When the Cat's Away...

November 22, 2017November 22, 2017

Day 175: 21 November – Biking and financial planning – now thats a combo

Author: Mr A

Location: Coromandel Valley, Adelaide

Distance cycled: 18km

Today was going to be a corker – 35 degrees – so we set off reasonably early for a ride to beat the heat. Kim was tour leader taking us up and down the significantly undulating paths of the Coromandel Valley. It was a pleasure to have cars behave so respectfully towards us. A pleasant change from Sydney.

The girls were turning a few heads of course…

Kim had the advantage of skinny tyres I must add in my defence:

Catherine just powers along: And the most common view for me was from the rear: I finally got them ease up for a lakeside stop:

And with not a scrap of lycra to be seen we had a great ride!

After some food shopping (we seem to go every day!) we had a Skype call with our financial planner, Paul Brady. Now I am going to unashamedly plug this guy as he and the amazing team he has hired at Brady and Associates have just been life changing for us. In an industry with its fair share of charlatans, Paul has been a standout quality advisor, who we now call a friend, and has helped us making some smart choices with our finances. But much more than that, we feel we share some common values about living and loving life that have made him so easy to work with. Having a safe pair of hands to help you plan your wealth creation is one of the most important decisions to be made I reckon.

So we talked through our two year plan for how we ideally want to live our life, and yes we can make it happen. Oh what a feeling. I know luck always plays a part in how your life plans out, and we have had some very good fortune in our work lives, and some not so good in our health, but even that could be so much worse. We have taken some risks, both leaving family and friends and our comfort zones in the UK, and both pursued very different careers, but shared a value of trying to do the right thing by our respective customers, and that has been the key I think to how rewarded we have been by our jobs. Clients have turned into friends, friends into customers, it’s too connected a world to not do the right thing, and yet many businesses don’t seem to yet realise that.

The day ended with a lovely long birthday dinner for Mike, fresh seafood, salads from their garden, a beautiful aged Grenache, neighbours dropping in.

These last few days with our hosts have reinforced the importance of being part of a community. The way neighbours help each other out, as some age or lose their partners, this is how people are meant to live. Mutual respect and a sense of belonging.

We miss our friends and the identity that comes from being part of a team at work, travelling does bring some challenges in that regard, but the mobile community of grey nomads (in which we have made so many new friends) has helped offset some of the potential isolation.

We appreciate your efforts at reading this blog and sending us comments, keeping us connected. Thank you!

November 20, 2017November 20, 2017

Day 174: 20 November – Exploring the Coromandel Valley

Author: Mrs A

Location: Adelaide, Coromandel Valley

A warm day was promised with blue skies overhead as the morning dawned. We decided to pop on the air conditioning to ensure Tassie was kept comfortable as the temperature climbed to the early 30s…she of course responded by hiding behind the pillows on the bed and snuggling down – there’s no pleasing some people!

Mr A decided to do an early morning cycle to try and get a handle of our surroundings, returning at 7.30am with a face of shock at the number of and steep angle of the hills around here! After several months of pretty flat cycling we suddenly feel like we are in the foothills of the French Alps!

We joined Kim for some breakfast of bacon and freshly laid eggs, before bringing Tassie out to the garden for an explore, the dogs safely locked away. She had a good stroll around and came face to face with her first chicken, which she didn’t think much of, before returning to the safety of the mobile apartment for a nap.

Next it was the dogs turn for some exercise, so we joined Kim on a stroll around the neighbourhood with Cooper and Riki.

Mr A and I volunteered to pop down to the shops to buy a few supplies for tonight’s and tomorrow’s dinner, and Kim pointed us in the direction of her favourite supermarket. OMG. What initially was meant to be purchasing some fish, chicken thighs and a lime turned in to an almost $300 shop!!

What a fabulous supermarket – why there are not more of these (and why Adelaide deserves this one and not Sydney’s northern beaches, I don’t know!) in Australia, I have no idea, but Foodland Frewville really sets the bar. The fruit and vegetables are set out like art displays…

There is a breadbar instead of a bakery, with all sorts of goodies on sale – Mr A was like a kid in a sweet shop!He emerged with a caramel donut – to share with Kim over a cup of tea when we got back!The Cheese was from all around Australia and the world – Mr A collected some washed rind sheep cheese from France and a bitey Stilton from England…after our journey through small town Australia, this was paradise.

We returned to unload our wares and Kim advised us there was some local wildlife up the road – in fact we probably strolled right under him on our return walk this morning. Yes, a young Koala chilling out in a eucalyptus tree…

Kim and Mike’s garden is also a haven for birdlife, with parladotes nesting on their patio, honeyeaters in the bottlebrush flowers, and pink and grey galahs looking down on us. Just a little paradise.

Our day concluded with a fabulously decadent evening of oysters, followed by a delicious Thai green chicken curry and dessert – Mr A delighted to find Kim had baked a fresh lemon meringue pie, and me perfectly happy with the final scoop of my dairy-free ice cream from Bunbury in Western Australia, along with a selection of fresh berries from the garden. Oh and I almost forgot the wines – an excellent selection from our tastings in the Margaret River region…Fabulous!

November 20, 2017November 20, 2017

Day 173: 19 November – Farewell to the Clare – hello Adelaide

Author: Mr A

From: Clare Valley

To: Coromandel Valley

Distance: 152 km

After spending the morning cleaning the car and van, we reluctantly dragged ourselves away from the Clare. It was a slow drive down into Adelaide, I’m pretty cautious behind the wheel, knowing I have several tons behind me you don’t want to be trying to stop too quickly. Late afternoon saw us winding our way though the city streets and then climbing up a winding steep hill into a really scenic part of Adelaide we had never been before.

Catherine’s friends and neighbours from when she lived in Hastings moved out to Australia 30 years ago, and we have visited them a number of times over the years. A surrogate family really. We had been invited to stay with Kim and Mike for a couple of days, so first job was to park up on their drive, a proposect that at the beginning of our trip would have filled me with horror. Now…easy peasy.

They have a lovely home with a massive ‘market garden’ at the back, brimming with fruit and veggies, some of which were incorporated into a fantastic dinner.

Oh the potatoes fresh from the ground – the fresh berries and strawberries – so delicious. Local wines were produced, of course. A cracking night was had.

November 18, 2017

Day 172: 18 November – Cycling the Riesling Trail

Author: Mrs A

Location: Clare Valley

Distance cycled: 28km

Finally the sun decided to show itself in the Clare Valley with the day promising to give us no wind, and temperatures in the early 20s – hurrah! We had decided to explore some of the Riesling Trail today. The total trail is 35km long, and follows part of an old railway which was closed in the late 1980s.

We jumped on the trail from our campground and headed south. It passes through some very picturesque scenery – rolling hills of grazing land for cattle and sheep as well as vineyards.

Our first stop, Sevenhill Cellars, was in fact the first vineyard in the area in 1851, set up by the Catholic Church to provide wine for holy communion. Other vines followed but it wasn’t until the 1950s that Riesling was finally planted here – the grape the area has built its reputation on.

Sevenhill encouraged visitors to explore its grounds, which had multiple historical buildings from the 1800s and under the tasting room, steps down to the old wine cellar.

We continued on, the trail gradually going uphill most of the way (but nowhere as steep as yesterday!), before reaching a peak and heading downhill towards Watervale. There we turned off the path and headed to Crabtree Wines for a tasting. What a fabulous selection of wine and a great tasting experience in amazing scenery.

We had lunch in Watervale before turning back to camp, enjoying the downhills when they came.

It was then the car’s turn for an explore as we returned to the Sussex Squire from yesterday and Crabtree Wine to pick up a few bottles. We are now fully loaded in the caravan and have had to extend our wine cellar to under the bed. Luckily we are heading into Adelaide next week where we will have several opportunities to share a drop or two with our surrogate family members…you know who you are!

Tonight we are celebrating the warm wind free evening with a BBQ – cooking up some sardines we purchased on our travels through WA with some roasted pumpkin and salad…which wine to pair with this fine dining…? Ah decisions…decisions…

November 17, 2017January 19, 2023

Day 170-171: 16-17 November – Let the wine tasting begin (again!)

Author: Mr A

From: Whyalla

To: Clare

Distance: 272 km Cycled: 22.5 km

Yesterday we drove into the Clare Valley, stopping to make a very important purchase at a ‘fine foods’ shed by the side of the Port Augusta road…

Yes…food of the Gods…pickled eggs. Thirteen years ago we had driven that same highway on our way to the Flinders Ranges and I had seen this sign from heaven by the roadside, advertising pickled eggs. I just had to swerve off the road and buy some. And here we are all these years later and I’m back…never having being able to buy any more in Australia in the intervening period…Criminal!

We were soon set up on a cold dismal looking campsite just outside of the small town of Clare. Thoughts of cycling into town were abandoned as we shivered in the 13 degree late afternoon temperature. Instead we popped in the car and after a quick tour round the less than inspiring shops decided on a early (5.45pm!) Indian dinner, at Indii of Clare. When you walk into an Indian and its still light it feels all wrong. Anyway the food was great – fabulously cooked ‘street food’ menu of entree size dishes. An excellent bottle of local straight Grenache from Vangaurdist Wines. A good start to the Clare.

We listened to the rain hammering down overnight, sounding like dried peas were being chucked at the caravan roof – a disturbed night. Morning dawned wet, cold and foggy. To perk us up I did my (now World famous) BBQ egg and bacon sarnies (much to Mrs A’s approval), unloaded the bikes and off we set for a ride.

When will the iOS app for Google Maps show altitude? Mrs A had picked us a nice looking circuit shown on a wineries map, but no indication that we would be cycling up near vertical roads for the first 10km.

This picture does not do the gradient justice as Mrs A reached the peak of yet another 242 metre ascent.

We paused for a breather at the first winery we came to, Sussex Squire. Given Mrs A is from the old county of Sussex we felt it was worth climbing up their steep drive. And it was. What a great selection of wines – from their crisp Riesling, very unusual apple and pear notes Pinot Grigio, to a wonderful straight Malbec that was so elegant, their Metaro was silky smooth, and the dry grown Shiraz just gorgeous. The owner, Mark Bollen did a terrific job of explaining his philosophy of organic wine making in this small, family owned vineyard.

I can only contrast that experience with our next tasting (up more hills) at Skillogalee, which was dreadful. The young lady delivering the tasting either knew nothing about her wines, or if she did was very reluctant to share. She stood there with her arms folded, gazing out of the window and giving out an air of complete boredom. We’ve drunk a lot of their wines over the years, but my finger will carry on past them now on the wine list.

We wandered back up the hill (how come in a loop ride we only seem to be going up?) and back to the caravan park. Now what do you think could be under a down jacket when the temperature as shown is 20 degrees centigrade…? Yes, some of you know our Burmese cat is is born for more tropical climes than this!

So the local Tourist Information centre next to the campsite does a wine tasting every Friday night, brilliant. We went along and it was heaving. What a great concept. Use these facilities not just 9-5, promoting local businesses, selling a wide range of food and wine, not just have leaflets with content everyone can find on Google now anyway. As usual we got talking to Tim and Angie, a lovely couple from the Gold Coast who were traveling with their 9 and 10 year olds. They saw that we were in a Zone RV and said “We met some other Zone owners in Port Lincoln” – John and Shelley – the same people we met the day before yesterday! Such a small world in such a big country – love it!

November 15, 2017January 19, 2023

Day 169: 15 November – A stormy farewell to the Eyre Peninsula

Author: Mrs A

From: Yeldulknie Weir near Cleve

To: Whyalla

Distance: 144 km

I’m almost ashamed to admit we slept in this morning, not getting up until 9.30am! We had such a peaceful and deep night’s sleep we awoke feeling quite refreshed. The day was refreshed too – a good 10 degrees colder than yesterday and reaching only 16 degrees by the time we left, wearing warm clothes that only a couple of days ago we thought we would never put on again!

We drove to Whyalla, towards the north of the Spencer Gulf and our final location on the Eyre Peninsular. We had booked a water front site, which has fabulous views out of the window but you wouldn’t want to be outside. The 55km/hr winds gusting straight off the water are slightly off putting – perfect for the wind and kite surfers we have spotted whizzing around out there, but pretty unpleasant for the average person.

Brrr….windy as Mr A’s bottom after a spicy curry

According to the news, Whyalla has got off lightly on the weather front, as Port Pirie (we can practically see it on the opposite side of the gulf) has had car ports and trees down in addition to torrential rain. We’ve just had drizzle.

On our drive over to Whyalla we spotted our first Zone on the move – this is pretty exciting as there are not many of us about. We own the 44th ZoneRV caravan and on chatting to the owners of this one, we found they are number 55! We drove up the highway in parallel for a bit and chatted on the radio as we went. Hopefully we will be able to catch up with John and Shelley in Adelaide for some more travel talk over a glass of Barossa red!

As we pulled into the caravan park we spotted our fellow Burmese cat travellers, (Simba’s staff members) Kim and Ian, who had been here a day already. We briefly said hello to them before setting up. The cool windy and showery afternoon did not really entice us into exploring the area, so we jumped in to the car and did a little supermarket shopping, before hibernating back in the caravan with a few episodes on Netflix and beef burritos for dinner.

Back on the road tomorrow, heading to more wine in the Clare Valley – we’re hoping the weather will improve for us to cycle the Riesling Trail at the weekend…the forecast so far looks positive!

November 13, 2017January 19, 2023

Day 167: 13 November – Yet more stunning turquoise waters

Author: Mrs A

Location: Coffin Bay National Park

Distance walked: 5km

After a couple of humid and overcast days, Monday morning dawned with blue skies. Following breakfast and some exploration time for Miss Tassie, Mr A and I drove into Coffin Bay National Park.

We had heard many great things about the park, its stunning scenery and plentiful wildlife, and we were looking forward to seeing it for ourselves. It didn’t take long for the wildlife to emerge – a group of emus crossing the road in front of us, a fair reminder why there is a 40km/hr speed limit.

A cute family – this will be a male looking after his charges

Our first stop was the Templetonia Lookout, providing views across the sand dunes, over Thorny Passage Marine Park and over to Mount Dutton in the distance. Wispy clouds raced across the sky, reminding us that a change in the weather is approaching, with storms and showers due tomorrow. The flies were out in their hundreds as well – attempting to get into every orifice!

Magnificent views and a change of weather on the horizon

From there, we headed over to Point Avoid, with lookouts over Golden Island and the Whidbey Isles Conservation Park. Lovely views across stunning turquoise waters and pristine sandy beaches. Looking out at the water I was reminded of the powerful dangers that lurk beneath, and wondered where our nearest great white shark might be…the warning signs on the cliffs advised us of everything but!

Thankfully in this direction there was a gentle breeze which saw off the swarms of flies and made life outside of the car a little more pleasant.

One thing we found intriguing (and somewhat sad) was the lack of recognition of the indigenous residents of this area. From our travels in Western Australia we learned that every bay, cove and island has already been named, often for thousands of years, and yet all we see here are the names provided by explorers in relatively recent times. There is barely a mention of the aboriginal population, other than to say they found food here. I am certain they had much more fitting names for the likes of ‘Misery Bay’, ‘Sudden Jerk Island’, ‘Seasick Bay’, ‘Phantom Cove’ and ‘Dead Man Corner’ – all locations within the park.

Still, the scenery did take our breath away, despite the fact we have been very much spoiled over the past few months with incredible locations. We walked down onto Almonta Beach for a walk along the water’s edge, recognising this is probably the last deserted beach we will be on for a long while.

Fly net at the ready but not needed in the coastal breeze

We returned to camp for the afternoon and spent it in the shade, reading. We are really not used to these temperatures – it’s very warm 31 degrees – this time last week we had our heating on, and now we have the air conditioning!

I guess we ought to enjoy it while we can – it’s meant to cool right down after a day of thunder storms and showers tomorrow, and no doubt we will be complaining of the cold again.

We enjoyed a final serving of freshly harvested and shucked oysters, before whipping up a chicken Pad Thai for dinner.

November 11, 2017January 19, 2023

Day 165: 11 November – Emus and Oysters

Author: Mrs A

From: Port Lincoln

To: Coffin Bay

Distance driven: 44km Cycled: 13km

We farewelled our camping-cat neighbours and Port Lincoln this morning, and after a brief bottle-shop (off-licence) run we headed for Coffin Bay. We were actually backtracking a short way, having bypassed the oyster Mecca in favour of sharks, but it was not to be missed.

We arrived around lunchtime, and after a bite to eat jumped on our bikes for an explore. Our first stop was the oyster sheds, an industrial area consisting purely of various oyster farm factories – where they clean and prepare the freshly farmed oysters to send predominantly to Sydney and Melbourne for sale at fish markets and in premium restaurants. We have often dined on these succulent molluscs back in Sydney and really enjoy their flavour.

Being Saturday, most of the sheds were all locked up, but as we reached the final one, a tall man popped out and told us he was open for business. We headed down to his Shellar Door (ha ha) and after our long oyster drought in Western Australia we decided to treat ourselves to two dozen. Given Mr A had cut his finger on a pair of scissors this morning (don’t even ask!), we opted not to learn how to shuck our own and had them opened for us instead.

After popping them in the fridge, we continued our exploration. Coffin Bay is a small settlement with around 600 permanent residents and lots of currently unoccupied holiday houses. It’s a very sleepy coastal village with a pub, a couple of small cafés/takeaways (which don’t serve food beyond 6pm!), a yacht club and pharmacy. It has been farming and selling oysters since the late 1800s, and probably has changed very little in that time.

Other than oysters, this area is famous for its national park which we plan to visit over the next couple of days. We rode around the Oyster Trail, a pathway which followed the coast, leading right up to the entrance to the park. It gave us lots of information about the native flora and fauna, as well as a taste of the history of the area.

Love our bikes – perfect exploration transport

After about an hour of riding we came across an unusual sight – a male emu with his four young charges walking along the street! Emus are interesting birds – the female lays an egg, but immediately abandons it, leaving the male to incubate and hatch it. The male does all the parenting from that point onwards, usually adopting other young emu chicks and keeping an eye on them, teaching them how to find food and stay safe.

It was great to see the chicks being so well looked after as we watched the male calling for the strays, ensuring he knew where they were at all times.

We returned to camp for cold drinks and showers – despite being overcast it is extremely humid today and in the late 20s temperature wise – quite steamy. Oysters accompanied by an Eden Valley Riesling came next.

We attempted to get local fish and chips for dinner, but at 6.30pm were MUCH too late for that (by an hour!) so will be cooking instead. Welcome to country Australia!

November 11, 2017November 11, 2017

Day 164: 10 November – A clean up day

Author: Mr A

Location: Port Lincoln Tourist Park

It’s not all shark diving and/or relaxing on this trip you know. Some days you just have to buckle down and clean up. Today it was time for the very dusty truck and the Zone to get a spruce up. Mrs A even managing to look glamorous with a mop in her hand posing on the roof. Why aren’t I up there you might ask? Well…we decided not to get the ladder fitted to the rear of the Zone (mistake), so the only way we have worked out to get up and clean the solar panels, is for the dinky Mrs A to sneak up through the skylight.

We had new neighbours pull up in their motor home today, and out on a lead comes another Burmese, cool as you like! They have been travelling with prince Simba since leaving Sydney in May, and it was great to swap stories over a few glasses about life on the road serving our respective furry masters.

A final look around the neighbourhood on foot completed the afternoon. A very picturesque location.

For dinner I cooked up a bit of storm on the BBQ. None of that fancy foreign spiced up food on my barby 🙂

Nothing wrong with meat and three veg you know! All this was washed down with a bottle of Mudhouse Pinot from Central Otago, awesome. Tomorrow we leave Port Lincoln and head for oyster heaven at Coffin Bay – mmmmmm.

November 9, 2017January 22, 2023

Day 163: 9 November – Great White Shark Cage Diving in the Neptune Islands

Author: Mrs A

Location: Port Lincoln & the North Neptune Islands

Distance: 60km as the crow flies – about 2.5 hours by boat

The day began early with a 5.45am alarm. Of course it had begun multiple times throughout the night, as is often the case when you’re excited and don’t want to miss waking up in time! Today Mr A and I went separate ways for the day as I was ticking off a bucket list item – cage diving with Great White Sharks.

A bus collected me from the campground at 6.15am and took me to the harbour where I met my fellow divers. We were provided with tea, juice and breakfast before boarding the Shark Warrier at 7am and heading off on our adventure.

Our wildlife spotting began early, as we were invited up on deck to see a pair of ospreys nesting on a barge in the harbour. This barge cannot be used now until the chicks have flown:

From here, it was a 2.5 hour journey out to the Neptune Islands – a group of islands at the entrance to the Spencer Gulf…

We were soon joined by dolphins which abandoned their fishing to ride the bow wave of our boat

A couple of hours later, we arrived at the islands, and selected a spot beside one where we could see plenty of fur seals (shark food) and also see some Great Whites on the radar, settled on the sea bed. The cage was lowered into the water, and we got changed in to our 7mm wetsuits, hoods, boots and gloves in anticipation of the 16 degrees centigrade water.

The company I had chosen to dive with was Adventure Bay Charters. Unlike their competition, they do not entice the sharks with blood and fish berley (chopped up fish), rather they use vibrations from music and the slapping of ropes and rattles to mimic the sound of a distressed animal, piquing the shark’s curiosity. This has the result of keeping the interaction more natural, and doesn’t send the sharks into a frenzy – associating humans with food.

We jumped in to the water…16 degrees is rather fresh (much like the English Channel I am guessing!), and given you are moving very little in the cage, you can only last in there for about 20 minutes before you begin to feel numb. On my first dive, I saw lots of silver trevally fish, but unfortunately no sharks. We could still see the sharks on the radar, but clearly they had already filled up on a seal pup and were not feeling peckish.

Our skipper continued working hard to try and entice them over, but to no avail. We settled down for a delicious lunch and the boat was moved over to another island to try again.

The afternoon warmed up and it got quite steamy in the wetsuit. I decided to go in for another dive in anticipation of success. Just as I was climbing into the cage, the cry went out – ‘shark!’. Usually this means get out of the water, but I sped up and climbed on in. And there he was. A three metre male, many nicks and scars, gracefully cruising around the cage, wondering how he could reach the tasty looking morsels inside. He was soon joined by a female. Incredible. Swimming along with their mouth open teeth always ready to chomp, they do look strangely serene and peaceful. You half forget they have the power to tear off a limb and end a life in seconds.

This shark is checking out one of the rattles, attracted by the splashing

What a rush, seeing this beauty approaching

Imagine the adrenaline at seeing this magnificent creature coming towards you

I lost track of how long I was under water this time, but was ready for a hot shower by the time I climbed back out on to the boat. What a fantastic view of some incredible creatures. Apparently they have very poor eyesight and their only way of testing their food is with their teeth. They don’t actually eat humans once they have attacked. We are much too bony. They far prefer the fat and blubber of a seal.

Unlike in the movies, this is what a great white looks like cruising past a boat – just a dark huge shadow, no fin

Research has shown that the majority of taste-tests on humans have occurred when the light is weak – when it is overcast, at dawn and dusk. Few happen when the sun is bright and the water clear. So don’t go in the water at the high risk times, I say!

Once dry, everything was packed up and we set off on our way back to Port Lincoln, with a few diversions on the way. First of all, to Memory Bay in the Lincoln National Park where we called in on a New Zealand fur seal colony, their fur blending in nicely with the granite rock: