SINGAPORE – A weather-beaten man and his equally weather-beaten bicycle arrived at the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal on Wednesday morning. His journey to Singapore did not start just an hour ago from Batam, Indonesia.
Dr Ian Wallis set off from his home in Australia’s capital city Canberra on May 1. In the past four months, he had cycled for more than 9,000km across many places in Australia, Timor-Leste and Indonesia. He took the plane only when he had to fly across the Timor Sea from Darwin to Dili, and hopped onto the ferry when getting from island to island in Indonesia.
On the 129th day of his journey, the 65-year-old retired Australian scientist arrived in Singapore. His wife Cora, 56, flew in from Australia earlier and greeted him at the arrival hall. Both are avid cyclists who love the outdoors.
Looking spirited and energetic, Dr Wallis gamely posed for The Straits Times with his Thorn Nomad bicycle. He also showed ST what he carried with him in his bags – two of them mounted on his bicycle’s front wheels, two on the back wheels and one on the handlebar.
He said the items include his diary, bicycle pump, bolt to attach his bicycle saddle to the seat post, puncture repair kit, spare spokes, chain lube, spare chain links, a few tools, cycling knicks and a sleeping sheet to protect him from filthy bedding in hotels.
Dr Wallis has been documenting his adventures on his blog. While he does long-distance cycling mainly to satiate his appetite for exploration, he said he is also using his trips as an opportunity to raise funds for Australia’s indigo foundation, a non-profit group that he said has lent support to “a youth organisation in Timor-Leste that confronts sexual harassment, and an organisation in Indonesia that funds bursaries (for) girls from female-led households to attend university”.
Dr Wallis added that he had donated everything that had been given to him in kind.
“Many caravan parks let me pitch my tent for free. I donated that money, usually A$30 (S$26) to indigo. This occurred many times,” he said.
He also tries to keep his own expenses low while on the road. His average spending per day is about A$40, and he projects that this trip will cost him around A$5,000 when it comes to an end back in Canberra in September.
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2023-09-08 04:30:00Z
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