As high as we go this time...

We've been in Cooktown for a couple of days now which is as high as we will go on this trip, (so I suppose it's all down hill from here).

Now, before I go on, I've gotta expand on some of the people we met at Karumba...

There was Evan who knows a heap of stuff and has a very definite opinion on everything. When you first meet him, he seems pretty serious, but once you learn that he has a limited time left on this earth due to health problems, you realise he hasn't got time for stuffin' around with fools and all he wants to do is fish and enjoy the moment. (Evan has a funny black hat that has red hair attached to it, he wears it to happy hour a lot). Evan also greased me nipples, (on the van that is).

Del, that's Evan's wife. She loves to go out in the boat with Evan but doesn't like trolling very much...just likes being out there in the boat, which is pretty terrific.

Then there was John. A big happy bloke who was always up for a chat and knew lots of stuff about fishing...and generally almost everything else.

His wife Pauline, who, when you first meet her you would think she wouldn't say boo; but get her going and she was a real match for John. Pauline doesn't go fishing at all.

We went to the local pub with John and Pauline for the Tuesday night special: chicken schnitzel, crumbed steak or ribs all including vegies and only $17 for 2 meals. Gee it was cheap, christ it was awful.

Then there was Kathy who we only met once at happy hour...she bayed at the moon...

Now you gotta understand that this is a small sample of perhaps a thousand or more senior folk who every year, pack up their vans, put their boats on top of their four wheel drives and head up to Karumba to stay for anything up to 6 or 7 months. And they do the same thing every year for years on end.

John and Pauline are from Ballarat and they're busting to come down to Phillip Island, (John wants to fish there for Snapper). So they're coming to stay with us, (John's bringing his boat, it's a Quintrex...I haven't got a boat).

So, while this has been a pretty disjointed series of paragraphs, what it comes down to is this...we do have a wonderful tradition of mateship and larrikanism that is uniquely Australian, (it's alive and well in the outback).

Our country folk are suffering from the effects of years drought and small towns are dying.

People employed in the mining industry don't know what the hell is going on.

We do have heaps of senior people who go north to get away from the cold. They laugh a lot and have more wisdom and knowledge than most people you would ever like to meet.

So, I ask the question. Why the hell don't our dear politicians stop quibbling and grand standing and get off their collective arses to make sure that they don't give the whole country away and bugger the whole thing up entirely.

The further you get away from the so called sophistication of the big cities, the more you see what a stuff up it has all become...

Australia is not being served well by people who want it to have a bigger population as well as being a player on the world stage.

So, enough of that and back to the story.

No, I've decided the story will have to wait 'til next time.

Happy birthday to all those having or are due to have birthdays.

Happy yunikers to our Jewish friends.

Congratulations to Glen on the purchase of her new Mazda 3, (it may not be white and a sedan...but does that really matter when it looks better in Charcoal and is a hatchback).

Hello to all Geelong supporters.

So it's goodbye from me and goodnight from her.

Muzzletov.

Look what I caught...