Boulia camel races

Oh yeh! Camel races! The Boulia came races were on the weekend, and I covered it for the Star.

The highlight was getting to ride in a race! Oh yeh! It was a 400 metre local race, and I was on a fine beast called Kick Along Tom.

This is us walking up to the gate. I don't know why the silks were pink with sequins. I swear I didn't pick it.

Kick Along Tom came out of the gate a little bit slowly, at a trot in fact. But I was confident we could claw the distance back... until he went down to a walk. I don't think he quite got the urgency of it. But on the upside I did get the chance to have a chat to the people sitting leaning on the rail. Luckily the ambulance and bus were there to heard Kick Along Tom on a bit...
Yes, I think the judges had to call for the photo finish.
Tom and I eventually had to part ways, of course.
I came in for a sportsman's fifth, in a six camel race, where one broke to early and was disqualified. But I think it was a moral victory.
So yes, it was a great weekend. A bunch of footy blokes were there and it was a pretty big weekend. I think the lack of sleep may catch up with me, but hey, I can't complain!

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Lawn Hill

I got go go on an amazing trip with a state government minister and our local MP two weeks ago. The minister looks after national parks and was going up to Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park and I got a seat on the plane.

The plane was a King Air, which is what the Flying Doctors and my friend Luke fly. But this was a ministerial King Air! Leather seats, wood panelling, funky little half size soft drink cans... the works!

The original plan was to go to Camooweal for a graduation ceremony for an indigenous training college. Unfortunately they picked the two days where the north west was completely blanketed with clouds. We kept making circles around the runway but couldn't see anything. We were pretty low and couldn't see the ground and could hear one of the computers in the cockpit saying "pull up, pull up." The pilots assured me we were 600 feet off the ground, but it was a little bit interesting!

And this is Lawn Hill. Yes, I got paid to go canoeing up this river. Tough assignment...

Once you get through the gorge there is this lovely little waterfall. Amazing.

We stayed overnight at Adel's Grove, which is this kinda weird but lovely spot further down the road. It's kinda like school camp - you sit at a table for dinner and you go up and get stuff served out but have to be invited to go up! But yes, sat on the deck next to the river and had a beer! Lovely.

Normanton trip

Okay, so this happened a few weekends ago, but I went up to Normanton a few weekends ago.

My former colleague Nicola has left the Star for greener pastures in Port Augusta. Her partner Luke is based in Normanton in the short term flying planes around. So I decided to go up and hang out with him.

It's about 500 kilometres, so a fair old drive. Luckily I got to take a work car in exchange for a few stories. It's actually not a bad drive. It's good to get a feel for just how far everything is up here - because apparently driving three days up here didn't quite get that across...

I saw the sun trying the break through the clouds and thought I'd stop to take this photo.
And this is what the road was like for a large part of the drive!
As I said, Luke's a pilot. He had to do a little bit of work on Saturday, but we just hung out in the King Air he flies around. I had a lot of questions.

One of Normanton's tourist draw cards is its old train station with this train that runs once a week. The track is actually this special design that requires no ballast under the tracks. Basically it was designed like that because it's underwater for half the year and it wouldn't work. The sleepers are hollow metal but packed with earth apparently. I'm not sure of the exact physics, but it clearly still works.

Normanton is the place where the world's largest recorded crocodile was killed. It's 8.6 metres long and there's actually a replica of it in the main street, which I can't believe I forgot to take a photo of!

On Saturday night we went down to the town's wharf in the river to try to spot croc eyes with a torch. I was certain we'd see something, but alas, nothing! Still, this photo was funny when I was eight, funny now.

It was great to go and hang out with Luke. At this point I hadn't been out of Mount Isa for a while, so it was much needed. And plus, Luke makes a mean gourmet bacon and eggs.