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
