Kev's sleep was interrupted continually throughout the night with aches and painsI Kev is still sleeping. I will try and not disturb him, as it looks as though he has found a somewhat comfortable position for now.
I woke to dripping water on my forehead. I unzipped the tent to take a look outside. It is very, very dewy, and the tent is just saturated. In fact my riding pants and jacket are wet inside the tent from laying on the ground and leaning up against the sides. Me shuffling and sliding around on the thermarest, trying to hitch up my damp riding pants, woke Kev…then the alarm went off! "Good timing I said, now I don't feel so guilty about waking you!", I said with a chuckle. "How did you sleep?" "Like crap!" Kev groaned. "Is that water I just felt? Is it raining?", Kev asks. "It's not raining, but we do have a few water drips penetrating the tent", I say. "Time to get up! I'll get out and you can hand me the gear and we'll pack up, K?" I suggest. So that is what we do! We packed up the sopping wet tent and stuffed it in its bag. We will need to remember to unpack it again today to dry it out. Morgan rocked up on time, we hitched the trailer and were once again off and moving. Morgan's Motorcycles was not far away and it was not long before Stacey was unloaded out of the trailer and left in the service bay. While Kev was helping Morgan open up and move bikes around in his shop I took advantage of the down time and pitched the dripping wet tent to dry in the sunshine. The shop is closed for some showroom floor repainting for the weekend, so we will be waiting until Monday to find out Stacey's situation. Kev gives Debbie and Rob, our CouchSurfing hosts a call to see if we could come by this morning, beauty, they give us the thumbs up. Morgan kindly offers to drives Kevin, with me following on my bike behind over to their home by Oyster Harbor.
"G'day…You must be the US Motorcyclists, Cat and Kev!", grin Debbie and Rob welcoming us to their home. "Come on in and sit down. We walked into their home and were taken back amazed by their lovely water view of Kalgan River and Oyster Harbor…WOW! Would you like a cuppa, have you had brekky?", Debbie warmly asks. "A cuppa would hit the spot, thank you, and No, we did not get a chance to have brekky this morning!", I say. "How about some toast?", Debbie asks. "That would be fabulous", I reply humbly. It was around 10:30 in the morning and that cuppa tea and toast with vegemite tasted heavenly. We chatted and got to know each other for a bit. Rob and Debbie showed us to our bedroom, toilet and bathroom. I unpacked the clothing out of my bike then sat down on the couch…WOW I cannot believe that we are here!
Debbie and Rob familiarized us with the CouchSurfing etiquette. "You guys will need to make a profile! I will help you with that later.", insists Debbie. "Now you guys are welcome to hang out and take it easy, or you can come with us to Shelley Beach for some Paragliding?" Debbie offers. "We would love to come with you, don't think we'll paraglide…ha ha ha!", I reply. "No no, just watching. Rob and his friend Peter are going up!", Debbie states. Rob has cleaned out his car so that we can all fit, and off we head to pick up Peter. Peter has just returned from Bali, a 2 week trip of paragliding logging over 22 hours. We pull up to Peter's home and in hops this light framed, golden tanned, grey bearded character of a fellow. He is 67 years old and a kick! With his gear in the back we are off to the bluffs overlooking Shelley Beach. There are a couple of cars and paragliders already hanging around. Peter is eager to get up in the air before they do. The wind is stronger than expected, and not heading from the best direction, so Rob decides to sit out. Peter is going for it. He pulls on his big bird yellow glider wear, straps on the apparatus secures his helmet, with go pro attached, lays out his 22 meter kite and proceeds to hitch up over the launch deck. "Man you guys have balls as big as camels, you would not catch me jumping off this cliff!" boasts Kev! Rob and Peter grin proudly! Ok Peter is ready to go. The kite is up, he is rising fast facing the wrong way, a fellow paraglider runs over from the car park and gives Peter a push, but it is too strong and tosses Peter backwards and dumps him onto the twiggy brush below.
Peter was not happy with the faulty assistance and lets the guy know! Peter gathers up his kite, guide strings and harness and heads over to the other launching bay. Peter is set up once again, this time a gust of wind carries him off sideways tumbling across the sharp twiggy landscape below scraping and slicing the side of his face open. This is unbelievable, this guy is crazy, and he is not going to give up. While Peter is righting himself from the bloddy tumble, the fellow paraglider that hastily helped Peter previously is suiting up. You can feel the adrenaline and testosterone from this chap from mile away! He is going to take flight before Peter, and show this "old guy" how it is done. We watch him, watch Peter, quickly prepare his pack lines and kite. He launches his 12 meter kite and is airborne, you can see his "shit eating grin" on his face from the cliffs above! OK you proved a point mate….but your kite is smaller…way, way smaller…feel better?
Peter is focused on getting up, and does not see any of this going on. He just want to be airborne. The third attempt is successful, and we all watch him sail out over the Southern Ocean, gaining height, and speed with precise grace…awesome! What a tenacious crazy bugger, I thought! Peter sailed for about 45 minutes before landing on the beach below. Debbie, Rob, Kev and I rode down in the car to Shelley Beach to collect him and listen to his interoperation of the flight.
Later that night Rob lit a bon fire to burn off some trees that he had cut down. We all sat around the roaring bush TV, and enjoyed the show! What an amazingly crazy, long and wonderful day we have had! You just never know what a new day will bring!
Kev's bike safely delivered to Morgan's Motorcyles in Albany, WA.
Lucky double rainbow over Debbie and Rob's house!
Our fabulous Couch Surfer hosts....Debbie and Rob!
Kev hanging up a quick load of laundry before we hit the cliffs!.....Nice peg holder babe?
Peter suiting and buckling up!
Launching
Problems???
Fixed!.....Thanks Rob!
Lift Off!!!
Woo Hoo!
Beach landing
Absolutely awesome, and Peter is in his 70's...WILD!!! Rock ON!!
What an amazing day.....time to wind down with a glass of wine and watch some Bush TV , our couch surfing hosts!