COURTESY of our wonderful wives Linda, Sandra, myself and brother-in-law Rob Laurie have spent 11 days in the Northern Territory touring about helping celebrate my 60th birthday and ‘Trucks’ 65th after he reached his milestone on June 1st. Hopefully I’ll arrive at mine next Tuesday. What a magnificent part of the planet the ‘Top End’ is and the four of us would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending a visit there especially this time of the year.
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THE only disappointing part about the trip was my inability to attend the funeral of my uncle Charlie who was farewelled last week. Condolences to Aunty Margaret, cousins ‘Stirrer’ and Jai-ann along with all other family members and friends.
CHARLIE was preceded by his parents Leslie Purcell 8/7/87 and Elizabeth Cooper 16/4/71, brothers Russell Eric 17/5/87, Geoffrey Samuel 4/7/2001 and Noel Daniel 25/8/2006. He is survived by his brother’s Irwin and John and his sister Marjorie Mahoney wife of former Australian Jockey Club chief steward the late Johnny Mahoney.
FORMER Walcha resident John McGuffog (brother of David) was laid to rest last week after a service in Taree. John was a shearing contractor here in town quite a few years back and also ran a fruit and vegetable shop where Thunderbolts Way Café is now located. He had been living in Forster for the past 20 odd years.
‘IT IS never over until the final whistle’ was never more evident when NSW snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Queensland in the final State of Origin game this season. Lucky enough to be at the match it looked the ‘Cane Toads’ had won when Darius Boyd touched down with only a few minutes to go but that was only until Michael Jennings came along and save the day. I felt sorry for the NSW spectators who left early and missed the wining try.
THE following morning our quartet flew to Darwin from Sydney and from that point on it was short sleeved shirts and shorts for me until arrival back here last Sunday night. Granted it was a bit chilly in Armidale on arriving with frost on the car windscreen giving some indication of how cold it was.
THERE were plenty of highlights during the 11 days including Ayers Rock or Uluru where we viewed a sensational sunset and then the following morning a less impressive sunrise. Personally I thought the ‘Olgas’ in the Kata Tjuta National Park was better than the Ayres Rock itself.
KAKADU National Park was goof value especially East Alligator River and Yellow Water where plenty of crocodiles and other wildlife could be easily spotted during river and billabong cruises. One of the last things I would like to do is wrestle a crocodile – even a little one.
BEER prices fluctuated anywhere up to $10 each but I did receive a pleasant surprise at Kings Creek last Saturday when while enjoying a Deluxe Camel burger I was able to wash it down with a $6.50 Tooheys Extra dry stubby. At that price I had to have two and the burger wasn’t bad into the bargain.
A FEW days earlier we called in at a roadhouse opposite Mt Connor for a stretch of the legs and purchase an ice-cream. While in the store I checked out the beer prices just for interest only to find a carton of Crown Lager stubbies was a steal at $115 while Tooheys Extra Dry was only $94 a slab.
KINGS Canyon was spectacular where three of our crew got a better look at it than the remaining member who chose the 1.5 kilometre creek bed walk instead of the canyon rim walk which turned out to be about eight kilometres and included some very steep terrain. Sandra did mention that tackling the creek bed walk was like playing off the women’s tees at golf and I couldn’t argue because I was unaware what the Rim stroll was like.
MIDWAY through our overall adventure it was decided that some clothes should be washed which happened at the Oaks Elan in Darwin where the washing machine and clothes dryer were on top of each other. Sandra had set up the washing machine with the appropriate washing powder but when she threw the clothes in pre wash they somehow ended up in the dryer instead. Much to Linda’s amusement.
SOME of our accommodation had microwave facilities while some didn’t but on arrival at the Aurora Kakadu Resort ‘Truck’ was adamant we had microwaves in our rooms. That was until Sandra pointed out that the ‘microwave’ Truck had identified was in fact a safe to store valuables in.
NO tipster was clever enough to pick the card in Round 20 and there were too many who correctly selected seven winners to list here. Bowing Club tipsters Ian Bird and Steve Goodwin both scored 14 points which included ‘Snow’ going against his Rabbitohs and ‘Norm’ taking the Tigers over his beloved Dragons. At least you got the points boys.
THERE are a few birthdays coming up in the very near future with Cathy Brennan blowing the candles out on Sunday followed by her grand daughter Maddie who celebrates her first birthday the same day as all the horses, Mel Ledingham and Steve McCoy. The day after August 2nd Alf Croucher, Pauline Marchant, Lachie Stackman, Anton McDonald, Ray Foster and Sharron Swanton will all clock up another 12 months. Hopefully everyone will have an enjoyable day but do remember ‘Moderation is the key’.
