I have well and truly been out and about of late exploring my world again and making new friends. My new mode of transport has changed everything.

There is no longer a need to park the car and walk into some of my favourite spots. On my way out to Silver Valley one night I decided to camp down at the Washing Machine at Ravenshoe, Himi Chan (name of my motorbike) took me right to the falls. I camped metres from the water, slept to the sound of the falls and woke to have breakfast down by the water.

I did enjoy my long walks into locations in the past and will miss them at times. However the ability to arrive right where I want to be and sit and relax, will far out weigh any downside.

I am an observer, I love to watch behaviour, not just take photos and tick items off a list. Being able to sit all afternoon at places like this lake and watch what happens is giving me joy again with my camera. I lost that joy for a while.

I now have time at places like Lake Warrerpinda where I can sit and watch an Australasian Grebe fish, waiting for it to do something a little different.

And as I watch that Grebe fish under the light of the setting sun, I now have the time to be there as other things happen. Like a turtle rising out of the water in the background and attempting to climb a tree.

Or above me as I sat by the lake, a White-breasted Woodswallow doing battle with a much larger bird and winning. I am now in much less of a rush as there is no long walk back out.

But as per usual I am not the only one doing the watching, the birds keep a keen eye on me in return. I love how if you just sit they start to relax and go back to normal activities.

I have really fallen back in love with my camera. I am not taking any better or great photos, I don’t have any new gear or desire to buy any. I have just returned to the reason I started carrying my camera into the bush for in the first place. I wanted to store memories for myself for the time when I can no longer visit these places, or they are destroyed and gone.

With the car no longer in use my 10kg beloved swag is now too heavy. I am still sorting out proper side luggage for the bike and keeping everything to bare minimum weight. I was reluctant to spend a large amount of money on a light weight tent so purchased a Denali II Explorer (about 1.5kg) tent for a bit over $100 from Anaconda on special.

Love it! Super easy to set up/pack up and surprisingly roomy inside.

I have no idea how long it will last but at that price it will not take long to pay for itself, and I do not have to worry about ruining it! Be interesting to see how it goes in heavy rain. So far it has handled strong winds really well.

I have been using the dry weather of the last 3 weeks to refresh some of the riding skills on dirt I used to have 30 years ago and to also practise some new ones. Himi Chan has been baptised in the dirt on both sides as I explore what I can do on a bike again. If you ride in the dirt you are going to drop your bike from time to time. Himi chan is going to get used for it’s intended purpose, not just riding on bitumen.

I think I will get one more dry weekend in the bush on the tyres that came with Himi Chan. As soon as the rains come I am going to need to something a bit more off road suitable. The creeks and rivers will soon be roaring again I feel. The wet cannot be far away.