April 23 - April 25 Paradise Beach, Victoria

The day has finally arrived!! Monday 23^rd April. We stayed at mum’s place overnight to make sure we were well rested and left the trailer at Keith’s place as he let us use his garage for security.

Jay let me sleep in a little, so I felt as though I was on the back foot as I had planned on making lunches and still had to do a run to the shops! We left Glen Iris at about 11am, which was a bit later than we planned. By the time we loaded the bikes onto the trailer and changed the kids, it was 1pm.

We were on the road just in time…..for the rain!!

 

With our goal for the night being Paradise Beach south of Sale, we just drove until we arrived. We left that rain band behind, only to set up with the rumbling of thunder from a southerly band heading our way. The decision to put our big tarp over the whole set up was unspoken. Thank goodness Jay decided to buy it before we left! With two and a bit days of pretty constant rain, we had no leaks and were also quite warm.

As we were fairly well tent bound, we took full advantage of sorting through things again. I wasn’t happy with the way the kitchen was organised and went through it again. I found it very difficult to decide on things I would need to cook whilst on the road and now feel as though I’ve whittled the utensils and equipment down to things I’ll use regularly.

Paradise Beach was recommended to us by several people and also seemed good from the camping guides, websites and apps we used. One of our resources mentioned mosquitos. OMG we should have listened!!! They are FIERCE!! Poor Matilda was covered in them at one point while we were setting up. They were into everything! Fortunately, we seem to have come out of that experience relatively itch-free.

During the breaks in the weather, we would venture down to the beach. Paradise Beach is part of 90 Mile Beach. Matilda had her first beach experience here and had a ball!

We drove 7km west of Golden Beach to see the Trinculo wreck, though the weather and sea have taken their toll. There’s not much left!

Big Boo was happy to be at the beach again. She did an excellent job in her role as security, letting us know when people were nearby. 

We decided to pack up the bulk of our belongings on the night of 25^th April to try to get away as quickly as possible in the morning. This is our storage box fully loaded. Believe it or not, it's actually pretty easy to find things! Having bought the sensational Aussie-made Drifta kitchen with return (DPOR), the matching storage box was high on the list of things we wanted, but just wasn't absolutely essential for us to be able to travel. After talking to Jason at Aussie Jay's, he sold us this storage box as an ex-demo for a fantastic price and we just had to buy it! We spent a lot of time anguishing over the extra money to buy the box and are really pleased we did. No more piling stuff on the ground and waiting until the tent's packed. Now we can pack things straight into the trailer as we go. Having the food at the back makes the pantry relatively easy access and can be pushed out of the way when not needed.

The morning dawned overcast but dry and we packed up as quickly as possible as the mosquitoes were just impossible. Glad to be on the road, we were aiming for Moruya though would be happy to get to Eden.

Who are we.......?

We have always been into touring and camping and used every available weekend and public holiday to make the most of the time and travel as far and wide as we could on motorbikes.
I met my wife Lil when she offered to help me with paperwork and in getting my motorcycle license in Australia......I'm from Scotland and riding a bike was nigh on impossible there due to the weather.
Lil and I toured Victoria extensively by bike and also went to Tasmania and all over SA, NSW and some of the deserts on big dual purpose bikes.
We decided to have a family and Lil had to give up on bikes for a while. We bought ourselves an older Holden Jackaroo 4WD and kitted it out with a rooftop tent. We now had to go camping by car as our son Hamish had arrived. A year later we fall pregnant again and Matilda Rose comes into our lives.
Hamish a good Scottish name and Matilda is a great Aussie name...what better way to recognise our heritage than by naming our kids this way!
With two kids in tow the tent went and the camper trailer arrived.

I'm now working in the motorcycle industry after leaving the collapsing music industry. On-line sales and software now allows pushing a few buttons and hey presto! Publish it on-line and sell it yourself.......progress they call it....... !
Working hard to support a family, we seized every opportunity to get out into the bush and get away from suburbia and work.
I love camping in Australia and time travels so fast when your sitting back enjoying the outstanding scenery, smells, wildlife and the sounds. Exploring rivers and hills and fishing along the way it just cant be beaten, if only we could be paid to do it.

Looking at where you are and where your going is always something at the front of my mind......what's next and where to from here, what am I doing and are we having fun......?
Well actually no, I'm not.
I'm missing out on my kids growing up, I'm missing out on time with my wife, I'd hoped my son would pick up my accent even in a small way but, with a four hour daily commute to work, time is more precious than the salary you soon realise.

So where to from here ?

When I was a teenager I had a dream about being a musician and writing my own music! I made it my career and I travelled the world.

Now I'd like to pack up our camper trailer and travel to all the beautiful places and travel the famous roads Ive dreamed about seeing for myself. Lil shares my love of the bush and this vast country, which is kinda nice for me.

So we are off, the decision was made rather quickly but we had both been thinking "what if?" for a while now. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

Life happens whilst your working to support your family and then in-between it we get a chance to make great memories and share amazing experiences with the ones we love.

That for us outweighs a monotonous job that is only stressing me out.

We are seizing the day and hitting the road, we are preparing the old Jackaroo and modifying the camper to accommodate a full time life on the road. We are going to make the great memories an integral part of life rather than just the weekends.

There are jobs out there - fruit picking, seasonal farm work, labouring and lots more in the hospitality industry including resorts and caravan parks.
That's me, that's us......We can do that........!
The 1st step of an EPIC adventure has been taken and we are all very excited!