Good Evening Bloggers!
Did I take a vacation? It doesn't feel like it now.........
You'd better get yourself some refreshments......
Did I take a vacation? It doesn't feel like it now.........
You'd better get yourself some refreshments......
We left home at a little after 7pm after SB's job interview at Big W. (there's no word on this yet. He was told they would let him know in 3 weeks, and it's now 2 weeks...). We had a bite to eat at Dubbo, and arrived in the "Ace Caravan Park" in West Wyalong a little after 1am. Into the sleeping bags we slid, and out of them we (regretfully) slid at 6am on the same day and set off towards South Australia. Breakfast of meat pies and sausage rolls (urrrghhh) whilst waiting for the service station to open up at Rankin Springs.
And then the Hay Plains....... Beloved drove through miles and miles of dry nothing...... saw some emus, though. And some more dry miles.......... As Paul Kelly sings;
And then the Hay Plains....... Beloved drove through miles and miles of dry nothing...... saw some emus, though. And some more dry miles.......... As Paul Kelly sings;
"I press my face against the glass,
And watch the white lines rushing past".
And watch the white lines rushing past".
We fuelled up at Balranald, then I drove across the New South Wales Border to Mildura (fish and chips for a late lunch; 2pm). I continued to drive through the north-west corner of Victoria, then into South Australia... I drove through 3 states!
And for the last 70k's I watched the fuel gauge drop.. and drop.... and drop as Beloved snored beside me. We should have made it quite comfortably to Renmark, but there was a fierce headwind, so I slowed down to conserve fuel. We were 15ks from Renmark, and the gauge told me I had 5ks left in the tank. I have never been so relieved to see a petrol station at the Victoria/South Australian border station. I did get a bit edgy at the length of time it took the border attendants to check the cars for fruit and veges.
Evidently I needn't have worried as there was almost 4ls of fuel left.... ahem...... in a 65l tank.....
We all became really very bored at this point; we were very close..... and yet so far. We gained 30mins in our travels across the country, arriving in Nooriootpa just before dark. And some delightful people cancelled their cabin, which became ours for the week! No tent needed!
Hot and sunny, Saturday and Sunday was the South Australian Mototrials Championships at Tungkillo, a pretty place about 45 minutes up in the hills. ScorpaBoy was the only entrant in the Youth Division, so we suggested that he compete against the B-Grade adult riders, as he had to ride the same lines through the sections as they did anyway. They said it wouldn't be fair for him to compete against the more experienced adults, so he would just ride in his own age group. So, of course, Jack Kavanagh became the South Australian Youth Mototrials Champion for 2007. But we laughed when we saw the pointscore; he would have won the B-grade ... by over 100 points! Yes, it wouldn't have been fair.......
Monday, we travelled down to Adelaide for a look-see. And it's lovely. A lovely, overgrown town, similar to Newcastle, but probably not as big. And cleaner. I had a hankering to see the ocean, so I drove us westward until we found a lovely little town called Semaphore, where it was too windy to actually walk along the beach...... And then all the way around following the water until I had to head back inland and northward back to Nooriootpa.
Tuesday was a practice day for those competing in the Masters Games, and those who were volunteering to score.... SB and Beloved, of course were amongst them, as volunteers. Vegeboy and I spent a quiet day in the van park washing, mending and chatting to people. We met some lovely people on this trip.
Wednesday was the Masters Games Competition, and the weather was cold and horribly windy! I made the executive decision to sneak away for a while and sample the local cuisine (ie coffee and cake).
Thursday, there was a ride school that was being taught by a young English fellow, Ben Hemingway. SB enjoyed this enormously, and gained some new skills to work on. VB and I travelled 45mins to Gawler and saw "Rattatouille" in the local cinema. There was a big barbeque organised by a few of us in the park for those that were involved in the mototrials, as more and more people had arrived throughout the week. Lots of food, drink and laughter enabled everyone to get together outside the competition arena and get to know each other before the serious competition of the Aussie Championships on Saturday and Sunday.
Friday was another quiet day in the park as bikes were maintained and "houses" set to rights...
Saturday saw the most incredibly tense group of motocyclists that you could ever meet on a cool, crisp and windy day! Everybody must have had an over-sized breakfast serve of Nervous Tension all round!
But what a venue... Menglers Hill, Tanunda! Scenery to die for......
Too many people scored too many points on this nervous day......... the less points, the better your score. SB was in 2nd place. His nemesis, Craig, was a lovely guy, much more experienced than Jack, and more able to handle the pressure. And he is almost 21, with tattoos and a hairy back. He is a man, who likes to drink, and smoke, and drill in the Western Australian mines..... And, bless him, he calls me "Mum"....... SB still rode well, though.
I slept in the car, as our cabin had been previously booked, and I figured that this would be the quietest possible place. The boys slept in a cabin with SB's sponsor, Paul, and team-mate, Kristie. My sleep had been a little all-over the place during the week; I am finding that as I get older, noise ( of any kind) is not conducive to sleep.... the car was quiet, and peaceful. It's a good thing that I'm short.... the back seat was comfy.... zzzzzzzzz
Sunday, the weather decided to play nice. And everybody was much more relaxed. And consequently, improved their riding. The pointscores at the end of the day reflected this.
SB didn't win, but he came a very creditable 2nd to Craig. 3rd place was quite a lot of points behind. He's keen for next year, though. But there will be a few juniors that will come up and give him a run for his money.
And hey; being the Number 2 Youth Rider in Australia is something to be proud of!!
The presentation night was fun... but long......
The best part of this entire week of mototrials was the time SB spent with other young riders. They became pretty tight through the week, but the distance between Lewis, Alex, Rhyce & Craig from Western Australia, Scott from Victoria, Jake from New Zealand, Lachlan from Queensland, Brooke from Griffith, Sam from Canberra, Jason from Sydney, Krisitie from Oberon, Kyle from Newcastle and Jack from Denman will never seem as large again. I'm looking forward to seeing what the next 10 years will bring!
On Monday, we began the return journey. An over-night stay in a Motel in Hay( OMG; THOSE PLAINS!!!!! I think that there's about 4.4 thousand hectares), and dinner in a real restaurant! Talk about blowing the budget! We arrived home about 6.15 on Tuesday night. And back to the usual.........
I handed in my notice at work yesterday... but the manager is actually filling in at another hospital until next Thursday.....
I have to drive to Maitland tomorrow night to pick up the lovely Clover from GG... I can't wait to see her. Nanandpop have been spoiling her rotten. And she's been GG's bunk-mate......
Is your butt numb yet???? De-hydrated??? Low sugar levels????
Time to go..... and @*#* blogger won't let me post pictures.... sorry about all the text....
But before I leave.... just to let you Facebookers know, I'm continuing my hiatus from this very time-consuming bit of computer tom-foolery...... way to addictive for someone with no self-control like me.......
And for the last 70k's I watched the fuel gauge drop.. and drop.... and drop as Beloved snored beside me. We should have made it quite comfortably to Renmark, but there was a fierce headwind, so I slowed down to conserve fuel. We were 15ks from Renmark, and the gauge told me I had 5ks left in the tank. I have never been so relieved to see a petrol station at the Victoria/South Australian border station. I did get a bit edgy at the length of time it took the border attendants to check the cars for fruit and veges.
Evidently I needn't have worried as there was almost 4ls of fuel left.... ahem...... in a 65l tank.....
We all became really very bored at this point; we were very close..... and yet so far. We gained 30mins in our travels across the country, arriving in Nooriootpa just before dark. And some delightful people cancelled their cabin, which became ours for the week! No tent needed!
Hot and sunny, Saturday and Sunday was the South Australian Mototrials Championships at Tungkillo, a pretty place about 45 minutes up in the hills. ScorpaBoy was the only entrant in the Youth Division, so we suggested that he compete against the B-Grade adult riders, as he had to ride the same lines through the sections as they did anyway. They said it wouldn't be fair for him to compete against the more experienced adults, so he would just ride in his own age group. So, of course, Jack Kavanagh became the South Australian Youth Mototrials Champion for 2007. But we laughed when we saw the pointscore; he would have won the B-grade ... by over 100 points! Yes, it wouldn't have been fair.......
Monday, we travelled down to Adelaide for a look-see. And it's lovely. A lovely, overgrown town, similar to Newcastle, but probably not as big. And cleaner. I had a hankering to see the ocean, so I drove us westward until we found a lovely little town called Semaphore, where it was too windy to actually walk along the beach...... And then all the way around following the water until I had to head back inland and northward back to Nooriootpa.
Tuesday was a practice day for those competing in the Masters Games, and those who were volunteering to score.... SB and Beloved, of course were amongst them, as volunteers. Vegeboy and I spent a quiet day in the van park washing, mending and chatting to people. We met some lovely people on this trip.
Wednesday was the Masters Games Competition, and the weather was cold and horribly windy! I made the executive decision to sneak away for a while and sample the local cuisine (ie coffee and cake).
Thursday, there was a ride school that was being taught by a young English fellow, Ben Hemingway. SB enjoyed this enormously, and gained some new skills to work on. VB and I travelled 45mins to Gawler and saw "Rattatouille" in the local cinema. There was a big barbeque organised by a few of us in the park for those that were involved in the mototrials, as more and more people had arrived throughout the week. Lots of food, drink and laughter enabled everyone to get together outside the competition arena and get to know each other before the serious competition of the Aussie Championships on Saturday and Sunday.
Friday was another quiet day in the park as bikes were maintained and "houses" set to rights...
Saturday saw the most incredibly tense group of motocyclists that you could ever meet on a cool, crisp and windy day! Everybody must have had an over-sized breakfast serve of Nervous Tension all round!
But what a venue... Menglers Hill, Tanunda! Scenery to die for......
Too many people scored too many points on this nervous day......... the less points, the better your score. SB was in 2nd place. His nemesis, Craig, was a lovely guy, much more experienced than Jack, and more able to handle the pressure. And he is almost 21, with tattoos and a hairy back. He is a man, who likes to drink, and smoke, and drill in the Western Australian mines..... And, bless him, he calls me "Mum"....... SB still rode well, though.
I slept in the car, as our cabin had been previously booked, and I figured that this would be the quietest possible place. The boys slept in a cabin with SB's sponsor, Paul, and team-mate, Kristie. My sleep had been a little all-over the place during the week; I am finding that as I get older, noise ( of any kind) is not conducive to sleep.... the car was quiet, and peaceful. It's a good thing that I'm short.... the back seat was comfy.... zzzzzzzzz
Sunday, the weather decided to play nice. And everybody was much more relaxed. And consequently, improved their riding. The pointscores at the end of the day reflected this.
SB didn't win, but he came a very creditable 2nd to Craig. 3rd place was quite a lot of points behind. He's keen for next year, though. But there will be a few juniors that will come up and give him a run for his money.
And hey; being the Number 2 Youth Rider in Australia is something to be proud of!!
The presentation night was fun... but long......
The best part of this entire week of mototrials was the time SB spent with other young riders. They became pretty tight through the week, but the distance between Lewis, Alex, Rhyce & Craig from Western Australia, Scott from Victoria, Jake from New Zealand, Lachlan from Queensland, Brooke from Griffith, Sam from Canberra, Jason from Sydney, Krisitie from Oberon, Kyle from Newcastle and Jack from Denman will never seem as large again. I'm looking forward to seeing what the next 10 years will bring!
On Monday, we began the return journey. An over-night stay in a Motel in Hay( OMG; THOSE PLAINS!!!!! I think that there's about 4.4 thousand hectares), and dinner in a real restaurant! Talk about blowing the budget! We arrived home about 6.15 on Tuesday night. And back to the usual.........
I handed in my notice at work yesterday... but the manager is actually filling in at another hospital until next Thursday.....
I have to drive to Maitland tomorrow night to pick up the lovely Clover from GG... I can't wait to see her. Nanandpop have been spoiling her rotten. And she's been GG's bunk-mate......
Is your butt numb yet???? De-hydrated??? Low sugar levels????
Time to go..... and @*#* blogger won't let me post pictures.... sorry about all the text....
But before I leave.... just to let you Facebookers know, I'm continuing my hiatus from this very time-consuming bit of computer tom-foolery...... way to addictive for someone with no self-control like me.......
Have a good weekend all.
Stay safe, and happy!!!!
Love,
The epic-posting Blogmuggle xoxoxoxoxoxxo
Stay safe, and happy!!!!
Love,
The epic-posting Blogmuggle xoxoxoxoxoxxo
4 comments:
bigger than ben hur !
jack is a star.....glad you are back........ xxxx
Good to hear from you again, sounds like you had fun.
wow what a time you had there my friend! I love the name Jack Kavanaugh! It sounds like a soap opera star name! Or a motocross racer name!
All my children's names were chosen with a view to seeing them up in lights, Poody ... hahahahahah
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