Day 107 – Dirt Bikes on the Beach

It was supposed to be another rough weather day in Sicily, so we hadn’t planned anything in particular. But when we woke up, the weather looked surprisingly good.

The night before had been a bit of a noisy one. Since arriving in Giardini Naxos earlier in the week, things had been pretty quiet, but Friday night was a different story. The town was alive. Loud cars, people yelling, music and plenty of activity in the streets. Our accommodation sits right in the middle of it all, which is great for being close to the beach and restaurants, but it definitely comes with a bit of nightlife noise.

We stuck with our usual routine in the morning. Breakfast, coffees and some schoolwork for the kids. It was the weekend for me, so no work emails or computer time, which was nice. Instead, Kia and I jumped back into trip planning.

After thinking things through separately, we both came back together with some clearer ideas about where we want the next part of the trip to go. It felt good to realign and start building a plan that we’re both excited about again. These longer trips require a bit of forward planning every now and then, and giving ourselves time to step back and look at the bigger picture definitely helped.

One of the things we locked in was a trip to Mount Etna for Sunday. The weather forecast looked promising, so we booked it in and crossed our fingers it holds.

By early afternoon we realised we were running low on food, and with everything closing on Sundays here, we decided to head to the supermarket and grab supplies for dinner and the next day.

Kia headed out first because she wanted to stop by a pharmacy, but it turned out to be siesta time, so everything was closed. The supermarket was open though, so the rest of us joined her and we grabbed what we needed.

On the way back, Emmett wanted to stop at the playground and spend some time down near the beach. Maddie, on the other hand, was ready to head back to the apartment. Kia wanted to get stuck into some video editing, so we split up.

Kia and Maddie went back to the accommodation while Emmett and I headed down to the playground and the beach.

We spent some time skimming rocks along the water before I suddenly remembered seeing a poster earlier in the week about a dirt bike race happening somewhere nearby. Emmett has been talking a lot about dirt bikes lately, so we tried to decipher the poster and figure out where it might be.

We thought we had worked it out and started walking along the coastline toward the next beach.

It turned into quite the adventure.

After a decent walk along the beach and scrambling across rocks, we eventually spotted what looked like dirt bikes in the distance. That was enough motivation for us to keep going.

When we finally arrived, we discovered a proper dirt bike race set up right on the beach. A full track had been carved into the sand and riders were tearing around it.

Most of the racers looked like teenagers, but they were seriously impressive. The races were long too, about twenty minutes each, and we stayed to watch a couple of them.

Emmett absolutely loved it. He was glued to the track, asking questions about the bikes and the riders and how everything worked. He’s already been talking about wanting a dirt bike when we get back to Australia, so seeing a race in person just fuelled that dream even more.

For me it was a bit of a blast from the past. It has been a very long time since I’ve been around dirt bikes or ridden one myself, but it brought back plenty of memories.

It ended up being a really cool afternoon together.

While we were out exploring, Kia called to say Maddie had decided she wanted to bake a cake and needed a few ingredients from the shop. Unfortunately we were a long way from the supermarket by that stage, so there was no chance of us grabbing anything.

Instead, Kia and Maddie headed back to the shop themselves, translating ingredients and trying to figure out what everything was in Italian. They managed to find what they needed and headed home to start baking.

By the time Emmett and I walked back into town it was around 5:30 in the afternoon. Kia was still editing videos, Maddie had finished baking her cake, and it smelled incredible.

I jumped into cooking dinner while Maddie decorated her cake.

We ended the evening with a great dinner and an even better dessert. Maddie’s cake turned out delicious.

Emmett was already talking about wanting to go back to the dirt bike races the next day. Apparently the event was running across two days, but with our Mount Etna tour booked, it looks like tomorrow will already be pretty full.

We’ll see what happens.

In the end it turned into one of those perfect split days. A quiet morning planning the next chapter of the trip, followed by two completely different adventures in the afternoon.

Kia and Maddie baking and being creative together.

Emmett and I out chasing dirt bikes on the beach.

Not a bad way to spend Day 107.