Reflecting on…

Life is for living.

| Chris Riley

The start of this year started off with sad reminders of how tenuous life can be. Three deaths of people either close to us, or close to very close friends of ours within 17 days….

We arrived home today after attending the funeral of a very dear friends brother in Perth yesterday. Norm was only 66, and was still working up until less than two months ago, when he became ill. An aggressive form of cancer cheated him of his retirement years, allowing him less than two months from diagnosis till his passing. Less than two months – time only for him to plan his funeral and to put his affairs in order so as to minimise the paperwork for Jane after he was gone. No time for any final ‘bucket list’ wish lists, no time for one last holiday, no time to celebrate one last birthday or anniversary.

Norm wasn’t from the generation ahead of us. He was of our generation. He didn’t die from an accident. He died from natural causes, reminding me that we’re getting closer every day to the time when our own number is up. I always think of life, or should I say death as sort of a lottery, figuratively speaking. In one’s early days very few lottery tickets are allocated, but as we get older more and more tickets come our way. We could hold the winning ticket (or should I say losing ticket) at any time, but as we age and more and more tickets come our way, the chances of holding ‘the ticket’ increases dramatically.

Norm’s death has served as a reminder that the time we have left is unknown, that each day, week, month and year that passes brings us a day, week, month or year closer to our own time running out.

That bucket list won’t wait. We have to tick the important things off while we can. We have to proverbially ‘make hay while the sun shines’. We have to live life while we still have life left to live. In honour of those, like Norm, for whom life was cut short, we have to live our own lives to the fullest.

And so – we look to our ‘Bucket list’. Top of our list for many years has been the Gibb River Road. For those of you who don’t know, the Gibb River Road is a four wheel drive track running through the Kimberleys in Northern Western Australia. It’s not a place we can take our caravan. We’ve ordered a little tent on line, are researching comfortable air mattresses, and places to store our caravan for a few weeks up near the start of the track. This winter, all going well, the Gibb river track will be incorporated into our northern winter sojourn. How exciting!

And we’ve booked a short cruise. We’ve fancied trying a cruise for some time now, but have never had the time. It feels like it’s the right time to make time. We don’t know if it’ll be something we’ll like, so we’re trying it out with only a short nine night cruise departing from Sydney at the end of March.

Plans for a busy year are shaping up, a full year, a very satisfying year. It’s good to be alive!

Sliding doors/wishes can come true

| Chris Riley

Sometimes ‘pop ups’ come up on facebook reminding you of where you were at, or what you were doing on that particular date a year ago, two years ago, or as in today’s case five years ago.

Five years ago today I had posted that what I wished for was for us to sell up, buy a fifth wheeler and a cheap property to rent out, and to hit the road. At that time it was just a dream, a dream I didn’t think had a chance of being realised, or at least not for many, many years.

At the time of that ‘wish’, we had been working towards retirement at the age of 62 (we’ll both be 62 in May of this year). We were going to build a house on our block in Busselton, and buy a little caravan, most likely an A’van, and we were going to spend the summers in Busselton, and go north to Broome for much of the winters.

A brief summary of what evolved:

We did buy our fifth wheeler less than two years after that post, and plans to ‘live the dream’ were evolving. A short time later our house was sold, and by February three years ago we had both retired from everyday employment, and we hit the road full time, proving that wishes do sometimes come true.

It didn’t quite go to plan. We’d hoped to spend at least seven years ‘living the dream’, and travelling as homeless Grey Nomads around this great big country. Dreams and plans often evolve and change, and for those who know us well, you’ll know it’s true when I say ours can change and evolve more often than most peoples. We can change direction faster than the wind.

If you’ve seen the movie, Sliding Doors, you’ll remember that Gweneth Paltrow missed her train, the doors sliding shut in her face. The movie shows two parallel situations, one where the doors didn’t slide shut and she caught her train, the other showing what happened when she missed the train. The end result of both scenarios had her ending up in the same place – only with the right guy.

We often refer to ‘sliding door’ situations, the what would have happened if we’d taken a different path than the one we did actually take.

In this instance, many twists and turns later and somehow we’ve ended up in almost the same place where our original plans would have taken us – retiring by the age of 62, living in Busselton and travelling north for much of the winter, a real life sliding door situation.

We didn’t build the grand house we were going to build on the Busselton block we had. Instead we have bought a quaint little cottage in a similar location, only a few minutes walk from the beach. We have a lovely mid sized fifth wheeler instead of an A’van, and our intention is still to travel north to warmer weather for much of the winters.

We don’t have the savings we would have had, had we continued working full time until we reached this same stage in life, but we have enough to muddle through on.

We’ve had a few adventures on this different road that’s bought us to an almost identical place. Would we have changed any of it? No! I don’t think we would. We’ve seen a lot, yet we’ve left lots to see. We gave up normal employment much earlier than we otherwise would have, and for us that’s a good thing. The actual path we took to get to where we are now, although vastly different than the plan we had been working towards, has still ended up with us living in arguably the best place on earth – Busselton. What’s not to like about that – a real pleasure!

Goodbye to dad.

| Chris Riley

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Sadly, Paul’s dad passed away only a few days into the New Year. It was good that Paul was there at the time, and therefore managed to spend his dad’s last few days with him. I’m pleased he didn’t have to die alone. No-one should have to die alone.

His funeral was today, and currently Paul, along with dad’s other close friends and family will be at the wake celebrating dad’s life. There will be tears I’m sure, but also a lot of laughter as humorous stories are shared  of dad’s sometimes infamous pranks and anecdotes. He was a very funny man. He was a really good man. And he was a truly contented man. I loved him very, very much.

I wish I was there as dad’s last hurrah takes place. Whilst his chapter is now over, his memory will live on in our book of life until our turn comes.

Dad, you were a truly good father, father-in-law, and grandfather to Paul, myself, Alice and Kelvin. You may be gone from this earth now, but your memories will continue to enhance our lives. We’ll continue to play crib in your honour, and we’ll continue to recall and re-tell your humorous stories. We loved you dearly dad. We’ll miss you. You were a ‘good man’. And I mean it more than words can express when I say it was a real pleasure to have known you. Rest peacefully dad.

The best time to see WA

| Chris Riley

I don’t usually post twice in a day, but before we get stuck into our latest little domestic project I thought I’d talk first about the best time of year to visit WA. In particular I want to post this for those planning to travel here from interstate with their caravans or camper vans.

At this stage you may be expecting me to say the usual thing people say, ‘anytime’s a good time’. That just isn’t the case in WA. There is definitely a good time to visit, and a good seasonal direction during which to travel. And there’s definitely a not so good time…. We meet so many people who have hated WA, and without fail, everyone of them has been here at the wrong time of year, or been travelling against the better weather patterns. So, if you’re planning a trip up or down the west coast of Australia – read on…

If you plan on coming across the Nullarbor and travelling up the coast towards Broome, be warned the wind blows, and blows, and blows in the spring and early summer And the wind can be cold, icy cold. However around late December the winds start to drop and it gets hot. Any wind after late December is welcomed as a ‘cooling breeze’. This is the time to be anywhere coastal from Esperance up towards Perth. There’s a lot to see in this little corner of WA, so you won’t be bored if you have three to four months here. If you don’t have that long, and plan to travel up the whole WA coast, plan to arrive a little later than December so as you’re not travelling north of Perth before the end of March.

From Perth up to Broome is best enjoyed from late March onwards. The winds have usually completely dropped, the ocean is warm, and the very hot, humid summer temperatures in the north are starting to cool and become pleasant.

Mid April to mid May is a perfect time to visit Coral Bay and the Exmouth Penninsula. Barn Hill and Broome is like paradise from June through to early September. From there I’d recommend travelling on to the Majestic East Kimberleys and the Northern Territory.

There’s inland places that shouldn’t be missed, not least of which is Karijini National Park. Travelling north during the months of May to September will have you in the right place and in the right season to enjoy a side trip to this wonderful area. The season will also be right if you’re wanting to do the Gibb River Road.

If however you’re planning to travel down towards Perth from the NT, I’d recommend the coastal road only up until late August. After that you’ll likely hit strong head winds that can blow all day. The water gets cold and the wind whips straight through you. However, the Great Northern Highway will keep you away from the worst of the chilly winds and will bring you through some glorious scenery in the Pilbara.

The wildflowers that WA is so famous for start in the Pilbara around mid August. So if you’re lucky enough to be travelling towards Perth from the North during the spring, I’d recommend taking it slowly with side trips off the beaten track to get in amongst the glorious wildflower colour.

So, now you have it from a seasoned WA traveller. I’m yet to meet an interstate traveller who has travelled WA in the right direction during the right seasons that hasn’t thoroughly enjoyed what they’ve seen. And I’ve yet to meet an interstate traveller who has travelled WA in the wrong direction for the seasons who hasn’t disliked the whole experience.

WA’s a very big state. It’s a lot less populated than the east coast, so it’s easy and comfortable to travel the bigger distances between fewer towns. There’s a lot here to see, and to experience,  but the weather will play a vital part in whether or not you enjoy it. Travel at the right time and I’m sure you’ll find it a pleasure! I do.

Time flies

| Chris Riley

It’s six years today since Pauls mum passed away. Whilst it doesn’t seem that long ago since she died, it seems like a long, long time since I as working at the tax office. I was still working there when we came over for mums funeral.

I’m sure these past six years must be about the busiest years of my life so far. The floor was being laid in our Duncraig house extension whilst we were over here. When we went home we finished off the decorating. Shortly afterwards I took a redundancy from the tax office, then shortly afterwards sold that house and bought another closer to Alice’s.

We then bought the land at Busselton, and I found a little part time job.

Then another change of house, plus our caravan. Finally we bit the bullet and Paul retired too so as we could start our travels around Australia. We sold the unit and off we went.

Over the course of the following year we did a rather fast circuit around Australia, sold the land and bought and renovated an investment house in Tassie, plus two trips to the UK. We’re almost on our way home from our second trip, and I must say it’ll be great to get back to our caravan and our travels.

All going well, this blog should return to its original purpose, that of recording, ‘the life of Riley on wheels’. Here’s hoping we can relax into a slower pace and a less eventful life for a good while at least. Relaxing beach walks and swims, happy hours at the day’s end with fellow Grey Nomads, leisurely meandering around that big, big country of ours seeing new places and meeting new people, and also hopefully meeting up with old friends also travelling around. What a pleasure.

Blog change of direction.

| Chris Riley

Originally I created this blog so as to have a record of our planned ongoing trip as Grey Nomads travelling Australia. However, due to several unplanned changes in direction our road trip is undergoing a lengthy interlude. Hence, my more recent posts have had nothing to with The Life of Riley on Wheels.

My love of writing has been somewhat in conflict with trying to remain true to my blogs original intention. Today though I’ve made a decision to forget the blogs original intention entirely for now and will use it more frequently to record our current happenings, and in some instances just thoughts inspired by either events or experiences.

When circumstances permit we’ll be back in our caravan, traversing Australian roads, and then my blog will return to its original purpose.

Turning 60 shaping up to be an infamous year.

| Chris Riley

I’m sure theres some pleasant memories between our sequence of unfortunate events in the year of our 60th birthday. At this point in time though those times are certainly being overshadowed, and are hard to recall.

To date:

Paul injured his left ankle on the Ottway zip fly.
Paul then injured his right ankle helping an acquaintance to fit a roof top camper.
An old ankle injury of mine has been causing me grief.
All injuries are still troubling, and we have made appointments to see if anything can be done.

Pauls birthday celebration in the Uk certainly started out with a few problems, but ended up fine with the beginning of the night almost being like a comedy of errors that, dare I say it, actually made the night a fun night.
Circumstances outside of our control meant we had to cancel our Italian tour at very late notice. We are waiting to hear if we will be able to claim the cost on our insurance.
Circumstances, this time within our control, meant we missed a second short short trip to Italy – definitely not an insurance claim event. Flight costs, hotel fees, and 1st class tickets on Eurostar all lost.
We had colds for most of the seven weeks we were in the UK. This turned to full on flu when we arrived back in Tassie. Neither of us have had a cold for around three years.
An hotel booked in Sydney for our return trip was forgotten, and we booked a second hotel. The first hotel booking was only remembered when we saw the money disappear from our account the following day. Our mistake so have to cop that one on the chin.

Then to top it all off, yesterday i was enjoying the sunshine as I pruned a creeper. Unfortunately i tugged backwards as i stepped into a pothole. Result was a backward fall and now I’m out of action for 4 – 6 weeks with my right wrist broken in three places and now in a cast. I am very right hand dominant, so very simple tasks are proving very difficult.

At least I hope thats now the topper. Anything that tops that won’t be easy to take.

Needless to say, we can’t wait to get back to the simplicity of our life on wheels. We weren’t sure if we would keep this house in Tassie empty through the winter and just spend time here in the summer, or if we’d rent it out and return to our life on wheels full time. Its ending up a no brainer – the road is beckoning big time. Alas, though we need to spend 6 – 8 months here tidying up the old place before we rent it out. That wasn’t a distasteful thought yesterday morning, but typing this left handed while my right arm hangs heavily in sling, and theres so much to do, and i can’t even prepare a meal or wash a dish for at least a month – well it certainly puts things in a different light.

Update – Clause in the small print of the insurance contract meant the Italian trip and tour wasn’t covered. If Paul’s dad had lived in Australia we would have been covered, but no cover for a sick relative in another country. Never mind – time moves on and it’s now just a distant memory, albeit that particular time is up there with he worst of memories.