An Official Tourist!!

Hi Readers,

Trying to ensure that I'm not bludging about and staying occupied and busy.

I woke up on Sunday feeling like I had been run over by a truck and could not understand why. Once again, it wasn't Covid (I've still managed to dodge that little sucker!!🦠😷)

Then I remembered what I wrote last week and went back in detail in my mind all the things I had been doing and what I'd been eating to see if that could give any answers.

And it worked!

I'm convinced that it was what I was doing that was leaving me so wasted.

Because I have been so concerned that I don't want to turn into a sloth, I had actually been doing the complete opposite, and overworking myself. I still get up early in the morning and do all the exercises that I need to do for my legs and shoulders to stop them from completely going on strike. I was also having my nightly ride on the rollers in the shed watching 100% trashy tv. This is what I've been doing all year, no worries at all.

As I still have the rest of the day to fill in between, I was going for a morning bike ride, nothing serious distance wise, but I always pump things pretty hard every time I go out.

Then later on I've been going out for a paddle in the kayak for an hour or so at a lake that is too conveniently close!!

This was okay for the first two days, but on day three I could feel the effect on the body, and by Sunday I was just totally knackered. I did try and get out on the bike, but I struggled to even complete 20km.

Back in the day when I was running, I'd pump out that many k's around twice a week, along with smaller ones on every other day.

My problem is that I continually overdo things, much to my own detriment, which is also partly why my body is stuffed in many ways now.

Not complaining, that's just how it is.

So I spent Sunday forcing myself to rest, and that was just about the most stressful thing I have endured in the past year!!

Even while 'resting' I just had to be doing something else so I looked around online and decided to head off in my caravan again for a few days. This was especially good for if I found myself at home I'd probably fall back into some bad habits again and overdo things. 

I've got some garden work to do, and history shows that even when I do that I go as mad as a cut snake and try to do everything in just one day. Even Jen would try and put the brakes on me at times, saying "We've got two weeks to do this".

I'm a victim of my own excesses it seems.

Now, back to the topic of this post.

I rocked up to this caravan park at Nagambie (Overseas readers, google it. A beautiful place!!) and managed to back my van in first go! So far that is always the most stressful thing that I feel when taking the van somewhere..."Will I look like a total dick backing it in???"

In like Slim, and the setup was complete in less than 30 mins.

I know my setup doesn't look as flash as all the other ones around me, but it has all I need and I'm happy with it.

So this morning was a gentle ride around town, then a relaxing coffee and cereal under the annexe contemplating what I'll do today. Keeping in mind it will be in the high 30's again, I need to be smart.

After not rushing around trying to do things, I just hopped in the car and drove into town and had a casual walk around the place, poking my head into various shops just to see what was going down. When I drove into Nagambie yesterday I saw a bakery that looked good and thought to myself "I should try that place", but usually that's as far as it gets.

Well today Readers I bit the bullet and made myself go in there, and wasn't it worth it! 

One of the best egg and bacon pies was had under a tree in the shade by Lake Nagambie!

Normally in these situations I'd rush into the bakery, grab what I need, wolf it down and keep driving. But today I found myself just casually walking along the street, browsing the windows and just taking everything in.

Then it hit me.

I'd become a tourist!!!!!!

When I was first thinking of buying the caravan, my plan was to go and spend a night or two in lots of smaller towns and just get the feel of the place, and now it is happening and it's as good as I had hoped it might be. So far!

So after supporting the local bakery I drove back out to the Goulburn Weir, where I went for a bike ride this morning.

When we were kids, mum and dad would load the 8 kids into the Holden station wagon every Sunday when they could and we'd just "go somewhere".

And the Goulburn Weir was one of these "somewheres". Back then it was just a weir with no fences or gates or safety barriers. Remember Readers, back in the 70's, safety and kids were not always considered at the same time!!

My initial excitement at rediscovering one of my childhood favourite places was quickly tempered when I realised that due to all the safety measures, all the places where we swam, played and fished were now people free zones, with warnings akin to being burned at the stake and thrown to the fish as food if trespass was to occur!!

When I was a kid I thought of this Weir as our own version of Niagara Falls as it had so much power and water on display. How deflated was I many years later when I actually did visit Niagara Falls. Today pales by comparison significantly!!

This is all fenced off. Back in the day we would be "Piffing yonnies"  (You might need to look that one up, very localised language used from the time!) into the water and actually paddling in the water as far up as we felt safe to do so.

The edge of one of the spillway gates where fish (huge European carp) were congregating)

Looking down from the spillway. We'd often be paddling close to the white water.

Side view of the weir, only one gate open.

Readers, once again I just found myself not rushing as I explored the weir again after perhaps 50 years of being away. At one point I found myself just leaning on the rails watching the water and the fish and thinking "This is what tourists do", before coming to the conclusion, This is what YOU are doing, so you're now a tourist too!"

For the next 30 or so minutes I paid attention to what I was doing, and this included just not rushing, taking time to absorb the smells and sounds and sights.

And I even stopped to read the visitor information boards...And I enjoyed it!!!

If I back track to Sunday, where I felt like I'd had a double dose of sloth syndrome, compared to today is remarkably different, and a definite antidote to the dreaded S.S. (You can work that one out I'm sure!!)

Well Readers, people in the caravan park are starting to walk around with beers in their hands, so you can guess what time it must be?

But I'll hold off just for an hour or two more as something else beckons...

This post has been somewhat of an epiphany for me Readers as I enter into a new phase of my life on my own. I just checked in my diary and I see that school goes back in about two weeks, so normally at this stage of the holidays my mind would start wandering out of holiday mode, and into school mode, and I'd be making plans to go in and start getting my classroom organised.

Not any more, and it is actually the complete opposite.

I'm now shifting out of holiday mode and into permanent holiday mode!!!

And I haven't even gone back and checked for typos today!!

Who knows what the future holds...

Until my next post,

Cheers😁