I love the wildlife, but Australia’s got a bit too much of it for me, and after today’s encounter, I’ll be glad to leave it behind for the (relative) safety of Africa… Continue reading Great snakes, I’m gettin’ too old for this!
Category Archives: Australia
Hats off to the Grey Nomads!
I’d never heard of the Grey Nomads but had been warned about them by Kinga Tanajewska, a Polish girl riding around the world on the same kind of bike as me. When I say ‘warned’, I mean in a GOOD way, because the Nomads have made this section of my journey really special. Continue reading Hats off to the Grey Nomads!
Phew Uluru, what a scorcher!
So there I am the night before the Outback Marathon, trying to sleep and failing miserably. I check my emails and there’s one from Lee Martin in Adelaide telling me he’s seen the local weather for my area and it’s going to be 32 degrees during the race, so I’d better slap on the factor 50. I get out of my sleeping bag and turn my kitbags inside out in the quest for suncream before I remember that I left it back home in the UK because it’s actually winter here in Australia. Doh! Continue reading Phew Uluru, what a scorcher!
“She’ll be right mate…”
It was like a scene straight out of Crocodile Dundee. I kid you not. The Englishman (me) rolls up at the roadhouse bar where I’m greeted by an old leathery tanned bloke with tight jeans, dirty vest and cowboy hat, Jeffrey the Aborigine and his indigenous mates, and a couple of raucous ‘Sheilas’ (the local women). I’m desperate for an ‘arrival beer’ and ask for a recommendation. “Just don’t drink the VB,” shouts one of the ladies who I learn has spent most her life driving dumper trucks down the local mines. “You know what the VB stands for don’t ya — Vaginal Backwash,” she cackles. I play it safe, leave the Victoria Bitter in the fridge and opt for a Coopers Sparkling instead, which I’ve developed a taste for over here.