As you can see from our previous posts we are out and about and seeing parts of the country we haven’t seen before. As well as the stunning scenery we get to see through our visors, we also meet some interesting characters. With this in mind we thought that we would create a series of posts based upon the “Encounters with the Natives”.
Apollo Bay
Joy & Mick/Nick/Mike the Yorkshire Man
We first met Joy and Mick/Nick/Mike, we can’t remember his name, so we’ll call him Dundee(!), in Apollo Bay Caravan Park’s camp kitchen…a most impressive camp kitchen! We were cooking pasta and tuna with fresh veggies bushwalking style – in the trusty Trangia. Dundee was frying up some sausages and boiling potatoes for his mash. It didn’t take long for Dundee the Yorkshire man to strike up a conversation and proceed to tell us his life’s story colourful as it was. His partner Joy soon joined him in the kitchen and it was immediately apparent that this chalk and cheese couple had enjoyed many adventures around the country.
Based in Albany WA they seem to make several treks a year with their trusty 4WD and caravan. Quite often Joy would indulge in some ‘her time’ while Dundee held the fort and anybody he could find to talk at! Joy, so we discovered, had just complete a pushbike ride around Kangaroo Island with her friends. She was VERY keen show us her new Helinox chair that she took – when it is folded down it is about the size of an AFL football, and weighs about 90 grams. We looked at them for our trip, but decided to buy cheap $15 stools instead of the Helinox chairs at $125 each!
We have found that the people we talk to when we camp often say, “May be we’ll see you at…”. Well, in the case of Joy & Dundee that happened when we arrived at Port Lincoln about a week later.
We rode into the caravan park dripping wet after riding 300km in the rain and picked a spot to park the bikes, which happened to be a concrete slab in the middle of a paddock next to the only caravan in the unpowered section of the park. As soon as we pulled up we heard a happy and chirpy voice asking, “Didn’t we meet you in Apollo Bay?” Before we could completely set up camp for the evening we were in Joy & Dundee’s caravan drinking hot cups of tea and enjoying yummy diabetic fruitcake. The only payment we had to make for the next hour of warmth, tea and cake was listening to more of Dundee’s irreverent tales. A small price to pay; one we were very happy to pay.
Portland
Mal – The Maltese Falcon Coffee Connoisseur
We stayed at a very nice little caravan park in the middle of Portland that was close to the shops and waterfront. We only stayed for one night as we were heading towards Adelaide and needed to be there by April 9. I called the caravan park and was able to secure an unpowered site for the tent, two bikes and us. After registering we began the usual routine of setting up the tent, making up the bed, stowing our riding gear and securing the bikes.
All this was done under the very watchful eye of Mal The Maltese Falcon and his beady eyed with Maloti. Mal and Maloti kept a close eye on all we did. We also watched them too, albeit a little more clandestine, as they seemed quite suspicious. However, they were quite harmless – just inquisitive.
The next morning Mal the Maltese Falcon spoke to us and offered advice on the camp kitchen through his toothless smile. And that was that – Mal had a captive audience. It was at this time that he told us all abut his yearly holidays to Portland and his illegal fishing stories…dodging the “fishing police” with more than his quota of fish in the boat!
Poor Mal doesn’t sleep very well and is often up around 5.00am and sits on the deck at the front of his cabin with his ritual morning coffee. Mal’s morning coffee at 5.00am he said with another toothless grin is his first can of beer of the day! There were two bags of empties on his front deck! Quite the character.
Millicent
Mary the proud grandmother and recently retired teacher
Arriving in Millicent for lunch we found a nice park to stop at and have a healthy salad roll for lunch. As we alighted our bikes and removed our helmets Mary strolled towards us pushing her young granddaughter in a stroller. We exchanged smiles as she passed us by. Mary did a quick about face and asked us about our trip. Genuinely interested in our journey she also told us about the highlights of Millicent, how she helped plant trees at a nearby reserve 20 years ago and other things we should see.
She was very engaging, informative and forthright. As she pushed her granddaughter’s stroller towards the centre of the town Heidi and I looked at each other and said, “Yep, retired teacher!”
You can pick them anywhere!
Nick-er – a little Chopper
While we were enjoying our lunch in the park and keeping an eye on our bikes, we noticed a beat-up white Commodore roar up the road. I don’t know what drew our attention to this specific Commodore, but something did. After taking another bite of the salad roll that Heidi created for me, I notice the Commodore had bolted a U-turn and had stopped on the other side of the road. Nick-er dressed in his black tracky pants, skullcap beanie, and Harley Davidson hoodie exited his car and rolled a smoke. He was on his way across the road towards our bikes. A real thug looking character.
I looked at Heidi, stood up wearing my bike gear and walked towards the bikes. Nick-er said, “These your bikes? They’re beaudies! Can I ‘ave a clozer look at ‘em?” As I scanned Nick-er for weapons or other potential dangerous items I noticed a set of handcuffs tattooed on his right hand! Hmmm, not a good sign.
Nick-er and I had a good conversation – as good as a booze and “self-medicated” brain could handle – about the bikes, our trip, and he told me about his old Triumph bike and several Harleys that are in a state of disrepair.
During the conversation it came up that Heidi and I are teachers and he told me of the very good independent schools he attended as a boy in Melbourne. It seems like Nick-er made a few errors of judgement after school and found himself ‘nicked’ and had an enforced holiday at Her Majesty’s Pleasure! Of course that is our assumption!
Nick-er did mention that his father was a chemist who travelled the country and internationally setting up chemical labs…I asked him what kind of labs his dad set-up. Probably safest not to know 😉
Adelaide
Cyclops the Kindly Cleaner
Every Caravan Park has to have staff that are there to serve the guests. And Highway One Tourist and Caravan Park is no exception. However, the exception is the sheer number of staff they have there. The staff almost out numbered the guests and residents. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but there were quite a number of staff. One of them was Cyclops the Kindly Cleaner.
Heidi first encountered Cyclops while she was setting up camp and I was off picking my daughter up from school. So, I guess it is best for her to tell the story of Cyclops the Kindly Cleaner…
While Steve was off riding around picking up, dropping off and spending time with Ashlyn and Josh, I spent a bit of time at the caravan park on my own just washing, setting things up, cooking and basically just being a campground domestic. Cyclops was one of the friendly staff. He had one bad eye but his spirit was kind and we chatted a bit about travel and everyday stuff. He had recently visited Tassie on a cruise ship, but thought our bike trip was very cool. Kindly Cyclops even let me stay in the laundry reading and charging my devices beyond closing time. Lovely chap.
Barossa
Reg (aka Roelf Egbertus Groenewold’s kinda clone)
After purchasing one of our favourite reds from our favourite vineyard, Murray Street Vineyard in Greenock, we rode to our camp spot at Centenary Park. It was here that we met Reg. A retired, builder, teacher, restorer, philosopher, postulator, procrastinator, perfectionist, wordsmith and well, down right meticulous!
One of our conversations involved him telling me about the 44 faults he found with his new caravan. He subsequently contacted the manufacturers, who in his words could only just build a cubby house, took his new pride and joy and fixed the 44 faults and one other they found. Still not convinced the plumbing was right with the van Reg was undertaking a water test as he believed the 70 litre water tank’s hoses were not function correctly. Of course he did this by measuring 70 litres of water by hand in with 20 litre jerry cans.
Taking a break from his measuring he began to tell me the saga with his new 4WD and the ARB bulbar that was recently fitted. The bulbar changed the direction the driving lights point, which makes them illegal. In true Reg style he contacted the appropriate government department and gained access to the vehicle importation information and the motor vehicle manufacturer’s guides/regulations and proceeded to read these documents cover to cover. To his joy and excitement he found the one very small paragraph that he could use as against ARB to get his driving lights fixed…and probably cause a national recall of 1,000s of bulbars!
On ya Reg!
Cowell
Bill & Bob the Envious Bikers
A quick stop for a bathroom break and hot drink to escape the rain at Cowell became a high jacked by the “Green Eyed Monster” – jealousy! Once again we were minding our own business when two dads dragged their protesting children out of the playground and over to the leaky shelter we were trying to stay dry under. Over the course of the next 10 minutes we were questioned about our bikes, communications gear, GPS, helmets, cooking gear, basically just about everything we had on the bikes. Of course they wanted to know where we were from, where we are going and how long we were taking to do it.
Their jealousy was shared! As were the pathetic little trips they had done…4,000km Pffft!! Dream on Bill & Bob – try 20,000km :p