Does the saying it’s “time to get on your bike,” mean “go away!”.. or “you need to get a move on”?. Perhaps it means it’s time to go out and look for a proper job or perhaps we could take it litterally and start riding a bike? For us this saying happens to be a perfect mix of all of these meanings at the moment!
The “real travel” begins…
We’ve officially left our temporary base camp around Melbourne. Staying near Melbourne for the last few weeks wasn’t just about exploring; it let us get thoroughly used to our home while staying close to the necessary manufacturers for any initial tech tweaks. It also gave us a chance to spend some invaluable time with Harley.
Getting back to work…
While full-time travel is our new reality, Jo’s day job continues virtually right from our “bedroom office”. She is still counselling her private practice counseling clients on Mondays. She is also starting up some therapy groups and running training for Social Workers going into private practice on Sundays.
Although Peter is retired, he still has some responsibilities (other than making the washing machine work and towing the van). This week we are hitting the bitumen and heading north to the Jervis Bay area to spend some priceless quality time with Peter’s dad, who has just celebrated his 92nd birthday. Jervis Bay is truly a spectacular place to visit – and this time we hope to ride our bikes around the area.
While we have been in Melbourne we’ve also been regularly and gently pointing out to Harley that a job would actually make his life easier and more interesting. Hopefully we are getting the ballance of supportive parenting and respectful distance while Harley learns to “adult”.
Liberating the Wheels
The last thing we did before leaving Melbourne was to finally take our bikes off the top of the car and put them on brand new bike racks. Peter had them safely and tightly wedged on top of the car since we left the Tweed area two months ago. They were so tightly stored that we could not get them down easily and their primary function had become helping us to identify our car in busy car parks!
It was time to fix all of that! We rolled into an industrial area at Touquay to get our shiny new Wild Boar bike rack fitted directly onto the front toolbox of our Kokoda Defender Caravan Xcore. The team at the shop usually post these racks out rather than install them, so when they found out we were documenting our travels, they asked if we’d do a quick video testimonial on their iPhone. Of course Peter waxed lyrical on camera with absolute ease, and, as a thank-you for the promo footage, they waived the entire installation fee!!! Soon we will be stars on their Youtube channel! You can be sure we will share that with you when it happens!
Cruising the Murray River
Having the bikes down from the car roof and securely locked onto the front box has completely transformed our travel setup. With the bikes smoothly transferred to their new perch, we landed at a beautiful, incredibly peaceful Hipcamp paddock just outside of Cobram – on the Victoiran side of the Murray river.
Naturally, we couldn’t wait to test out the new setup, so we unloaded the gear and set off on a magnificent 15 km ride: The initial leg of the dirt road trail was a bit of a chaotic obstacle course requiring us to skillfully dodge massive mud puddles left behind by the long-weekend P-plater 4WD crowds. However, once we bypassed the bogs, we found ourselves on pristine riverbank with walking tracks and bridges. Jo even managed to launch the new drone to test out its automated cycle tracking feature while we rode. The drone cruised right alongside us as we pedaled and did a great job…
After our ride we loaded our bikes back up. The process was surprisingly easy.
It is time to “get on our bike” again and head for Jervis Bay
Until we catch you again “Enjoy the ride”
Peter and Jo
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