Shepparton’s Trent Doyle and Rio Maghinay continue to wind their way around the country.
Trent packed his belongings into the back of a van earlier this year and hit the open road — and Rio then joined him on his travels.
They are documenting their trek for News readers to follow along.
“The trip is going well,” Trent said.
“I am currently doing farm-hand and kitchen-hand duties at St Aidan Wines — a little different to property valuation.
“St Aidan’s is a micro winery in the Ferguson Valley 20km from Bunbury, run by a husband and wife who worked in the medical industry. Rio is working as an accountant in Bunbury and also working front of house at St Aidan’s to make up hours — it’s been a cool experience to work with her.”
Trent and Rio have been able to park up the van in recent weeks, having been ‘seconded’ to different accommodation.
“We managed to snag a granny flat ‘sit’ — the main house is vacant, and the owners are visiting their daughter, who lives in Paris,” Trent said.
“We are lucky to have found this place and are enjoying taking a break from the van. We have a total of four weeks here — private showers never felt so good.”
The ability to anchor themselves in an area has allowed Trent to divert some of his spare energy into training for an upcoming event.
“We are finding some stability and we are focused on working and doing our jobs well — at the moment we’ve just been breaking even, especially considering the festive period where we have a trip home and abroad in the pipeline,” he said.
“The weather down here isn’t too dissimilar to Shepparton weather; to be specific, I’d say about 10 per cent warmer over the cooler months.
“In my spare time I have been training for my first ironman triathlon; I’ve swum at school meets and had a swimming pool growing up but am a battler to say the least.
“The same goes with riding, my strong suit is running, so I’m enjoying the process of having a serious go at the three pursuits.”
Trent hasn’t quite calculated his goal time for the ironman yet, but is looking forward to giving it a crack.
“Coming up with my own training plan has made it more enjoyable, mixing in a night a week with South Bunbury footy club (has been good) and I also sneak in a spot of tennis on a Sunday morning with Busselton Tennis Club,” he said.
“I would recommend anyone moving to another town to get involved in the various clubs on offer — it’s the easiest way to get connected. For me it’s been the sport clubs; Rio gets involved in a singing group and does group fitness classes at the gym, as well as some volleyball nights there.”
Trent will be tackling the triathlon on December 4, and would love to connect with anyone who has any tips for him at trentdoyle1@gmail.com