Eyre Thar Be Adventures!

Hi!

Well. Sunday afternoon.... Got a nice cool breeze through a clean and happy apartment, over a sleeping cat.... The sun is shining bright, the sky is blue with some puffs of clouds, and full of super chatty crows... Ahhhh Sunday afternoon! Got some cool tunes from the community radio station 4ZZZ (a bit early even for the strange show tunes radio show), got the cool glass of standby white wine..... Life is good! Missed last week, so here's to checking in!

So work. Yep. Is good. Still quiet. I had my review this past Monday (got my dates way wrong), I sailed through with flying colors. Boss is very happy and even happier that I haven't considered looking for work with another company seeing as I've been so damn quiet. He knows it's a quiet time across all the Defense contractors but it should pick up hopefully in the next year or so..... All I could think was another year???? Gah! I'm bored as it is! But as long as he's happy..... And we briefly touched on what to do with me when my contract expires in April next year.... Hopefully they'll make me permanent, but we'll see, he liked the idea but was scared about my Citizenship business (still waiting to just get my skills assessed, let alone even filled out any c.ship paperwork). So far so good - he's happy, the few folks I've helped are happy, so fingers crossed come April!

And then there were the weekends. Last weekend was super awesome in that an Adventure was had! After the chores were done, of course. Spent Saturday evening over at Kim's so we could get up long before the sparrows to get to the Brisbane Jet Base (at the other end of the airport, where all the charter flights live) in time to check in for our flight to Lake Eyre. It was a little-ish plane, a 35-seater Dash 8, big propellers. Got to our seats and we realized it was us two and two other folks and we were the youngest folks on the trip. We figured old folks have that kinda money and kids our age (and younger) aren't so interested in cool stuff like a once in every 50 years experience like Lake Eyre....... Anyways, we took off around 7am and soon after they fed us a pretty good sized breakfast. All I have to say I was impressed by the quality and quantity of the food they fed us during the whole trip. There was never an ounce of fear that we were going to starve to death that day!

Around 2 & 1/2 hours later we landed in Charleville to re-fuel, where we had a good 20 minutes or so to stretch our legs and check out the 'bustling' Charleville airport and immediate surrounds (including some of the reddest sand I've ever seen).... Then we were back in our seats for another 2 & 1/2 hours to Birdsville, where again we re-fueled and stretched our legs for another 30 minutes, checking out the very sparse surrounds which included the famous Birdsville Hotel....... Wow, there really is not a hell of a lot in the Outback, and we were in one of the "main" towns! Then we were back in our seats for another hour or so of flying over all the river systems that feed into the lake.... Then, having been more than suitably fed a good lunch, we dropped to around 1,000 feet and took our time flying over and around the lake. It was spectacular. It was huge, it was blue and red and gold, it mirrored the clouds, it showed the sand dunes underneath (the lake itself is only a few feet deep).... It was fantastic. So hard to see through those teeny airplane windows and even harder to capture in photos, but I certainly tried! All I can say is it was massive. Lots bigger than I imagined it would be. Tho no bird or any other critters that we could see - apparently they'd migrated in June to another lake miles away..... But what was most amazing was how all that water from all the rains we'd been having, thousands of kilometers away, ended up making this huge lake in the middle of nowhere. It was fascinating. And then to think that for the better part of a hundred years it's a massive, dry basin totally devoid of life, minus the odd scrubby plant. There's also a road that usually crosses the entire basin, the Birdsville Track, but it stopped at the edge of the lake... for now...... waiting until it all recedes in a few months.

Then, having flown over the lake from one end to the other in a big circle north to south, it was time to head back to Birdsville for more fuel and another 30 minutes to scope out the "town". It was just enough time to take a few more photos, buy a couple of postcards and have the requisite beer in the Hotel. It was pretty cool, in a rough and tumble Outback kinda way. I felt like such the tourist. But it was so cool that I really considered calling in to work sick, staying the night, renting a proper 4x4 and driving myself back to Brisbane - a trip that would've taken a good 3 days (you can't drive at night due to spontaneous kangaroos) - and I was really fine with that. Another Adventure at another time hopefully...... And, ironically staying there very nearly happened - as we were coming in to land we'd apparently knocked a bird on the head with the wheel of the nose landing gear, thus delaying our departure by 15 minutes while they called "headquarters" to check we'd be safe to fly. I had to giggle a little - we hit a bird in Birdsville, whaddya expect?!

And then, having been given the all-clear to fly, we were back on the plane for another 2 hours or so back to Charleville for more fuel and another 20-minute stretch of the legs. By now the sun was setting, casting amazingly long shadows and turning everything red and gold. But as soon as that sun went down, even slightly, ooooohweeee it was cooooold. It is the desert in winter after all.... Then it was back on the plane for the last 2 or so hours and a final meal (again, suitably good and huge) followed by wine and cheese. It was really a nice way to end such a trip. And next thing we knew we were back in Brisbane driving home! On our way back flying towards home, our guide Graham informed us that by the very end of the trip we will have covered over 4,000 kilometers (which is around 2,500 miles). Holy cow. I mean, if you look at it on a map it's pretty far from Brisbane - Lake Eyre basin, after all, sits within the north-eastern part of South Australia. No wonder folks at work were flabbergasted that I'd flown that far in a day. It's far! But I had to laugh when I heard that we'd done 4,000 km's in a day and told Kim that between the money we'd spent and the time we were on the plane, we could've been in L.A.! Because by the time we landed, around 7.30pm, we'd been on the plane a good 12 hours or so. Immensely happy but numb butts (Note: I took over 140 pictures that day, so it was really hard to pick which ones to show!)!

So there you have it, a proper Adventure was had. Now, going on more trips to the Outback is all I can think of planning! To the point where Kim and I are planning to go on another trip (with a different tour company, watch the video on the link - it explains Lake Eyre/surrounds better than I can!) again to Lake Eyre, via Coober Pedy, staying 2 nights and 3 days in one of Coober Pedy's famous underground hotels (the Desert Cave Hotel to be exact) and checking out the lake and surrounds by 4x4 - it sounds awesome. We're hoping to do that in the first week of October, just as the lake will start to recede. We figure we only have one more chance to check the lake out properly from the ground before it's gone! Oh, and the best part about this next trip is that we'll be flying in a 7-seater! Woooooweeee! Exciting! Will keep you posted!

Then there was this weekend. Pale in comparison. Tho last night was fairly exciting - went with Clare (she of the 3 small children and hostess to our bitchin' pizza and games evenings) to dinner at Kookaburra Cafe and then to see the final Harry Potter film - in 3D! It was really coooooool! Boy, 3D sure has come a LONG way since the red and blue cardboard glasses from the 70's/80's! It was neat! And no headaches or vertigo or anything. Sweeeeet. And the movie itself was really pretty good too. Much better than HP Part 1, but you knew that's how they were gonna play it. It was good enough, and the 3D was neat enough, that I would totally see it again. Still, as neat as 3D is, I won't have a 3D TV in my house. Not until they can solve the need for glasses (and the prices drop drastically)....... I simply can't, and don't want to, imagine watching everything in 3D - it's called life - stick your head out the window!

So yes, this weekend, while pretty good, paled in comparison to last weekend. Got the chores done tho, which is good because I won't get to until the weekend after next.... Because this coming weekend I'll be in Cairns celebrating my Birthday with Glen and Alison!!!!!!! Boy, I tell ya, having gainful employment and living in a cheap, run-down apartment sure has it's advantages! Yippie! Hooray! So won't check in this coming weekend, will check in the weekend after - with pictures!

So there you have it. Hope you're all well up there. See? Now that I'm getting out and about a fair bit, when you get here you only need to pick where you want to go and I can show you around! C'mon, it'll be fun! And winter/spring/autumn has to be the best time to check the place out...... so a big window of opportunity! C'mon down!

BYE!
J!