7. Take One

Our van at Hat Head Camping Ground

Hello there - finally I sit on this rainy day (Friday 21 Oct 2022) to commence the next blog post of Pete and Donna on Track.
When last I wrote we had intentions of departing Northern Rivers in mid September - 3 months after collecting the van and having our wonderful shakedown trip home. We had a lot to accomplish in packing up our lives properly so that we might travel for up to two years. I had to finish up at work, get my mud house and Patchs Beach house ready for caretakers. See Mum as much as possible. And for good measure I accidentally created a side hustle in those weeks just before we took off again.

sign for when in camp

Painting is a big part of what I do these days. If I am to paint as I travel I need an outlet for it - and some extra income will not go astray as I self fund my way around Australia. Hence the creation of Bla.b.lab Greeting Cards by Donna Byer - online shop. I haven't properly launched it yet - so this is an opportunity to let you know. Take a look and see what you think. Hand on the link if you feel to. I am so happy with the cards - the quality of the printing and the weight of them - they pop!
Pete created a studio in one side of the ute canopy to store my art materials with a rack for wet paintings, and I have a whole drawer in the other side of the canopy for my shop. I am carrying stock with me to post away and or sell directly.

View from the van

Pete and I are at Hat Head - with rain the last couple days and more on the horizon. We are prepared and have more than we need to amuse ourselves.In fact we are bulging at the seams...

Fisherman Pete

Pete is off fishing as I write - he doesn't let the weather bother him one bit. He can park close to the waterway, put his rod in the holder on his bull bar, and sit in the car if he wants. Or he can lift the side door of his canopy which gives him a roof. I imagine he has his music blaring but I may be wrong. He chats to friends on the phone and generally does Pete things. (And on this occasion brought home two bream for dinner!)

My trusty Steed

Where Korogoro Crk meets Hat Head

In this weather I prefer to stay at the camp with my choice of activities. Yesterday I waited for a break in the weather and went for an ebike ride around the place to familiarise myself and look for painting opportunities.

A dark and sultry sky
looking NNE from
Hat Head Bch

Looking up Korogoro Crk
in both directions over the bridge

view from the other side
of Korogoro Creek

Today there is no break so I am making a start on my blog. I have so much to tell you. For the record my un-favourite part of blogging is the placement of pictures - this platform - blogspot - does not make it easy to move them around and it drives me crazy!

Take I - leaving Evans on the 25th Sept
heading South

You may have noted this post is titled Take One. We planned to depart on 14th September. I'd googled 'what is a good day to travel' and numerlogy advised 5 is good - so I chose 14th for the fun of it. Pete went along with me 'cause why not?
We were delayed by an issue with my teeth - some of you know I had oropharyngeal cancer five years ago and the radiation and chemo left my mouth compromised. I knew that.
Anyway - I had a tooth pulled early Aug - and wondered out loud of the young dentist if she knew my history and would my bone break. No! she giggled; maybe if she was pulling my wisdom tooth it might break...! An hour later my tooth was out... she had a wrestle on her hands and her shoulder made quite a noise during the procedure...!

Our first beach camp - Take I

The pain, swelling and lack of healing were still issues mid September. Pieces of bone were floating up and serrating my tongue. Ouch! I was working hard to meet our leaving date. And I was hurting. We cancelled our intended first week away at Red Cliff near Brooms Head while I went to various apts to sort me out - no point in getting too far away from home with the fear of getting an infection in one's jaw bone.

A specialist Dentist in the Gold Coast diagnosed osteo radio necrosis. Mild, thank goodness, and maybe will stay at that. He scraped out the loose fragments of bone and gave me two types of antibiotics for three weeks. He also gave me three months of heavy Vitamin E and blood flow tablets. It won't bring the bone back to life but it is helping to heal it; I can feel it a month down the track...

The Lennox Head chemist was intrigued by the prescriptions and my story and she rang me a few days after I picked up the tablets and asked if I would be a case study for a pharmacy student she had working with her. Of course I obliged and told him my story. Hopefully it helps him in his work some day.

Sticking with the numerological 5 number I hoped we could get a way on 23rd Sept - but in the end we chose not to stress over superstition and left on 25th Sept - that was Take 1.

Leaving late in the golden light

We couldn't believe we were on our way (late as is our habit). Exhausted and excited all at once. By the time we pulled off the highway at Maclean to get a few fresh bits and pieces - and got waylaid at a flooded road into which Pete first walk through and then drove through - we made camp in the dark at the Boorkroom Campground near Diggers Camp, Yiraygir National Park - an hour and a half from home. We woke up to the following landscape and immersed ourselves in it for three days. Our first swim was at Diggers Camp and we used our brazier in the arv. We hung out among flannel flowers, walking the trails and swimming at various beaches within walking and driving distance.

Boorkroom Camp ground near Diggers Camp

View from under the pandanas Diggers Camp

Flannel Flowers everywhere


Blissing out by the ocean after a swim

Thanks for not running away!

Storm coming from the west - missed us!

Hiawatha Beach

Regular goanna visitor

Storm coming from the east
- we missed out!

Fran's Bello Pub lunch - very fun

We spent a week at Mylstom next - my sister Fran was having her 60th birthday on the Oct long weekend and I wanted to be close by for that. She and I hung out on a couple of days - I joined her kids and circle of close girlfriends for lunch in Bellingen, where we drank too much champagne and chatted over each other. I studied in her very cute caravan - wifi range at Mylstom was woeful.

Working in Fran's
very cute van

Mylstom Cafe and PO
for internet access and brunch

Across from the cafe

Pete fished, swam, matted, bogged his car on the beach and rode his ebike around Mylstom in between rain drops. We had dinner at the North Beach Bowlo a couple of times. Pete's friends Chris and Michelle visited from Coffs. I spent a chunk of time on my lap top at the Mylstom Cafe and Post office for the internet access, studying an online business course I bought. Happening little place right on the river. I painted my Pop Up Shop sign there by the river one day while Pete fished on the jetty nearby - he's a pretty persistent fisherman. We played darts at the Bowlo after that. That was fun.

Painting my sign while Pete fished

To be honest - this week was a tricky one - finding our feet around living up close and personal full time in a small space with no where to run. My reaction when I am uncomfortable is not confrontation but most often to run away. It was a week of deep thinking and gentle communication and renewed commitment to each other and this adventure which we both so want - and, I guess, setting boundaries. There's been so much momentum leading up to actually getting away, and there were times along the way eg when I left work three years before retirement age, and when I got people for my mud house and my Patchs Beach home, that I was aware I was hurtling towards not only the adventure of a lifetime travelling around Australia with my love and bestie, but also losing my autonomy and personal space and a place of my own to fall back on. I think that first week away was a crescendo where all the things collided. A step back and recalibration of how to be together twenty-four -even in a small space needed to be considered fully. I am grateful to Pete that he works with me on these things - he wants this as much as I do - and he wants it to be good. We did good - came through strong. I'm sure there'll be moments going forward where we'll have to revisit these conversations - but I do feel we made some good and lasting ground in Mylstom. Once you know some things you can't unknow them. 🤞

Helpful shit

more helpful shit

and a bit more helpful shit

We still had stuff to sort out back at home, so instead of continuing south - we headed north again. We didn't make any announcements. Pete's house was vacant and we landed there. I had dentist checks and Mum visits. We stayed at Cotton Tree on the Sunshine Coast so Pete could go to his youngest grand daughter's first birthday. We visited Pete's youngest brother who is not well on the Gold Coast. I sold my DonnaVan which was such a relief - some extra dollars in my kitty and she will not be sitting for two years unused and unloved. Pete sorted his house. We spent the last night at the Rous Mill Ball dancing to Living in the 70's. A lovely way to say our final final farewells and head off south again, this time much more ready for our adventure. Feeling calm without the build up of the first departure. Stay tuned for our next post - Take II - this one is long enough for a patient reader. Thanks so much for your interest. Love D and P xxx