Old Body , young heart

[Nobby]

I've posted elsewhere in this Forum about future travels.
I fly out on the evening of the 25th after spending the Day with 2 Daughters and Grandkids.
It's a new beginning. But the story starts a few years back.
It was decided (for me) that me and the Mrs* should go our own way, so I move out to a mates place, leaving the House for the ex to live. Youngest Daughter had a final year at Uni, so it just made sense. Everything was , and still is, fine with the split, and the decision was to sell the house "in a couple of years" after I had retired.
So there I am . In what I call " the Bucket of Shit".
It was around this time, that my mate and I came up with the plan to ship a pair of Bikes over to NZ for an 8 week jolly, then return. I was due to Retire, or at least get the State Pension in December '24 , but hec ,what was my rainy Day money for. So that's it , get out a year early. A few Days in to the planning I came up with the suggestion that I could just carry on to Aus. I've got a Son in Perth , so why not carry on like the lost soul that I was.
That was the plan .........
I was pulling myself together. Just generally getting on.
I needed a chest of drawers to get clothes off the floor. Being too tight to pay the £40 delivery charge from IKEA , I bid and won one on eBay......for 46 !!
It came up in conversation with the person selling the CoD that she was selling up and moving back to Aus. I told her that I had plans to be there in March '24 , whereby she says that " I should pop round for a Beer "
Just banter. Of course it was......... But there was something.......
I messaged " Blondie" the following evening, thanking her for the CoD, wishing her well on her relocation.......but would she like to go for a drink ?
Long story short, we did. We did again.
A bit of a whirlwind followed for a month until she flew out. We chatted every night , and still do. I flew out a month later for a few weeks. She has since returned twice.
So now the modified plan is to fly out to Blondie, and meet my mate in Auckland on 4th January, do the 8 weeks, the fly back to hers beginning of March.
Happy Days.

[Count Steer]

Aww. Best of luck to you Nobby. Ain't life strange? They say one 'drawer' closes, another one opens but they never mention a whole chest of drawers.

[weeksy]

I love stories of fate like this. Enjoy fella.

[Skub]

Best wishes toya Nobby,here's hoping that 24 is the start of good things.

I've a son in Perth too,he just got his permanent residency a few weeks ago.

[Nobby]

I love stories of fate like this. Enjoy fella.

You may remember the Pembrey Track weekend when I turned up with a half inflated front tyre ? That was the week that I moved out. I suppose I wasn't thinking straight , or thinking at all.

[Nobby]

Best wishes toya Nobby,here's hoping that 24 is the start of good things.

I've a son in Perth too,he just got his permanent residency a few weeks ago.

My Lad has been there for 12 years now. All settled with kids. Does Fifo on the Mines. Loving life. But then I'm going to ride into Town and ruin it...

[Nobby]

Aww. Best of luck to you Nobby. Ain't life strange? They say one 'drawer' closes, another one opens but they never mention a whole chest of drawers.

As my Mate said ,"if your looking , you'll never find "
I wasn't looking. I just didn't want two piles of clothes on the floor.

[Skub]

Best wishes toya Nobby,here's hoping that 24 is the start of good things.

I've a son in Perth too,he just got his permanent residency a few weeks ago.

My Lad has been there for 12 years now. All settled with kids. Does Fifo on the Mines. Loving life. But then I'm going to ride into Town and ruin it...

Plenty of dough for the minework!

My young fella works for a company that builds and repairs marine engine gearboxes,nowhere near as good money as the mines,but he loves the whole outdoor lifestyle the Aussies have.

[Count Steer]

Aww. Best of luck to you Nobby. Ain't life strange? They say one 'drawer' closes, another one opens but they never mention a whole chest of drawers.

As my Mate said ,"if your looking , you'll never find "
I wasn't looking. I just didn't want two piles of clothes on the floor.

When I was about 17 somebody said to me 'If you keep running around, you'll miss it. Keep still, it'll come to you'. I didn't understand it or believe it at the time but I do now.

[Nobby]

Its nearly the end of March. I thought I'd give an update
Did one Day short of nine weeks in NZ. It didn't seem that long to be honest,which indicates what a great time I had. Didn't have any sort of itinerary as such,the only things that we had dates for were the Ferry crossings South and North.
Sitting here now trying to think of something to say about the trip is quite difficult. So much happened, yet it's strange that I can't put it into words.
Maybe I'll just write snippets every now and then,as and when.
Flew into Aus three weeks ago to be with Lizzie, the eBay Girl. She live in a medium sized Town on the Border of NSW and Victoria. From here, everywhere is a distance. Four hours drive to Adelaide and Six to Melbourne.
Melbourne is where my Bike is due........ sometime....... it has yet to be put in a Container so I'll expect it when it arrives. To ride a foreign registered vehicle here, you have to have TAC which is a third party insurance. It comes with the annual "Rego" , but as I'm not Registered I have to purchase this separately. Not a problem you'd think. Queue up at a counter and apply. If only. Being so far from the nearest Port of Entry may be the reason that no members of Staff had a clue as to what I needed. If I had a Combine or any sort of Agricultural vehicle then no problem. I had to point it out on their website. I've learnt the procedure now so I'll get that in Melbourne when I pick up the Bike.
As theres a delay with that I've decided to fly to Perth to see the Boy. As much as I would have wanted to ride into Town, I think I've missed the weather window for the journey. I may plan that for late November early December and be the bearer of gifts for Crimbo.
It's been just over three months since I stopped work. It still hasn't sunk in yet that I'm retired. A bit of a bonus was the Boss(ex) in a drunken hugg at my leaving do, said he was going to pay me until the end of March. He has , so I haven't had the need to dig into my rainy day money yet !!!!!
Have to go now. Lizzie is due back shortly and I haven't hoovered yet.
Taking it easy. Nobby.

[Nobby]

Good News Day.
Got an email from Shipping Agent. Bike is in a container and will arrive in Melbourne on 13th May.
It'll probably take a couple of Days to get through Customs so probably ready to collect around the 16th.
Bit of bad timing that as I'm off to Bali for a week on 19th, so I'll have to suck up any storage fees until I get back.
It's taken this long because I'm a cheapskate and in no rush. If I had wanted it earlier I could have at a cos, but I'm just chilling.

[Nobby]

I’ve been a little quiet on the Bike front some say…..well nobody then….
There is a reason for that. Nothing much has happened. The Container arrived at the Dock on the 13th May. Trucked round to the Depot for the 18th, where it’s unloaded and set to one side ready for the quarantine inspection. This is similar to what it underwent on entry to N Zealand. The bottom line is it has to be immaculate. It sailed through the NZ test as expected. The Agent gave the Bike a good once over as it was prepared to ship out to Oz and gave it the thumbs up.…..
So , (that’s for Josh U R Richards)
The ever efficient Australian Bio Hazard Jobsworth had failed the Bike and ordered it to be cleaned (by an accredited cleaner, I’m smelling a back hander here).
This has added weeks, as well as plenty of Au$.
As most of you know, I’m not one to bear a grudge and I shall have forgotten this by the time I’ve finished typing………
Anyway, the plan is now to get an overnight Bus for Tuesday morning to collect.
I would have tried to go Monday bu it’s a Bank Holiday here. Charlie’s Official Birthday. Bless.
Ever onward.
God Save the King.

Just copied from my Facebook. I’m so Lazy.

[gremlin]

This young heart you have. Does it run free?

[Nobby]

Day 200. Part 1.
It has been over 3 months since I flew out of NZ. I had hoped that the Bike would follow on 3 to 4 weeks later, but as ever, I took the cheaper option. I hadn’t realised that rowing the Boat was involved. Still if it’s saving the Planet it’s all good by me and accumulating Greta Points too is a bonus.
It was the cheaper option of transport chosen to get me to Melbourne. Flying would have cost over 150 quid, whereas the Bus/Train is £7.50.
Imagine that back in the UK, a 7 hour Bus with an hour Train for under a Tenner !!!
The only problem is that it’s a 7 hour Bus with an hour Train journey. It’s an overnighter leaving Base Camp at 22.05 , catching the Train at Ballarat just gone 05.00 for the hour sprint to the Industrial Suburbs of Melbourne, leaving me a 25 minute walk to the Depot for opening time at 07.00.
The following hour was “interesting “, and I’ll post that in Day 200 Part 2.
I had anticipated, that after 3 months the Bike would need some encouragement to start. My new 40 quid Battery Boost Starter was on stand by, but after re connecting the Battery it only started first time. Gutted that I’d wasted 40 pounds.
It was now descision time.
The two options were to either take up the offer of an hour’s ride out of town to “Aunt Susan’s “ Bed Breakfast with possibly an evening meal and set out the following Day, or, to just man up and get on with it.
I got on with it.
With a prediction of 5 1/2 hours, I knew it was going to be 7.
It was.
To start with it was a not a very pleasant 12 degrees. Half an hour later as I was reaching the outskirts of Melbourne it started raining, with the temperature dropping to 9.
I knew what the weather predicted. The further north, the better it would get. In a Jeremy Clarkson frame of mind it was POWER.
For every hour of riding the temp rose 1 degree until I was about 2 hours short of my destination when the Sun finally appeared and I was able to cruise back in a warm 20 degrees. It had been a long 18 hours, and had traveled ove 1100 kilometres, which is, erm, that far….but I was “home” and all is well.
Av it.

Again. From my Facebook. It’s so much easier than typing it twice.

[Nobby]

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[Nobby]

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Picked up a Pillion for a Day out.