My life, my story... Day 1 to 3

I thought it would be wise to write a little synopsis each day or every few days and post them in a bunch (i.e decent few days to weekly, basically when I feel like itt)

Day one...
We are on our way... We decide to high tail it up to exmouth and cover the . 1,270 km from Perth to exmouth in time to meet one of Tom's good friends from the UK and his girlfriend a day before Valintinr day. The rough plan was to pick Zoe up from joondalup where she had been couch surfing for the week. Pick up fishing supplies and an esky from my best mates place on the way up to guilderton, Moore river; the first nights stop of many.

We got to guilderton around 7pm later than anticipated but my best mates put on a very nice afternoon tea, which turned out to be a very civilised way to start the trip! And Ant (10month old) despite coming down with the flu prove wicked entertainment and his 5 year old brother decided an afternoon of modified (and by modified I mean 5 year old's rules) cricket was in order.
We headed off a little later than anticipated but as I have said this trip will always be flexible and if we are enjoying the current moment, we are not going to leave for the "what if's". They will come later when we decided to set off again!

Day two...
We decided that we needed more room because all the gear was slowly encroaching on Zoe in the back seat. So we set off on gumtree to find a trailer or roof rack. In the end we were lucky enough to find a trailer in Canarvon for $100 so if it works out we should have that connected up to  Tom's Rav4 in a few days. We also modified out trip from stopping after 4.5 hrs near kalbarri to heading all the way to sharks bay 6.5 hours so that we could spend time taking a look at the trailer, fixing and getting it registered.

We have decided that on the way back we would not drive any more than 2 hours a day... So that we can just enjoy every aspect of what the beautiful west coast has to offer!

We had lunch and stocked up on supplies in Geraldton, a very short stop and then on out way again.
We attempted to stay at the Hamelin stay based on recommendations by a friend but it was closed for the summer. We stayed in the Hamelin road house ($11pppn). This was essentially a road house (petrol station on the side of the hwy, red dirt feild until we found grass near the camp kitchen and bathrooms). The facilities were clean but like a glass house in the bathrooms. We set up tent and Zoe and I went for a run (at sunset absolutely breath taking).

On a side note, on the return from our run I found out that the toiletries Tom and I had decided to share, I had managed to bring two 1L conditioners... Oops! At least he had very silky hair :p
We then filled up on snacks before heading to bed for an early start, with the intentions of being in exmouth the following night.

Day 3...
Tom had driven the full 6.5 hours and started out driving again this morning where we intended to pick up the trailer in Canarvon. Despite the trailer being a brilliant idea it was unregristed and required a little work in regards to tyres, plug and cleaning. This took the majority of the day requiring us to alter our plans but allowed us to check out what canarvon has to offer :) we checked out the bun-bay banana and mango plantation (449 North river rd, canarvon) for a well needed ice cream break. We spent lunch in the park.

We went fishing for the afternoon (fish: 1 Us: none). We met an interesting fella at the 1 mile jetty fishing at the same time as us, initially he seemed grumpy at us because supposedly we had committed the cardinal sin of fishing by setting up between his lines. We were very new at all of the fishing stuff and the only way to learn is by trial and error. In the end I won him over and he offered to help me set up a pall-entwine line with a sinker and 2 hooks to bounce off the bottom of the ocean. He also gave us the head from his king white for crabbing and informed us of the best camping grounds in canarvon and exmouth. All in all can't complain.

Zoe fishing :)

 

Not our fish :( but we stole it's head to crab!

We set up camp at the coastal tourism park $15 pppn but definately the best facilities thus far. They
only offered powered sites though.
We split tasks this evening, cracked open a few ciders and had an amazing chicken curry... Did I mention that Tom is an AMAZING cook.

Well off to bed now, we'll finish sorting the trailer out in the morning. Which we named the trailer George Aslam ( George the lion) ? It's red. Maslam was the road we collected it from and the road
came off of George street.
But really the Gorge street part was a complete coincidence, I just really wanted to call him George!

George Aslam in all his glory: fully register, inspected, repaired and cleaned.

Au revoir, til next time...
Kim.

My life, my story

Travel blog:

Okay I'm not going to resist using a cliche, life's short!
Too often I have heard the excuses; 'I'll do it in a few years, or I don't have the money or my job won't allow me'.

It's a terrible thing in life to wait until you think you are one hundred percent certain. I have this feeling now that I don't think anyone is actually one hundred percent ready for what life has to throw at you. And now is as good a time as any! I'm a firm believer that fear is momentary but regret lasts a lifetime... If I don't take this year, or two or possibly a lifetime to travel then I would regret that I didn't take full advantage of the opportunities and privileges that I have. To explore all corners of this unique and fascinating world. I mean I could get hit by a bus tomorrow and miss it all (sorry, a bit dramatic but it gets my point across).

I am so desperate to experience the the food, the traditions and customs from all walks of life attempting to be as self sufficient as possible along the way (which I am sure will bring about many hilarious and memorable moments along the way for us and I'm sure you as well).
I aim to inspire individuals to mass exit the work force and galavanting around the globe...
But no, on a serious note I hope to share a recipe or two, travel routes off the beaten track, have the opportunity to look back on memories made, maybe even earn some cash along the way. But most importantly this blog will inform my folk back home that despite jumping off cliffs, running down hills after cheese, and may other crazy and probably on the verge of stupid adventures we can think of... I'M STILL ALIVE!

About me:

I'll keep this short and sweet.

But, seriously how does anybody write about themselves and their life and truly portray everything they want to get across? I guess you just have to stick around and I promise to inform with the aim of not sending any of the readers off to sleep.

For me the past year has been an amalgamation of many life events all pointing towards a nomadic lifestyle of traveling for a year or two.

  

I grew up in Perth, Western Australia but have always travelled; New Zealand, North America, Canada, Europe and South Africa. I am a qualified physiotherapist and teach aerial silks and trapeze (if you don't know what this is please look it up, sign up and never look back).

I graduated a year ago, moved out of home and worked for nine months before deciding that letting me know whether I could take the holidays I had asked for eight months prior, a week before I was scheduled to depart was not on. So I resigned and moved back home for logistical reasons in
September 2013! This was also in light of an upcoming surgery I had scheduled in late October 2013. The month and a half between resigning and my surgery I travelled to the Gold Coast (visiting grandparents) north Island of New Zealand (family reunions and weddings), trained at the national institute of Circus Australia in Melbourne and came home for a week to box, train aerials and train for the tough mudder (a 20km intense endurance, obstacle mud course). I knew I wouldn't be able to do any of these activities for up to six months following my surgery so I made the most of my week, which didn't look much different to when I was working full time; training 1-2 hours of vigorous exercise a day. I then heading off to trek to Base Camp of Mount Everest.

I got back the day of the tough mudder, the day before my best mates hens party and five days before my surgery... I was cutting it fine but all I was hoping was I didn't get sick.

Okay the surgery

I lost thirty five kilograms approximately five years ago and at twenty one had one point two kilograms of extra skin (approximately an A4 size sheet of paper) of excess skin on my lower abdomen. After significant contemplation I underwent an abdominoplasty by one of the top plastic surgeons in Australia at the age of 22 on the 30th of October 2013.

                                   

One day I believe I will share this story (maybe even while I'm travelling) but for now the recovery for this surgery may just limit me partaking in everything adventurous. But this won't limit me sharing the unedited embarrassing and hilarious moments of my travel companions. They are likely to make up for my lack of participation.

Currently:

For the past three weeks I have been traveling around Ireland and the UK. Tomorrow I will be heading home. This is essentially heading back to reality for three weeks and reminding me and I'm sure my boyfriend just how much we want to avoid the real world by travelling Australia, NZ, UK, Europe, South America (by motorbike), Canada and possibly North America. After this we may open a bakery in the east of France, or settle down and return to real life. But, to be honest what ever the heart desires is my answer!

Au revoir, until next time.
Kim.