Australia it is then....!6th November 2008

Brilliant narrative Andy.

I always looked forward to the next installment.

What a shame it's all finished.

Until the next time.

Hampshire-Andy said:

Found a cane toad,dead but totally untouched......so a spark of an idea started up to do some humurous photos involving a huge dinner plate sized toad and various objects.

Decided to carry him/she/it in a paper bag strapped onto the front headlight fairing of the bike, as I didnt really fancy having a dead amphibian inside the panniers or such.Headed into the city back to the Backpackers I was staying at for humurous toad fun when I found out something new.......Cane toads are experts at playing dead or this was a zombie thrown back from the gates of hell to walk the earth as the living undead........either way the effect was the same,I now had a very much alive and very agitated huge amphibian bursting out of a flimsy paper bag but securely bungied to the front of the bike.

Children were pointing and shreiking and adults were doing pretty much the same as the heartless pyscho biker drove along their main street with some Australian wildlife attached to the front of his bike ( and very much alive ) Finally managed to get to a woodland area where Zombie toad was launched into the nearest bush.

Next time I will use a headless Koala or something safer.

Click to expand...

Geesh Andy.. Gotta KILL those bastard cane Toads whenever you can mate. We Aussies hate em and they are a huge pest. cane toads have to die!!!

Thanks for Sharing

Hi

Like many already; thanks for sharing your trip, your writing style is great and the photos are diamonds.

Have fun in you next adventure.

Regards Bigboy

Some more photos

Now I have got back to a speedy computer in the UK, Just thought i would post a few photos up for you.No particular order....just a few of the hundreds I took that you may like.

After a visit to the RAAF Museum

Rope Bridge fun

These were from a Skywalk bridge just up the road from Hobart. Very relaxing and refreshing taking the forest walks and a great view when up in the canopy.

Found it hilarious to walk with a nice heavy tread on the rope bridges,and thereby causing anyone in front of you to bounce up and down in quite an alarming manner.....the young lady in the shot,clung to her boyfriend like a spider monkey until she got off the bridge.

I may have to redevelop my sense of humour now that I am back.

Here we go

Food, glorious food

By and large it was easier and even cheaper to just buy the meals from a roadhouse/servo than it was to make or cook your own.

But occasionally I had to due to breakdowns or just pining for some good old fashioned home food.

Beans and spam.....this tastes like ambrosia when on the trail all day,with the high temperatures I tended to lose my appetite so one meal of this effectively filled me up every day, with a little supplement of stuff picked up from the farms ( if any ) like fruit/veg and eggs.

Staying at the backpacker Hostels or even better if you can get a place in the ever popular and only slightly more expensive YHA's you get the chance to use their extensive kitchens.

Some of the Aussies I made friends with and stayed with for a while were subjected to the full force of British home made cooking and Im happy to say really started to like cottage pie and bangers and mash....proper egg/sausage and chips with beans.....home made scones with cream and jam........bubble n squeak.....proper yorkshire puddings with beef and gravy inside.

Good thing with cottage pie and the like is you can just add what you like really,and you can feed for several days on it.

Andy,s mix and match cottage pie thing............................


500 grams of mince ( kangaroo,beef or lamb )

tin of mixed veg ( peas and carrots )

chopped and diced red onion ( half )

Tinned tomatoes with the juice

Mushrooms sliced

Spinach as wanted

salt/pepper/oxo cubes/garlic clove

Spuds 1 and half kilo at least

real butter

sultanas or diced prunes

.....................................

1) wash,peel and cut into chunks the spuds...put in pan with slack handful of salt.....keep on the boil until tender. ( 20 mins or so ) then drain.

2) half fill pan with water and add mince,mush it up and cook on high heat for about 15 mins while adding the tin of veg and tomatoes ( keep juice from tomatoes ),then drain.

3) Put all the mince mix into a large frying pan on medium-high heat with a slop of olve oil.

4) Add the mushrooms/onions/spinach/prunes or sultanas with all the seasoning and tomatoe juice and simmer until you start drooling with the smell of a proper mans meal.

5) slop into and spread evenly into a large baking tray with a light film of olive oil over the tray.

6) after mashing the spuds with heavy dollops of real butter....place and spread the mash over the mince mix.

7) place in oven on high and keep in until the mash goes golden brown and crispy ( the best bits )

6) serve with slab of fresh bread and butter

This was a regular add-on for quite a number of the big bikes I saw,normally in the GS 1150-1200 and honda goldwing type range.

Motorcycle trailers...purpose built with electric staged brakes etc.For tose of us who are gadget heavy and pack everything including the kitchen sink......problem solved.

The shot with the big tent and gazeebo was what one of the fella's managed to fit inside his bike.

My life is complete.....I got to see the MAD MAX Interceptor at Silverton.A tiny little town just north of Broken Hill.

A fully developed thousand yard stare after knocking out just 0n 2000km in 2 days to actually get to silverton using the great ocean road.

On the final leg of the trip I saw a few random sites, one of which was these Mah-hoosive steam engine thing,unique in construction it takes pride of place in the town due to its well loved role in actually building the place.

Plus a load of old type cars.....tell me if Im wrong but Im assuming these things are yankee cars?

A WWII tank graveyard just in the middle of no-where....rather a sad sight with all these old tanks just abandoned and being left to rot or stripped.Dozens of the things and as far as i can tell.....Stuart battle tanks?