Okay, so I've extended my usual one month lag between blogs to two months; go ahead and report me to the Blog Board. Yes, I'm in Darwin, selling a few books and DVDs at the markets. Arrived a fortnight ago after crossing through the Kimberley, and several people have seen my bus around town so I've been left with no choice but to update the blog. Though you know my feelings about blogs, that they're for people with too much time and too little to do. And that probably applies to people who read them, too, so now we're both losers.

Trip so far has been tough going. Claude has behaved pretty well, though I have had to sell my first born to fit him with new tyres all round. Had the mother of all blowouts driving in to Darwin and because I couldn't get the spare off its cradle - the dills in the last tyre workshop tightened the nuts with a rattle gun to within an inch of their lives and I couldn't budge them - I had to change the case on the side of the road like a truckie. That's a bitch of a job, let me tell you, and not one I'd recommend to your average blog reader/writer, myself included. But aside from a few minor repairs the motoring has been uneventful. No, the main problem with this trip has been finding enough good stories out there. Seems every remote road in the outback is now a main thoroughfare for grey nomads, backpackers, tour buses and solo cyclists for Christ's sake. The whole country is crawling with tourists! Which means the fringe dwellers and originals I prefer as subjects have now either gone mainstream or fled, and trying to find a story that hasn't already been covered by the media is getting more and more difficult. I'm thinking of interviewing myself next - I may be the last genuine nutter left in the country.

Plan to stay here for the month of July before poking around in Arnhem Land for a month - the NLC were kind enough to grant me an open permit and I'm looking forward to having a good look around, hopefully tracking down a few miscreants in the process. Garma is scheduled for early August so I should be able to hit that target, but beyond that I've no idea.

Books are selling well and Crooked Lens has been received well, thanks to my readers for the feedback. Working on the next book as I travel, as per usual, though what overall direction it will take has yet to come to light.

Not much more to report. Life's okay though I could do with an editor with benefits - I'm about half a dozen stories behind at present and no sign of getting on top in the near future.

But at least I've done a blog, so there!

Monte   

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By natural inclination I've determined monthly blogging is enough.

I'm in Esperance, WA. Since I last blogged I've crossed the Great Victoria desert through what they call Spinifex Country. Visited the old Maralinga bomb testing site, dropped into Oak Valley and Tjuntjuntjara communites, left the desert via Ilkurlka and the Anne Beadell Highway. Came out the other side with a few reasonable stories, a flat tyre and a busted shock absorber. Sorted that lot and then developed a fuel line problem, which I'm still nursing. Stories haven't been thick on the ground since, but I live in hope. Closest I came to a good one was in Kalgoorlie, where I ran into a bloke driving a Rolls Royce with a bull bar. But he didn't want to be identified, which is a bit hard to avoid on video. Not due in Perth till next month so I've still got a few weeks to scratch around for more stories before I leave the less-populated areas.

It hasn't stopped raining for a week down here and the forecast tips another week of the same.  That's the only reason I'm updating this blog: to give myself a break from editing. Haven't quite caught up with the latter yet, or kept pace with the book chapters, but any more rain and I'll be up-to-date with both.

Take care,

Mont

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Still procrastinating with the editing of this DVD - Final Cut Pro issues have me up against a wall and winded, but help is on the way. Hope to get it cut in the next fortnight so I can get it to print and move on to the music. Did manage to get the music clip cut, though, which you'll find in the video offerings of my latest projects.

By the way, this is my second blog for the month, which must be some kind of record. Can't imagine how people have time to keep these things up to date. Nothing better to do, perhaps?

Off to Canberra for the weekend to see a mate, then back to the city for another week, then I'm going to the coast somewhere, anywhere, to get this work done and do some ocean swimming. Can't keep focused with all these city distractions. You know what I mean.

Go away and do something useful now please.

Monte 

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So the Byron break was cut short by having to attend the funeral of an old friend, and now I'm back at Kenthurst trying to catch up (I've also had IT nightmares for two weeks).

Should get some new video clips up today for those of you waiting on them. Otherwise, the new book is almost ready for the printers and I'm about to get stuck into the DVD editing. Re-recorded Red in the Centre in Tamworth and will cut a music clip to go with it, for inclusion on the DVD. Stay tuned.

Soz, thanks for the kind words but send contact details, willya?

Mont

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Tamworth done and dusted Claude and I are now holed up in Byron Bay, me to edit the best of last year's trip into a travelogue DVD, Claude to sit on his fat arse and manifest more problems for me.

Book is now being typeset in readiness for printing so it should be in circulation by early-mid March, though I'm not sure what I'll do about distribution this time. I'm not all that happy with the distributor I used last time: seems there's very little left over for the author once everyone else takes their slice, and given there'd be no business at all if it wasn't for the artists I don't see that as fair.

Still planning to set off in April for the centre and the west, though that could change depending on availability of clients. I still have half of the Australia Network contract to fulfill but Tourism Australia haven't committed yet and if they don't come on board I might change tack. Half thinking of giving the next trip a musical theme and doing festivals, fairs and fools.

Meantime, still plenty of work to do, so ciao for now.

Mont 

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First blog of the year and we're not even into the second week! (That's a clue about my blogging habits if you're a newcomer to the site - videos, blogs and assorted offerings turn over about once a month). Some new videos of the Cape trip up at present, incidentally, with more to follow in the next couple of weeks.

Been busy over the festive season, editing, polishing drafts, etc. Getting close to where I need to be before I start planning for the next trip. Never worked so hard in all my life, or been more fulfilled. Finished first draft of Urban Eyes and should get it to print by end of the month. Haven't started the DVD yet (beyond the standard thought prep.), but almost up to date with the backlog of stories for Australia Network (many of which will feature in the DVD so they had to be cut first). Otherwise, RITC  music video clip has been rough cut and re-recorded, so that'll be up soon as well, you lucky things, and I'll put it on the DVD too so there's no escape. 

Aim high in 2010 and I don't mean chasing more money: in the end it doesn't add up.

Cheers,

Monte

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Snowed under this Xmas, but not the skiing kind.

Back from the wilds of Cape York and slid Claude into a vacant car space at Bondi Beach. Perfect setup with the Swiss Grand for my toilet facility (or the Bondi Hotel if I was feeling like a trip to the zoo), the ocean just an early morning stumble away, but the killjoy landlord didn't like the arrangement I had with his tennants (whose car space I was renting) and he moved me on. Our first eviction.

Now staying with friend at Kenthurst catching up with the back editing, of which there's a mountain. Enjoying the discipline, the process, and the quiet of the bush. Will have new book to the printers by early in 2010, plus a DVD of the last trip, a compilation of the best of the Tourism Australia and Australia Network clips, with a bit of Claude and me thrown in for comic relief. Also thinking about going back into the studio to produce a new album, so look out! I have a voice like a choking animal and I'm not afraid to use it.

Have a good one if you believe in the nonsense, survive it with grace of you don't and stay cool regardless.

Mont

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So Claude enjoyed his cruise aboard the Trinity Bay and arrived in Cairns refreshed and ready to roll back down the east coast. I popped his eye back in (it nearly fell out on the Cape road so I removed it for safekeeping) but it fell out before we'd done a hundred kilometres and this time I didn't find it. So we did the whole trip with impaired vision and still no shocks, of course. Called into Old Mac Toyota at Springwood and ordered a few pairs of shocks and a new eye, and collected the parts I had waiting for me. Some of my friends have unkindly suggested I pull a trailer load of spares around with me, but Claude's too lazy to go for that.

Currently in Tamworth to re-record the Red in the Centre single with a view to having a go at making a video clip. Shot plenty of suitable vision on the run so at least I'll have the raw materials, and not knowing what I'm doing never stopped me before so we can all look forward to the results of that little exercise.

Should be in Bondi by Wednesday to catch up on the backlog and swim through the summer. Will keep this blog up to date-ish. Maybe.

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So we made it all the way to the tip and Claude decided that was far enough there was no way he was going back over that bastard of a road so he threw a couple of shockies and there was no way I was going back over that bastard of a road without shock absorption so I've had to shout him a boat trip to Cairns. I should have flogged him while I still had the energy.

From there it'll be back to Sydney to catch up on the backlog of editing for Tourism Australia and Australia Network, as well as polish the new book draft and produce a DVD which will make up the next Red in the Centre offering, sub-titled Through a Crooked Lens, due out early 2010.

Trip has been a good one and I think the vision has justified the headaches Claude has caused me, though I'm having a crisis of confidence at present and I'm half thinking it's all rubbish and who the hell is interested in my little stories anyway. Either way I'll still be giving Claude that flogging when I get him back to Sydney.

As for next year I don't really know. If Tourism Australia stay on board I'll probably go through the centre east to west and hang around WA a bit, but if they don't I think I'll do the off-broadway music festival circuit just for the craic of it all. 

Right now though I'm sitting on Umagico Beach just outside Bamaga awaiting the ship to Cairns which departs on Monday and arrives on Wednesday or Thursday.

Don't know if anyone other than my mother reads this blog but if there is and it hasn't been updated in a month, read it backwards and imagine I'm re-tracing my steps.

Monte

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October 21st and I'm in Cooktown, poised to strike the Cape. Rain has held off, which augers well for me getting to the tip and back without getting stranded even if things do look drier than I've ever seen them.

Trip through the Gulf country was a blast - photo taken crossing one of the many pretty creeks in that country -  though Claude wasn't finished misbehaving and I limped into Cairns with more auto-electrical problems - hopefully sorted now.

Way behind on editing but almost keeping up with the first draft of the next book. Not much time for music this trip, but when I get back to Sydney in late November and catch up with the editing, polish the drafts for publishing, compile a DVD of the best of the stories from the trip and attend to Claude's demands I'm sure there'll be plenty of time for musical indulgences. Or not, as the case may be. Most of my friends would prefer it that way, I'm sure.

Working harder than I've ever done in my life but enjoying myself immensely.

Self?

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