Tim and Jennifer by any chance ? I used to sell bush tucker to Vic Cherikoff and had a couple of different businesses in the NT with a M8 of mine at one time, we started the bushtucker stall at Mindal beach together, used to make jams and chutneys with bushtucker for retail at Parap Fine foods and other places with a label. I used to do survival training in the NT and here in Queensland , grew up eating bush tucker with my black mates as a kid in Katherine. Sad thing is that it has become a lost art in most parts of Australia considering the nutritional value of some of the fruits and veggies/food available and suited already to the environment. So much knowledge just going to waste but the medicine is making a comeback in a small but exciting ways recently. I reckon I could show you a food or two you wouldn't know of up in the NT and QLD Holdfast but I would be like a duck without water down south M8, It's a big wide land and just being cold in winter would put me off my game and leave me hanging, (read dead or close to) A whole other environment I don't know or have any experience of apart from books if I had to rely upon for living in . I'm quite comfy up north but get me down south and I'm as helpless as a Korean student really...
Freshwater M8, redclaw/blueclaw type, all from freshwater we catch in those opera pot type nets from local rivers and creeks.
A quick update Draws for the vehicle are ready as of today and will be installed end of next week, also doing a full fluid/filter change on the vehicle and tire rotation and brake service. Fishing gear and tackle is sorted apart from some 10/0 hooks on the way via feebay (big line/big hook/big live bait= big Barra ) as they wanted like $15 for two in the local BCF/Rays outdoors and we have knocked up a couple of dozen traces with 50 kg gear. Sleeping gear all sorted, kitchen sorted, recovery gear sorted, vehicle spares sorted >(an arm and a leg sorted but better to have and not need huh and it will get used one day) lots of odds and ends like ropes and cable ties, gaffer tape, Dubbin, wire, marker paint, inox, 4 mm electrical wire, Solder iron , oyster shucker and all manner of shit is being stacked and assigned a home. Capacity for 200 lt of water + esky's (ice and liquid's) sorted. Storage, storage, storage and yet more storage.... sort of sorted.... The Missus has become a little bit OCD with everything having it's place, within a place, within a place... A bit like a russian doll obsession. I keep trying to argue that yeah sure there will be a lot of bumpy roads but seriously the toothpaste will not rattle out of the tube if the cap is on properly, but she is having none of that. Yeah.... it could be due to the bearing grease spread all through the clothing bags and food on that last trip but it wasn't my fault the highlift jack bounced around and managed to hit it right on the end, squirting it everywhere... if I had my drawers back then like I wanted it wouldn't of happened. So everything sort of going to plan so far for lift off in just over three weeks. Getting down to the nitty gritty of planing/stocking main meals now and getting a rough itinerary and travel times sorted. A major headache with this process is trying to asses the quantity of time and toilet paper involved in transporting four females across the continent. Poor bugger Me
Update Finally got the drawers installed today, was supposed to happen last week but they rang the day before hand with news that they had a big lot of jobs to do due to a backlog of orders held up by prefab work blah blah blah, not to mind they are in and are sweet as, room for the fridge and all the recovery gear plus some. Only seven more sleeps to go , maybe less if we manage to knock over a few last minute items. Will be updating along the way where possible depending on access with plenty of pics, does anybody know where pics go once you upload them to the site here and how to access them for posting ? I have done a few before but always as needed and copy and pasted as I went but cant seem to find how to access previous uploads or do multiple thingamys ??? Here's one from basecamp, hehehe where the mongrels will be spending their time in lockdown for the next month as they like to fight their sisters and cousins and there are pups due the weekend we leave. [imgz=http://forums.silverstackers.com/uploads/7468_farm.jpg][/imgz]
SouthX, to find your images click on "Upload Image" at top of the ^ page. At bottom right of upload image page there is "My Uploads" clicking on it will take you to your pics. You will the have the option to copy and paste a thumbnail or full size pic to insert into a post. I usually open two windows/tabs for this, makes it much faster.
Thanks ironwwod, even though I can manage to upload pics I've always wondered where they went afterwards or if they did go anywhere and how to find them . So there we were, months of preparation was finally coming to- pack the vehicles and get the hell out of dodge. Mountainous piles of gear all assembled and checklist's checked twice, this was going here and that was going there........ And then Shit happened,...... literally. Everything was assembled in the entry hall to the house ready to be piled on board the vehicles waiting in the drive way when the drains backed up and the lower half of the house got flooded with raw sewage to a centimetre or two from the downstairs bathroom floor drain. Right at dinner time, just when you are rooted from all the last minute running around and want nothing more than to get the kids fed, washed and into bed and to chillax with a strong drink and get an early night for an early start. So after screwing around with plungers and trying to work it out with lengths of garden hose and wire while dodging the odd turd for a couple of hours we call a 24/7 Plumber and get the vaseline ($250 call out fee) out while trying to rescue and decontaminate all of our carefully packed gear which was in the direct path of the Mr Hanky flood. Three hours later and all is sorted at 1:00 A.M along with a nice anal pounding $ wise, and tree roots are found to be the problem. Mr Cash and a helping hand minimised the tearing somewhat but the owners of our rental property have some mighty big bills coming their way in order to fix the problem as it is only a matter of time before those tree roots get back in there and repeat the problem. Shit sorted somewhat, but the washing machine, dryer and wallet have/are copping a pounding even as I type. The food was/is safe though as the ginourmous car fridge has been mounted and loaded and I cant recommend enough the outstanding workmanship of Outback 4WD Accessories http://www.4wdinteriors.com/roller_drawers.html Here in Cairns who nailed my requirements to a T and all for a price at least a grand under any of the competition fitted with our drawer system . Pics to follow later. So after the somewhat unfortunate familial scent marking of a large proportion of our gear, and the general chaos that ensued with breakfast, lunch and an interrupted dinner passing by in a haze of exhaustion, general panic trying to sort the good shit from the bad, and the strong urge to strangle small cute furry things we managed to rescue most of our gear, re sort it and not murder the mini me's in the process and we can now flush with confidence again. :lol: So Back to the food , I reckon we could put on the camping buffet of a life time with the amount of meat on board for a camping trip. The count so far in fridge(well freezer) # 1 is 2x whole chooks, 2x leg of lamb, whole Pork loin roast, blade beef roast, half rump roast, whole marinated chicken, 4 kg of mince, 24 sausages, 2 kg of chicken thigh fillets, 2 kg of honey soy chicken wings, 2 kg of drumsticks. 2 kg of beef cheeks, 2 kg of Oxtail, 1 dozen chicken schnitzels, 1 dozen hotdogs, 1.5 kg of cocktail franks, 3 kg rump steak, 3 kg of scotch fillet, 2 kg of bacon, 4 litres of pre cooked beef and veggie soup, and a dozen English muffins, + bread rolls. All carefully cryovaced and portioned for meals along the way. That's just the freezer, fridge # 2 holds a lot more goodies for along the way. Struasburgs, Salami's, Cheeses, ham, jerky, pickled mussels, and that veggie stuff that we will need before hitting W.A. . We have enough grog on board to render a whole platoon senseless and happy and more power sources than you could poke a stick at. All this crap (literally crap) floating around has had an effect on our departure time but that's life..... Shit happens huh.
Barkly roadhouse for a hot shower and a feed of greasy stuff, kids have been great except for the odd tantrum and the oldest dropping out due to a serious stomach bug and flying back from Mount Isa, next stops Three ways then Dunmurra before heading west.
Wow what a time, definitely needed a whole lot more of it though even with dropping the rock and centre from the plans, like about three years more. What we did get to see was gobsmackingly beautiful, places and views that you just can't capture with a camera and even a thousand words wouldn't be adequate to describe the aura and specialness (sic) of some of the places we went and saw. I'll get around to resizing some of the pic's over the next week or so but here are a few for now. This is our first view of the Kimberly coast, Walsh point off in the distance was our camping spot for the next few days and it took about 2 1/2 hours to travel from the spot this pic was taken down to near the end of the point you can see in the photo. Once we got set up it was good not having to pack up and move on again the next morning for a while. We took a whole lot of gear with us but apart from the odd item such as a bush shower which came with a built in hole in it and my metal detector along with some excess food we used everything we took except for mechanical spares, the only mechanical fault we had was a dip stick on the bro inlaws vehicle snapping in half due to him shorting it out on the positive battery terminal and melting the braid when checking the oil. The view from the camp here was phenomenal and only a two minute walk down to the ocean, apart from a father and daughter camped near by we had the entire place to ourselves while we were there. The place had a small spring fed creek just down from the camp site that was good enough for taking a bogey in and also for getting drinking water further up the escarpment and where it met the ocean turned out to be the best fishing spot for us, the kids could take a swim without being croc bait and there was plenty of live bait to be had as well at high tide. Low tide was a bit of a walk out to the water line and although we had been told that a six metre croc called the place home we never saw one the whole time we were there. The fishing as could be expected was great, Barra, Jack's, Snapper, Bream, but the crab pot's got cleaned out everytime by some unidentified savvy creature and we never got even one mudcrab as a result. kid number four got her very first rod caught and landed fish at this spot just below our camp at the next best fishing spot, and was proud as punch with the result. As stated earlier the pictures just cant convey the wonders of the landscape that surround you in this part of the world and the only way to really grasp it is to go there and see it for yourself. Form this spot we backtracked down the track and went to Mitchell Falls, ran into that vet guy Dr Chris from telly (Mr Grumpy) and came across some more mindblowing landscapes and bizarre Aboriginal art. More later. .
SX... Is all over M8...You must have had a ball. Looking forward to seeing some more pics.. Did you find any goodies with that metal detector beside iron ore. Glad to see you back safe and well. Regards Errol 43
Thanks Errol Never used the detector once the whole time M8. Far too busy doing the hurtern gertern rubber neck thing ooing and ahhing at everything, If we had more time there were a few places I'm sure would of turned up something but as it was it was mostly hours of driving to get to the next spot on the map, copious amounts of drinking till sleep then pack it all up and move on again. Loved every second of it though and will be doing it again soon but far more slowly next time round. Plenty of pics on the way and some video as well If I can figure out how to do it.
Thanks SouthX. Glad ya'll had a good time and all made it home safely. Looking forward to hearing more about the trip and seeing more pics. I'm gonna have to make it over there one day.
lol at the dipstick saga . Now thats something that you couldnt plan for & one of those things that you would have to just laugh at after the initial shock of doing it . Short story about a battery episode i had years ago . My first harley blew an oil line & there was oil everywhere so i decided to degrease it with petrol because i was too lazy to go & get some kero or degreaser to cut a long story short i was using a paintbrush with the metal band to hold the bristles on it was cleaning around the battery & I arced the battery & frame & BOOM the whole bike was a ball of flame hahahaha luckily i had the hose running & picked it up & sprayed it out in a few seconds with no damage at all . "PHEW" that was fkn lucky .The panic factor was off the scale at the time :lol: Great pics sx im sure theres a few jealous stackers after seeing the pics im one of them .Happy to hear you had a good time with no drama.
My folks are doing a trip up to Darwin at the moment They run into Dr Chris also. Awesome work and thanks for the photo's. Now to plan the next one hey
Make sure u get one of these.... Awesome technology. http://www.biolitestove.com/campstove/camp-overview/features/ Shiny
