Part 0.5 Adventure Ready

There wasn’t much time for anything after I retired to my sisters’ house. Two days later, I returned to Queensland. Life continued as usual up there, and there were plenty of times when I almost called the whole trip off. I felt so much at home at that job. The work itself was hot, sweaty, challenging, heavy and every now and then, you get a caustic kiss. But the blokes were just exceptional, which shows how much the people you work with can change the situation. Side note: This also includes a job where I had to change the stirring mechanism in a giant pool of poop! Imagine an Olympic swimming pool full of poop. Human poop. It gets stirred by these horizontal paddles that cross the pool. These paddles are plastic and scrap along the bottom of the pool. Ergo, they need to be replaced every year. So yes, I have literally had jobs that were full of shit…

As soon as I returned home from my swing, I drove the bike down to my mates' boatyard. It’s a really cool place. Imagine 2 x 40-foot shipping containers placed end to end with another 2 seated 30 feet away but parallel with a giant half-circle roof connecting them. This was my mate and his father's laws section, where they worked on their 40-foot yachts next to each other. And it was one of over a dozen setups on the property. The yard was full of some great, albeit strange fellows with a few living full time at the yard. But there was work to be done.

As much as I liked the panniers supplied with the bike, they were not nearly big enough to carry my kitchen, workshop and office in them. There was also the issue of a few mechanic alterations that needed to be made. Top tip: if you are trying to remove a drive gear inside the engine. Don’t use an Australian $2 coin to press to tool against. It fits perfectly. However, it’s too soft for the task and will become stuck after it fails. That was a fun waste of 4 hours. And $2…

I also wanted to test my cooking equipment. I finally started to think ahead and purchased a stove that ran off white spirits. The stove apparently also ran of other types of fuel. So of course, I tried petrol. Turns out, it didn’t run off petrol but made a valiant effort to burn down the shed. This was in no way my fault, and I resent the insinuation.

Something I really enjoyed for a few days was camping in the yard. My mate had a fold-out bed, and some moving blankets stashed around his container. Just in case…I really wanted to get everything done, and technically I was homeless, so it seemed appropriate to sleep there. This also meant I could feast on the most delicious meal created by man and the gods. Pizza. Not being a fan of what I call ‘wankers pizza’. You know, hand made sourdough bases with nothing on top other than rocket and eggplant. I appreciate the skill, but I like my pizza’s ‘traditional’. Fake ham, fake cheese, fake mass-produced bases with sauce from a can and topping stacked so high you have to throw the first bite into your mouth or else you lose the bottom half of the topping. Traditional.

This trip was a quick one, and I was glad to get everything done. Now it is time to fly back to Queensland for work. On my next return, it was time to ship her. And give her a name…