SS Mitzie Payphone Voyage

Well, Johnny Payphone had been staying with RPOz for several months and while he had ridden SS Mitzie on land, we hadn't managed to take the time to go for a voyage... and time was running out, as the Corinbank Festival had happened and soon it was time for him to head back to his God-forsaken country of War on Terror, the Land of the Free.

Being a trash boat-lover, Payphone was anxious to experience Mitzie in aqua mode. This environment is where Mitzie functions best.

So it was, Limp Jimmy, Cap'n Flapper and Harold Paytard (known as Johnny Payphone before making his first RPOz freakbike) went up to festival site to collect this rather large amphibious tall couch bike.

On the way back, there was an car accident which blocked the road, so we had to go the scenic route, which was most pleasant and included avoiding boguns and a quiet riverside Safety Stop. It was Canberra Day celebrations in the city, so we hurried into town and found a docking location which favoured our planned voyage to the site of the festivities. If my gut was right, we would have a slight down-wind run into the middle of the city, and with a bit of luck, the easterly seabreeze would kick in at just the right time...

We roped 3 pixie bike lifeboats onto the couch so we could ride them once (if!) we got to our destination or use them as an anchor if we were being blown away.

Knowing that Paytard is interested in old things driven by steam, we stopped at the Australian National Museum and actually moored on an old river steamboat, which is actually an exhibition piece from the collection. Paytard was lovin' it. Cap'n Flapper was anxious about this decision, but he rather enjoyed sitting splendidly on it's bow for a time.

Paytard and Flapper take SS Mitzie for a spin. Note, the 3 lifeboats tied onto the back of the couch.

Finally, we made it to the festival site and proceeded to ride around the thousands of celebration-goers until it was time to leave. It was a fine sight to behold, Canberra Day celebration fireworks from the comfort of our very own amphibious tall couch bike!

Then the easterly seabreeze came in — YAAY!!!!! This ensured an effortless voyage back to our launch point. On the way, many funny things went down: Limp unexpectedly fell right off the back of the couch and into the water, but somehow managed to keep the open man bag containing car keys, tools and phone above the waterline (we did lose the tobacco tho); Flapper and Harold kept on wanting to jump off the couch into the brown water (which was declared un-safe for swimming at the time)... again and again. Once I showed them how to do a proper 'bomb' or 'bummy' (actually, Johnny never quite got the hang of it... maybe next time), they just couldn't stop themselves. All of this took quite some time, so 13year-old Flapper called his mum again to let her know he would be "late"... er, even later than the last time he called.

Finally we reached land at about 1am... it was kinda late. Somehow Johnny and I lifted Mitzie (normally requiring 4 strong people working together), with the Cap'n guiding the front wheel. As usual, Mr Paytard immediately fell asleep in a smelly drunken stupor.

At 2am, we dropped Cap'n Flapper to his home. Nice.