Tailem Bend is a tiny little town on the Murray river, mainly known for their Motorsport Park called "The Bend" (go figure).
I went there a few times so far, once was to work at The Bend for three days while they were hosting Supercars event.
This time I was invited by my friends Rob and Helen (different Helen than you've seen in my previous posts:D ). The plan was to stay there for a couple of days, catch up and head to the river. On the first day we ended up visiting a couple of their friends, where we were greeted by two dogs and four birds and had a nice chat (with the animals too). After that we went for a bit of a hike to Mannum Waterfalls. Beautiful spot but no waterfalls this time, it has become too dry over here. But still a beautiful spot to visit, there is a creek at the bottom but hard to walk by the creek, too steep and rocky. Me and Helen did try walking there but we turned around somewhere in the middle and took a safer option.
Nice hike it was for sure! It got hot very quickly though so we headed back to their place and chilled.
How do I know Helen and Rob?
Well, they have a very special place in my heart. When I moved to Australia in 2016, Helen and Rob were renting out one of their rooms in their house (when they still lived in Adelaide). I found them on Homestay site and decided to rent their place for my first month. They were my first step to get to know Australia and the way of life a little bit. When the month passed and I had to find a new place, we decided to stay in touch and we did. We caught up a few times for lunch and coffee and become better friends each time.
A few months ago they moved to Tailem Bend for a few different reasons. They are both sort of semi-retired and work casual jobs, they wanted to go away from traffic and noise and live a more simple way of life. Rob being a bike enthusiast, of course having a race track near by was kinda important. He does work and volunteer at The Bend as well.
Not long ago they also bought a speed boat and we thought we might enjoy a bit of water skiing. Unfortunately it was quite windy so as a bunch of newbies, we couldn't enjoy much of that, but we did go for a bit of a ride in the boat which was fun too.
So next day, we enjoyed half a day of river fun. We packed some lunch and coffee and off we went. Spoke to a few fishermen, made a few jokes, tried out the boat, watched seagulls fight with each other for little bread crumbs found on the floor and for the first time I tried paddle boarding with Helen. Wasn't able to stand due to the wind but it's definitely something I'd like to try more often.
As the sun went down, we did a bit of a stroll to the river again and watched the sunset.
Beautiful trip it was and great to catch up with my friends. As we said goodbye, they let me borrow a book that I can't seem to put down, called "Way of the peaceful warrior" by Dan Millman.
*"This classic tale, told with heart and humor, speaks to the peaceful warrior in each of us. Countless readers have been moved to laughter and tears - even moments of illumination - as they rediscover life's larger meaning and purpose. " *
There is a movie based on the book as well and really makes me want to break my rule of not watching tv (I haven't turned on TV in nearly a year now) and watch this one.
Have you heard of the book? If you've read it what are you thoughts? I'm not finished with it yet but I believe it will only take me a day or two to read it all. I definitely can already recommend it.
Thanks for watching Hive tribe and I hope you enjoyed your Christmas holidays. See you next time!
Kat