Debrief

Neil is back at work, Tom is riding his bike back to QLD then is off to Sth America. Still have some donations coming in, however the total at this point raised is $32,233.52. With Tom working for BHP Billiton, the matched giving scheme will match this total, plus time and expenses, up to a value of $50k, so the final total raised for the RFDS should be in the order of $80,000+

Day 59 - Perth

Our last day dawned with Neil making his way into Bunbury in the early morning to meet Tom, who was finally back in the saddle. Since it was the first time we had ridden together since Mt Isa (!) we promptly got split up going round the first roundabout we came to... some things never change.
We eventually made it to the rendevouz point where we met up with Pat, who when he combines his powers with that of his KTM950Adventure becomes...Pumpkinzilla.

L to R: P-Zilla, Mang, Tyso

P-Zilla formed our advance guard, up the highway to Mandurah and on to the bottom of the freeway to Perth, where we pulled in and met up with a couple of the Barrick guys who had come out to escort us in to the RFDS base at Jandakot airport.
We headed in with our little convoy, and on arrival met with the RFDS base staff, Dave from Barrick, and Peter from Nexus. Dave was present to hand over the latest in a long series of cheque's from Barrick to the RFDS - this one was for $40,000! Fortunately the 'Barrick' RFDS plane was in that day too, so we got some great snaps for Barrick's publicity... and so we should too - we went to all of the Barrick sites on mainland Australia, and were welcomed warmly at all of them.
Between all of the Barrick sites we collected well over $10,000, all donated by the employees on site for the benefit of the RFDS in their state.... we take off our helmets to you.

All in all a great way to finish the ride. Thanks to everyone who helped make it happen!

Cheers,

Neil and Tom

Days 55-58 Albany, Pemberton, Augusta, Marg Riv

The next few days were rancho relaxo for the DFTD team - we meandered our way through the SW doing the tourist thing to kill time before we needed to head into Perth on the Thursday. Neil headed down to Augusta, whilst Tom headed into Perth and collected his bike from the Nexus haulage yard. Peter from Nexus had freighted the Dakar down from Darwin free of charge, so Tom rode it out to Bunbury in preparation for the ride in. The following pics are a super summary of the touristy bits.

Stirling Range NP

Next stop Antarctica..... I wonder if I can get the bike there???

10,000km's of scrub, saltbush and spinafex.... then this.

.......
More trees....
Nice day at Prevelly

Day 54 - Kal-Flying Fox

We left Kal the next morning after breakfast with the lads we had been staying with in the KB flat. Mang was a few k's ahead as we headed West for Coolgardie. As Neil entered Coolgardie he saw a set of flashing lights, two policemen, one slightly dented Hyundai Tuscon City, and Mango, looking a bit sheepish while a ticket was getting written out.

He slowed down to get a good look, but decided against stopping. The plan instead was to do the good bloke thing and pull up 200m down the road, and take a photo zoomed into the rearview mirror, to preserve the moment for posterity.
Luckily for Mango he had both camera's in the car.....

Meanwhile, Mango's luck took a turn for the better. Noticing the BMW riding past, he asked if Mango was travelling with someone. From this he learnt the whole story about the ride, at which point the copper told his mate to stop writing the ticket - there was no way he was going to ticket someone fundraising for the RFDS. For that he gets our top bloke of the day award, and Mango gets away without a ticket. Cheers!

Heading West we saw heaps of groups of bikes, including two sets of three bikies all being tailed at a distance of 10m or so by highway patrol. We must have seen over 100 bikes and about 7 cop cars. Turns out most of the bikes were on their way to Phillip Island for the MotoGP, and the bikies were on their way to a do somewhere that the cops had found out about. Needless to say we both obeyed the speed limit for the rest of the day.

FLYING FOX
Sunset saw us arriving at Cosmic Boy Camp, the camp servicing Western Areas' new Flying Fox Mine. We were greeted by Peter and Jon, who pointed us to our rooms, and who had arranged a site BBQ for the wet mess.

Mark the first aider had done a fantastic job on the barbie, and all the guys on site turned out in a strong show of support - it was fresh in their minds there having been an evacuation from site in the last couple of weeks.

The lads and ladies chipped in $483.80, which has been matched by Western Areas for a grand total raised of $967.60 - a fantastic result for our last mine visit and one that almost made up for the tragic result in the rugby later that evening.

Tom, Mark and Peter. Smiling about donations, not about rugby.

Day 53 - Superpit

Day 53 started a bit fuzzily thanks to the beverages the evening before. We had breaky at a nearby scottish restraunt, and then headed over to the Superpit shop where we completed our inductions. We then headed off to site, where we were treated to a pit tour of this rather large hole in the ground. Not content with being big, the Superpit is also notable for mining through old underground workings - you can see the old drives and stopes daylighting into the walls.... full on.
After our eye opening tour we toured the offices, selling raffle tickets for the KB raffle.


The results of the raffle were impressive as well: thanks to Delsa's tireless efforts the raffle raised $1,388.45 for the RFDS - magic. We then met with the GM of the Superpit and the GM of KB for a media shoot at the lip of the Pit, with a representative from the RFDS along as well.

Day 52 - Kal, KB

Up early for the run into Kal, and a 7am interview with ABC Kal, which went pretty well. We then had a lazy breakfast before heading out to Kanowna Belle, another Barrick operation outside of Kal. We were taken on a mill tour, our first for the trip funnily enough, and Mango's gamble of wearing shorts didn't pay off, he ended up in a 'sperm suit' for the duration of the visit. Unlucky....

Mango wasn't there to win fashions in the field.

We then had a tasty BBQ, also our first in a while, while Delsa ran around selling raffle tickets. We then got a lift out to KB's sister operation Raleigh, where we sold a few more tickets for the raffle, with prizes put up by KB.
Mang was in a foul mood - he had backed the hire car into a power pole when we pulled up at the flat we were staying at that afternoon. I considered it my duty then to take him out to the Exchange, and medicate with rum. Which we did, until prudence suggested it might be time to leave or risk blowing a reading the next day.

Day 51 - Long Victor

The next morning saw us out at Long Victor a mine only about 5 km out of Kambalda to meet the guys at the weekly safety meeting. Organised by Heinz the donations were encouraged after a breaky BBQ that saw the guys toss $413.80 into the collection bag for the RFDS.

After the meeting we accepted an offer for an underground tour and what a tour. Going underground we toured the whole workings which are large and were expertly guided by AJ who was every ready with an answer for the myriad of questions. Being half reasonably large scale mechanical mining and half air leg this was a real treat!

Neil was rather impressed with the underground BBQ set up all ready for a quiet crib break - bug change from those coal mining restrictions!

Day 50 - Kambalda

Leaving Granny Smith with somewhat of a sore head we headed for Kambalda down the main drag. The number of mines on either side of the road had both of us amazed. It would appear that the favourite past time is to dig lots of holes! With many that we didn't even know existed or what they were mining the monotony of the open road was broken up.

On arrival at Kambalda we checked into the ESS camp who had once again kindly assisted our appeal by putting us up for a couple of nights.

Day 49 - Granny Smith

For the run into Granny Smith we had to back track out to the main highway south before trecking into the mine site. On arrival we found the main office unattended but the large screen tv in the mess playing the rugby. With our WC fix for another day we were given a tour of the open pit and the salt sculptures that have been created in the wall from the ultra saline ground water the flows in from the salt lake above.

Whilst on site Neil raised a quick $100 in donations by fixing a scheduling problem that had caused the engineers some frustration!

At the event in the mess there was a great turnout from all the guys on site. With the GM Mark LeMessurier offering to be a nipper underground for half a shift if there was plenty of donations all were very generous. Special thanks to Anita who organised our visit to site and a great raffle. With the donations totalling $1051.25 this was a great effort from all at the mess.

Day 48 - Lawlers-Darlot

We had only a short way to go from Lawlers to Darlot. After a quick fuel stop in Leinster we headed south, and after turning off the highway there was another 50km or so of dirt to negotiate. Once on site we caught up with some important business that afternoon, ie watching replays of the world cup rugby from the weekend. We were also met by another mate Steve, who unfortunately couldn't stay and watch footy with us, it being end of month. We got a decent turn out to the mess that evening, and Steve and the girls had organised the guessing game for a couple of $50 notes, which everyone had a crack at. It was also the NRL GF, followed by a few games of rubgy, so plenty of footy was watched, because thankfully the aerial pingpong had ended the night before. We hear some Victorians won for a change...After last drinks had been sold we ended up with $148.80 for the night, and thanks go to all who organised and ran the games for us whilst doing their end of month work as well.

The Darlot Crew

Day 47 - Cue-Lawlers

After an exciting evening staying in our little shed in Cue, we headed off - Mt Magnet, then across through Sandstone to Lawlers, just outside Leinster. We spent the arvo catching up on admin and washing, then headed to the wet mess. The guys on site ran a 'Guess The Last Two Digits on a $100 Note', and there was a fairly solid turn out in the wet mess, thanks to Mel and Gemma publicising our visit. All said and done the Lawlers guys raised $476.80 for us, with Barrick chipping in a further $200, we ended up with $676.80 - great effort from a small site.

Day 46 - Plutonic-Cue

We kicked off day 46 with a photo shoot. Travis from site is a keen photographer, and as you can see the results are professional, he almost managed to make us look good. We then headed off for Mt Magnet, but later on with the sun going down we stopped in Cue, and tiny dot on the map where retirees head to try their hand at gold detecting.

Day 45 - Tom Price-Plutonic

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO OKTOBERFEST

Dessert didn't sit too well with either of us. Tom woke up to hear Neil racing down the stairs from the loft juggling the remains of his dinner.... We both woke up crook, and had to cancel our planned visit to the Skilled offices again, and make our way out of town. Tom rang up the mess and let them know what we thought of dinner, they responded by suggesting we provide a stool sample. Not wanting to delay his departure any longer Neil declined the offer to crap in a cup, and left for Newman. Tom stuck round, and went to the doctor's, however they couldn't fit him in until the afternoon, so he ended up on the road as well.

Pat Was On The Case For Us

We then made our separate ways to Newman, and on down to Barrick's Plutonic operation where we were to take part in their Oktoberfest celebrations. We turned up just on dark and pretty stuffed. German beer is not the best thing to get stuck into when you are dehydrated from food poisoning, however we both manned up and gave it a shot. We were met by Mel the entertainment coordinator (what a job...), and uni mate and fellow GijimaAST lurker Pat.

Beer Makes Mel's Hair Go Funny

Much beer was consumed, though not by us. Prizes were raffled, and steins were auctioned. By the time the second stein was on offer Kira the barmaid upped the ante with a kiss to the winner, and bidding quickly raced up to $200. Some of the boys really wanted that stein....All in all a great night, with the efforts of the Plutonic workers totalling $1890.65 - a great night.

Day 44 - Onslow-Tom Price

Day 44 saw us away from Onlsow early, on the road to Tom Price. After winding our way over to Paraburdoo for a much needed fuel stop, we headed North again to Tom Price. On arrival we dropped into the Skilled offices where we met with Ian Dollery, who was busily working to arrange our visit to site.

Circular Pool

Unfortunately just prior to our arrival something happened out on site and we were unable to undertake the visit as planned. Undeterred we lined up to meet with Ian for dinner to see if we could re-shedule for the next day, and then took the opportunity to make our way over to the nearby Karinijee NP. Check out the photos, had a good swim at Forescue Falls then headed back to Tom Price, where we had dinner with Ian at the mess.

Fotescue Falls

Day 42 Onslow

With the postponement of some Pilbara visits we decided to head to the sleepy fishing town of Onslow. On our way through we stopped at Karratha and were interviewed on local ABC radio. Having picked up a couple of cheap fishing rods we were ready to do battle but hadn't countered on the wind which heard we were coming. Nonplussed we headed to the local where we met some of the salt miners and they invited us to a big seafood BBQ - thanks Steve and John for a great time.

Day 41 Port Hedland

Into Port Hedland where we were put up by the ESS camp in town. Whilst it was a very slow night in the wet mess it was nice to kick back and prepare for the Pilbara.

Day 40 Sandfire

Heading down the coast we stopped in at a little joint named Sandfire - ironically it was called this before the tavern burnt down. Suffice to say the roadhouse was a tempory donga and we cooked up our own tucker in the dark on a bush BBQ. The lad at the roadhouse was kind enough to lend us some dvd's to break up the evening of watching the bugs outside.

Broome

After a long hot trip into Broome we found out that it was school holidays and that most places shut reception by mid arvo! But we found a B&B that only did one B and a couple of quiet days relaxing were in order. Cable beach and sunset makes for a magic combination - pricy beers though.

Day 37 Sally Malay

Heading away from Kunuarra the new port of call was Sally Malay Mine. After a fairly relaxing morning in the coffee shop the afternoon's hot riding was punctuated by the site of Argyle spoil dumps. We left Kununarra and headed south with Neil pushing into what was becoming an all to familiar headwind. On arrival at SM the guys caught up with Garry Waldron who organised a show at the mess that evening. All at the mess donated $307 to the RFDS and told some great stories about their experiences and how important they were. Thanks to all who donated and put up with Neil murdering a couple of songs on a borrowed guitar.

Day 36 Kununarra

From GBS Gold the lads headed to Kununurra - a long hike passing through some great country however unfortunately no stopping to enjoy. With not much between places the road is the foot down kind with a random quarantine checkpoint in the middle of nowhere. Neil on the bike was given the fifth degree as the guy was damn certain that he had some fruit in there somewhere. So WA gave the guys a welcome that will be sure to last for the rest of the trip!

Day 35 - Darwin to GBS Gold

Monday saw cause for celebration as Neil was reunited with his bike - albeit no real repairs had been carried out and the bike was still beakless! Insurance! We picked up our new kit from BMW and it looks and wears great. Neil kitted up for the photo with Eric from the Darwin BMW dealership.

The guys headed off to the Cosmo camp and visited GBS Gold. Tara turned on a great show and all the guys at the mess pitched in to raise $310 for the RFDS.

Day 31 Darwin Rest

Neil and thirsty dropped Tom and the Dakar in Darwin and headed off for the Isa. Whilst Neil's trip was uneventful, after 4 days of no showers Neil resembled the rest of the clientele on the bus trip back up to Darwin. After a relaxing couple of days Tom and Neil are looking forward to getting back into visiting mines.

Day 30 Gove to Katherine

The trip back from Gove was fairly uneventful with a late start for the local doctor to x-ray and diagnose Tom. It was like dejavu travelling back on the road only one day after we had been coming the other way but we did stop to take this pic of an anthill. Just couldn't resist doing to ol tourist thing. Arriving at Katherine fairly late in the arvo we were both fairly tired and ready for a good nights sleep.

A funny thing happened on the way to Gove....

OR, "Pride comes before the bulldust"

Yep, you guessed it, Tom left his computer out and fell asleep, silly lad, so here goes......

Our luxurious camp

We pulled stumps that fateful morning from our makeshift camp (safely located 10, maybe even 15m from the road). As the road crews started hauling past the bulldust was hanging in the air, a warning perhaps? (Bulldust morning, Mango's warning??).

Beware Mango.... Bewaaaaaaare

After a quick brekkie we headed a further 25km or so into Bulman, and filled up Tom's bike plus enough jerries to get the Dakar to Gove. We then had to push a bit, seeing as the fuel stop was unplanned. We gave Gove a call on the Philcomm satphone, it's first use, and warned them we would be a bit late and would miss the lunch appointment. Tom pointed the Dakar towards the Gove peninsula and didn't spare the horses.

I meanwhile, chowed his dust. There was a lot of it, towards the end of the dry season the road comes apart like a hastily bitten Salada, so Tom was doing well through corrugations large and small, long stretches of bulldust the full width of the road, etc. I was doing it tough in the aircon listening to Radio National, and hanging back a bit so as not to run him over.

Suddenly the dust cleared, and there is the Dakar, down on the starboard side, with rear wheel still going in 4th gear. Mang was still attached to the bike, a good captain goes down with the ship after all, but as I threw out the anchors and came to a halt he jumped up and started trying to lift the Dakar so as to hit the cutoff.

This was all to familiar territory for me, so I jumped out and started about the business of checking he was all right. Our standing agreement was to check the other is OK, then take photo's and try not to laugh.

300km from Gove Mang had found himself caught in a 100m stretch of bulldust, no strange thing, he'd ridden through worse, and had battled it all the way through. When he got 5m from the end he thought 'Yeah, made it', which is when the front wheel dropped into a yawning hole concealed by the bulldust, and the Dakar went down with all hands before you could say:

Bugger.

A Wedgetail circles, waiting for Mang to stop moving

Unfortunately he came down not in the talcum-like bulldust, but on the hard crap after it. The butchers bill consists of one snapped mirror, another bent mirror, sundry cosmetic damage to the Dakar fairing, a dinged helmet, one lens of his sunnies gone, and worst of all, a very sore right arm.

Later the finest medical minds Gove had to offer would concurr that Mango broke his arm, although only just. We applied a cold pack, then strapped his wrist, and like a trooper Mang got back on the horse, and rode a further 60km or so, until we reached the Groyder river and could load the bike onto Thirsty.

So the two of us rolled into Gove on the great bike trip, me driving the cruiser with my bent bike in Darwin, and Mang riding shotgun with a broken wing and his Dakar strapped to the tray. Good times.

We were met in Gove by Cassie and Darryl, who to be fair must have had a 'What tha' moment, and explained our 'issues'. They managed not to laugh at us, and instead lined up radio and paper interviews and a fundraising trip to the wet mess, in addition to the $2000 Alcan put up to sponsor our ride. The blokes at the wet mess all chipped in bringing our total for the Gove trip to $2282.40.... awesome.
Later whilst I was waiting outside the hospital Darryl pulled up next to Thirsty. I opened his door:
'Want some diesel?'
'&%!# yeah. '

Somehow he had flagged down a fuel truck, and proceeded to top up both tanks and the 44 on the back, which went a loooong way towards helping us cover our (unexpected) diesel bills... Champion!

L-R Dakar, Daz, Daz, Diesel Truck

Day 28 - Katherine to Bulman

Or near enough. Katherine was our first chance at admin for a while so we spent so long sorting our crap out we got away too late, and as a result missed a fuel stop at Manirou, which is some 250-300km along the 750 km to Gove.
Tom was feeling brave (suicidal) so we pushed on in the dark for a while, but ended up pulling up somewhere West of Bulman and camping for the night.
Neil had wisely left both his torches in Darwin with the bike, so it was interesting setting up and cooking with only Tom's dodgy, dodgy torch to light the way.

Day 27 - Bootu Ck-Katherine (via Darwin)

In the morning we left for Katherine, but not before Mark took us on a quick pit tour and showed us the Bootu Creek mine, which was an eye opener for both of us.

Neil being in the cruiser meant that stopping every half hour was no longer necessary. Music, drinks food, all could be dealt with in the air-con comfort of the cab. So no surprises that the tortoise like Thirsty soon overtook Mang, who looked like a sweaty hare indeed on the side of the road having a drinks break. In the heat. With no aircon. Ha ha.


Joke was on Neil though, he had to drive to Darwin, and drop off his bike for repairs, always a humbling experience. Eric and co at Honeycombes interrupted their Sunday session to help Neil unload the bike, much appreciated. Dark then so it was off to the caravan park for the night, and an early start back to Katherine.

Catch me if you can....

Day 26 - Mt Isa-Bootu Ck

After the cruiser ute was picked up and we loaded Neil's bike into the trailer we set off, Tom going warp 9 after we crossed the border and Neil trundling along feeling faint at watching the fuel gauges on the cruiser go down minute by minute. The new V8 certainly chews the juice with a trailer on, and the shock of going from filling the bike (15l every 300km or so) to the ute (180l every 6-700km) was rude.

The ride / drive across the Barkly is.... exciting. Or not. Very big country, very flat, very burnt at this time of year. We got to three ways and Tom had discovered the effective Vmax of his tyres, warp 9 is apparently not good for the wear on his front, you could almost see it wearing away from one stop to the next.

We turned North at Three Ways and headed to Bootu Ck, a new manganese mine owned by OM. On the road in we dodged a few feral donkeys, then ended up at camp where Rob from ESS had arranged everything for us, BBQ, beds, beer. Not in that order.

Bootu Ck Social Club Gave Us $500

The social club outdid themselves, and contributed $500, with a further $146.50 being raised by donations. Many thanks to Jodie Prime for making that happen. Turns out Neil used to work for the site GM Mark Laing as well, so plenty of time was spent catching up whilst watching the NQ Cowboys.

Rob adds some manganese to the mix while showing us how to smelt steel on a Bunnings BBQ

Day 25 - Century-Mt Isa

Day 25 saw Neil's slightly thrashed BMW back loaded onto a low loader heading out from the minesite, courtesy of Brad and Lisa from NQ Heavy Haulage. The bike was trammed out to Burke and Wills where Neil decided he wanted another crack, so the bike was unloaded and we rode the three hours into Mt Isa. Meanwhile, another cunning plan was hatched, that would enable the trip to go on, and for us to still meet our committments at Bootu Creek and Gove. Neil arranged a 4WD hire in Isa, and a trailer for the bike, there being a considerable question mark hanging over the front brakes, we considered it might possibly be dodgy for the ride into Gove. Unfortunately due to this mishap we missed our mine visit to Birla Mt Gordon, which is a shame after the organising they had done to receive us.

Oversize....

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Century...

OR, "Pride Comes Before The Roadworks"

Tom is asleep, so I will get my version of the story out to the masses before he wakes. Don't beleive a word he types.

Our story begins with us heading from Cloncurry to Burke and Wills Roadhouse, to sample their famous crumbed steak once again. So far, so good. We then bent west along the road to Gregory Downs Roadhouse, past Augustus Downs where my bro used to work... also so good. We then embarked on the last 100km or so of dirt road in to Century Zinc. I was zipping along, eating Tom's dust as usual, when the road turned from a happy road into an angry road. Great piles of gravel loomed threateningly on either side, but the trusty BMW's kept us going through ruts and corrugations. Roadworks ahead, time to back off, thinks I.

Then, I swear, I was hit by a nasty crosswind. Two days before I had giggled into my helmet as I saw Tom slowly blown off the road into a spoon drain, today karma got me.

The sidewind blew my bike about a foot to the right, straight into the windrow of gravel. It chewed me up like an unwanted mintie, and spat the bike out, heading in a different direction to my planned one, and into another windrow. At this point the famous fishtail effect came into play, and I ate it. So far, so bad.

The bike came down mainly on the crash bar, and panniers, and I went face first into the surprisingly soft pile of gravel. No injury, not a scratch - you won't be seeing me today Doctor Dan. The once proud profile of my Beemer is now a sorry sight, minus the nose cone, broken mirror, wrecked handlebar guard, scratches all over the RHS, brake resevior scratched and weeping fluid.... etc.

A bloke pulled up, turns out he knew who we were, had seen us at Dawson mine in Moura. Dammit, the story is out. He lent me some gaffer tape and I set to putting the bike back together, sort of. The bike started - yay. I then rode it rather gingerly the next 40km or so to Century, all intact except pride.

Jodie at Century did a wonderful job organising our stay - we had a band in our honour in the wet mess, and the guys at Century all chipped in, with the evening raising $514 for the RFDS, none of which was spent on airlifting me out thankfully.

Thanks to Jodie and the Century boys and girls, and all who pulled over and resisted laughing at me until they drove away.

Day 23- Cannington- The Isa

Thats what we locals call Mt Isa. We figure we qualify as locals becuase of the amount of local dust we've inhaled recently. After a hearty breakfast at Camp Cannington, we bid farewell to our golf buggy chauffer and made tracks for Mt Isa.

In the Isa we visited the local RFDS base, for a slap up lunch of pizza and drinks organised by Tracey Spicer. We also met with Julia from Incitec Pivot - Phosphate Hill, who presented us with a cheque for the RFDS for $500 - fantastic. We then chatted for a while and met local legend Doctor Dan - if you have been helped by the RFDS in the Isa region chances are it was him. Nice bloke, hope we don't meet him in the back of a plane some day.

After a brief interview with the local paper we made tracks for Cloncurry, in order to get a head start on the run to Century in the morning. Our cunning plan was almost foiled by a lack of ready accommodation - Neil had tears in his eyes at the thought of how long it would take Tom to pack up his tent in the morning, however in the end we found a hotel, checked in, and passed out.

Julie from IPL and Tracey show the lads how it's done

Day 22 - Cannington

Day 22 was planned to be an easy riding day as Cannington was to be visited in the afternoon. Britt and the exploration geo's suggested a route and off Tom and Neil went. First turnoff and we were lost. Three different gates and a track that was suspect. Luckly at that junction a farmer came along and pointed us in the right direction and also opened a couple of gates - Cheers for that! Having lost his new side stand plate the previous day, Neil was now free to open up and see what his bike would do. Tom was also looking to lose side stand extender number 2 and both set a cracking pace across the dirt. No incidents to report but Tom managed to snare some great footage of Neil being chased by a cow! Unfortunately this will have to wait until we sort out the publishing of video thingy.
Arriving at Cannington we checked in and had a golf buggy to carry our stuff from the bikes to our rooms. Tom was not allowed to drive as the locals thought he looked like a mad golf buggy driver and insisted on chaufferring him around. The mine turned on a pretty impressive BBQ and the lads from the HSEC team hooked into cooking and all gathered around for a beer and steaks. A pass around of the hat with those attending resulted in $389.40 being generously donated to the RFDS - pretty good effort for what was a quiet night in the camp.

Day 21 - Osborne

After a pretty handy breaky at the Burke and Wills roadhouse we headed south towards the "curry" with our week fully booked and Osbourne Mine being the first cab off the rank. On our way through we met up with this character riding around Australia on a chinses version of the postie bike called a "Mad Ass". Pretty keen if you like to ride on QLD roads at 70 kph!

Neil checking out the mad ass but not keen to swap!

Following a gee up from a Barrick big wig Britt and the social club had been busily planning for our arrival. The dirt track from Djarra into Phosphate Hill was fairly interesting with a distinct lack of maintenance since the last rain event left washouts at each creek. Once we arrived at site we were met by Britt and shown to our fairly luxurious rooms. At the bar a pool competition had been organised and Neil's skills as a shark were put to the test. Unfortunately Neil was planning to lose a couple before playing for the big money. The competition however was sudden death and Neil's cunning plan kind of failed.

The acting SSE of Osbourne, Paul, announced that the mine would donate the proceeds of their aluminium can recycling - over $4000. After the pool comp was completed the winners were presented with a prize donated by the social club.

Neil and Tom with the winners of the pool comp, Rod, Tracey and Britt. It would appear that Britt and Tracey were organising at this point and missed pausing for the pic!

In the morning we joined the night shift crew in a golf game on the spinafex course that had a distinct lack of grass. After a couple of holes Neil had lost more golf balls than the money the lads were putting up and Tom and Neil retired from the competition.
All up Osbourne donated over $5000 to the Flying Doctors - a very generous effort and is the most from a site thus far.

Day 20 - Mareeba-Bourk&WillsRH

Sunrise at Burke and Wills Roadhouse

Text to follow....