Winter 2019 - 1. Why This Part of the World?

1. Why This Part of the World?

I do not like to shovel snow. And Canada gets lots of snow in the winter. The easiest way to not shovel snow is to not be in Canada when it snows. 

Snow Storm Before We Got Away in 2017

That said, when I moved to Canada, we agreed to spend the Northern Winters not in Canada but in the Southern Hemisphere or at least in places that are sunnier, warmer than Canada, as spring-like as possible. I don’t HAVE to be in Canada. Yet, I don’t want to go to places that have 40+ C, either. Finding the right country or region is always a bit of challenge.

Carol and I have a discussion almost every year as to where do we go this winter.

As you can tell by previous blogs, we have been around the world, been in many, many places, some are obscure, some are very popular. Sometimes we spend months on end in one place and sometimes we keep on moving.

Balinese Dancers

So for the early part of 2019 we, again, had to pick a destination for our winter holiday.

A few things happened that made us decide to be multi-country this year. 

Firstly, while in Germany in 2018, for Stephan Knopf’s wedding, we heard that we just ‘MUST’ visit Bali, Indonesia. It was a consensus from a few people at this wedding that Bali is a MUST see place.

Then, in the mail or on the computer a trip was announced to ride New Zealand. This Motorcycle Trip would be led by Fred Rau, the former Senior Editor of Motorcycle Consumer News (MCN). MCN is a well known monthly American magazine for enthusiasts of motorcycling. A NZ Trip is what Carol has always wanted to do. It seemed a good omen for riding in New Zealand.

New Zealand Maori

That leaves Australia, especially Tasmania and the Western part of this continent. Those places are not as common to visit. Sure, many people visit Australia but not the most Western Parts, the Outback and also Tasmania. Visiting those areas in Australia needed some planning, some searching, and some out-of-the-box thinking.

We have the time, we have the means, and so we just bit the bullet and went for a long trip this year. 

Road Sign on the Nullarbor Plain

And here are some of my insights into what I leaned in the 82 days we traveled this part of the world.

Read on, you might learn something.