Profile

gadget August 31st, 2007

A highly opinionated and mildly confusing commentary about life in Central Australia through the eyes of a park ranger and an anthropologist. And yes … we’re always on the lookout for good coffee and raisin toast. 

The blog’s main aim is to keep our family and friends informed and entertained. If you’re a visitor here, we welcome you, but warn you that this site contains meaningless drivel, narcissistic banter, and parochial musings from the antipodean interior. If nothing on this blog makes sense, You Have Been Warned!

We migrated to our own domain because of the greater control over the content and appearance of our blog. We hope you enjoy our new blog as much as our old one.

About Us:

We have three children between us: Hannah, Rhiannon and Ben. We have three pets: Charlie (a mad Papillon), Dusty (super-intelligent cat currently plotting world domination), and Pepper (think fluffy Garfield sans brain and you’re on the right track).  We also have five Chinese Silky Bantams. Gary is currently acting as the Chief District Ranger of Watarrka (Kings Canyon) National Park, and splits his time between Alice Springs and Kings Canyon. Amanda lives in Alice Springs, and until recently was the one and only anthropologist for Parks & Wildlife. As of March 2008, she’s on secondment to the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (the Sacred Sites Authority), where she travels all over Central Australia, recording and registering Aboriginal sacred sites and doing work area clearances on these sacred sites.

We have unusual lives compared to those who live in cities. For a start, we live in outback Central Australia. We are 1500 kilometres from the nearest beach or city. Our everyday work takes us to remote places where there are no mobile phones, no electricity, no buildings and no water (!). Our daily duties include: changing tyres, engaging 4WD and driving over trackless terrain, hiking in places where there are no trails, sleeping under the stars, encountering wildlife, and dealing with extreme temperatures. In addition we often work with Aboriginal people (Amanda especially), rescue tourists from themselves and generally have lots of fun with our work mates.

On the other blog site, they asked us to answer an inane, random question. So here it is: 
When you open your eyes underwater, do you ever worry that you’ll drown?

umm… no. 

We like:

Gary:

Gadgets, having fun, enjoying sunsets, camping in obscure places in the bush that no one else has ever heard of, remote control helicopters & planes (especially crashing them), hiking, eating. 

Amanda:

Camping in obscure places in the bush that no one has ever heard of, hiking to obscure and difficult-to-get-to places that no one has ever heard of (tracks are for wusses!), yoga, being a gym junkie (Yeah ok. I have been an instructor for a long time. It’s genetic), relaxing in the garden, reading (see below), and trekking in the Himalayas.

We Watch:

Too hard.. action stuff: LOTR, Star Wars, Indiana Jones. Gary says: Tombraider (but that’s only cos he likes perving on Angelina Jolie). Transformers (we loved it!). Dr Who. Cold Feet (why did it have to end?). Amanda will fess up her faves: the Lion King, Himalaya, Love Actually, Monsoon Wedding, Vampire Hunter D, Return of the Jedi, Serenity, the Golden Child, Kundun, Seven Years in Tibet … anything with the Himalayas in it (can you see a pattern forming here?). Amanda’s opinion on the current state of TV: I’d rather watch my hair go grey.

We Listen:

… to absolutely ANYTHING as long as it’s NOT heavy metal, acid jazz or opera. And Amanda hates puke vomitKILL that Destiny’s Child-type stuff (’skankalicious’ trash that doesn’t deserve to be called music).

We Read:

Amanda (reads voraciously. Will admit she keeps a list of books read every year and if she ever stops reading, she’s probably dead):

Anything by Kate Elliott. Peter Mathiesson’s ‘The Snow Leopard’. Kathy Reichs. Stephen King (especially his autobiographical ‘On Writing’). Guy Gavriel Kay. Margaret Attwood. Ben Elton. Terry Pratchett. Lynne Truss.  Holy Cow (Sarah MacDonald). Travel lit. Self-help lit. I could keep going but I won’t:I read LOTS.

And don’t forget: any books about climbing or trekking in the Himalayas.

Gary:

Anything with pictures…nice pictures and even some words, too (preferably describing the pictures).

us-on-top.jpg 

Us on top of Mt Zeil, the highest peak in the Northern Territory (1531 m).

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