Blane brought me on a cycle to see the area that he grew up in. This dirt road is the road to his old family house. Only an hour or so from Sydney and this is what it looks like!

The first Kangaroos! And Blane knew exactly where to find them in abundance - the grounds of an old mental health hospital, or looney bin of course. Since this first sighting I've discovered that you normally see one everyday. Maybe it's dead on the road, which is usually the case, but you see still see one, yay!

Another trip we made into the area he grew up in. This was up in Monkeyface Lookout, in the Watagan Mtns.

Oh right, he's australian.

After trudging along a track in the very stickly heat for a while, we got to this spot which Blane remembered as always having had lots of water flow. Not anymore clearly.



Fancy that Blane's found a bike race! One of his friends had a team going to this 24hour mountain bike event in Stromlo, Canberra. Blane was asked to sub in for a guy that pulled out and it all turned out very well. Our first time playing house in the camper van too, so that kept me amused...

...and there he is.

Bungonia Gorge, just outside of Goulburn where we visited Blane's Dad.


An echidna! Blane waited forever for the little yoke to poke its nose out again after we first frightened it inside by nearly runing it over in the car.

Very patriotic photo of Canberra's House of Parliament. When in Rome....

I will win the race! Just a bit harder when the bike's stuck to the wall.
There were even some normal bicycles at the bike museum.

Cockatoos liking the tree. Funny birds.

I finally worked out how to make an unblurry photo...I need to be in a moving vehicle, going at 40km/hr in order to counteract my shaky hand.

Saw "Mystery Bay" on the map and had to make a detour. But we were very disappointed to discover it was only a really beautiful beach...where's the mystery?

The mystery of beauty maybe?

Okay, I'll be quiet.

This is what an old australian heritage town looks like (Central Tilba). You know it's old because you don't need a Harvey Norman 4WD Bulldozer to get from one building to the next.

And that was only on one shoulder...However I had an inkling that they liked me better when I wore bright clothes like this hoody, and talking to a park ranger, I found out that my suspicians are actually true. Oops! I've just knocked off my glasses with my encyclopedia.

A train cafe! Loads of old carriages left around the country from railways being closed so we spotted a couple that were turned into homes and things. Wouldn't that be nice?

Mumbala Falls -a sacred ab-original place.

Farmer Blane going to hte Butchers in Cobargo. We stayed there on a farm for two weeks.

Bankrobbers' horses! The latest in fly protection. We met these guys in the absolute middle of nowhere. Rowan, the guy that owned the property in Cobargo where we were working, brought us to visit some of his friends one evening. The couple we met were amazing; they were starting to build a house in this place so were living in a couple of makeshift huts...no running water or electricity but the vege garden and fruit trees were down of course. I came across a redback spider under a rock here! The man was from one of the oldest families in the region and are well-known to be proper bush-folk (his gran got a medal for having the most sons from the one family who fought in WWII). He was a rodeo rider and has travelled all around australia and america riding the bulls. Some stories!


"I'm going to count to three and if you don't drop those smelly seashells and get into this car we'll leave without you."

So this is Rowan's living quarters. It was an old butter factory and he wasn't too bothered about transforming it into a 'house' so it is what it is! There's the bed on the left and the table and sink on the right and his bath there justting out from the middle of the building. In the winter he fills it with water and lights a fire underneath and then cooks himself in it!



And these are pictures of his antiquey junk showrooms. He has some brilliant stuff, even old lights from film sets in the 50s...and bikes...

...like this one. After this photo was taken Blane gave it a makeover and bought it. After shot not yet available.

One of our jobs was to mount this massive old pot.

And a lawnmower-chair!

Not a great picture but this is a brilliant piece of art up close, a big crows nest made out of old spanners and those kind of things. The artist is a friend of Rowan's and asked him to store it for a bit between exhibitions, worth 20 grand but at this angle you wouldn't bother to stop the car for a look I don't think.

Oh no I'm going to be run over by a train!

Ah it's alright, doesn't look like a train's been by for quite some time.