the salmon run

broome. the hottest place in the whole world ever. eish. mid forties here. at least. and no sign of the scando's. they all head south for the summer. only bogans left here. and abo's. sitting under trees. red eyed. everyone of them looking like they've just come off a 30 day bender. gotta watch out for the fuckers. never trust an abo.

we were dreaming of a glitzy strip of fast food outlets. the colonel's bucket turning slowly in the cool breeze. an angry angus with my name on it. at the end of the strip a solver beach. waves gently lapping the shore. dolphins playing in the sunlight. hot swedish chicks tanning topless under the palm trees.

what we got was the prevailing southerly gusting wind. and flies. loads of the bastards. and croc warnings. and stingers. and storms. with lightning. that blew over.

why did we go north? schoolboy error. but we only had ourselves to blame. and the alcohol. last saturday was rough. our eta was 4am. we drove out of perth at 2pm. crowds lined the roadside and bridges to see us off. it sure was an event.

first stop was kalbarri. a nice place. with wind and flies. we motored out of there after a few days. and headed up to exmouth. a nice place. with wind and flies. and roo's. bonus.

at turquoise lagoon we snorkelled. and saw a few sharks and turtles. ningaloo (?) reef sure is a swell reef. myself and frank were wallowing in the secluded bay area where the majority of folks hang out. frank got this concentrated look on his face. he had added to the wildlife. TURTLE!!!! it was a fine specimen. brown and curly. about 20cms long. bobbing along in the current. we packed up and left the jol. but 2mins down the road gem wanted to head back for a quick pic. we turned around. drove back. pulled up at the beach. and waited for her to happy snap. we were still waiting 10 mins later. when gem came back she reckoned there was a bit of commotion on the beach. about 20 folks gathered on shore. pointing and shouting. very excited. she thought it was a shark. we knew better.

we cruised on and stopped at a roadhouse one night. no abo's here. no trees. just red soil. hot and dusty. boganville. truckies crowded the restaurant sporting taches and tats and wifebeater vests covering big thick bellys. they swigged beer from quart bottles. and chewed on raw roo. remanents of roadkill earlier in the day.

i needed a shower. big time. i gathered my toiletries and squeezed into the only cubicle available. i turned on the cold tap and the water steamed. i soaped up. but somehow i lost control. the soap squirted out of my hands. up into the air. down onto my slop. and under the partitioning to the cubicle next door. NOOOOOO!!!!! it was an uncomfortable moment. i was gripped with a momentary sense of panic. i got down on my knees and peered through the gap. the oke had hairy toes. big hairy toes. crusty toenails. thick ankles. cracked heals. not sure why im telling you this. soap was settled between his feet. i knocked lightly on the partioning. the oke grunted. i asked for my soap back. politely. he kicked it back. it went better than i thought. i could have been nasty. such are the winds of fate.

anyway i need to go. less than 5 mins remaining credit. car falling apart. need to replace windscreen. bumper fell off. light fell out. microwave broken. off up to darwin next. it only gets worse.