il Mozzo — The Simple Beauty of Wandering Without a Plan

Well we do have a sort of plan, but it was never written in concrete.. And that’s the beauty of it..

Slowly heading North, I’m taking in as much as possible every day.. The most enjoyable part, is without a doubt, early in the morning, when you wake up, and you look out of the window and see something new every day…

It does also help immensely having the best weather and natural colours at your disposal, any time of the day.. We are currently crossing the Wildflower Country, and I’m sure that at the right time of the year, there would be flowers everywhere, and I can only imagine how beautiful the surrounding area must be..

I will definitely be back around this area to see it in flower season, and also to enjoy some time down in Esperance..

While most towns we visited had plenty to offer to the travelling wanderer, Geraldton did not make the cut.. Nice expanding town but not RV friendly whatsoever! They offer for the entire shire 8 spots (yes you are riding correctly), 8 lousy spots on a boat car park in the middle of the busiest industrial area and with a 24 hour limits.. I feel so bad for all those local business loosing so much revenue, simply because of the ignorance clearly displayed by the local council… Whoever has designated this area and set the 24 hour rule has clearly never been travelling in an RV or Australia for that matter! As mentioned in my previous article, some towns are doing extremely well especially achieving financial gain from having travellers resting in those towns for a few days and allowing them to explore the area…

Not much exploring can be achieved in Geraldton after a night without any sleep because of the trains, ships and grain machinery working full time 24/7 and having to move your vehicle so not to get booked $150 dollars by the two Ranger girls, both very eager to show you their new uniform..

Such a huge contrast with our previous stop in the town of Three Springs…

While in Three Springs, I was able to participate in the ANZAC ceremony in the middle of town.. It was great to see so many young people paying their respect to those soldiers.. It was a very moving moment and for such a small town, it still looks like a community that really stick together, and it actually does show in the way the town does present itself… There was also a girl next to me that made my day with a very nice smile…

I couldn’t resist, and I had to take a picture of that beautiful smile.. ;-)

While travelling, it has happened twice already that the local town shop has either run out or does not sell what you normally have in your grocery’s trolley..

Three Spring for example had run out of normal bread.. A packet of English Muffins was standing proud but alone on the shelf, looking at me like a puppy in the cage at the shelter..

After taking it home, I did wonder what to do with it, and it was then that I remember Annette quick recipe for very nice mini pizzas.. I’m sure I had the recipe written on the site, and sure enough it was there (under Pizza).. That thought also reminded me that it would have been nice to been able to cook a pizza properly, but more of this later..

So thanks Annette for the recipe.. I really enjoy it..

I didn’t have any ham or bacon in the fridge, so a hot salami, that I believe for reasons still unknown to me in Australia it gets called peperoni, made it onto the small mini Pizza..

It is really a quick way to get some happy food done and possibly the best way to utilise the English Muffins, if you ask me…

While eating the mini Pizza I started to wonder how hard it could have been to convert the BBQ, (hardly used as no longer able to enjoy red meat), into a small pizza oven..

While I had some ideas, and pictures of other people having try this path online, I soon realise the biggest problem with using a BBQ for an oven… the temperature! It simply never gets hot enough to cook pizza properly, as most pizza oven work at around 400° to achieve that unique taste and texture that has made the Italian pizza famous worldwide.. With all the good intentions and after nearly half bottle of gas, the BBQ couldn’t pass the 260°, and that is before you open the lid to put the pizza in..

So, together with my comrade, I started to develop a cunning plan to replace the BBQ with a homemade pizza oven.. There are plenty of video online of people achieving good results by using simple items like half 44 gallon drums, empty gas bottles or kegs to make the whole thing out of perlite from Bunnings.. It does cost around $30 per bag, but it does seem to be an easy project…

Thing is, this type of oven and project does require two specific things: plenty of space for the built and time for the perlite to dry, (up to a month)..

As travellers, we don’t have access to either of these two, so I decided to let the project sit for the time being, while continuing to explore possible solutions.. While Geraldton didn’t present itself as a friendly town it did allow us to restock of food and water.. I just wish there were more Aldi shop in Australia, but luckily Geraldton has one.. The evening spent parked at the docks, did allow me to take some nice pictures..

After Geraldton, we headed North again while still trying to stay away from the busy main road..

If you look at the map of WA, you can clearly see that eventually the roads available to go up North, are becoming less and less.. That does mean two things: Roads and Camp areas are getting busier and busier…

While every one wants to be on the coast, the inland towns and secondary road are left alone for the people that are actually enjoying the travelling experience.. That would be US!

On the last stop I also meet another traveller on a Bus, with the same body as mine but a Mercedes engine.. Nice young couple trying to travel while still working… They got few years left ahead of them before reaching retirement, and I know only too well how hard it is to stay in that spot… I wish them well, and hopefully they will succeed in living the dream full time…