les or lez, the photographic dreamer
I am a Pisces and love long walks on the beac………er NO.
I like riding my bike, motorcycle and driving my 4WD.
Guess I’m like everyone else and I learned to ride a bicycle as a child, with my dad’s hand on my shoulder, in the warmth of a Brisbane (Australia) summer, in a dirt parking lot. A second hand yellow and rust coloured Malvern Star, complete with sissy bar, ape hangers and a dragster seat. It was an awesome bike and copped more abuse than it deserved.
Zipping through the next 20ish or 30 years, an apprenticeship, a degree and a marriage including offspring flash by. One day in 2014 Mandy (spunky wife) comes up with the idea to cycle SE Asia and Japan. So we get ourselves ready, prepped and take our then 12 and 13 year old girls on their own bikes through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam; oh and a bit of Japan.
Now the girls have finished uni, mature and very strong in character, mentally and physically. I love them and I’m proud of the awesome people they have become.
Mountain biking has been my flavour of choice for the last 10ish years with the “fluid”, “narly” and “epic” trails around Cairns and Cairns hinterland (Atherton and Mareeba tablelands) at my doorstep; moving from a duel suspension Scott to a Polygon. Work gets in the way of riding, but it is a necessary evil as I like to eat and someone has to educate the masses.
I moved to Cairns with Mandy in 2000 and we haven’t been able to leave yet. It’s nice, I’m talking 3/4 of the year spectacular weather, snorkeling, camping, 4WDing, fishing, tropical rainforest adventuring, walking and lovely people. Oh, that leaves 1/4 of the year when it is LUCIFER HOT. Roads melt and stick to your shoes hot, sugar cane fields bursting into flames hot, dropbears spontaneously combusting in the gum trees HOT. Yep it gets a bit warm.
I’m now 54ish 2024(errr when did that happen) and it has finally sunk in that you do only get ONE go at this.
This being LIFE.
Acknowledging our conservative mental demons, required addressing the following:
Kids are secure in their futures:- career LIFE sorted.
Parents, siblings and in-laws are all good:- family LIFE sorted.
Work was able to hire contractors to replace us:- guilt free LIFE sorted.
Save for four years:- broke LIFE for a reason.
Time to go and have an:- ADVENTURE LIFE.
Now back from the adventure and balancing ‘traditional’ life with an adventurous spirit.
P.S. I also love photography, photo post-processing (lie), motorcycle riding (XL750 transalp), beer, Bundaberg Rum and my favourite colour is Blue….and Red. I have also started a YouTube channel mainly focused on motorized adventures. 80 Km/h is the best speed for having a look around, less if on dirt. So this is our ethos, our directive, our mantra. Motorcycling to see …… what there is to see. morn’n letZ RIDE check it out at80ks.
