Who's afraid of the big bad croc?

Us, that's who! This is why the blue canoe remains restrained

we opted for a slightly quicker form of watercraft to ensure my precious cargo remained un-chewed, they would have to eat me first, this would leave no room for seconds.

Here is the Queen of the Daly showing how to fish in style

She may be the Barra queen, but she ain't the captain.

Here endith the fishing lesson, off to Litchfield NP for some natural wonders, with no killing.

You just can't beat beautiful scenery at 30 degrees. Oh wait a minute here it is, same chubby builder.... different waterhole.

We will be in Darwin for a week, we will accept any form of correspondence during this time, all except Facebook/Twitter!!!!.

North of the tropic.

After leaving the tour operator in Katherine with some of our hard earned for a boat ride, we head north, north to test out the other products of ours from the shimano range, the fishing gear!

With some inside info from our new best friends Wayne & Margaret (pictured, Wayne is the captain)

we head for Woolliana on the Daly River, (translates: the white mans club), so we enter the Oasis at the end of a red dusty road, pass the look up & down test, answer all questions from proprietor with acceptable answers, then we are given "the last site" pictured.

the first contact with one of the residents (generally 4 month tenure) is, "I reckon if ya sick a treble hook on the back of that canoe ya might just catch something", to which I reply, blue canoe will remain restrained by ratchet tie downs for the duration of our stay.

Enter THE BARRA QUEEN. I clean all the red dust out of our new fishing gear, Shimano, a big one for me, & a nice shiny carbon fibre number for Annie, I suggest she come down the bank for some lessons

after a dozen casts, she is on

there began a feast of Barra, the finest come from the Daly by all reports, five nights of fresh Barra.

Mulga to Palms

We left Alice on Saturday with a couple of big days in the truck to reach Katherine Gorge. The 1st stop was Devils Marbles. We were out walking amongst the marbles, then someone yelled out "there goes Fred & Wilma".

So we hid behind these rocks!

2nd stop was Daly Waters which has a pub with undies & bras hanging from the ceiling??

We arrived at the beautiful Katherine Gorge to discover after the big wet, salt water crocs can swim a long way! So the blue canoe remains on the roof & we are forced to pay the tour operator who sighted said crock??
We did however go for a 14km walk into butterfly gorge.

After a hard day walking, there was only 1 thing to do. Find a billabong to have a swim in!

We hope you're all enjoying Autum in Melbourne. It's a hard life but someone had to take long service leave!

Race Wrap.

A big week on the trails around Alice, I can honestly say that I have seen Alice from every angle. In a week where loosing flesh appeared to be top of the agenda, I came out relatively unscathed (under direct orders). Some injuries I witnessed, had they occurred in the workplace would have required a Plastics team, anaesthetist, physio & most likely trauma counseling. But true to MTB form, one simply picks oneself up, dust off, then wear your battle scars with pride & ride the day/week out.

To the numbers, I finished the 251KM week in 17 hours, 131 out of 200, finishing the last day in great shape I managed a final stage victory over Leigh, my good friend from Melb sporting the chin guard. I now feel that I could slip in behind the truck to ride the balance of the tour. As for the leaders they came in 7 hours ahead of me, but there was no point in me pushing harder as the cycle clothing industry does not cater for the Solid rider, so there was no yellow Jersey in my size.

There are the winners (Annie's eye candy for the week) & here is the competitor.

There are a few people that I would like to thank, & a some product that I would like to endorse.
My cheer squad- Natalie, Ashley, Pamela & Annie.
Nutritionist- Annie
Laundry Staff- Annie
Masseur- Annie
Sards Wonder Soap
Vaseline petroleum jelly
Rapid Ascent for coming up with a human cheese grater.
Entire support crew- Annie
Continental tyres, just for maintaining minimum distance between rock & body for 5 days.
Coopers Brewery- just for being there
Finally to Annie for taking a week out of her busy schedule to watch me hurt. Love that lady.

Race Report.

We are entering day 4 of the Red centre challenge, I am under strict instructions not to hurt myself & wreck our Holiday, so far so good, 4 stages down no blood. If you do fall out here, you will bleed, this is a geologists playground. Yesterday's stage was an 80km race in 28deg dry heat with plenty of rock, on the upside it did have some very special vantage points seen only by MTB riders. I got round in just under 5 hours, Annie's bike is about to be stripped for spare parts.

We have had our first Russel Coight point awarded for the trip, Stage 2 all 200 riders are to be escorted by police for 5km through town, Annie drops me off at start then races out to where patrol car drops off & the fun begins. As we leave the chiffly resort one thing becomes clear, Chief Inspector Overzealous in highway patrol 1 thinks he can get the yellow Jersey, all the school children that were to line the streets were just leaving there class rooms, they missed us. Now a dual suspension MTB on knobby tyres is no match for a 550HP patrol car, needless to say a portion of the pelaton was left at a red light back on the Stuart hwy.

I manage to hold the lead group, I turn the final corner still in contact with officer Overzealous & the lead riders I see Annie in the distance cammera in hand, snapping the flashing lights, the young fit lead riders (5 national champions & 1 world champion among them), I position myself to the inside for an action shot........... the "lens cap"?

And there we go, 4 Coight points to Annie. I am sure I will even up the ledger soon enough, I just hope it does not involve a plastic canoe & a saltwater crock.

Cheers

Moutaining Biking in Alice Springs

We have arrived back in "the Alice" with a lot of other mountain bike riders and their families some of whom are international and many interstaters. Fortunately for myself we have found some friends from Melbourne Leigh, Pamela and their children Natalie & Ashley who I can hang out with while the boys are off riding.
Today they started with a 50km trip out to the north east. We became bike groupies on the side of the road cheering them on at a couple of spots along the road.

Here they are at the start of the day - both sporting "chin guards".

The Cliche

For all those of you awaiting the arrival of winter in Melbourne, sound like it may have arrived a little early, most unfortunate.

Well this should cheer you all up, we recently headed out to the far reaches of the East MacDonald range, Ruby Gap, when the truck would go no further, we pulled on the walking boots, just like Alby Mangles & Judy Green. We walked & walked the only other footprints were those of the dingo's & water birds, the water replenished in recent time by the remnant of Cyclone Yasi, crystal clear, reflection of the gorge walls magnificent in the glass like water holes.

So we stop for lunch on a sandy bank on a particularly large water hole, so just as Alby would have done with his beautiful lady friend, I say to Annie "nude up & jump in" just for the folks back home.

She said "No", so here is a nude chubby builder instead!

Alice Springs

We have been in Alice Springs for the past few days which has been great to shake off some of the red dust. Tomorrow we head out to the East McDonald Ranges until Saturday when we return to the Alice for a week as Griz has discovered we just happened to be here when a 5 day moutain bike race is on!

Another beautiful day, another beautiful place. Jessie's Gap. 10km east of Alice.
So, from Saturday we will be online and on the phone for the next week before we head north.
 

Today we saw our first Dingo.

He was just by the side of the road, cute & cuddly. Right colour but he has pudgy ears. So we head into the NT in search of a Dingo.

We drive up the dirt for 2 hours, don't see another soul, come around a corner on the old Ghan track out of Finke, I say to Annie "look fresh dingo tracks", next corner there is Dingo, complete with fresh entry/exit wound, and a boy from west oz looking a bit guilty. So we pull over for a chat, ring his mates on the 2 way then have a coffee on the dirt to celebrate the Dingo's life that was.

So that folks is our first encounter with a Dingo & some crayzzie west Australians.

Mt Dare SA

Mt Dare is 10 km south of the NT border. There is no Mt to speak of but we found the pub!

We took a day trip down to Dalhousie Springs - 36 degrees in the middle of Aust. A natural spring fed by the artesian basin.

We had 2 swims and a long walk and then bounced the truck along the gibbers back to the pub.

Painted Desert SA

We left Coober Pedy and headed off to Oodnadatta. Along the way we came across the Painted Desert - we are constantly amazed at the changing geography.

We arrived at Oodnadatta which claims to be the hottest & driest town in Aust. however we found a waterhole and launched the boat for the 1st time!

Here is the captain - his crew mutineered to cook dinner!

Mining at Coober Pedy/Birthday

Everybody run! Boys with big TOYS! He wanted a shot with it down the back of his jeans but I said "I don't think so".

We did a tour of an active opal mine which was fascinating. We then went shopping for my birthday present. As you do in Rome... I have now a new opal ring.
Thanks everyone one for my birthday wishes. We are now off to a Greek restaurant for dinner (can you believe there is Greek in Coober Pedy)! xxoo

This is a Lake!

We hit the Oooodnadatta track, for several hours until we hit Lake Eyre south.

So then we went looking for the real Lake Eyre & when we found it I said to Annie "How Big"?
And she said.

And that's big, well we thought is was, so then we headed back to William Creek (sounds like wolf creek), I run into a mate from the Peninsular doing a motorbike tour, Darren Bonniface, so we drink some beer then headed back to camp to enjoy an evening with the mice.

End of months

After our stay at Arkaroola we headed back to the Leigh Creek Office of Comm Off Mod P/L, to do BAS & end of months. We took a day trip to Beltana, then up a goat track to a sheep station that is being turned back to wilderness, we will stay there on another trip. We visited Leigh Creeks water supply Aroona Dam, it,s chockas after this years rain. The office was closed, then we headed off to find a real lake.