010.

Ever since I first moved to Melbourne back in 2010, I’ve always looked at the various bikes you see across the city. From the cool colored fixies to the classic style ladies bikes with their wicker baskets. I’m not a fan of the racer bikes ridden by older ‘blokes’ who love their lycra, and mountain bikes are just silly in this very un-mountainous cityscape.

The other day I rode back home from the city along the Yarra River. It was a 10K (6.2 miles) ride, that significantly extended what would otherwise be a fairly short journey. I was probably one of the slowest bikes on the cycle path, just meandering my wiggly way home taking in the summer sun, the river scenes, and the pleasure of the ride.

A steady stream of Mamils (middle-aged men in lycra) swooped passed me, some with the ring of a bell, others with a yell of ‘Watch out!’ They all seemed in such a hurry that I wondered if a giant snarling beast called ‘middle-aged’ might pound past me in hot pursuit. I would have been dinner for sure if it had!

To have a ‘fixie’ here in Melbourne is something of a cliché, of course, but I don’t care. If I lived in Italy I’d like to have a Vespa, if I lived in Amsterdam I’d have a clunky old rattler of a bike, and if I lived in London I’d have an Oyster card. I don’t mind that it’s a cliché, I’m quite happy with that. Happy enough to buy lycra clothes? Oh you better hope not!

It’s a warm afternoon here in Melbourne, a bright sunny day which has me squinting at the screen like there is something serious on it. But there’s nothing here, nothing yet anyway, my words are trickling from my mind through the tips of my fingers to the screen upon which my squinting eyes are fixed. It’s been a while since I’ve written anything meaningful here, but I’m back!

This blog has been somewhat ignored recently, and one might be forgiven for thinking that I had given up on trying to write about anything ‘before I forget.’ However, quite the opposite is true.

Throughout 2012, quite unexpectedly, I found myself on what can only be described as one of the biggest and most amazing adventures of my life. It was a journey around the world that spanned 12 months, 19 countries, thousands of miles, and 366 photographs. Each picture was posted along with an accompanying story on a special blog I created for the adventure. If you missed it then simply head over to 366pictures.com to check it out.

My year ended more-or-less where it began, in New Zealand. After that, I returned to Melbourne, Australia. Since I put down my camera, I’ve been enjoying a rest from my life of travel.

In many respects Melbourne is home for me and it’s nice just to be able to relax in these familiar surroundings, to have friends around, and people who know me in local cafes and shops. To be honest, as much as I love to travel, I needed a break for a little while.

In March I’ll take to the road again, leaving Australia and heading to Malaysia to see the Formula One Grand Prix. After that I’ll head to Singapore to spend a little time with my friends there and then, who knows.

That expression, “who knows,” does rather sum up the coming year for me, much as it did last year. The prospect of a year of “who knows” might terrify some because it comes bundled with the unknown, and all those variables we can’t control. But in my experience, life gets pretty interesting when you throw in a little “who knows” here and there, and many of those variables and unknowns we’re afraid of, are actually the things that add the color to our days and give us the landmarks that make up the landscape of our lives.

So, once again I am embracing the “who knows” and looking forward to seeing where this year goes. So now, let’s get this blog re-started!

See all of 2012 at 366pictures.com

It’s been a while since I’ve been on here but I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. It’s been an amazing year for me, one in which I made an entirely unplanned and unexpected trip around the world which a few of you have been watching on 366pictures.com.

Of course, 2012 is drawing to a close soon and my 366 pictures project will come to an end. I’ll return here in 2013 but in the meantime, I hope you all have a great Christmas and happy new year!

If you’re a subscriber to this blog, you could be forgiven for thinking I have abandoned it and that I’m not writing anymore. However, nothing could be further from the truth. I’m actually writing more now than ever before, a new post every single day in fact. You just need to know where to look.

I’m living life ‘on the road’ this year and you might remember that back in January I began a new blog called 366 Pictures. The concept is simple; Every day throughout 2012 I publish a single picture and write a brief blog post that relates to the photograph in some way.

It’s been a great exercise so far and I am really enjoying the results. I thought it would be a far easier undertaking than it has turned out to be, but already I’ve found that it’s changing the way I look at the world around me.

If you enjoy my writing and photography then I’m quite sure you’ll also enjoy 366 Pictures. There’s new content every single day, and you can be a part of the project as it unfolds by becoming a subscriber in just the same ways as you’re subscribed to BEFOREiFORGET.

Share my visual journey though 2012! Check out 366 Pictures and subscribe to the site via RSS or email. As usual I REALLY value the comments and feedback that people leave for me, so don’t be shy, subscribe and comment!

Don’t forget that if you subscribe to the daily email you MUST confirm this subscription by replying to the automated email you’ll get from Google feedburner right after you subscribe. If you don’t confirm your subscription you won’t be added and you won’t get the emails.

Check out 366pictures.com now

The trouble with travel is that for all the countless new connections you make, there are the inevitable goodbyes. Today I bid farewell to Australia and all the friends I’ve made there. Watching the ground disappear beneath me as my Malaysia bound plane climbs to the clouds, my heart is heavy with the sadness of what I leave behind me.

Ordinarily this would be a time of excitement. Flying, while convoluted, theatrical and generally uncomfortable, still holds a certain romance and excitement for me. The magic of being transported from one place to another, catapulted from one culture to the next, still amazes me and fills me with a thrill of anticipation. But today marks the end of what has been an amazing personal journey. One that has taken me to the other side of the world, and in many ways beyond even that limit too.

Australia was the dream. For years I thought about what it would be like to live ‘down under’ where there sun always shines and everyone starts their day on a surfboard. America romanced me for more than a decade, but I always had an eye on the other side of the world. In 2009 I was finally able to set foot on Australian soil, landing with barely containable excitement in the glorious city of Sydney.

It took no more than two short visits to Australia in 2009 and 2010 to convince me that I needed leave everything in the UK and pursue that dream I’d had for so long. Sydney was my introduction but it was the art and culture of Melbourne that convinced me to buy that one way ticket.

As with most dreams, the reality was somewhat different. It wasn’t disappointing in any way, just a little more down to earth and tethered to the real world by the ties that dreams have little time for.

First off, not all Australians start their day on the beach. I knew this before I arrived, but that image of Australian sun sea and surf is so pervasive in the Northern Hemisphere that you can’t help but be a little swept up in the romance of the idea. In fact, not only is it not always sunny, but Australia can get cold, very cold as it happens.

Then there was the finincal surprise. An unusually strong Australian dollar coupled with the much higher cost of living meant that I was no longer enjoying the affluence that having British pounds in my pocket normally affords me. Suddenly I felt like a student, counting my loose change and re-evaluating my usual carefree approach to spending while abroad. After all, this was no vacation, I was living here now and I had to keep that in mind.

In fact, it’s fair to say that while I didn’t have much of a plan in the first place, nothing went to the faint plan I had sketched out ahead of my arrival. Every last detail of the dream was corrected and realigned in a series of reality adjustments that helped carve out the eventual adventure that Australia would become for me.

Melbourne was home, but the road was my constant invitation. As winter descended upon the city I bought a converted van and took to the road, heading north in search of sun and excitement. Never before had I embarked on such a lengthy or ambitious road-trip. From Melbourne to far Northern Queensland, then across to Darwin and down again through the arid desert of the so called ‘red centre’ all the way past Uluru (Ayres Rock) to Adelaide and finally back to Melbourne.

It took months to complete and spanned a distance of many many thousands of miles. And while I may have been solo for much of my time at the wheel, I was rarely alone for long. My path through Australia threaded its way through the vast landscape entwining with with locals, couchsurfers, hitchhikers, backpackers and fellow ‘rubber tramps’ like myself. Sometimes those encounters were brief, sometimes they lasted for days, but at no point did I feel alone.

And so it was that I returned home to Melbourne. Back to the cafe’s the coffee, the art and wonder of the city I had come to feel a part of. I could give tourists directions and tell them of hidden out of the way places to visit. I knew the tram lines, their numbers, and the routes many of them would take through the city. As strange as it may seem, in the relatively short time I had been there, I had come to know Melbourne better than I knew almost any city in my native England.

Maybe I just engaged with the place more, knowing that our time together would, in the end, be only fleeting. Or maybe the city engaged with me, igniting my senses and feeding my own creativity? Those new found familiarities and fine friends have given me more than I ever expected. And so it is now that Australia, and particularly Melbourne, has embossed itself upon my soul.

I’m leaving Australia today, and I don’t know when I will return, but whenever that day is part of me will simply be coming home.

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Don’t forget that I am blogging EVERY DAY throughout 2012 at 366pictures.com. If you have’t already checked it out go there and subscribe to the daily email.

Hey everyone. This is just a little note from me to all of you, wishing you all a very Merry Christmas from the sunny side of the world!

I didn’t build this snowman, and given that it’s now summer on this side of the world, this will likely be the only snowman I’ll see on the streets this Christmas. But hey, we’ve got mince pies and a big Christmas pudding soaking in brandy too. For me Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without them.