My Senior Gap Year

I had been looking forward to this for the last twelve months. Even though I had to travel four thousand kilometres to receive it. The winning prize for Red FM radio station’s 2015 Father’s Day prize. Barramundi HeliFishing in Kununurra for father and son. We had figured if we couldn’t catch anything armed with a helicopter, then we might as well give up for good. Our high hopes however became increasingly subdued as time got ...…[read more]

It was just like the pictures. Rugged. Rocky. And what vegetation there was, it did not escape the thick layers of red dust that defined the landscape. I was once sent a pictures of Mars. Alongside that picture was a photo of the place I was now at. I could see the similarity. Port Headland. The busiest port in the country. Ships are lined up for days waiting to get a spot at the wharf. ...…[read more]

Locals claim they have the highest percentage of boat ownership per person of anywhere in the world up here. Not surprising. Karratha is at the door stop of a marine life Mecca. Fish varieties to suit everyone. Having said that, it’s not that simple. It’s not as though you can just duck out in the tinny, dip your hand in the seawater and pull out any fish, let alone a fish at all! This is where, what ...…[read more]

Time was against us. The pressure was on. Catch no fish, no dinner. We agreed to our little challenge before we left on our overnight camping expedition. We set off over the sand dunes to the beach. With rods in hand along with two bush chooks, two pre school kids and a dog. 40 mile beach, less than an hours drive south of Karratha according to the widely used Wikicamp app, rates as a popular ...…[read more]

At first glance it looks like any other shopping mall. Except for one thing. There’s cops everywhere. They’re outside shops. Inside shops. Fully uniformed gun toting laser gun loaded cops. They stand there all day but won’t speak to you. But you get the real feeling your every move is being watched. I reckon they got the idea from those guards outside the gates of Buckingham Palace. The ones with those huge big black fluffy ...…[read more]

There’s two ways to take over a country. You can invade it. Or do what Australia does. Sell it off piece by piece. It all started fifty years ago. They built a railway line 300km long through some of the harshest land in the country.  It connects the iron ore mine in Tom Price to the port at Dampier near Karratha. It’s an impressive and massive operation. In the middle of no where, huge two ...…[read more]

It was a Friday evening. Within an hour of sending an email, I had replies coming back faster than I had expected. I had heard a rumour that excess bed linen from mining camps here in outback Pilbara was about to be discarded. The list of charities in need of this linen was growing with every email coming back. Long story short. With the generous support of the local mining and transport industry an initial ...…[read more]

If you could imagine a quaint little European village settled against snow capped mountains, people meandering and pausing to chat along it’s little cobble stone roads that are lined with vibrant little shops. Strange it may seem, but that’s what this small outback town reminded me of. It wasn’t because of the rugged red mountains instead of snow backed mountains. Or snow flakes replaced with red dust that infiltrates everywhere. No quaint cobblestone roads but ...…[read more]

Exmouth, Tue 26 July 2016. A visit to Ningaloo Reef between Coral Bay and Exmouth, 1200km north of Perth has been a long awaited must do. The highlight was a day’s scuba diving trip out of Exmouth with son Travis. While the sandy moonscape like seabed lacked any colourful coral, there was the sea life to make up for it. “At one” with all the abundance of sea life is one of the very enjoyable ...…[read more]