tumbleweed the extended australia trip

[diggerdickson]

you meet some interesting people whilst on the road. We were staying at the Epic showground in Canberra and two weeks before we arrived there had been a folk festival. There were still a few hangers on and one lady went by the name Gypsy Moonlight, she was a fortune teller and this is what she got around in. Its the first trailer Ive seen that has been turned into a gypsy caravan

[diggerdickson]

We have been on the road from Canberra on our way up the Newell highway, no destination in mind just working our way up and then to head out to the rock. On the way we passed through a town called Gooloolong. It had a rest stop that had free electricity, hot showers, town water all for a gold coin donation. So we stayed there for two days, spent some money in the town buying lunches even though we didnt need to, you have to support towns that go out of their way to make you feel welcome. No photos sorry but had to mention the town, what a great name.

[diggerdickson]

Our next stop was a small town called Eumungerie. The town consisted of a few tar roads, a few red dirt roads, a pub, post office and a sports oval. The sports oval had what once would have been the most beautiful cricket oval. It was fenced all the way round in fencing made from fallen tree stumps and railway girders, the oval itself was as uneven as a pimply teenagers face, but oh in its glory days it would have been awesome. It cost ten bucks a night for power and five without, there was flushing toilets and cold showers.

When we parked up the bus there was another bus already there. So we strolled across to chat and found the lady to be from some sort of different planet. She was on this empowerment trip and didnt believe in aspergers or autism and that they if you spoke positive things over your children all symptoms would go away. MMMM, wacko l Needless to say just another person whom we have meet and its funny but most that we have meet that live in buses certainly seemed alternative. I just wonder now if people see us as alternative freaks also.....

The pub is a true country pub, you walk in the front door to a small bar, off to the left of the bar is another room where tables had been set up for older ladies of the community to sell their home made jams and other assorted things. I sampled some strawberry jam and bought a glass jar.

The pool room had photos in it from the late 1800s to early 1970s of the cricket teams so this peaked my interest and I went out to the bar for a beer and talked cricket. It seems the town has not had a cricket team for the last 23 years and this year they were finally getting a team back, it was the talking point of the town, that and the primary school for the kids. Its seems there is a great fear in town of the budget and if they will lose funding and have to shut the school down.

Truly this was a great town and wonderful community. The post office lady was fourth generation in the town and most people went back at least three generations. Their claim to fame is they won the cricket in the 30s for two years in a row (as a loyal bears supporter I really felt a bond with them) and they have bloody big silos which they are thinking of getting put onto postcards. As you can imagine nothing fast happens here so I reckon it may take them a few more years to get around to doing just that.

[diggerdickson]

been a while since ive posted now and its been nearly seven months since ive seen the water, oh well.

Since my last post we traveled through tamworth, glen inness, armidale. From armidale we traveled through moree which had most shops boarded up or smashed. The shops that were open had metal grills over the windows with boarded doors and locks. We were staying in the showground there intending to go to the artisian pool. After talking to the police about the crime in the town we decided to stay by the bus and move on the next day. Its not a place I would visit again.

After moree we traveled to Lightning Ridge and fell in love with the place. The artisian baths are free, open 24 hours and just incredible. The sunsets are out of this world and I can see why people fall in love with the outback here. We went out to stay at Lorne station and the people who mind the place turned up 7 years ago to stay for a night. They are still there, the caretakers asked them to mind it for a while, lol...... One of the opal shop owners moved there over 20 years ago from the gold coast. She was managing two shops there and decided to go on a holiday with her husband to Lightning Ridge and just never returned. Most there live in shacks and mine, to find a tradie is next to impossible in the town as most are underground mining. The dream of finding that million dollar seam is still strong in the town and some have made it rich whilst others are bitter and divorced. It is a town full of alternative people who think different and we want to go back. If it wasnt for the summer heat I would consider a permanent move, the community just seemed to yell out to us to stay so in the end we packed up and ran.

[diggerdickson]

we decided from lightning ridge to head to millmerran, on the way passed through a small town called hebel. It was hell on earth, flat, hot, windy. Stepped out of the bus to be met by red dust kicked up off the ground and whipped into a frenzy. Across the street from where I stopped was a small pub. The place was in the middle of nowhere, just a pub, a few homes, caravan park and general store. The pub was pretty bloody good, it was 120 years and going strong, the walls were lined with old hats and some of the original beer adds where still hung on the walls. It still had the hitching rails out front and was manned by a young lass from england, a backpacker that decided she wanted to visit the outback and came to live there for a year.

Jim Harper a bush poet wrote of hebel back in 1878.

Have you ever been to Hebel
Where it blows and blows and blows
And barring goats and bottletops
Nothing ever grows
The heatwaves in the summers
Make the red plains shine like glass
And theres seldom any water
And theres seldom any grass

[diggerdickson]

Running repairs on the bus at the moment, repaired the water system and fixed the tap, replace a flat tyre and have sanded back roof in parts to the fiberglass and getting it re done tommorow. Hopefully the leaks will be solved, time will tell.

heading to sunshine coast then to the middle of oz. At the sunshine coast will dip my toe in the water again, look at training the mutt to be a service dog for the kids, will cost a bit but worth it, then off again to somewhere in the middle of oz, not sure which way we will go and frankly dont really care as long as I get there.

Till next time hope everyone is getting heaps of waves and getting to go on some great surf trips.

[Beerfan]

Nice work digger, good on ya mate!.

[Trev]

Great stories Digger.

[swvic]

These posts are great, digger. Getting a good feel of the places you visit

[crabmeat thompson]

lightening ridge sounds cool.

it's like that travelling with the family huh, some places just scream to you to stay there. lol, I can never ignore that voice either...

[Yuke Hunt]

Glad to hear you're enjoying the life. Keep the stories and photos coming ... good stuff.

[diggerdickson]

They certainly do braithy. Its been so long since Ive seen the ocean I almost dont feel like a surfer anymore. Though dont mind as one day will spend a month or so just sitting at a nice reef wetting the feet again.

We have traveled to KIngaroy and am sitting still for a day or so repacking the bus before I head back to Noosa. Wont go surfing there as nowhere to park the bus and dont trust Coolum beach no more as had graffiti drawn on the bus a stoomers.

We are thinking of heading to Cairns or striking out inland again looking at going across the dinasour trail.

No more photos to add at this stage. Will take some pics of the fiberglass work when I can and post em up. Guy did a great job, I just have to sand and paint.

[diggerdickson]

Jeez its been a while now. Im still alive. Im at mudgee now. Will be leaving next week to head down the south coast. I hope everyone is doing well. Ive now written 3 books and working on fourth, my 12 yo girl has finished her first 76000 word novel and its better than i can do. If anyone knows of some editors pls let me know as i would like to aim to publishing her work next year. Ive finally had a surf and it was like riding a bike....

[crabmeat thompson]

wow ... you're really doing it all, huh? good onya.

my best advice is to find a good publishing agent. Let them do all the legwork for you. I can put you in touch with a good one in sydney I've been working with.

You need to write up a 1 to 2 page synopsis of your book. Storyline, main characters, plot detail etc ... then send them the first chapter and another 1-4 chapters so they get about 50 odd pages of your book to get a feel for it.

there's also the self-publishing route which is pretty popular too. For all the premium bells & whistles and advertising/ marketing etc that can cost around 10-grand ... for a lower budget publishing run you do it for about $1500.

I wouldn't cold-call send it to publishers ... chances of it getting read are up there with winning the lotto and Cronulla Sharks winning a premiership.

Yell out if you want that publishing agent's email addy, I'll pm it to you. But you might find a better one through google depending what kind of genre you're writing for. This publishing agent specialises in non-fiction thrillers.

[swvic]

Finally had a surf? In Mudgee? How about writing a few words in here like you did back in May and June?

In other news, Braithy's penning a non-fiction thriller about GC cougars

[packa]

Just caught up reading about ya travels digger ... good stuff. Keep the updates coming!

And, I still recon you can have an easy set up shaping, glassing, board building set up.

Why not get this: http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online ... 4891#Cross

and, add this kit to it: http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online ... 4983#Cross

Easy to store under the bus, easy to set up, and gives you plenty of room to work on boards anywhere!

[diggerdickson]

Im at ulladulla, about a 20 minute walk to racecourse. With the way the weather is looks like thursday is the day. Anyone down here want a surf

[diggerdickson]

Ive only got a iphone for internet till i get myself organised agian. Yes its taken me a while since it aint high in my priorities list. Though now im back on coast its time to get it going agian. Been so many places now its hard to think back so will start more regulary posting soon