Hi guys,
this is a test to see if I can post a picture on this system.
The photo is my bed for the night in the Painted Desert in Central Australia. Height of summer in late January, no need for a sheet even to sleep with.
Rifle is my 224 Weatherby Varmint Master, German made.
Not a soul to be seen out here at this time of year. Perfect solitude.
cheers
James
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Hey, it worked!
thanks guys for all the tips. I'll sort this out yet!
This shot is painted desert scenery. I think it got its name from the one you guys have in the states.
I did a slow drive that day as 40c outside and lots of flys till sunset. Had 50 hours of audio books and good airconitioning so cruised at about 30mph. very relaxing really.
Camps were just a spot to lay my sleeping mat down off the road and out of sight.
OK I've sorted out how to attach pictures. Thank the good Lord for that!!
cheers
James
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Beautiful country! Similar to eastern Nevada and western Utah. Ric
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My old reloading set up.
Renovations have caused my beautiful cyclone shelter to be demolished but it will arise from the ashes as a wonderful space 3 times the size.
Note air conditioner which is essential in a climate oh so worse than Florida's..
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Coffe in expresso pot on camp stove and .303 Lee Enfield at dawn.
Central Australia in winter... so cold I used a tent and carried a 20 litre water bag warmed from a 12 hour drive down the 1500 km south from Darwin and moved that into the tent that night for warmth...
this was a winter trip in July.
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Feral camel, central Australia last Xmas...
2.5 million of these awaiting my 375 H&H...
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.224 Weatherby with Dingo.
Xmas last year.
These guys came over about 5000 years ago with the Aboriginal people.
About the same idea as a coyote. Very cunning and tough on calfs and especially sheep.
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Why thank you Mr. Turner!
I do a lot of trips into the bush, both a lone and with my young children. The kids love it and its the best environment for little kids: no TV or electronic stuff to clutter their minds with and healthy exercise that humans grown up with for 200 000 years or so... can't knock that!
I'll dig out a series of shots that show what my part of Australia is like, and also seek to put a cast 'spin' on them too!
Photo: how cast bullet real men heat up a frozen pasta dinner at the end of a long days drive: put it on top of the hot diesel motor... Central Aus, 2007
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My new years eve this year. Oodnadatta Track enroute to Brisbane to meet up the family who flew down.
A flat tyre caused me to camp here rather than join in the new years eve joy at Oodnadatta, a 'town' to give it a name, consisting of a fuel bowser, a couple of general stores and a medical service.
A quite night but cheered on by solitude and scotch on ice with beer chasers with free shooting stars thrown in... couldn't have asked for more really!
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camp in the dunes south east of Alice Springs. Nice in the bowl after sunset but flies were a menace due to rainfall unusual at this time of year.
the boys ran up and down the dune all day long and fell asleep in their meals at days end... no ADHD drama's for this little lot!
They did take a few cans of diet coke up the top of the dune and the thought of them caffeinated was too much to bear so when they came down the .224 came out the cans came apart like little champs!!
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My camping rig: Toyota 100 series 4.2 litre diesel and Kimberly Kamper off road camper van.
Pre dawn with 4 year old Rudi...
'high' country near Darwin... full of low hills really as this area is geologically very old and worn down.
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sunset with new horse float (horse trailer for US and Canadian's) loaded with Ikea kitchen etc and weighing close to 3 tons...
Camp in just over the Norther Territory border from Queensland around January this year.
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My boys roasting marshmallows at the horse float camp... I got the 224 weather by out and fired a few shots into a termite mound for their greater entertainment...
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This stuff plus ice really helps at the end of a long drive with two young boys...
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Emu at full speed.
Emu's are a common bird in Australia. not really smart and tend to stay in the middle of the track until their little brain suggests the car is far enough to the other side to make the move off.
South east of Alice Springs, central Australia this year.
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Ferral camel near Northern Territory / South Australian border in July this year... by the time I'd got the .375 Ackley Improved out it had wandered off to places out of sight. I did have the two boys with me, 6 and 4, so was hesitant to take a quick shot for fear of a 'blood bath' type take down etc...
Gotta bood 'em easy I reckon...
Still, the meat is nice and there's lots and lots of it!
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The new Zastava 458 Win Mag. This baby shoots 2” groups at 100 yards with the big gas checked Lyman's mould.
I've only recently started making up rounds for this and only two loads in she started to group tight. i'll keep working on it but she seems to be a real good gun.
The stock is very agricultural but the rest of it appears a real gem.
For $750 Aus she seemed like a real good buy.
I kind of like the Zastava's, I've also got one in .375 Ackley Improved which shoots cast like a dream.
Nicely built traditional Mausers for a good price. Zastava has been making guns for over 100 years so are worth a look. Yugoslavian and really are a nice basic rifle for those who don't need to buy a 'name'...
Just my humble opinion of course...
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the old camping rig: Troop Carrier Land Cruiser with Kimberly Camper at sunset on top of a dune covered with water rounded pebbles. Presumably left overs from when Central Australia was inundated with ocean during the previous interglacial period when estimated sea level was 100 metres above current.
Lots of marine fossils found in this area, also not far from Cooper Pedy where the main Australian opal fields are. A really nice opalised ichyasauros was pulled out of here.
Bourke and Wills led a famous but fatal exploration trip up through here in the 1860's looking for the 'inland sea'. Took a boat too. Unfortunately they were a few million years too late...
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The family at that camp circa 2008. One more to the pack now, the last I hope. Have to get into special vehicles if another comes along.
This camp is in way north South Australia in the middle of nowhere. We're camped right next to the 'main' track but didn't see another vehicle for 24 hours. Deep red soil looks like Mars and as isolated it seems.
Cold nights, down to 0c and roast lamb in the camp oven that night.
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New addition Liberty becoming accustomed to both camping and rifle stocks. This one a crappy plastic stock that came as a spare with my Zastava 375 improved.
My wife is very busy with work and the only time I get to go away is when I take the kids.
Good for all that though. We often camp at an old WW2 airfield about 200km south of Darwin. An 8km drive down an old decayed bitumen track, suddenly you drive onto a 1.5 km sealed strip with trees growing through it.
It was built by the US in WW2 and used by the Dutch flying missions in Mitchell medium bombers against the Japanese in Indonesia, then Dutch East Indies.
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What the discerning gentleman packs for a trip out where pigs may be on the menu:
Trip down south:
.375 Improved Zastava .224 Weatherby Cases for both Dies fot both Jacketed for 224 Cast bullets for .375 Knives and sharpening stone Pelican case
...I think we're set!
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This is the track in to the strip.
This strip is WW2 Gorrie air field, about 200km south of Katherine, Northern Territory.
Closer to home in McDonalds air field. Much the same set up.
Camping is on the old aprons that ring the strip. Lots of history in these places, old machine gun positions built of 44 gallon drums filled with earth still exist all over the place.
These bases were established well south of Darwin to escape attacks by the Japanese. The same naval task force that bombed Pearl Harbour flattened Darwin in 64 raids.
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Oh yeah, 40c, my kind of weather... I don't think!
Heat has a strange attraction when one is too cold and vice versa. Its the 'grass is greener' concept.
I stayed in the car all day with air-conditioning at full blast listening to a post zombie apocalypse audio book that seemed somehow well suited to the totally unpopulated scenery that was slowly rolling by... night times were nice when temp dropped by more than half.
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I was probably more comfortable here building an igloo for the kids on holiday in Alaska Xmas 2008/9.
Neg 32 (F or C doesn't matter much at this stage!)
I'm throwing water onto the blocks to glue them together as they were powdery and not much good for igloos. As the water hit it would freeze with an audible 'crack!'.
Had a nice glass of beer on the go too that needed to be given 30 sec in the microwave oven every 5 minutes to melt the ice off the top so I could keep drinking..
Hey, whats that machine in your photo? Theodolite?
I'm an ex Melbourne boy (down south of Australia) where we have the reputations for '4 seasons in one day'. Out of my comfort zone in the heat and humidity of Darwin.
The heat isn't the real factor, its the humidity. We're in the wet now and temps are only average of 32c but humidity is upwards of 80%.
The dry seasons perfect though: 30c and 10% humidity, nights down to 14c on the coast, neg 10c in the centre. Never need to take a tent, it won't rain!
Ah, air-con's good though... Allows this soft southern boy to live where the European was never meant to work!!
Happy Xmas you all!!
James
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Hey, whats that machine in your photo? Theodolite?
James it is a Nikon total station. It is an electronic version of a theodolite. The glass is only mediocre compared to the old American and Swiss stuff I am used to.
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