Books
Australia Exposed
Behind the scenes stories
The Vehicle
Fitting out the vehicle is half the fun. You are like a kid at Christmas, except the excitement continues for the entire 4 months that you spend fitting out the vehicle. The process is deliciously endless. Driving Lights, the radio telephone, with it’s ridiculously long antenna sprouting from the bull bar, is installed for emergency calls.
There is something about a ridiculously long antenna that makes
you feel as if you belong in the bush, or at least look as if you
belong. Then there is the water tank. Ahh… the water tank.
You think of self sufficiency and the dream of being so remote that
you and your wife, Caroline, are away from all services and supplies
away from contact with any other human being. Your most valuable
supply is water. You must take it with you. Back to the water tank,
you have delusions of grandeur, camped in the desert or on some remote
beach for weeks on end, you will need a heap of water. You end up
installing a two hundred litre, stainless steel tank on the floor
behind the front seats. You have gone for serious overkill.
You will not die of thirst.
The Camera
How your camera became your camera is a story. You go on a family holiday in 1982, you love using Mum’s camera, the way it feels, the way it shoots, the way objects appear when you look through the view finder. You borrow it. In fact, you borrow it for the next twenty years. You tell your mother that you have done so. Rather you thought you had told her but you hadn’t. You show her your photographs from your trip around Australia, she asks what camera you used, you answer – ‘My old SLR 35mm that I have had for some years.’ You watch surprise drift over her face, ‘Your camera! Is that where is has been?’ You tell her that you thought she knew you had it, she laughs and says something about a pigs bum. Now you realise that your mother has been searching for her camera every time that she went on a holiday since 1982.
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The Bush Camps
You travel to some amazing places as you move about the country. When in a town you stay at a cheap motel. When on the track you camp. Your favourite nights together are spent camping. You will start to look for a campsite an hour before sunset. You will consider – the prevailing wind, flatness and firmness of ground, firewood supply, a possible view, water proximity, any spot fires in the area, distance from the road, likelihood of being disturbed, direction of sunrise and ability to find the road again. You satisfy yourself that you have met most of your criteria, you pull off the road, you drive at least one kilometre away from the track. You set up camp.
I Don't Drink Spirits
Your activities at the Birdsville race week are very basic. You drink beer, you go to the horse races, you bet. You go to Fred Brophy’s Travelling boxing Troupe, you drink more beer, you sleep, you wake, you do it all again. You love it. Fred’s Boxing Tent is the last of it’s kind in Australia. Every night, for three nights you answer Fred’s rally, calling you to the boxing tent. Fred introduces his fighters – The Stallion, Johnny Valentine, The Ranger, The Caveman, The Chinaman, The Scotsman, The Barramundi Kid, The Duke of Earl, The Afro Savage and The Friendly Mauler. The more you punch him the friendlier he gets. You see the challenger climbs up onto the stage, you go inside the tent, you watch some fearful poundings dished out by Fred’s Boxers, you cheer wildly, you take photographs, you wonder what would make anyone in their right mind climb up onto the challengers platform to take on Fred’s boxers. You will not have to wait long for your answer.
The Surreal Moment
You are driving on the service track that follows the Indian Pacific Railway from Kalgoorlie to Adelaide, the track is in appalling condition, your maximum speed is 45km, your average is closer to 30km. You are in the middle of the Nullarbor Plain, you have not seen another person for three days. The only sign of human existence is the ever present railway track. You have been picking your way through split rocks, pot holes and broken boulders for eight hours, the driving requires the utmost concentration, you are exhausted. You have passed the longest stretch of straight railway in the world, some 477kms with out a bend. The track does not share this characteristic, it bends, it twists, it dips, it becomes almost invisible. Your patience is wearing thin, the sun is getting low, you decide to stop soon. You hear a loud bang! You feel the vehicle drop slowly. You have just experienced a blow out.
