THE HANKY REVISITED

There has been an overwhelming response to the Hanky blog.

It has been decided that we should now release the Directors Cut, with some previously unpublished scenes...

BERRY SPRINGS - NT
Another thermal spring, another swim for Gavin and the kids (with me on the sidelines with the camera and towels). They are all having a great time hiding behind the waterfall, and emerging for some action photos. Jacinta swims over the the edge and hands me a wet handkerchief. "I think it is Dad's. It was just floating past me."

TJAYNERA FALLS, LITCHFIELD NP - NT
Somewhat over shadowed by the car key incident. It should be noted that a handkerchief also went missing from Gavin's pocket on that fateful day in June. However, the handkerchief was never retreived from the waterhole.

FLORENCE FALLS, LITCHFIELD NP - NT
An early start saw us the first ones to do the gorge walk and be swimming in the plunge pool below the falls. Gavin jumped in and promptly returned to the edge "Too cold?" I asked. "No," he said handing me a wet handkerchief, "just left this is my pocket."

CAPE RANGE NP - WA
More recently I hopped into the driver's seat to get the i-thing off the dash. Much to my disgust there was a filthy, sopping wet handkerchief of the floor. "What is this dirty bloody thing doing in here," I yelled in Gavin's general direction. "It's not dirty," he replied, "I just used it to clean the spotlights."

The night before we had gone for dinner in Exmouth. We returned to camp after dark. We had been warned by the rangers of the wildlife that we would encounter on the 60km journey back to our beachside bush camp - and they weren't wrong. We passed hundreds of kangaroos on the roadside, on the road, and jumping out from the bush.

Unfortunately we did have one jump into the back passenger side of the car. It woke up Hugh who was sleeping against the door at the time. Well ... not sure if the initial BANG woke him up, or Jacinta screaming "Oh no! Did we hit it?" Gavin soon set her straight - "No, it hit us."

 

READY PLEASE MR MUSIC

Jacinta listens to her choir CD each week. Rehearsing her 11 songs for the Opera House concert in October. We are all getting really good at karoke - especially at the finale songs.

We often trump her 'Feeling Groovy' rehearsal by playing the whole Simon and Garfunkel collection CD. The boys love to sing "Coo Coo Ca Choo Mrs Robinson" with a lot of gusto.

This is not to be confused with Hugh singing his other favourite "I am the egg man, I am the walrus goo goo ga choo" by the Beatles.

Hugh often annoys his sister with his enthusiastic, soprano renditions of most songs. His regular request is for the Rolling Stone's 'You can't always get what you want' - so he can sing the intro with the choir.

NOT that we always have the classiscs from the 60s and 70s on the stereo. The morbid tones of Coldplay are still on high rotation. I don't know if Jacinta really likes them or just puts it on to please her Dad.

Should we be worried that the kids love singing along to Talking Heads? We often hear the words of "Psycho Killer" being yelled from the back seat.

I may be in fear of losing all my conservation accreditations. We are at Ningaloo Reef - I did not go snorkelling, but loved quad biking.

We have just spent nearly 2 weeks travelling along the coast at Ningaloo Reef. I was not brave enough to go snorkeling, but Gav and the kids spent many days in the water.

Last night we went on the sunset quad bike trek at Coral Bay. 2 hours of hooning up and down sand dunes and along the beach. I had Jacinta on the back, and Hugh was on the back of Gavin's machine. The kids were allowed to have a short drive along one sandy bush track.

As we had riden quad bikes before, we were at the end of the convoy. Every now and again we would hang back a little bit, then let it rip to catch up with the group again. Needless to say that there were a few drags along the beach, saw the speedo hit 55kmph at one stage.

We will be home in 5 weeks. So it is probably hard to believe that we are still snorkeling at Ningaloo Reef. We spent over a week camped on the beach in the Cape Range NP and today we moved down to Coral Bay.

We seem to be prolonging our time in the north west of the country - probably because the weather is sunny and 30. However some days can be very windy on the coast.

We really enjoyed the Pilbara region. Had a Mine tour at Rio Tintos Tom Price site. Hugh now wants to live in a donger and drive a big yellow truck.

We thought Jacinta was getting a good suntan. But as it turns out she was suffering from a condition called 'a pilbara tan'. Her affliction was remedied by washing off all the red dust in a shower after 3 days out in the bush.

We had a great weekend in Port Hedland with our friends Biscuit and Rob. They left Melb on their around oz trip about 12 years ago - and still haven't a left the Pilbara. We went down to the port and watched all the huge BHP iron ore ships coming and going. ( I think Hugh may also want to drive these.)

We have followed some back roads alongside the railway lines. The iron ore trains are really big. They usually have over 300 carriages, so are over 3km long. It took us some time to overtake one, just so we could get some photos of the engines - yes they have 3. (I think Hugh may want to drive these too.)

We loved the gorges at Karijini NP. And at some stage there should be some great photos attached to the blog.

Anyway .... having crossed the continent, already traveling over 20,000km, we can come home now having accomplished our main mission of taking the kids to Dampier to see Red Dog.

DAY 127

I must be delirious. The driver turned inland from the coast saying we were off to Mars Bar. Mmm, Yum, I thought.

As we drove into the town, we were welcomed by a sign stating "Australia's hottest town". We were actually at Marble Bar on a glorious winter day when the temperature was only 33 degrees.

Thank god for the cold beer at the pub at lunchtime. Otherwise I may have been getting a bit dehydrated.

The heat is getting to me. Good for the tan, but no good for cracking lips. I think the kids' hair may even be going blonder.

As the temperature is expected to be 34 tomorrow (and its still winter), we may head back to the coast and the small shipping hamlet of Port Hedland.

DAY 126

The expedition is going well, though the men and horses are getting tired. Since the party left the Port of Macquarie over 4 months ago we have travelled over 18,000km, finally reaching the other side of this vast continent.

Some of our expedition members who have hauled boats through the interior have been very disappointed that there is no inland sea to speak of. The boats are now being used to gather fish and mud crabs from the pristine waters of the north-west.

Food is still plentiful, though rations of fresh milk and bread are limited. There are many settlements in the region where we can buy supplies. There is also a lot of other european-types exploring this area of Australia.

The natives have been very friendly. We have been welcomed into their camps where they have shared with us dreamtime stories, shown us how to make tools and where to hunt for food. We have spent many days in their company and found it most rewarding.

No mention of Captain James Cook over here. Everyone is speaking the praises of some bloke called Dampier who was here in the 1600's. Although in the same country, we feel that we have come across a totally different colony. Everyone talks of this game called Aussie Rules, and are unaware of (or not interested in) the game of rugby.

As we look out over the Indian Ocean of an evening, it is a strange sight to see the sun setting to the west (no ... that's not the strange bit) ... over the water. The locals are also making mention of the 'stairway to the moon' as the full moon rises over the water, but we haven't witnessed this phenomenon yet.

There has been some infighting around camp. The other night Hugh chose to sleep outside in the hammock, surviving the potential hazards of dingoes, cane toads, snakes; and avoiding the wrath of his big sister.

Our party has split up recently, with some of the men heading up an advance party. The education board has summoned Susan back to the Westport school house, so her and Mark are heading home. When possible they send us communications of conditions ahead, weather forecasts and good camping spots.

We are still enjoying funding for the journey from the NSW government's electricity commission. With no ongoing sponsorship available, we too must consider the fact that we must head east soon.

The mechanical horses are holding up well, but some problems are emerging. Wayne and Belinda have gone to the settlement of Port Hedland today for some trailer welding. Our trusty steed, having been reshod several times, is liking the sealed roads between some townships and may actually get us home safely.