Super Bikes Here we Come

 

     Moe to Phillip Island

Cold, wet and very windy, typical Phillip Island weather!

We set up our van on the Grand Prix trackside camp ground. What a great atmosphere. Everyone was here from bikers to enthusiasts to down right ferals what a wonderful mixture of humanity with everyone extremely friendly and chatting about the great weekend to come. Caravans and tents aplenty with camp fires lighting up as the sun went down set the scene.

 

 

Friday the weather was better but still chilly. We drove around the island doing the touristy thing and for me to get my bearings as I'd be driving around alone for the next couple of days doing my own thing, as I find watching motor bikes go round and round quite boring.

 

  

Then back to the track to check out the motor cycle expo and walk around the pit stop.

 

We even got to star on the cover of the Spokes magazine.

( Along with everyone else who walked past that stand!)

 

 

Our mate Paul arrived that night so Steve had someone to play with over the next couple of days.

 

The boys spent Saturday watching the preliminary races and driving around the track, beer in hand having an absolute ball. No rules here other than to have an awesome time.

As for me I had the day all to  myself and made the most of it. Firstly off to yoga  on Churchill island which is another island off  PI connected by a one way bridge, coffee with the locals I met then I wondered around the Churchill Farmers Market tasting and buying yummy foodstuffs.

 

Next into Cowes for a bit of retail therapy and to organise my next days tour to French Island.

After returning to camp I decided to go geo caching for those that haven't heard of this its a world wide treasure hunting game where you use a GPS to hide and seek containers.

 

This is where my adventure begun after Paul drove me over to the other side of the track and I tramped out the gate and through thick bushland (I nearly even trod on a snake)  I found my little treasure YeeHaa! But they had locked the gates on me as the racing had finished for the day. Shit! Luckily a couple of security guards spotted me and after telling me I have to spend the night out there they relented and found someone with the key to let me back in. OMG note to self: check gate closing times.

 

 To the left is the bush I was walking through and to the right is the little container I found. I just had to note inside the container my Geocache name and date I found it then return it to the hiding place for the next person to find.


That night was a ripper with chicken on our spit, copious amounts of wine and to top it off our neighbours Lyndon and Prue joined us around the campfire with his guitar singing all the golden oldies.

 

Sunday was a beautiful day. Paul and Steve went to the track nursing hangovers and I took off on my tour of French Island which was a ferry ride across Westport Bay.

 

We were met by our guide Lois who stood about 4 foot tall and drove what looked like an old 1960's school bus. What a character but very entertaining. She was a fourth generation islander with a font of knowledge.  We saw heaps of koalas and we drove all over the island with her explaining about the natural history.

 

 

 

We then visited her great grandparents old chicory farm which now hosts the Bayview Chicory Kiln Museum. If you can call it that to me it was just an old property full of junk. Here we had delicious
Devonshire tea and iced coffee made with chicory.




I arrived back at the campsite happy but exhausted  as was Steve so we had an early night and set off for Melbourne on Monday morning to have a few minor warranty details on the van fixed. One of them turns out to be not so minor so we will come back  at the end of our trip and spend a few nights in Melbourne while they fix it.

 

 

 

 

 

Travelling South

 We arrived at Mallacoota on Thursday 12/2/13 so we've been gone one week now although it seems a lot longer. We've now traveled approximately 500 kms.

Mallacoota is the most remote Victorian town. It's really gorgeous with the biggest caravan park I've ever seen. 700 sites in total and  it was probably three quarters full. I'd hate to be here when it's fully booked you'd be packed in like sardines.

Luckily we met some great neighbours to party with, George &  Jan and amazingly George used to live at Picnic Point too and he lived right next door to one of our best mates.

 Here's a few pictures of Mallacoota inlet. The beach was freezing but the water in the inlet was refreshing but a wonderful way to cool off.

 We spent three days at Mallacoota then off to Tylers Lake but fortunately when we stopped for ice the service station guy gave us some great local knowledge and told us Corringle Beach which was closer was far better. So change of plans Corringle Beach here we come.

What a top spot! We even had our own jetty.


We were the only ones there on our first day so that night we had the music pumping and the camp fire smoking!

Next day 4 caravans turned up within minutes of each other including some mates from Currarong, Sue and Trev.

Steve had given Trevor  dodgy directions so he had to go find them and lead them in, he'll be getting bagged for that for awhile to come!

 

We spent the next couple of days, fishing or at least trying to. One under sized bream tried to commit suicide while Steve was teaching me to cast.

Also plenty of bush walking, drinking, laughing, bike riding, drinking, laughing, swimming, drinking, laughing, relaxing, drinking, eating, laughing. You get my drift!

                                           How's this for fishing? Red wine in one hand just waiting for
                                                 the fish to jump on the line.

                                                   Trev and Steve checking out the waves.

                                       Sue, Trev and Steve on the beach opposite The Marlo Pub

                     This is my favourite picture of our wharf at sunrise.

 

                                                 A couple of more locals we bumped into.

 

Early Wednesday morning we take off on an overnighter  at Moe on the way to Phillip Island

It was extremely smoky from all the bushfires especially at Morwell where the open cut coal mine was still on fire and was expected to stay alight for weeks to come. The poor residents were 

really coping it. We're looking forward to a change of scenery but not so the winds and rain forecasted.

  

  

 

 

 

Gone Walkabout

Now that we are members of the Gonetolongi tribe we are on our first big  walkabout in our new van. Give us a wave if you ever see our totem on the road, there's a few of us getting around now. Everyone of us loves a chat, good food and a tipple or two.

First Leg : Dalmeny to Gillards Beach

First stop Dalmeny on Friday 7/2/14  for 3 nights to catch up with a couple of other Gontolongi tribesmen, Kim, Lee, Joy & Merve.
After a swim and a few beers and heaps of bullshit (spoken by the men of course) we set off to the pub for the best ever ribs plus Lee won the meat raffle & a six pack of Crownies, that's always a plus.
 Saturday we went bike riding for the first time in many a year without a motor! Wew Heartbreak hill certainly stopped us. But what a gorgeous view.

We finished the day  with a gourmet bbq and game of cards.

Steve cooking dinner overlooking Dalmeny Beach.

Sunday was the highlight with a trip to the Cobargo Show and Rodeo. It was unreal, straight out of the 60's! A good old country fair.

The showground with a beautiful view.

 No old fashioned show is complete without a prize for the largest pumpkin, the funniest dressed up vegetable and can you believe it a prize for the Best decorated arrowroot biscuit! I love it, We used to make these for my birthday party when I was in primary school.

There was even some old motorbikes to keep Steve happy!

 Then the rodeo started Yee Haaa!

How's this for horsemanship.

 Get a load of the size of this Brahma Bull ( above) It was amazingly placid. Not so the bucking bulls below. Yes I said Bucking Bulls! These cowboys are either incredibly brave or stupid but it was fun to watch.

 Watching grown men try to wrestle steers to the ground was hilarious not many had a chance in hell. The Cowboy weighs about 100kls, the steer about 200kls?!

 Next day off to the beautiful Gillards Beach. Hopefully it's not named after Julia although it is very treacherous!!

This is a cheap bush camp with drop toilets but no other facilities, it's about 6kms north of Tathra. The beach is beautiful and hardly a sole on it. We loved it! Defineatly one of the best campsites going.but no luck fishing and the water is COLD!

 The rock colours were absolutely beautiful, reminded me of Rainbow Beach. Qld.

Watch out he has an ax in his hand !!!

New mates drinking our foot washing water. Poor buggers it's so dry.

Another local came visiting.

Next stop is Mallacoota via Tilba