Roon and Family around Oz

T+230     The best jog in Australia ? I am a jogger. Definitely not a runner. Running requires a competitive instinct and tight shorts. Jogging requires a survival instinct and baggy daggys. I am a very fortunate jogger. I can name-drop world-class jogs that I have - jogged. Copacabana, Iguassu Falls, Victoria Falls, Namib Desert, The Thames Path in London, salt pans in Botswana, Venice Beach LA, The Danube path through Budapest, The Manchester Ship Canal, Mt Cook, Provence through the Lavender Fields was a good one with aromatic benefits. I once broke out into a 100m / 3 minute jog at 5000m in the Himalaya just for bragging rights. Closer to home Sydney Harbour of course, Agnes Water and 1770 in Queensland and Outback Queensland alongside trotting Emu's to name a few. As I said, fortunate.  So it is with a great deal of surprise and pleasure that amongst all these worthy and glamorous nominees I award the Roon GOAT -J (greatest of all time jog) to ----- Nah, thin...

T+ 220     Forbes, Parkes and the Warrambungles  They reckon that everybody remembers where they were when; - Kennedy was assassinated - 9/11 happened - Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon - The Berlin Wall came down Give it a go, if you're old enough.  In my case I was 5 when Kennedy was shot and I remember, quite vividly, my Mum crying when she walked me home from school and explaining why.  The night of 9/11 I was in Sydney being treated to a quite superb dinner at a famous Sydney restaurant by our very good friend Roman, who at the time was the Austrian Commercial Attache to Australia. A waiter came along and told us. I went back to Roman's palatial house in Bellevue Hills and we stayed up all night glued to the TV  For the first landing on the moon I was at home in Manchester watching blurry images on our 18" Black and White TV in a state of distress having the same day being told I hadn't been picked for the school football team. Man on the moo...

T+208       The Riverina - 'Where's that hound when you need him'  Now, I said to Tobes the morning after, ' Dare's no point in havin' a dog and barkin' yerself is there now?' In my best County Cork accent. AWOL he was, not even missing in action, totally disinterested. Well, to be fair he claims to be a Border Collie not a Rotweiller, but still you would have thought just this once when he was really needed he could have come up with a Pit Bull impersonation and risen to the occasion. Dogs are like tax accountants, where are they when you really need them. The occasion in question takes place in deepest Don Corlione country. Well, glorious Griffith to be precise, capital of the Riverina, bread basket of NSW, a huge Italian community - and the world's best Italian bakery. 5:30AM. I'm awoken by a large thump on the left ear from a clearly agitated spouse. The Beast is shaking. I immediately think - as you would - earthquake, and try to c...

T+200 Bourke & Cobar, Go West young man or East to Eden?  We're at Cobar, a NSW crossroads. Literally and figuratively. We go west to South Australia, self-isolate for 2 weeks and continue on our big-lap, albeit with a chunk missing? Or, we head east and meander slowly through Central NSW in the direction of Coffs Harbour? Cobar Another crossroads in our lives. Like most, we've had a few and as we weigh the pros and cons can't help think of those life-changing decisions, some well considered, others fanciful, which have led to the present day and yes, Cobar.  I've written earlier in this missive about our charmed life in Zambia and how 3 weeks turned into 5½ years. Leaving was a wrench but had to be. Personnel in London, known these enlightened days as HR or the Spoiler Police, had decreed that Zambia long-term was no place for a mid-20's bloke with a degree of ambition and perceived potential. Matters had been made worst by winning...

T+ 180 Winton to NSW Border via Longreach, Barcaldine, Blackall, Tambo, Charleville and Cunnamulla.   One door closes. and another opens or is it the other way around? Officially Queensland is open for business, the hospitality and tourism businesses rubbing their hands together, sprucing up the old place and hanging out the welcome flags. Problem is they're not. Longreach, which we were looking forward to, is to put it mildly, comatose. The iconic Qantas Museum is closed. The even more iconic Stockmans Hall of Fame closed. The sing-along, clap along outback evenings around the camp-fire - closed. So with nobody willing to part us from our hard-earned we continue our trek south.  The plan now is to time our itinerary to arrive at the South Australian border in time for the grand opening on the 20th July. As the Beast refuses point-blank to get down and dirty on gravel this means transiting across South West NSW which we reckon shouldn't be too much of a hardship. First u...

T+160    Dinosaur Trail  Part 2      Richmond - Julia Creek - Hughenden - Winton Who Dunnett? Tough as it was to say farewell to Penny, we    headed towards Hughenden via Julia Creek,  which turned into a two night stopover at a free  camp site by the creek itself. If you're a Dunnet  fan this is the place to be as the Visitors Centre  feeds their Dunnets' at 10:00 am on the dot.  Don't be late otherwise you may well miss the  chance to see the very rare, mouse-size  marsupial and very cute they are too. Highlight though,was a bike-ride along the creek accompanied by 4 curious and sociable Emu's trotting alongside for a km or so. They turned out to be very good listeners and only tried to peck me the once when I told them that the barmaid in the Top Pub almost refused to serve me when I asked for a splash of lime in Jane's lager. The other 10 or so patrons, all in Stetsons and Wranglers, didn't seem that ...