MOT Tour Day 72 & 73 - Jindivick

Friday morning was pretty nerve wracking, with the drive from Geelong - to the south west of Melbourne - via the freeway systems to Jindivick - north east of Melbourne. Heavy rain was predicted but it stayed away. Being Good Friday, the traffic was lighter than normal.

Until less than ten years ago, the only reference I had to what I thought was a mythical place of Jindivick, was Flash Nick, a Graham Bond character but then, two dear friends, Markus and Virginia did the tree change thing and my thought constructs had to be re-written.

The image most of us who grew up loving English comedies of the seventies had of those who chose to turn their back on all of the infrastructure trappings of modern life would probably be the hapless Tom and Barbara Good who set out to pursue the good life in suburban Surbiton.

That's not how it is.

Starting with a small farm with a crappy house and all the things they needed in short supply, our great friends have developed an admirable lifestyle of their small holding and are completely self-sufficient. They have developed systems to sustain them and their goats and few cows and few ducks and vegetable patches and sometimes pigs. They generate their own power, store their own water, heat their house from a very clever combustion stove and everywhere you look is innovation, efficiency, hard work and collaboration.

They are special people and even though we have not spent near enough time with them because of distance, every moment stolen is precious and fun and insightful.

We had two nights with them after arriving in Victoria. 

The pottery of Sue Acheson

On our one full day, we toured the district, meeting the metal sculptor Laurie Collins and admiring his quirky, whimsical creations, many of which form a pleasant trail in his yard. He gave us a demonstration of plasma cutting and he made Sue and little bird on the wing from a piece of Core 10 Steel. Moving on, we visited with mastery potter Sue Acheson, originally from England but many years now a resident of the district. She was generous in sharing her time and expertise with us, especially in describing the wood-fired kiln she uses to bring her creations to their startling life.

We had a delicious lunch at the Noojee Pub, who impressively made a space for us despite being completely swapped with diners on Easter Saturday. A bold Kookaburra swooped endlessly, stealing food from fork while dumbfounded patrons gawped in shock. 

The Noojee Trestle

The old railway passenger line which ran out that way is now a walking and bicycle track and a highlight is ridiculously high Noojee Trestle, which still stands in wooden pride, spanning 100 metres across a deep gully. Its spans and supports, cut from local timber, still maintain their strength since 1885.

The afternoon also included a visit to a trout farm, where Markus showed further skills by catching a trout for dinner at the counter of the shop front. Others were casting with rapid success in the breeding ponds.

Click here for today's photos.

Our return to their brilliant home was via bush tracks through the State Forest which share their boundary.

The evening ran late, fueled by produce from their gardens and meat from their paddocks. Wine stirred the conversation into reminders of why we are such good friends.

Day 37 & 38 - Melbourne

We spent the day with friends Markus and Virginia Richardson, whom we met at Tambar Springs … although, in truth, we met Markus before that in Armidale. Sue and I happened to be at the cathedral in Armidale when he spoke for the first time as a young clergyman.

Things have moved on since then.

There is great comfort in the company of people you trust, especially when so much of their journey has been travelled in parallel. They are both people of immense integrity, warmth and wit. We just loved being able to swap stories of our adult kids, life and frankly, drinking wine and laughing the nights away.

When I hug Markus, I always feel I am falling into a place of great safety and Sue and Ginny are the best of friends.

Such events are the luxury of travelling and bridging miles which seek to penetrate close links.

Yamba 2014 - Day 2

It was chilly during the night: chilly enough that the heater needed to make a return at sometime before dawn.
It was enough it was needed, so that knowing the exact details of when seemed irrelevant. Asthma always comes visiting on cold camping nights and the insulated walls of the Avan buy us a few degrees of comfort only.

We were in no hurry to get the day rolling - a familiar refrain of most days on the road. Hurrying is for the kilometre burners and our only distances planned for the day would be covered at a lazy man' space and on bicycles. As it turned out, this suited the unsuspected circumstances of our companions for the day, Markus and Virginia Richardson, as one of their fold up treadlies had a flat tyre and then a rim damaged in effecting the repairs.

Eventually, we rode into Yamba via the cycle way which follows Yamba Rd until detouring to the water line past the marina and then follows the shore on past Calypso Caraban Park and on to the break wall car park behind Turners Beach. For Sue and Virginia, this was their target as the rode for the local markets, held every Wednesday in the car park. Markus and I detoured into the village and a bike shop to secure a new brake cable for his bike. The old one had snapped during the trip in.

A brake cable turned into coffee as neither of us like markets.

We eventually caught up with our wives as they were leaving the markets and looking for us ... and wanting a coffee. For Markus, it was his third double shot of the morning!

After coffee, we continued out past the museum and through Beachside to Pippin Beach and some local knowledge shared about Lover's Point, before coming around onto Clarence St as far as Main Beach. Skooting down the hill at a great rate of knots, we met up with family for short while and were back on our circumnavigation of the Yamba hill. Our final leg too us back to the bike tracked home to the caravan park.

Lunch was taken by the lagoon. Among other things, theories were pondered as to why spoonbills stand on one leg and tuck their beak under their wing.

Sue and I spent the afternoon exploring the immediate surroundings and ended up watching pelican and silver gulls between the Yamba Oyster Company and the Clarence Fisherman's Co-Op. A dragon boat launched from the wharf there, crewed by an enthusiastic group of older ladies and one rogue male. We age ice creams, held hands on the return walk and Sue wrapped herself about a street sign on Susan St.

Tonight, Sue will attend her family's annual Christmas in July event and I'll go to dinner with the Richardson's. Split loyalties will be catered for by split attendance. No one will be happy and everyone will be accommodated.

PostScript - dinner with Markus and Virginia was memorable ie full of memories ... and stories about our kids, our lives and how we are going. There definitely is something about time spent with old friends ... both the time spent making the memories and the time spent reliving them.