go west handbook – the blog

With a good nights sleep under the belt the ‘Irish Go West’ team tried to prepare itself for splitting up. The Tercel was packed to the gills  with camping equipment and rucksacks. While Steve was dreaming of his next Liverpool tatoo and Darren was getting his 14 hours a day sleep; the rest of us tried to figure out how we were going to attack the rest of the west coast with only one car. Eugene ‘Ginola’ Greaney wasn’t helping the situation when he walked past two French backpackers with a campervan to themselves, claimed he didnt see them with the hair in his eyes.  The next bus coming through this godforsaken spot that made Ballyjamesduff look like New York wasn’t coming for another two months. The Galway trio were forced to put on a smile and hitch the 240km trip to the next town; Port Hedland. The Dundalk branch spun the wheels and motored on in the Tercel which was in need of a rest after towing Steve’s “I don’t know what oil is” Creavens shitbox Magna the day before.

About an hour into the trip the Tercel was cruising along when all of a a sudden a car flew past with three of the gammiest heads I’ve ever seen hanging out the window. Turns out the boys are in luck when some union head takes pity on them and gives them a lift on the condition Gino puts some socks on to cover his toes which now resemble Freddy Kruger’s ring piece after a spicy Indian. By the time the Tercel rolls into town the boys have been taken on a guided tour of Port Hedland and given the in’s and out’s of mining and exporting. After a quick bite it was down to the airport to see if we could get our hands on a car needing relocating, turns out we just missed one. Typical! Finto and Nige decided to keep her lit and hit the road for Broome while the 3 boys tried their look at hitch hiking again.

After some serious driving the Tercel pulled into Broome. We made a quick call down to Juma and Becca’s campsite for a quick reunion. We obviously weren’t missed that much as Becca didn’t bother getting up to see us, no room in the inn there so more driving looking for somewhere to kip. Dead good, right good, innit! After some serious f##*ing and blinding we decided to sleep in the car. Genius’ that we are, we thought it would be a good idea to sleep beside a river. Nige was killing mosquitoes for a good 20mins when we got a phone call from the boys to say they didn’t get a lift and were spending the night sleeping on the ground beside the petrol pumps. The Tercel felt like a king size bed with the thought of the boys pulling pebbles out of their ears.

The Grand Canyon

On the road early, weather was a bit overcast. We set off on the short trip from the campsite to the Fort Escue Falls. It was a steep climb down but no problem to us seasoned hill walkers! Finto aka Danny Divito from The last of the Mohicans skipped on ahead. The waterfalls were absolutely quality Finto, Gino and Nigel didn’t waste much time and barrelled into the water. It was absolute Baltimore as Gino would say! I think gets Baltimore confused with Baltic but none of us have the heart to tell him.

Willies were about to get a whole lot smaller,but not as small as steves

Darren was forced to sit this one out with his gammy foot, Steve just wasn’t bothered. So they watched on bitching about how crap Liverpool were playing and how wrinkly there Liverpool tattoos would be by the time they won anything worth a shite. After an hour freezing our balls off, we took the trek back up the gorge. We thought we were doing pure Bear Grills stuff until we met an old woman on a crutch heading down towards us.
We headed off on the road to Joffre Falls it was basically a 35k long rumble strip. We were forced to drive below 20km most of the way with one wheel on the verge to stop the cars from falling to bits. We had to let the air out of the tyres, no point in fuel economy without a back axel. Darren couldn’t have picked a worse day to start driving but he took it all in his stride. We arrived down to the pool at another gorge they were a little shallow for swimming so the stone skimming competition began. It was a photo finish between Darren and Finto for the most hops but Darren was lucky to be still in the competition after nearly amputating Nigel’s leg from the shin down with a dodgy early attempt.
We opted out of getting fleeced the 15 dollars for the 15 minute internet access and headed on to Oxer’s gorge and again it was spectacular stuff! We met two crustys on their way back from there annual wash. Soap Hating Bastards! We also seen a Hornet, mad looking things. They are know to carry away babies! After Nigel tried a dive bomb off an 8 foot ledge into a 2 foot pool we decided to call a halt to the tourist stuff.

Economy Bungee Jump Minus the Bungee

We drove about 5K when the Magna started slowing up. It was out of petrol but luckily the two well prepared baby wipe sharing bastards from Dundalk took the crazy decision to bring a spare can! We topped it up and Darren tried to start it there was a serious knocking sound coming from the engine, not good at all. We checked the dip stick, not Steve Craven the lad who spent 7 years in the motor trade but the thing used to check the car for oil. We tried putting oil in hoping that with the engine still being hot it might not be completely ceased but no such luck it was fecked. Stranded by the side of the road, a jeep with 3 fine young things pulled up to see if we needed help. Of course the clever boys that we are we waved them on!

Stevie '7 years in the motor trade' Creaven checkin for oil....

We decided we would try to tow the Magna with the $400 1984 Turcel. We weren’t holding out much hope, it was 80k to the nearest petrol station, getting dark and both cars were as full as tinkers bras. We took up positions with Nigel driving the Turcel, Gino up front on kangaroo watch, Finto steering the Magna, Steve reading the Haynes manual for Mitsubishi Magna’s wondering what went wrong and Darren in the back reading his book on the war in Iraq. That’s right they go to war for the stuff, its kinda important!
We pulled off very slowly trying to ease the strain on the Turcel. At first it was getting it very hard to pull the magna at anything above 40k in second gear. It wasn’t looking good we feared that the Turcel might end up goosed like the Magna. We were about to pull over and stop when we finally started heading downhill. We were soon tearing down through valleys at 100k, at night with an overloaded magna 5 feet from our rear bumper. Gino’s kangaroo spotting job soon became pointless. If one did jump out in front of us we would just about have time to scream like little girls and no more. The trip down through the valleys was nerve racking to say the least. We couldn’t afford to slow down on the downhill sections because they were usually followed by uphill sections, a bit like a rollercoaster but completely different. So were ploughed on and after about 50 minutes we could see the lights of the petrol station off in the distance. We rolled into the petrol station buzzing because we had made it. It was like reaching the top of Mount Everest but completely different and a lot warmer!
We headed into the service station to get a bite to eat and discuss tactics. We knew that there was no point trying to fix a blown engine in a car worth $1000 on the remote west coast of oz so that was ruled out straight away. So it was either report it stolen or dump it. We got chatting to a sound Kiwi who told us of a place to dump it not far from the petrol station. We decided to put all the stuff we could do without into the magna and tow it to the dump. Nigel, Finto and Darren took on with the task.

Taking the Number plates off before we dumped 'the smegma' into a farmers field

Darren was just along hoping that he might get to torch the car the vandal that he is! We dumped it without a hitch and headed back to the campsite for a well earned sleep. It was by far the most eventful day yet on the west coast trip.

karijini

Woke up and walked straight into the tourist information centre to find the quickest way out of the town which we later found was twin townd with Rathkeale in Co Limerick. Pulled out of the car park and were finally on the road to the much anticipated Karijini National Park. Only problem was the road getting there, there was so many bumps it was like driving over Luke Chadwick’s face for two hours.

Road to Karijini

We arrived at roughly 4.30 pm and it was time to get the tent up pronto as the sun was setting fast. Got it up with just enough time to check out one of the nearby gorges. On the way there Euge tried to throw a stone at Nigel and in doin so somehow managed to stub his toe on a rock and split it open. Looks like he will have to go back to the chiropractor to get the foot sorted out!

Only got a glimpse of the gorge but it was enough to get us excited for the following days adventures.

So out of the Mitsubishi Smegma for a much needed shower. After the shower Stevie finally let Darren take the wheel. After doing the hard part and getting us back in one piece Darren somehow managed to lock the only key we had into the boot. 25 minutes of head scratching and blaming each other had passed before a freshly showered Fintan ‘Paula Abdul’ Goss returned and quickly solved the problem using just his calf muscle and a single piece of sticky back plastic, lifesaver. After that close call it was back to the bat cave to eat some more prison food, pure Guisseppi Conlon shit!

Beware of the guard dog!

Woke up early for our big croc adventure. We were staying in the Kimberly Croc hostel in the town, twas a grand spot and the staff were sound. Bear Grylls was up at the crack of dawn practicing his croc wrestling moves with some locals down the park.

Ashley “The Crocodile Hunter Dundee” from Lower Ord Tours arrived with the rest of our tour group around 8 bells. The crew would remind you of the Swedish national volleyball team except they looked nothing like Scandanavians and they were all over 70. Nigel was delighted as he wasn’t the oldest for once on the bus.

We all got chatting and the banter began. Far from a boring crowd the golden oldies were, they were actually great craic. All except zee german who wouldn’t shut up for 2 minutes. There was great excitement in the air as this was our chance to see crocs in their natural environment as opposed to a cage. But before we headed out on the Ord River for the boat tour, we took a detour through the irrigation fields. Leslie knew all about food production in the area and explained how they siphon the water from the irrigation canals into the fields manually. He also explained how all the food plants were being replaced by sandlewood plantations as there was more financial gain. Though it does take 15 years to gather the first harvest! I could do a David Attenbouragh speal but suffice to say it was a quality start to the day.

We then stopped off for complimentary ice cream at a local café, ah the oldies do love their comforts, especially food that doesn’t require the chewing. Although Finto (loves the food) was first off the bus in a mad rush leaving a heap of pensioners behind him. He even went as far to say that the ice cream was nicer than the McFlurrys!

Bellies full we all climbed back onto the bus and headed towards the old river Ivanhoe crossing to watch the 4×4s do a Jesus walk on water impression (see pic). Twas class to see them crossing but I aint so sure if the Turcel would be fit for it but it has surprised us so far.

Jesus Walking on water

We arrived at Ashley’s camp by the river around 11am, an impressive spot altogether. Proper toilets and a class picnic area overlooking the river. Ashley told us to go have a look around while he started up the barbie. He assured us not to worry that if we fell in the river we would be fine, once we got out within 20 seconds. So the 3 explorers headed down to the river looking for crocs. We broke a large branch and started splashing the water, hoping to entice the crocs up for a gander. After bout 15 minutes and no result we were kinda half glad that we didn’t come face to face with death just yet. But it was class standing there knowing that there were crocs all around.

Half sized 6 meter crocodile

Zee German arrived down to the river with a super efficient pair of binoculars and within 43 seconds he had spotted a fresh water croc on the far side. He allowed us 12 seconds each of viewing for free, sound man.

The smell wafting from the BBQ had grabbed our attention by now so we walked back to the camp, only to be met by a 4 foot long lizard. He too had smelled the food. The angry wee basturd of a lizard took a run at meself and Darren and we absolutely shit ourselves, to the delighted of the oul ones! Zee German was still talking third reich shit about nothing (don’t mention the war, don’t mention the war).

His pet dog Rover

After stuffing our faces with as much quality free food and drink we could stomach, we had to be rolled onto the boat. The boat was top notch with plenty of room and complimentary binoculars. It wasn’t long before we seen a group of about 3 or 4 crocs. Of course zee German starting counting how many more he could see with his super efficient binoculars. 5, 6, 7… To which we replied, 8, 9 10, 11… It worked as he could not handle the fact that we were seeing more than he was. Of course we weren’t but he didn’t know that. And rather than be second best, he just shut up – RESULT!

It wasn’t long before zee German was at it again. We tried to persuade Asley to let us feed him to the crocodiles (by accident of course) but being the pro that he is, declined. But im sure it crossed his mind.

By now we were seeing saltwater and freshwater crocs everywhere. 4 metre ones. Even slightly saltwater crocs and the odd femme freshwater ones could be seen! We stopped halfway down the river in a little cove for a well needed ice cold drink and a stretch of the legs. Climbed up a small cliff overlooking the river, class views all round. We had a nice relaxing spin back down the river. The temp dropped to a bearable 30 degrees. With the sun setting over the mountains the trip was coming to an end. Limbs and plastic hips intact we all climbed back onto the bus.

A Femme Freshwater Croc

Quality trip and seen plenty of wildlife including wallabees, plenty of eagles, over 60 crocs and the Kununurra, white brested, billy bob tailed, wing wong bat.  Great day out and great tour.

The full moon

Ningaloo Reef

Christ a panadol would still have a headache after a night on the goon! Two hours after getting told to call it a night a bang came on the tent door, bad news was being delivered. We were kindly told to vacate the premises immediately all because the Liverpool girls couldn’t keep it down, cheers girls for giving us a bad name.

So up we packed and tore off in search of a new home, but unfortunately we were told we weren’t welcome in the surrounding campsites. Before we could go any further, Darren had to go for his daily check up on his gangrene ridden foot, definitely worse then Eugene’s toes. Darren was told he would need skin grafts and Finto being a guilty party kindly donated the skin from his arse. Was the least he could do in fairness but luckily Darren declined.

Darren got taped up and off we went in search of new lodgings. 35 kilometres later we hit our destination lucky for them they had no phone coverage so we were in the clear. Quickly got the tent up and off to one of the best places in the world to do snorkelling, Ningaloo reef. Nigel, Finto and Euge went off snorkelling while Steve volunteered to babysit Darren. Well he says he volunteered but the truth is he just can’t swim. No conscience that young Goss has!

None of us have been to the Great Barrier Reef but we had been told that Ningaloo is every bit as good if not better. Met the scouse girls again aswell as Shane, Jimmy and Niall who like every other time we seen them had a bottle of Tuohey’s Extra Dry welded to their hands. Jimmy showed all us Irish how to properly apply suncream in order to avoid those harmful rays. Darren and Steve then showed him an even better way which was achieved through putting on nearly all the clothes they owned as well as a nice woolly hat. Slightly sweatier approach!

How to apply suncream

After a couple of top quality hours at the reef it was time for a spot of lunch, do you really need to know what we had! The lads had to drop the gear back. Finto was freaking as his snorkelling gear had to be back on time, although it was only a 5 minute trip, they still had an hour to spare. We all tried to calm him down but the vein in his head started throbbing so we know it was time to back away. Such an angry man! Back to the site, low and behold who did we bump into… Them pikies from Liverpool who got us barred from every campsite in Exmouth. But like the gents we are, we forgave them but probably only because they were good looking. Steve and Finto decided to do the 70km round trip for our loyal friend Stanley, the king of goon. If you’re wondering the vein had gone down but he was still kind of angry.

Time for a quick shower to freshen up and for Eugene to endure another one of his daily vomits. At least this time he had a valid excuse. After brushing his teeth he reached for a Listerine bottle that he spotted in the back of the car. Not knowing that Nigel had poured ‘Radox for men,containing sea minerals and herbal extracts’ into a Listerine bottle, he not only gargled it but drank the remainder of the Radox that was in his mouth causing him to vomit uncontrollably all over the campsite to both the disgust and confusion of many elderly neighbouring pensioners. Only realising what had happened when 5 minutes later bubbles constantly flowed from his Ph Balanced mouth.

Drinking away, happy out when this old goblin comes and out of nowhere gives us the marching orders at exactly 10 bells. Nigel came up with possibly the best line of the trip, forget Martin Luther, this was genius. See quote of the day. So back to tent to finish the end of our fine wine. Decided to call it a night, wanna know why? Nigel told his vegetarian joke AGAIN, no one laughed AGAIN. He started to get thick AGAIN. Neighbourhood watch was called in to calm the scene, such a bad joke.

Quote of the day: At ten o clock on the button one horrible old woman tries to put our night to an abrupt end when Nigel replies;”Ah will you go to bed will ya, if it wasn’t for medicine you’d be dead by now”.

Watch Finto the loner

After the gallons of goon consumed the night before there was a serious itch for a long overdue fry up. Up to IGA to do a bit of a shop while sippin on a Gatorade kindly donated by management once again. Back to the campsite to get the eggs, beans and saussi’s on. Two minute Steve takes charge of the sausages. How long till the sausages are ready Steve?”Two minutes lads”, 45 minutes later we get our sausages which resemble Koffi Annan’s penis, cheers Steve. He is as bad at cookin as he is at maths. After our fill of grease it was down to the Exmouth dive school to go on the internet, which the manager gave us for free, sweet buzz! Had to take Darren to the hospital as his foot was startin to resemble Freddie Crueger’s ring piece.

Freddie Crueger's ringpiece

Skin graphs avoided and bandages on we headed to the beach. Absolute top drawer beach, the nicest water we had been in yet. Water was lovely and warm, helped by the fact that we all probably pissed in it. The two beauty queens of the group Darren and Nigel worked on their tans while the rest of us played red arse on the beach, or in Euge’s case redder arse. Had a good kick about on the beach then spotted the Liverpool birds further down toppin up their tans. Unfortunately they weren’t topless as we’d hoped, was hoping for a cheeky little gander. Good craic down the beach then hopped back in the magna and headed towards the campsite. Nige and Gino argued over who got to sit in the front seat, what age are they??

Turqouise Bay

After three attempts and more broken washing machines than a Pikeys campsite we finally had clean clothes. Quick wash, clean boxers on and we hit the Potshot Hotel. Daffid im the only gay in the villages’ long haired Canadian cousin was there. Steve being such a fan got him to sign his chest, just about fit it in between all those shit Liverpool tatoos, while Darren robbed his drink. Minister for finance was playing a stormer. Nigel skipped off early with Amy, the big sleepy head. Finto nearly chocked when a cougar attacked him in the smoking area luckily he was able to fight the pensioner off. Renditions of Halleluiah on the way home. Hit the Goon before getting told the other campers weren’t enjoying the sound of our voices as much as we were. Headed across the road to the softball pitch to finish off the session. Day 1 of Stevie’s chat up with Rachel stay tuned, and get comfy.

Check out the only Gay in the village

Quote of the day: “do ya know ur man Gordon Brown, well did ya know he’s deaf in one eye” compliments of Rachael Carter ( the girl with the Phd).

Day 13 6/8/09

Road to Exmouth

Stevie after 3 days of not fallin in love

Woke about 8 to the sound of Mick ‘loves the snoring’ Dundee. The loud bastid; we could hear him half way across the campsite and him asleep inside a bloody bus! The Thai bride was no doubt off shooting kangaroos for his breakfast. Dyin disease bastards of flies were back in numbers, See quote of the day. We ate the usual wallpaper paste for breakfast, washed down with the good old orange crush. We had barely decided where we were going when Steve ‘chompin at the bit’ Creaven was off; trail of red dust bailing out the back of the Magna. Seven years in the motor trade my hole, seven years tearing round Salthill arm welded to the window pure hard, he aint bothered bout nauthin!

Arrived in Exmouth at about two o clock. Finto Goss and Eugene Greaney of G&G security services swaggered into the campsite reception and blagged two nights free accommodation. It worked, Yes Bhoys! But unfortunately Fintos “peach epidemic” struck again. Straining to understand the dribble that was coming out of his mouth the receptionist thought he said there were two not a few of us camping. Long story short she changed her mind and only gave us one free night on condition that we only bring one car and one tent into the campsite. So we spent the first hour of our stay in Exmouth trying to squeeze all our camping stuff into one car. Pure Tetris shit, absolute torture! It wasn’t long before we bumped into the three stooges Shane Niall and Jimmy all burnt to a crisp still loving the Carlton Dry, Dry my hole its definitely wet its beer for f**k sake! Jenny and Amy pulled in and parked in the spot next to us and sure enough two mins later Rach and Georgia hoped the fence. 4 for the price of 2 no less! Rach is actually eddy hobbs daughter! Amy oz and Rachel oz our lovely girls turned groupies spotted our tent while passing and called in to say hi. By the way if your reading this Rachel you owe me 20 bucks I didn’t forget that I lent it to you it was just a little awkward asking for it backJ

After polishing off Spag Bol and Goon for dinner we assembled the motley crew round the tent for a bit of a session and a listen to a few of gino’s prank calls on Amanda’s speakers. Mario Rosenstoke, take note this mans unreal at these! The first prank was as Ricky Michaels an ozzy police officer, with a call to Rosie Ryans brother asking him to give a character witness over the phone as Rosie had been arrested for drunk and disorderly behaviour. He then rang Smarthomes (Irelands leader in home wiring solutions) shamless plug, pretending to be John Maughan a respected member of the local pikey community asking to get his caravan fitted out with surround sound. There were people chocking, puking and crying listening to it funniest thing you will ever hear but only because we lost the “Desmond Mackin Please” prank. The session it ended when we finished all the stout, the air mattresses inflated and the sleeping bags rolled out. One by one we fell asleep, Stevie had a dream, he dreamt he didn’t look like that ugly French footballer who plays for that shitty German team.

Quote of the Day: “Look at the amount of flies on me, its like a  f***ing ad for Trocaire”- Gino

                                                                       

 I have to say I’m delighted that the young fella Stevie picked up so many injuries and battle scars across Asia, as his experience is coming in handy dressing my scalded foot. Moral of the story: when sitting around a campfire don’t ask Finto “the firestarter” Goss for a coffee as he’s likely to pour boiling water over one of your exposed limbs. Driving around the town centre; Nigel with the hawk eye spots a chiropractor clinic so we manage to convince Gino to go in and see if they can do anything to help his two big deformed toes. Don’t know how he exposes them to the public! So in he swaggers, up to the doctor and tells him he’s here to get the nails checked. The doc replies “sorry but we only do backs here”. He still doesn’t realise it’s a bleeding chiropodist he needs! So out comes Eugene followed by the doc to be met by us breaking our holes laughing. The kid ends up having the last laugh as he gets a free massage out of it although not of the Thai style like he was hoping. No happy endings here!

Eugene finally copped

Onwards to Exmouth we go taking a 50k detour to see the blowholes near Point Quobba. When the waves come in the water shoots up about 20metres in the air, quality stuff. About 20 meters from shore there’s a load of humpback whales jumping out of the water like Steve jumps into a relationship. We drove on for a few hours and found a spot to pitch our tent about 60k south of Coral bay. Myself and Steve go in search of wood but being the useless gits that we are; come back with not a twig between us so off goes Finto to save the day. He comes back with half the Amazon rain forest.

Not scared of nothin!

In pulls a busted up bus and out comes an old aussie bloke with his young Thai bride. He hands her a saw and a flashlight and sure enough off she goes chopping down trees like a professional lumber jack while he sits and plays the guitar. Nigel ponders why none of the women in his past relationships weren’t as obliging as this wee lass.

Gino collecting firewood while Finto stands doing nothing!

The N Rod starts rustling up a bit of bush tucker for us and somehow sets fire to the pan. Poor Steve’s eyebrows are nearly singed off but sure that wouldn’t be hard they’re bigger than the grand national fences. Then it’s back to the Magna for a spine twisting nights sleep. Still living the dream!!

Story of the trip- Galway lads sitting on there holes

The lads picked up a serious tan

Day 11 3/8/09

Christ above the goon hangovers don’t get any easier and it sure didn’t help Steve’s by him waking up and looking to his left and seeing Darren’s cheek resembling the River Nile with the amount of druel running down his face. And to his right and seeing Finto cocking his right leg and unleashing another volley of toxic gases again.

Steve and Finto went off to feed the dolphins but were unlucky not to be chosen for the feed. The girl handing out the fish was lucky she didn’t get a Spanish mackerel across the forehead. Back to the tent for some breckie and stopped off to pick a loaf of bread for $4.50. The look of disgust and shame on the Minister of Finance’s face was to be seen. Unfortunately there was no butter for the toast but our fellow campers kindly donated again. My word we’re coming across some generous people on our travels!

The crowds waiting for the dolphin beating

Bags packed, cars loaded, it was time to hit the road again. 6 litres of oil later, the Magna’s oil light has stayed on since we left Perth – at least its consistent. Back into Denham town for another Tercel fuel top up, think its bout the 14th now but she’s still going strong. And leaking fumes. Must be the reason the lads always look off there head after every long journey.

Not too long afterwards, Finto’s fast food nose was out again. Eug needed his daily fix as well, in all fairness to the kid he’d nearly gone 12 hours without a chip. He’s honestly getting better! Darren opted for the fried scallops. Turned out to be a bad call considering when he took a bite out of it, it looked like it hadn’t been gutted. Two bad calls in less than 24 hours has the camp at unrest and speculation is rife that he wont be re-elected for the east coast!

Tiger Shark looks like a tiger but completely different

Off to the Ocean Park Marine Exhibition we go and we’re met by Ed the manager. He and the staff have a look at the website, and suddenly there was a burst of laughter and sure enough they’d seen the pic at the Pinnacles! Got a brilliant and in depth tour from guide Dunc. Got to see a 2.3 meter tiger shark and up close look at lemon sharks feeding. Steve thought there was a bird looking at him but she turned out to be cross eyed and was actually taking a fancy to Darren.

Nearly as big as the one Nigel caught

On the road again and not gone 0.5km when the sun and goon caught up with Gino and off he went to the toilet for his daily vomit. So 20 minutes later, with Gino carrying half the stomach he had leaving Monkey Mia, it was time to get on the road to Carnavon. On the journey we took in some savage sites of the sand, massive termite nests and a lot of dead roos. Steve and Darren decided to count the roos in a 5km stretch, 12 dead skippys! By the time we passed the 8th, Steve could see Darren’s mouth watering at the thought of sampling the roadkill. Thankfully Steve kept driving.

Finally got near to Carnavon but the sun was about to set so Steve and Nigel had to pull out there Ace Ventura tactics and drive with the heads out the windows, and in the process narrowly missed getting decapitated by passing road trains. Reached the campsite, so it was time for our Minister for Communication, Nigel, to put into effect some of the words of wisdom that made us elect him into this role. And sure enough “the charmer” produced a 20% discount. He’s definitely got our vote for the east coast!

Economy Air Conditioning

Got the dinner on, compliments of Nigel again. He’s turning out to be a bit of an all rounder on the trip. Plus he LOVES the cooking. Time for the cot afterwards and Steve was talking to Finto. Mid flight of a sentence, the blinkers were on and lights were out for Finto. Shows how interesting Steve is!