So far so good. In the end we had to run for it as the Sydney Trains website had quoted the incorrect time and we had to queue to use the elevators to get across to the right platform. Because of our largish touring bikes we couldn't get a carriage where all of us would fit. So there I was, separated from my partner and our three-year-old, standing with my bike, five heavy panniers, two tents, beach ball and guitar all strapped on, and, dare I say it, a stowaway.

Zero, our wiry-haired Jack Russell, is as significant a family member as anyone else in our little tribe. When we go travelling he always comes.But a dog on NSW trains, with the exception of a service dog, is not allowed to travel. That's why Zero is in a V/Line-approved dog container (yes, all dogs can travel on Victorian trains) sitting on a rack over my front wheel with a light sheet covering him. I can hear his heavy panting. I reassure him as I struggle to tie the bike to the hand poles in the middle of the carriage.

Patrick Jones, Meg Ulman and their daughter Woody Ulman Jones with dog Zero are on a 6000km bicycle trip around Australia. Credit:Ben Rushton

So why do we chose to travel like this? Because we are a bike family that sometimes walks or catches public transport, we have been car-free for five years and stopped flying about six years ago. We reckon carbon offsetting (and credits) is just another case of robbing Peter to pay Paul, effective in maintaining a polluting society that, like someone with an addiction, doesn't want to change its habits. But we want to make a difference, we have pretty much gone fossil-fuel cold turkey, and breaking rules has become part of our reality.

What we can't work out is why governments don't make it easier for those like us actively bringing down our carbon emissions, why there aren't incentives, even rewards for cycling commuters and travellers. In an era of unfolding climate change you'd expect that governments would be falling over backwards to support people who are actively disengaging in the economies that are most harmful.