go west handbook – the blog

Day 6 -> 8 29/07/09 -> 31/07/09

I’ll tell ya something for nothing, Jesus had an easier task of raising Lazurus from the dead than we do of getting Eugene out of the bed. Into the kitchen for a mountain of porridge, ya’d get better in a Siberian prison camp. After the previous night’s kind donation of 12 eggs from the fridge, there was a bit of ducking and diving to be done around the campsite.

The day began like the last, with the sun beating down and not a cloud to be seen. So off we went to see Rick and Roslyn at The Big River Ranch about 2km from the town. Checked the bags in and spent the morning appreciating the unreal surroundings, and playing soccer tennis. The Greaneys lost again to Christy Brown (Steve) and Bobby Bouche (Fintan). Don’t ask. We were delighted with the accommodation after spending the last few days sleeping on the hard ground in our tent. Facilities were top drawer, lovely dorm, swimming pool, volley ball court and quality cooking area. Given the place is one of the cheapest in town it’s an absolute bargain!

So up to the horse riding stable to get fitted out for the John Wayne impersonations. We all get our horse riding helmets apart from Finto who had to get a wheelie bin and a load of duct tape. Bless! So up on Patrick, Bob, Flash, Herbie and Big Arnie and off we went. Patrick was a bit like the Turcel, just wouldn’t go. Herbie was a bit like Darren, struggled with the flatulence and Bob was like Nigel, ugly. Have to say that when Patrick took off first on the canter Eug had to check the underpants for some of that Rocky Road dessert, lucky escape. We were expecting to be led around like 12 year old girls at a summer camp but fair play to Rick he had us cantering and trotting within minutes. Quality stuff! We galloped around the Murchison River banks for a full 2 hours. The scenery was like something straight out of a western movie. Eugene thought he was Denzel Washington in “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.”

After that it was time to make the most of the sunshine and check out the Murchison River gorges in Kalbarri national park. We weren’t there 2 minutes when we met Mr Ireland himself, with the big “I love suncream” head on him, warning us that you can get burnt by the sun. Lucky charms eating bastard! After meeting Mr Ireland, we bump into Ned Kelly himself. And there were we thinking he was dead. Darren is gona send him on an Irish number plate by email. See quote of the day for more info. He actually is that unreal at PCs that he can send a number plate through the internet. Then Ned turns to Finto and asks him for a didgeridoo because he thinks he’s an Aboriginal.

We stopped off at Natures Window on the way down to the gorges, some spot for breath taking views. There was an 8km walk to do around the gorges but we decided we needed a swim. So again Bear McGrylls led the way down the gorge, compass in hand. After a pretty cold swim and Nigel thinking there was no one around – he decided to strip off and get into the dry clothes. Only to turn around to see two shocked pensioners who laughed and pointed at his meat and two veg, saying “My grandson just done his Holy Communion and his is bigger than that!”. In fairness to him, the water was pretty cold.

The evening finished with a nice curry followed by a few cold beers with some of the friendly staff and other backpackers by the campfire. Typical of the staff at the ‘Big River Ranch’, Roslyn produced the goods and brought some of her famous Rocky Road dessert, which even a local commented that it was the best he had ever tasted.

A tour bus pulls in. A motley crew they are to say the least. Finto tries the didgeridoo and he’s not half bad but that’s to be expected given his Aboriginal roots. Everyone keeps staring at Steve wondering is that actually him or the Madame Tussauds version (see pic below).

We manage to get a lift into town in the search of banter but are disappointed with the similarites with Ballindine on the Galway/Mayo border – ghost town. . Good craic, great day. Steve hasn’t fallen in love today.

Quote of the day:
After being asked by an Aussie who collects number plates, Darren replies “ya no bother, sure I could email it onto ya.”

Distance Travelled: 96km (Total Distance 997km).

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 9th, 2009 at 3:35 am and is filed under Irish go west. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.