Doing something that scares you at 67 is exhilarating! [The Mad Nomads]

Its great to get to 67 and still be able to scare yourself… To do something that amazes you and to feel a huge sense of accomplishment when its done.

It happened to us during the week.

We are in Port Stephens house sitting and writing an article for Caravan and Motorhome On Tour magazine and for the article we are doing a bunch of famils. This is where you sample the tourist attractions on offer and the proprietors tell you all about how they work.

This week, we went Quad Bike Riding with Sand Dune Adventures.

In the past we have worked on quad bikes in Western Queensland and the Northern Territory but no experience is necessary for the tour… They tailor your trip to meet your expertise and comfort levels. They made a point of saying, “Don’t worry if something scares you, there is always an easy way we can take you down the dune.” That should have been my first clue.

My second would have been when the tour guide told us we would go for a spin and see how we handled it before deciding which way to go.

But at this point let’s meet the dunes themselves. Stockton Beach Sand Dunes are 32 kilometres long. From 30m up they shimmer and roll down to the south and up to the north and out to he sparkling emerald sea. It’s like the Sahara with water. They reach from Anna Bay in the North to Stockton in the south.

At 2500 hectares, this is the largest moving coastal sand mass in the southern hemisphere and it hosts the largest ever ship wreck on the Australian coast, the Norwegian Sygna, a bulk carrier that decided to call Stockton Beach home in 1974. There are four wheel drive tours that take you there and the quads do to, if you like to feel the wind in your hair. Sand boarding is also popular here. You can go on a hosted tour or take yourself up a dune with a cardboard box it is really quite awesome.

These dunes have been here for 17,000 years and they are now a playground that is controlled with beach driving permits and registered tour companies only allowed. The Worimi people who hosted us on our trip own a large section. They run an impressive operation and their safety aspect is top class.

Our guides Ray and Scott told us about their peoples habitation in the area and how the dunes are on the move in a northeasterly direction ahead of strong southerly and westerly winds. They are marching towards the only green wildlife corridor left and will one day cut it in half,

Being used to farm quad bikes which are tough workhorses, these were like sitting on a cloud, beautiful bikes in top condition.

We followed the leaders tracks and wound off through the green forest that gradually thinned out in the area where the dunes have started to eat the trees up. There were also places we saw where ancient forests have begun peeping back out of the sand that has been blown away after eons of coverage… I’d love to get a carbon dating.

The guys showed us ancient Aboriginal middens and we looked at the bleached white shells that have also been uncovered after eons beneath the sand. The shells are similar to those found on the beach today.

Our guides were sneaking up on us, testing us gently, we realised that we were going faster and getting higher up in the he scheme of things until finally we reached a place where the view was breathtaking, inspiring, golden, amazing.

It was amazing until we realised that what goes up must come down. Ray and Scotty had explained that one would go in front and one behind but that at any steep drop off Ray would also come to the front, Scott would do the drop off. Ray would get us set up and reiterate that you must NEVER use even the hint of a brake and you must power ahead all the way down the dune which is the opposite to what your head is telling you to do.

Scot disappeared from sight. We were on an overhang and when I got to the edge I realised that it was 30 metres or 90 foot tall and you couldn’t see the ground under the over hang… It became visible again about 30 feet down.

Ray got me set and said “Ready to go?” I said “No…” he said “off you go then…” and I did.

It was so exhilarating… Geoff and Ray were tiny specks up on the ridge when I turned to look at them.

I am very brave. I am very proud of this old girl and we did it again. We explored some more and sadly bid the guys farewell but they sure did give us a trip to remember.

Now I wonder what this week has in store?

When have you got out of your comfort zone and tried something new? What was it?