Bridget- A Day Of Beach and Birds

It's only 8.30 but Jeremy and I are ready for bed, we're simultaneously writing our posts for today. Who will win the blog post race?

I'm feeling right at home here at our first stop in south Australia. It's the drizzle, I'm fondly reminded of camping holidays of my childhood in the west of Ireland.

Today we left warrnambool and drove to the delightful town of Port Fairy which I found out used to be called Belfast! So again I felt quite at home. After spotting a fish eating falcon at the harbour we headed on to the industrial town of Portland, then on to a place called Nelson where there is a big estuary full of birds. I tried to sketch while I got Jeremy to identify birds from my iPhone apps. We did quite well and even figured out that the little diving bird swimming close to us was a hoary headed grebe. A new one to me, I always feel proud of finding and identifying new birds.

Just up the road from our little grebe we crossed the border into South Australia and headed for a tiny wee place called Port MacDonnell which is where we are now. I can hear the waves crashing on the beach that we walked along earlier before dinner. Tomorrow is supposed to be a bit grim weather wise. We'll see what our options are then. Maybe another night here ( I think Jeremy Is hoping to get to sample the speciality Port MacDonnell cray fish if we do stay) or make a dash for it to Mount Gambier.

As for the photos, I'm sorry they occur in such random order, it's this app I use. There is no way of arranging them. So there they are, just a jumble of images of pretty seaweed, us, a couple of drawings and the map!

Bridget - Koala Serenade and into the Unknown

Our first night on the trip in the tent was accompanied by the call of koalas. Have you ever heard a koala? They may look cute but they sound something between an angry wild hog and a hungry lion!

After an interrupted sleep we got on the road to head for warrnambool. We drove for a length along the great ocean road, the sun was out, the sea looked gorgeous and I was learning to lean with Jeremy to help the bike get round the corners. Not that it has difficulty getting round corners, that's just something a pillion passenger has to do.

We then turned off the road at skeens creek and headed through the Otway Ranges. The temperature immediately dropped once we turned into the trees and I discovered I could sing inside my helmet, as loud as I wanted and no one would here me!

At the highest point of the road we stopped for a photo and some tea from the thermos. Jeremy was worried, he said we were running very low on petrol and the nearest petrol station was another 30km away. We couldn't run out on just our second day! Onwards with our breath held I noticed Jeremy was crouching down to be more streamlined, so I gave that a go too, anything to help Norman get to Colac, the next town. We made it and filled a 14.5 litre engine with 14.3 litres of fuel!

The road from Colac to Warrnambool was straight and fast. The landscape green and rolling and very reminiscent of Ireland, complete with dry stone walls. Jeremy lived his early childhood in this part of Victoria and he says that is why he felt so at home during the last two years living in my home country of Ireland.

So here we are now, in jeremys great aunt and uncles house in warrnambool about to set off on our third day. Warrnambool is as far as I've ever been before in this direction so off we go today, into the unknown.

Bridget - first night

Today was much nicer weather and we were much more relaxed about leaving, so with Norman packed to full capacity we pulled out of the driveway and set off. Immediately I felt the cold wind on my thighs but decided to enjoy it since when we really get on the road and find ourselves in hot desert temperatures I'd miss this cold Victorian sting!

We rode to Lorne, one of the first main towns on the great ocean road and stopped for a cup of tea in Arab. A destination cafe for many bikers and where we would meet up with our parents who were on a day trip. We got a photo of the owner of the cafe for our blog!

We rode on to Wye River where we are to spend our first night. Jeremy put up his wee tent with help from Brian, my mum's partner, and then we all went to the pub for a final meal before my mum and Brian head back to Ireland.

The campsite is full of birds, I'm in heaven! I've been drawing and taking photos. I've also decided to keep a running tally of all the bird I see on the trip but I'll not bore you with that yet.

Instead here are a few photos.
You can see more of my sketches from this trip on my art blog www.bridgetfarmer.blogspot.com

Still At Home

Ah, yes, well. We're still in the comfort of warm central heating, home cooked meals and a proper bed to sleep in tonight. Set off has been postponed until tomorrow due to us being wimps and the weather being horrible. Last minute purchases of waterproof over trousers and good bike boots have been bought today. Tomorrow we leave, still with my mum and her partner and now with Jeremy's mum too! Bags are packed and Norman loaded up and waiting. Tomorrow our journey begins...............
.............as long as it's not pissing it down.

Australian Wedding

We had our Australian wedding yesterday at Jeremy's parents' place in Geelong. It was great fun and as you can see from the photo below Norman was a great success!

Today has been tidying up and trying to sort out packing. Jeremy and his dad have been discussing what should go where. I'm fairly confident in my packing abilities too, I feel I'm good at travelling light and good at figuring out where and how to carry everything. I used to transport furniture on the back of my vintage push bike when I lived in Edinburgh. My best effort was cycling two chairs into college, peddling past a removals lorry, the driver of which gave me a big thumbs up as I shot past!

Family friend Phil has been tuning up Norman, I think the pedal that changes the gears was too close to something thus making it difficult to change gears, I think Phil fixed it, not with the hammer though.

So, here's my luggage, I need to gather a couple of other things like a bigger sketchbook,  a pack of cards and a cover for my phone, but apart from that I think I'm done.

This photo shows 

2 scarves, 

a cardi.

In the blue flowery bag are my toiletries and underwear. It may not look a very campingy bag, but I find it very handy as it has 2 compartments, one for clean underwear, and at the back, one for dirty. Toiletries kept with the clean underwear obviously. As for sanitary products as we will be away for about a month so it is necessary to think of this, I use a Divacup. I've used one for years and I would never go back to using anything else. You can read about it here, I wont go into details, but they are the perfect thing for traveling as you only need to bring the one item.

In the black bag are my clothes - 3 singlets, 1 long sleeved loose shirt, 2 dresses, 1 skirt, 1 pair of trousers, 1 nightie, my blanky (yes I still have a blanky, but it's very useful to use as a pillow) 1 swimsuit, pair of sandals. I will be wearing my bike gear so it isn't in the black bag.

As we speak I'm downloading The Michael Morcombe eGuide to the Birds of Australia to my new phone. I decided my bird book was too bulky and this was a good alternative, it's quite expensive (about $35) but has a great star rating, good reviews and I'm intrigued by it. 

Although I've an alternative for my bird book I decided to bring along a big thick book as my holiday read. My best friend just gave it to me for my birthday and said it's one of her favourites. Has anyone else read The Far Pavilions by M.M.Kaye? I'm looking forward to it.

Organising

I'm actually doing very little organizing at the moment, I think I should step up and do something. We've decided we're leaving next Monday. The plan is that we're having an Australian wedding party on Saturday, clean up Sunday, then leave Monday. We would have left it a bit longer but my mum is over for the Aussie wedding and she and her partner are coming along with us for our first night on the road (they'll be in a car though!) and their time schedule is quite tight as they fly out of Sydney on Friday.


It's a bit of a family joke that my mum is coming on our first night of honeymoon with us. Poor Jeremy, the day he decided to try and propose was Christmas Eve last year. Last winter in Northern Ireland was the coldest I can remember, it was about -5C outside and frozen snow on the ground. Jeremy kept trying to get me to go places with him, to try and get me on my own so he could ask the question, "Do you want to come for a drive with me to the wine shop Bridget?" he'd ask. "No,  not really, it's cold." I'd reply. My mum would then say "Oh I will!" So off Jeremy went for a drive with my mum to the wine shop.
Later, "Would you like to go for a walk with me Bridget?" "No, it's freezing and I've got the fire lit here." My mum - "Oh I will!" Jeremy despairing, left the house and rang my brother, who was in on the plan, for suggestions. He came back and asked, "William needs me to go and pick something up from The Bay Tree (my mum and brother's restaurant) do you want to come?" My mum jumps in and says, "Oh I need something from the Bay Tree, I'll come!" immediately with a look of frustration Jeremy phones William, William straight away phones my mum, "Look mum, this is something Jeremy and Bridget really need to do alone!" My mum suspiciously immediately retracts her desire to go to the Bay Tree and I realise, knowingly, I just have to go along with whatever Jeremy needs me to do. Sure enough he knelt in the snow and I got a ring.


I am pleased my mum and her partner are coming for the first day driving, it takes the pressure off the big scary start. We're going to stay the first night at Wye River, a gorgeous beach town where we've been many times with Jeremy's family and where a few years back I took my mum and she loves it. Then the next day we will say goodbye to my mum and Jeremy and I will head on to Warnambool and she will head back to Ireland.


I haven't really thought much about what I'm bringing with me. Jeremy has been researching motorbike tour sites. I'm going to have to put a bit more effort into this. I know I need a good sketchbook and some spare 2B pencil leads, I want to bring a skirt or two since my bum isn't used to being so confined in tight jeans, a spare pair of shoes/sandals to wear instead of bike boots. I'm thinking 5 pairs of undies which I can just wash as we go, about three singlet tops, a longer sleeved thing, a jumper, a jacket, a couple of light scarves (I think it'll get cold at night and in the mornings) 3 or 4 pairs of socks, I think I'll bring a nightie so I don't sleep in a singlet thus leaving the singlet not fit for day wear (although maybe it wouldn't bother me) oh I can't think about the rest now, my cousin has just sent me a brilliant video of our Irish wedding and I want to show Jeremy, so off I go....


if anyone has any hints and tips about what to bring I'd love to hear!

First Highway Ride

So, we've had norman for a day, and we went for a short spin yesterday evening so Bridget could try it out. I think she liked it, not so secretly... She looked good in all her gear too!

It felt really good to be on a bike again, although it took me a little while to get back into the swing of it. 'Point your face where you want to go and you'll go there.' Took me a little while to remember that, what with all the working out how the indicators work and getting a feel for the gear changes to RPMs and trying not to kill myself in the traffic. Good times! It was all sorted by the time Bridget got on though, nice and steady.

So, first test passed then! We just went to Tim's place for a cup of tea, 20 mins each way with a break in the middle. In about 20 minutes we're for our first highway ride, 30 mins each way. Should be all sweet but we'll be taking it nice and easy just in case! I'll report back on our return.

Norman Arrives

Jeremy picked up Norman today! I think he was super pleased to be back on a bike after such a long time.

And I gave Norman a try, just sitting on the back at this stage, not moving, saying brrruuuuummmmm brrruuummmm!

Next I need to get all my gear on and try a wee trip. Jeremy's worried I wont enjoy it, but I'm pretty sure I will. I can understand his worry, I've sort of seemed a bit reluctant and scared, but I know I'll secretly like it.