January

09 Saw a property going for $ 4000 in Euabalong West. Took a drive to see it. The size is 40 m x 50 m (just over 2000 square metres / 0.2 hectare / half acre). Flat, good access. Children's playground at the end of Illewong Street, with a public toilet. Then drove through Griffith to Narrandera, and stopped overnight there.

10 A similar property in Urana, nearer to the Riverina country. Closer to a larger village, but not inspiring. Access on dirt road, no trees. Took pictures of some interesting houses in the village.

25 Off to Adelaide for the long weekend. Unfortunately, John had to work, but anyway, I took the crew down to the beach for a walk around, and just to remember the smell of the ocean.

26 Drove back to Sydney: on the Hay plain, there are irrigation schemes: this one had a mouth-watering array of sweet corn, for kilometres...

29 On the way to work: me in the left lane, van in the centre lane who signalled a bit late and turned left, cutting across the corner. I nearly missed him, but got clipped by the left rear corner of the van. Bruises, and scraped left knuckle that didn't even bleed. Much scraped V-Strom.

30 Pictures of the bruises.

February

01 Rode the bike to Sydney City Motorcycles in Kogarah. They sent it to their repair centre. The insurance assessor recommended that it be written off, as the cost of repair was more than it was worth. I had a witness, so got the full insured value, and kept the no-claim bonus. I got to keep the Givi accessories that I bought for it.

13 Went to Broken Hill, intending to go to Silverton and take pictures of Mundi Mundi. However, it rained, and rained, and the road to Silverton was closed. Not the usual pictures: the flood-ways were actually in use.

14 On the way back, the Broken Hill flood-ways had all drained, but the rain-storm had progressed to the ast, so the were some floods near to Cobar. When I reached the Blue Mountains just west of Sydney, I took a side trip to see how Perry's Lookdown was recovering from the fire a few years back.

March

08 Back from the UK and taking a "long drive in the country". This was partly to run up the necessary kilometres to not be penalised with the FBT, but also to try and recover from the jet lag that wrecked me on my "holiday".

Left from Randwick after cleaning and packing the iMax, but was rather tired. Still, I made it to Orange and stopped there overnight. The next day was spent travelling to Broken Hill. There was still some water laying on the ground, but no driving through large puddles. After checking in, I took a late afternoon run to Silverton then to the Mundi Mundi lookout, where I got the "red centre" pictures all covered with green. Some nice pictures of the sunset over green. Mundi Mundi is not often seen in this state. Too many clouds again.

09 Next day I travelled west of Broken Hill on the Barrier Highway. Refuelled at Peterborough and Port Augusta, mostly because the fuel is cheaper. The Stuart Highway is the road north from there.

Saw some of the road train triples that supply the outback towns and villages. Then a B+B+AB quad fuel tanker returning from a supply trip. Pictures of a salt pan visible from the highway.

Then on to Coober Pedy, where I stayed in a sort-of "underground" motel. The ventilation was not very good, so I didn't sleep well. I had dinner at Umberto's which was a very nice wallaby. I think I'll stay there next time.

10 The next morning, refuelled and headed north. I had breakfast at a roadhouse, then stopped at the Northern Territory border for a bit of a break. and on to Alice Springs for some more fuel. It took a bit of puzzling, but the Caltex station was on the main highway: but I turned off to a shopping centre to try and locate it on the PC only a few hundred metres early. Alice is a very nice place, all cleaned up for the tourists.

On to Tennant Creek. When I got there it was mostly closed, so I had a pizza and Doner kebab for dinner, then crashed out. The motel had free Internet Wi-Fi access, which was handy. Like most of them, prices are reasonable, and the facilities OK.

11 In the morning, a view from the back window of the motel, and some pictures inside. I had breakfast at the Barkly Homestead at the junction of the Barkly Highway with the Tablelands Highway. A very nicely-done rump steak. They had generally good-quality stuff for sale, and the place was very well kept. I took pictures of the "traditional" house there, and a couple of the road trains, including one that had a van that hitched a ride.

Some evocative pictures of a wind pump: in this area the Great Artesian Basin gives a reliable water supply, if you just bore a hole and pump it out. The tropical-style rain, borne by the trade winds inland across the north, then dropped from thunderstorms doesn't all reach the ground. Here are some very nice examples.

The drive was through beautiful-looking rangelands to Mount Isa, for a shopping and fuel stop, then on to Winton.

12 The trip resumed, refuelling at Longreach, home of Qantas. Then a struggle to get past flood-damaged roads that took all night, finally reaching Lightning Ridge via Moree.

13 Dawn at the bore baths, a free facility open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A morning walk around. I stayed there the following night, after the marathon drive.

Lightning Ridge is one of the most famous opal-mining centres, now gradually converting to tourist-mining. There is still opal being worked there and in the surrounding region. I think this would be a good area to do some exploration over a week or so.

I bought a solid black opal here in 2007, and Aleksandra recently got it mounted in a ring. It turned out to be a lot more valuable than we expected.

14 Back to Randwick, an easy drive by comparison to some of the other stages. Reconnaissance done.

20 Skywriting on a calm Sydney day.

27 Escaped from Sydney on the Friday night with difficulty, then stopped at Orange overnight. Took some pictures of the railway station at Euabalong West, and more details of the property there.

Lunch at Lake Cargelligo, and a bit of shopping at Condobolin on the way back to Randwick.

Some pictures of houses along the highway, to get more ideas.

April

01 Social Club free lunch.

08 Broken window for the iMax.

19 iMax VIN plates.

30 Lunch with Fe. I fixed her ADSL box, so bought it for me. :)

May

07 Lunch at Hurricanes Bar & Grill, Darling harbour.

08 South coast from Bald Hill.

16 Trip to Bega, for the cheese museum. They have a really nice cheddar, which you can only buy there. Daft people!

June

04 Team lunch.

13 Barbeque at Tony & Charity's place.

20 Bald hill, with Agnieszka, James and the rest of the crew. On the way back, they all fell asleep.

26 All together at a barbeque at Lidia & Michael's place. Agnieszka, James, Kasjusz, Arabella, Maja and Lidia's dogs.

27 Trip into the Blue Mountains, view from Evans' Lookout.

July

03 The crew goes on a trip. Starting at Chasin' Opal and the Bowling Club restaurant, Lightning Ridge.

04 A little shopping at Lightning Ridge, then down the Kamilaroi Highway and Kidman Way to stop at Bourke. Nice shot of James and Arabella taking a walk.

05 A blazing start to the day, then along the Kidman Way to Cobar. We took in the mining museum. The "lake" is the old open cut, full of water.

06 From Cobar we travel the Barrier Highway to PJ's Underground Bed & Breakfast at White Cliffs. We also had a tour of the mine, which is entered through the motel. Parts of it are still being worked.

07 PJ's had a good garden and courtyard, with lots of interesting stuff. We loaded up the vehicle and took a few pictures around. Some shots of the "raucous chorus" that accompanied the CD's we played. Then off to Broken Hill, and afternoon tea in Silverton. We watched the sun set and flew a kite at Mundi Mundi lookout. No sign of the kangaroos, though.

08 Camel ride at Silverton, then lunch at the same café, with a bit of a look around. Poses with the replica of the Interceptor from Mad Max II, next to the Silverton Pub.

09 We stayed with John & Agnes in Adelaide. The Cleland Wildlife Park was an interesting visit. Shawn, Maja, Arabella and Kasjusz all fed the local tribes of bandicoots and some of the other birds and marsupials.

10 The beach at Glenelg, where we flew the kite again. Then cased the entertainment centre.

11 On the way back from Adelaide to Sydney, we stopped at the Birdcage rest area.

17 Dinner at Tony & Charity's place with the crew.

18 Tried to go for a trip on the Zig Zag Railway, but got there too late. So we took a browse around Mount Victoria (and saw some kangaroos). later to the lookout near Katoomba for the last rays of the sunset.

25 Visited Euabalong West, but somehow the pictures there didn't come out. On the way back, we stopped at Condobolin overnight, then went tto the radio-telescope centre at Parkes.

August

01 Visit to Canberra and then to David & Sylvie's place. A problem again with lost pictures: maybe a camera setting?

02 Decaying concrete in the block of flats, the first chunk woke me up, then I heard the rattle of the rest.

03 The entertainment centre at the flat, with rapt attendants.

04 Arabella tries a new style of hair.

12 Another free lunch from the Social Club.

24 The Philippine Buffet.

September  

05 SSD (Solid State Drive) mounting with 2.5 " to 3.5 " adapter.

18 Barbeque at a pub: lunch with Sergio, Narelle, Sergio and Katie.

27 Soaked a saucepan to remove boiled rice. It made a film on top of the water.

October

02 Wedding celebration for Tony & Charity.

04 Breakfast at the Four Seasons Hotel Sydney.

07 Stayed in Parkes, then drove to the property. On the road between Euabalong West and Lake Cargelligo, Aleksandra spots a lizard.

08 From Hay to Adelaide via Mildura. Road works, a lake with water in it, emus, oranges from an honesty box. Dunlop advertisement on the border with South Australia.

09 We stayed at Krystyna's place.

10 Aleksandra rats about through things. We took the day out with John, Agnes and Shawn in the Barossa Valley. Stopped at the Jacob's Creek wine centre for lunch, and a walk around the garden there. Then down to the beach at the end of the road near Krystyna's place. Shells with pre-drilled holes: snails bore their way in, then slurp out the inhabitant.

11 Rebellion ... We stayed another day, for another visit to the beach. Found cuttlefish skeletons (cuttlebone).

12 Left Krystyna's place, thence to Broken Hill. We stopped at Manna Hill for coffee, just as the Indian Pacific came through. Aleksandra harasses another lizard.

13 We drive to Cobar, past new lakes established at the beginning of the year, with the high rainfall.

14 On the way back to Kogarah, we visited Mount Victoria and Evans' Lookout.

17 Visit the beach at Kogarah Bay.

19 Aleksandra pulls a face at the local Chinese, where we had dinner.

21 Dinner at Tony & Charity's place.

22 Aleksandra has a day out at Bondi Beach.

November

07 Euabalong West. This time taking measurements of the fence and concrete slab.

11 Remote key switch on the iMax gone wrong. I got another battery, but that still didn't fix it.

13 On the way to Broken Hill, near Cobar. Train and "black mirage" on the road.

14 On the way back, I found a truck with my initials on it.

20 Going to Lightning Ridge: definitely "OVERSIZE" for this vehicle. A lot of combine harvesters were travelling about.

21 Emus and jacarandas were the interesting things this time.

26 Price Team lunch, most likely the last one we'll see.

27 Trip to Thirlmere, where the jacaranda had already seeded, but was budding and flowering again. Then on to Zig Zag Railway, where their Emu Bay diesel was working for the day.

December

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That's all for this year ...