Some homework from our (very nice) base

Nina got sick for real today, with a decent fever and joint and muscle pains. Oddly enough that made our enforced stay somewhat less annoying than before. Yes – we got one blip of news from the bike today: While the ship is already in Sydney again, the container with our bike has not been touched …

Which gave me enough time for some golden conversations: “Hi, I am temporarily importing my bike, what do I need to do to be legal on the road?” “You have to register your bike” “No, it is already registered, in Germany.” “So it is unregistered!” “I just want to ride here for a month and then leave your lovely Federation again …” “No, you can’t ride that bike” …

10 minutes later, after some back and forth with a supervisor …

“Oh, it seems to be possible as you say, but I am not trained to do this. I will connect you with a senior administrator” “thank you!”

In the end, and lacking an Australian fax number, I had to take another 1 hr tram ride to go to a physical office of VicRoad. At least it took the 4 people who got pulled in over there only about 20 minutes to sort me out. I am now proud owner of a TAC 85 mandatory accident compensation certificate that covers 3rd party injury or personal harm in all of Australia, for mere $157 AUD. Or so I have been told. I will hope that this will not be tested. In the end, I guess only a judge or lawyer could determine if I am actually legal on the road outside of the state of Victoria.

At least we have a very nice and welcoming AirBnB host where we can extend our stay as required. We will probably have to stay until Thursday, with Nina ill and the bike still held in captivity.