Sunset on Big Red, a sand dune near Birdsville close to the Simpson Desert.
On a more personal, lighter side of our trip, Australia is HOT! The scenery so far is desert- grey, red, sand dunes, sparse tress & grass, dry river beds, a few lakes & hills. It is beautiful, stunning, and breathtaking.
The Australians have their own way of saying many things. For example, ----the “Pucker Factor”. For the pilots training & flight test rating 6, day 2 first day of flying pucker factor a 5, day 3 second day of flying pucker factor a 4. any thing less than that " No worries mate".
Harold & Marjie have seen 2 Camels & Reg & I have seen 2 Kangaroos from the air. I have inspected kang poo at eye level on the runway. Ray (our lead pilot) informs me that wombat poo is square cubes. HELLO? “Are you shitting me?” “Oh no he insists, it’s true”. Now this has me in a lather, how is that possible, square poo? This we have to see, another thing on our list.
As I said it is hot. I suggest a skinny dip in our pool, after a bit of discussion we decide at our age it would be more of a “chunky dunking”. Too much drama as they say here. Fly’s are bad so we have all learned the Australian wave & have hustled our asses out & bought fly nets for our hats.
Reg was chatting up the local blokes & drovers in the Birdsville pub, learning all about the outback, wild camels, buckets of horse hair etc. What they did for crust? The meals are excellent, tried lamb chops, & kangaroo & enjoyed both. Proportions are huge.
Back in a tick
Janice & Reg
Ps Off to the opal mines to massage the visa
As the organizer of these tours I have come to appreciate that not only do the visitors to Australia experience new sights and sounds, the locals learn new things from the visitors.
ReplyDeleteJanice has introduced a novel approach to dining; start the meal with dessert. In her system she has been served and finished this portion of the meal before the rest of the group have been served even an appetizer. This is definitely a "first" on these tours and by the look of disbelief on the faces of the restaurant staff, I suspect it is new to Australia.
So we are all learning and it will be interesting to see if it catches on.
I suspect Janice is now well-known to everyone in Birdsville, Coober Pedy and Charleville thanks to the local grapevine.
Clare McEwan
Be very careful down there! Janice's standard operating procedure is contagious! At the restaurants she frequents in her home town, she is greeted with the dessert menu before the entres!
ReplyDeleteIf she has a plane full of sweets to eat all day, her behavior can be controlled. Fly safe!
Hi to the Fast Flyers: and also to Norm and Jean, your photos here. Isn't it fun to fly along like this, what a pro website. Haven't seen any pix for five days, wondering where in Aussie land you are now? Soon I'll be flying over the jungles of Chile on our way to the Lost City of the Incas where you have been before, H&M. Hi to you from Henry the pilot in Osoyoos. Lois
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