Extracurricular activities

What do I do when I am not quilting?

Believe it or not, quilting is not the only thing I do. Hard to believe, right? Apart from renovating the house with my sweetie, I also like to travel. And not just for the weekend somewhere (although that’s fun too), I have been lucky enough to have not one, but two, epic adventures this year.

So how do people who quilt have epic adventures? Do they jump in the car, stitching in hand, for a jaunt down a country road? Do they fly to another city for a quilt show/ exhibition /class? Do they go overseas to QuiltCon?

Well, yes, they do all of these things, of course. I like to travel for shows and classes too. But this year, I have had amazing adventures… on my motorcycle.

Like everyone else, travel was a big no-no during the pandemic. We had some trips planned, but could not do them.

In June, we were able to take our first overseas trip for a while, so we finally took our pre-planned trip to Alaska. We spent 3 weeks exploring, and rode up the Dalton Highway to a very unusual place called Deadhorse, right near the Arctic Ocean. It was around 6000km (or approx 3900 miles) all up. What an incredible experience it was and here are just a very few highlights.

Me at The Arctic Ocean

On the road to McCarthy, Alaska

Riding up Atigun Pass, Dalton Hwy, Alaska
(This is GoPro footage, nobody was using a phone while riding)

Going overseas is great and all, but there’s no place like home. I have never travelled to the Northern Territory in Australia before, so I had also booked on a ride the went from Darwin to Melbourne. This ride was about 6500km (around 4000 miles) by the time I actually rode home from Melbourne as well.

Uluru at sunset

I shipped my own bike to Darwin and flew up there to begin the ride. I went to some amazing places and saw so many things I had never seen before, like Uluru. Mind blown. All I know is that I want to go back and do a lot more exploring of this great country of ours. Not necessarily by bike. It was such a different trip than Alaska. Both very special.

At an old wreck on the Oodnadatta track

Nobody looks good in bike gear, just saying.

That white bike is mine. (Also on the Oodnadatta track)

I have so many memories captured in photos but too many to share here. No matter your mode of transport, visiting new places is so amazing. If you get the chance, then go for it.