I was itching to get on the road in Tassie but the weather wasn’t being very friendly, I’d picked up a bug in the hostel in Melbourne that had settled in my chest and I was having trouble shaking it off. My immune system struggles in good conditions, due to years of abusing the liver, which as we all know is evil and must be punished. The cold wet weather was making it even harder for me to get over it. I was here though and I came here to ride the bike, my first trip a couple of days after arriving was along the north coast. It was 18 degrees but the sun was peeping through the clouds occasionally, so I gave it a go, after about 50kl I’d have to stop and thaw out but it was only a 400kl round trip. I was immediately taken back to my youth in the Northumberland countryside, riding the Lambretta when I was a Mod, before turning into a hippie. The green rolling hills, the temperature, the cloudy sky and roads Ah! The roads. Fantastic long winding roads with very little traffic to get in the way, these roads were made for the guy… or gal… on the bike. I got a little wet that day and I was coughing and barking at the end of it but a couple of Kilkenny’s later, it didn’t seem to matter. After Devenport and the north coast, it was time to head south to Hobart, I decided on the direct route, as I really wasn’t feeling that good and I would be able to come back up the east coast, so got on the highway which was more like a country road anyway,compared to anywhere else. More beautiful country but still cold and wet, I pulled into a small town off the highway and went into the bakery to thaw out, took my boots off and hung my wet socks over the open fire without any objection from the proprietor, in fact she looked over smiled and nodded her head in approval. Tasmaniac’s are wonderful folk. On the way out a young fella saw I had a spare helmet hanging on the back of the bike and wondered if I would like to sell it as he was picking up his first bike the next day and needed a helmet. I was in a good mood now with my dry feet and feeling cosy. $20 dollars and it’s yours, he was over the moon and I was almost in Hobart.

I am….THE LONESOME TRAVELLER….travelling east….BE HAPPY!

My next port of call was to be Tasmania. This was the next thing on the list of things to do after skiing, I have over the years visited all the states of Australia but Tasmania, the small island in Bass Straight, now was the time. As usual I hadn’t given much thought to it until the time came and discovered when going to Port Melbourne for a ticket, that the Ferry was mostly full for the next month. No good! My old mate John was off to Antarctica for his second stint and was going to be in Hobart for a couple of weeks starting on the 10^th, and I wanted to catch up and have a beer, it had to be in the next few days. Oh wait a minute! here’s a spot but it will cost you a bit more to get there… Ah ha! I thought that only happened in Asia… No drama’s, what’s another $100 in the scheme of things, I just won’t eat for a week. The Spirit of Tasmania leaves Port Melbourne and arrives in Devenport the following morning; the crossing was an easy one. I thought it might be a bit rough but the sea gods were kind to me. I didn’t sleep much, as the lonesome traveller can’t afford to take the bike across and get a cabin. On arrival in Devenport about 7am, nothing much was open, a healthy breakfast at MacDonald’s and a cruise around town, perfect! An Irish pub with cheap accommodation, a garage for the baby and Kilkenny on tap, who could ask for anything more, I was in Tassie but wasn’t going to be doing much today, a bit of a walk around to get my bearings, a visit to the tourist place for a map or two, a nanny nap and a few Kilkenny’s I think.

I am….THE LONESOME TRAVELLER….travelling east….BE HAPPY!

 

I’d heard a lot about Melbourne, and thanks to the AFL, knew the names of many places, which is where I started. Carlton, Fitzroy, St Kilda, Richmond, Collingwood, Hawthorn, I discovered Geelong was not actually in Melbourne and as they were playing Collingwood in the Final, I would be barracking for them. You either support Collingwood or you hate them it seems, for me though it was more that they were deemed to be the underdogs on this occasion. I’d already found myself a local, a very important part of being somewhere new and that was where I would watch the game.  That was not for a few days yet though, so a visit to the G was called for, got on my first tram, went to the MCG, a walk along the Yarra, saw Rod Laver arena, Crown Casino, and Flinders Square. One day while riding the bike across the bridge at Flinders Square, when there was a bit of an AFL exhibition on, this big lanky black fella jumped out of a cab right in front of me and ran across the road. I thought fuck me, I just almost ran Nick Natinui down. My mate Craig would never forgive me, what would the Eagles do without him? Melbourne was abuzz and there were black and white and blue and white scarves everywhere, a fantastic place to be at this time of year. The 2011 season came to an end with Geelong the victors, by a huge margin in the end and the banter in the pub was classic. Coming from England and being brought up with the rivalry of Football, on and mostly off the field, it was great to see the comradery from supporters of both teams. If it were soccer in England or in fact, anywhere else in the world, with that much piss in them, they’d have been at each other’s throats and blood would no doubt have been spilled. Here though, the victors rubbed it in and the losers just carried on drinking and made sure everyone knew next year would be very different.

“A fantastic day in Melbourne Australia”

I am….THE LONESOME TRAVELLER….travelling east….BE HAPPY!

 

I arrived in Melbourne the following day about lunch time.True to form I hadn’t thought much where I might stay. Melbourne is a city that I have passed through on a couple of occasions but never had the need or inclination to stay any length of time.This time though I wanted to ‘ave a look, I headed straight for the city, rode around the main streets, taking note when I saw a backpacker joint, until I found some where to park the bike. In Melbourne this is not a problem, I saw bikes parked all over the city on the footpaths….why can’t it be this easy everywhere?…So, headed back to where I’d seen a few places, parked up and tried the first one..full..tried another…full…oh shit, Grand Final weekend, of course!……full….full…..full…..! eventually I arrived at http://www.kingstreetbackpackers.com.au/ . Not only did they have a bed for me, they also had somewhere for the bike, a very important part of being in a city. This was where we were meant to be and all the other places weren’t worthy of us anyway, I had to get up early in the morning and move the bike onto the footpath, so the owner could get her car in the garage but that was easy, my baby was bedded down for the night, nice and cosy and I had a bed to sleep in.

This was my first backpacker experience and I had to get  used to staying in a room with half a dozen 18 to 25 year olds, not hard for this old hippie, I’d just spent 4 months up in the snow with some fantastic young folk. I was beginning to  to feel right at home in their company but my liver was suffering.

I shared a room with Reece at Falls which was ok but I was about to be introduced to the six bunk bed dorm, full of young men with no regard for tidiness or cleanliness. Travelling around as I am, I have to stay in cheap accommodation, in the city that means backpackers and dorms…toughen up kid and get used to it….! It had a laundry and a kitchen, a common room with TV and a dining area …home sweet home!

Mostly, people are there for a short time to look at the sites around Melbourne before moving on to the next place, then there are the crowd that have been there for some time, either working to get funds for future trips, looking for flats to stay in Melbourne, or bums with nowhere else to go. The clique, the cool crowd, they who believe this is their place!

I am….THE LONESOME TRAVELLER….travelling east….BE HAPPY!

I was heading for Melbourne! Rather than going backwards, I thought I’d turn left at Bright and go the longer way, on the Great Alpine Road, go over the top of Hotham, down through Omeo to Bairnsdale on the coast. After 4 months in the mountains, I was looking forward to seeing the ocean again, first though I had to get up to Hotham and down the other side. The road was slow, as in places it was so winding it was like doing a huee! That’s ausie lingo for U turn… On one of those huee’s, on the way down the mountain, just as I was coming out of the turn, a wombat decided he or she, would saunter over the road. I was having fun, so I was just about scraping the pegs. This wombat looked me in the eye and I just knew, he or she wasn’t about to speed up, or change his or her line, so it was up to me to change my line. I did manage to miss him or her and keep the bike upright, which is just as well. If I’d gone down, I would have carried on down the mountain but not on the road, it was a close call and I don’t want too many of those. The sun was shining when I left Falls but by the time I got to the top I was wishing I had more layers on, there seemed to be more snow around than I’d left behind. As I made my way down though, it was getting warmer and warmer. I was back on the road and as happy as Larry, even better, I began to see the ocean as the sun was going down. I arrived in Sale on the Pacific Highway just as it was getting dark and found an old pub with accommodation. The old pubs in the country towns of Australia are always good and cheap and a good pub meal takes some beating.

This is a politically correct post!

I am….THE LONESOME TRAVELLER….travelling east….BE HAPPY!

It was the end of the season. People started to leave and the village became quieter and quieter. The buzz had left the pub and I was just waiting for a fine day to load up the bike. That came on the 28th September, It was a beautiful day, blue skies and sun shine, with a chill in the air, I said my farewells to those that were left and took off down the mountain. I was back on the lonesome road!  I was both happy and sad, happy because I was riding free again, sad because I was leaving a time and place that showed me things that I had either forgotten, or never knew… I had fun…  The young people I came across were full of energy and I take my hat off to them for following they’re dreams. Some no doubt will get caught up in the pressures and stresses of the modern age, I hope they manage to hold on to that free spirit and continue to enjoy what, I am discovering, is a wonderful life.

Whilst at Falls Creek I rarely saw a newspaper or watched television. It mattered not what the economy was doing, which politician was using the system to his own ends, which toothpaste I must use. I had no discussions about portfolios, renovations, buying or building houses. There were no negative stories being sensationalised by the media. I was in a place where people were grateful for the small things.

The snow, the sun, the trees, the mountains, the friendships.

THE GOON!

2/2/2012 : I read an article in the newspaper today. Wayne Swan has just written an essay on how the multi billionairs of this world are trying to influence the decisions of govenments!… WOW!….what an insight?

I am grateful to Brian and Janette for the opportunity to spend a season in the snow.

I will remember fondly, in no particular order: – Lyn, Georgie, Speedy, Margie, Reece, Ellen, Kym, Torie, Joel, Alice, Tim, Sabrina, Greenie, Wayne, Ash, Jane and many more.

 

Go to Falls Creek and in particular http://www.trackers.com.au/ They will take care of your every need.

Iam…. THE LONESOME TRAVELLER….travelling east….BE HAPPY!

There were a great bunch of people running the lodge next door and I would often drop in for a beer and a smoke. Tim from Canada and his partner Sabrina managed the place, Greenie the chef and his offsider Wayne, were mostly in the kitchen, Ash the all-rounder, along with a variety of others that came and went. Sabrina shipped off to New Zealand for a couple of weeks mid season to compete in a free style boarding  comp and came back with the prize…what a champion….Tim had a wicked sense of humour. We would often borrow stuff from each other when we had run out…eggs, bacon, milk, cup of sugar…It’s very quiet at 6-30am in the lodge, with no one around  and I’m not quite awake yet. So I’m going around, switching on lights, shuffling around and finally get to the kitchen door. There is a glass panel at head height and just as I was about to push through, Tim on the other side stood up and with a grin on his face switched  on the light. Well!!! I thought jumping in that dam on the first day of winter might stop my heart. That was tame compared to this; I jumped back landed on my knees holding my heart. He scared the shit out of me; he walked through the door smiling and said can I borrow some eggs?

Every one used to talk about… FRANK…. “Don’t bring your car up the mountain; if you park it up here Frank will get you! Frank was the parking inspector and the word was he would give his mother a ticket if he caught her. Anyway the snow had long gone from the village and I thought I would bring my bike up from Mt Beauty where it was in storage. I had asked Tim if I could park it outside his place as there was a flat spot….no problem…. Put a cover over it stick a couple of ski’s out front, at a glance it would look just like a skidoo. This is what I did, went next door to Trackers for about half an hour, came back out and there was a ticket stuck to the front wheel. I couldn’t believe it,  I didn’t bother even looking at the ticket I just left it there thinking if I remove it he may give me another one. I went back to Trackers cursing and abusing…. FRANK…I went to the pub that night cursing and abusing …FRANK…people started to tell me, what a big bloke Frank was and maybe I shouldn’t be cursing and abusing …FRANK….I didn’t care, it was the end of the season and surely Frank can’t be that much of a prick.

He wasn’t!!

Tim had found the ticket on the road and stuck it on my front wheel. Luckily I didn’t run into big Frank before leaving Falls!

I am….THE LONESOME TRAVELLER….travelling east….BE HAPPY!

Reece was back on board, having made a full recovery and even getting up the mountain for some boarding. Not a great season for the young man, in terms of riding but he has plenty more seasons ahead of him no doubt. I was no longer doing any maintenance, after having had a run in with management over hours…. “the queen was in her counting house counting all her money”…. only doing whatever was on the roster, which was usually washing up Joel’s dishes. This was a great job. Joel is a lover of good music, even though he is a young man; he appreciates the music of the past. He would put on music that he knew I would like, I would stand at the sink washing up with a beer close by, grooving to the likes of Nick Cave, Dylan, The Stones, Hendrix and many more. He introduced me to new music I hadn’t heard and the kitchen became a place of fun and laughter. Tori and Reece would be on the floor serving meals and keeping the customer satisfied and the seven course dinner would be all over by about ten when it was time to head off to the Man to party on.

Tori was my drinking partner, at the pub, I don’t know who was looking after who? She’d say ok we’ll go down for one jug, somehow though; it never seemed to be one jug. If Margie came along we’d be in real trouble.  We were coming to the end of the season the snow was disappearing, there was no ski in ski out any more, and I think we were all thinking about what was coming next. For me it was the open road to wherever. For most though it was home, Perth, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Apollo Bay.  Lyn was just thinking of the peace and quiet of Falls in the summer, because of course she got her home back when the snow and all the madness disappeared for another year.

I am…. THE LONESOME TRAVELLER….travelling east….BE HAPPY!

Gabby is a seasoned skier, spending much of her youth on the snow fields of Europe and more recently in Canada and Australia. Susy on the other hand is definitely not a skier, I thought she was here for the social aspect of Falls and was surprised when she decided to give it a go. I took her down to get the beginners lifts pass one day and while she was having her lesson, I went off and did my thing. After the lesson we met up with Brian, Gabby and Margie, we surrounded Susy, to protect her from the other out of control beginners and got her down wombats ramble (the beginner slope). I left them to it and headed back to the lodge to do some work, expecting to see Susy soon after. She surprised me even more, when they all returned together at the end of the day, having been on most of the runs at Falls….what a girl!

It was fantastic to catch up with the missus but after a week, it was time for her to go back to Perth and for us to continue on our separate paths. Gabby stayed another couple of weeks and tried to kill me on some of the runs she took me on, although I am still here to tell the tale!

I’d joined a group of old blokes in the gentleman’s club, where we would go out once a week with an instructor and get tips to improve our skiing…. the drinking in the pub afterwards needed no instruction…. This was fantastic for me, as although I felt I was doing ok, I still wasn’t relaxed and balanced. Tai Chi taught me, unless this is the case, you are not right there in the moment…. you are not in control…. I was now beginning to feel in control.

We hadn’t had a decent dump since the first one in June; it was now mid August, there was tension in the lodge. Lyn after an amazing recovery was back cooking breakfast and I was doing just enough to pay my way. I began thinking of the road ahead!

I am ….THE LONESOME TRAVELLER….travelling east….BE HAPPY!

 

Every Wednesday Dinner would start with egg nog all round and when the kids sat down for dinner; Santa would turn up and with a Ho…Ho…Ho! Get the kids to sit on his lap one at a time and give them a pressie. This went down well with Kids and parents alike, after that everyone sat down to a roast turkey dinner and plum pudding. So it was xmas every Wednesday.

On the 25^th of July though it was xmas in July! I had just finished doing breakfast and Brian turned up with an armful of costumes, three Santa suits and a Captain America suit, another tradition was about to happen. He had collected lollies from people all over the mountain. Brian was Santa, Kim and Torie were his little helpers and I, as Captain America was just there to have a bit of fun…. What a fantastic day…. we visited the school, where a tough little kid wanted to test my muscles and punched me in the stomach to make sure I was real… just as well I saw him coming so I could tense up…We skied all over the mountain handing out lollies to unsuspecting kids, we visited the ski school…. the odd pub for a shot to warm up…. we were half way down one of the runs, where we had stopped to discuss where we might go next, an old girl came thundering round the bend, saw the Santa’s, completely lost it and ended up topsy turvy, sliding and bouncing all down the mountain. We tried to comfort her but she was not amused.

Ah well can’t win em all!

I am….THE LONESOME TRAVELLER….travelling east….BE HAPPY!