Bike ride, Mornington Peninsula and a broken foot

30/3/2015

I borrowed Greg's mountain bike to ride the Lilydale to Warburton Rail Trail. A former train line was converted into a lovely trail winding its way through the Yarra. All up it was a 68km ride, quite a bit longer than I expected it to be. I had a picnic and coffee in Yarra Junction on the way back to refuel and get ready for the last 20 kilometers. It was great fun riding a hybrid mountain bike, but it is a very different style for cycling.

Trail running through beautiful countryside

Dinner was prepared by Sal (steak, mash potatoes and vegetables) and afterwards I went for an evening walk with Kaye to flush out the legs and watch the colorful sunset.

Later that evening, Kaye drove me up to Mount Dandenong, to a restaurant called 'Sky high' and aI had another go at taking some night shots of the huge Melbourne area. Beautiful views

Melbourne area at night

31/3/2015

Mornington and Mornington Peninsula

I borrowed Kaye's car as she has an e-tag for the Eastlink toll road to drive to Mornington and then explore the Mornington Peninsula.

The Paleo Cafe in Mornington serves authentic Bulletproof Coffee – and I had to have one. Putting it through a blender makes it incredibly creamy and it tastes awesome. Also stocked up on some MCT oil and a few other goodies.

Mornington beach

The real deal

From there I followed the coast line down all the way to the National Park. From there you can see over to Queenscliff. The whole coast line is used, some parts, like Sorento, is where the rich people from Melbourne have big holiday/weekend houses. Quite pretty down there and not too far from Melbourne.

You can see the other side of the bay clearly

I visited two wineries on the Mornington Peninsula on the way back to Mount Evelyn. This region is know for their Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. Yabby Lake Vineyard produce a range called 'Red Claw', their entry level wines. We had quite a few of them in Perth, especially the Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris. They also own a vineyard in Heathcote, “Heathcote Estate” and their Single Vineyard Shiraz was delicious!

I'm back in business ;-)

Autumn colours are coming out beautifully

Distance traveled: 280km in Kaye's Ford Fairmount I6 4.0, 0km in the camper van

Just before going to bed, I rolled my ankle after taking my contact lenses out stumbling on the stair down from the bathroom. It hurt quite a bit and I was hoping that I didn't injure it and that it would be better again in the morning.

1/4/2015

Didn't sleep much list night was my left foot is very swollen and bruised. I cooled it over night with cold bottles of water from the fridge. Kaye drove the camper van to the Ford service station as I had an appointment there and then drove me to the Ferntree Gully Hospital to get examined.

The three xrays taken show that I broke a bone in my left foot (hence the swelling!), but not the ankle itself. They ordered me to rest for a week and then get another set of xrays done and consult with the fracture clinic. Not good! I got a big 'moon boot' to protect my foot and keep everything nice and tight.

A bit swollen!

My new boot

Sandra, Kaye's sister, gave me a ride from the hospital back to Mount Evelyn. As the camper van was at the service station, I was using Kaye's bed to rest and keep my leg up high to help the swelling getting less.

The Ford Service station rang and gave me some more bad news: quite a few things need fixing and replacement to make the van fit for travel again, and they need it for another day to fix it. So no bed for the night! Kaye offered me to stay in her bed and she would spend the night at Greg's place. She is so incredibly generous and was looking after me again as soon as she was home from work.

Being forced to rest and lie down, I utilized my time to read all afternoon.

I went half way through one of the best business books that I read last year and felt a strong need to re-read it: it is Bruce Poon Tip's biography: “Looptail”. Bruce is a Canadian entrepreneur who established his own adventure travel company, called G Adventures. He runs the company very differently, establishing a strong company culture that follows and lives five core values:

• We Love Changing Peoples Lives
• Lead with Service
• Embrace the bizarre
• Create happiness and community
• Do the right thing

In Looptail, Bruce describes the history of getting the company from zero to over 1500 employees and turning over more than $100 million. Bruce also shares many of his thoughts and the book has links to videos from their website. Absolutely inspirational stuff! They won too many awards to list (including Best Adventure Travel Company on Earth by National Geographic) and being named one of the best work places in Canada.

Beside G Adventures, Bruce also founded the Planeterra Foundation, an NGO that helps local people develop their communities, conserve their environment and provide social solutions to local business challenges.

I remember the first time I read this book (and sent multiple copies of the book through Amazon to friends of mine in Europe), I was delighted by how they do business. This approach, at least to me, makes so much more sense than the traditional business approach, and it appears to work very well when applied correctly. The key concept in Looptail is 'paying it forward'. I strongly recommend this book to everybody, no matterin which organization they work, as it is transcending.