The New Bike Path

Today Peggy and I went for a 16 Km bike ride. Most of the ride was taken along the new 7.5 Km path built between Nhulunbuy and the Rio Tinto Gove Alumina refinery. The path is surrounded by eucalyptus trees. A number of employees bike ride and walk from the refinery to town. The addition of the bike path will certainly make the trip more enjoyable and safe. Occasionally we should be able to come across buffaloes, snakes and wallabies.

Scout Camp - May

Located about 50 km southwest of Nhulunbuy via the Stuart highway. This is a popular camping location easily accessible without a four wheel drive vehicle. We have been here twice accompanied by good friends. The river is deep enough to swim and there is even a rope attached to a tree. We have enjoyed swinging from this rope and falling into the deep water. Sue, the dog, is getting used to the water and has swum across the river.

Nhulunbuy Soccer

We have been attending the local youth soccer league games every Friday evening. We enjoy watching the kids play. Gus wishes to be a kid again. This is our good friend Abigail Petrofes, age 5.

Banambarrnga (Rainbow Cliff) - NT

Is a sheer section of the coastline where the exposed and weathered rock profile produces a colorfull effect on the cliff face.

Wathawauy (Latrum River) - NT

Located approximately 17 Km south west from Nhulunbuy via the Stuart highway. We made a day trip and found this to be a nice location. The river is shallow surrounded by plenty of eucalyptus forest. Peggy, Kerry, and I sat our chairs in the water and enjoyed an afternoon of conversation and tasted a nice "Los Vascos" Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. The dogs, Sue, Beemer and Simon also enjoyed this location.

Hunter Valley, Wine Country - March 28-30

Arrived at our B&B "Thistle Hill"; great place to stay. It has "Chloe" the 21 year old Kangaroo and "Charlie" the cat for pets. Both accompanied us during our early morning breakfast. The B&B is owned by a wonderful couple from South Africa. We visited several wineries and tasted different varieties of wines. The region is famous for the Semillion and Sauvignon Blanc. Two great restaurants, Amanda's on the Edge, the food was exquisite and so was the wine. Moline's Restaurant was also a great plaace to eat. Both locations allowed us to bring our own wine that we had purchased during our winery visits.

Unfortunately this was our last stop of our trip and it was time to get back to the Top End (Gove Peninsula).

AirBorne Ultralights

South of Newcastle about 20 km in the town of Redhead is the factory for AirBorne Ultralights. We met Rob Hibberd, Marketing Director, who took us through a tour of the facilities and invited us to a demo flight. The flight took place on Easter Saturday at a nearby grass field airport where a local flying club usually meets. Peggy and I flew in different Trikes and experienced flying ultralights as well as seeing Newcastle, the beaches and the ocean from about 1000 ft high and at a speed of 65 mph. It is a different feeling than flying an airplane. It is the closest to being a bird, in my opinion. We thank Rob and the rest of the AirBorne personnel for giving us this opportunity.

Newcastle - March 25-27

After three days in Sydney we travelled north of Sydney on Hwy 1 to Newcastle where I visited the Tomago Smelter on business. While I was at work Peggy visited the city and researched all the good places to see and dine in the evening. Newcastle is the second oldest city in Australia. It is a very industrial city and one of the major providers of coal for the country. Although there is plenty of industry, Newcastle is a very clean and pretty city surrounded by beautiful beaches.

Sydney - March 21 -24

Well, we did arrive in Sydney and had a wonderful visit. We stayed at the Lord Nelson's brewery and hotel. A very nice small, clean and friendly place located in the center of The Rocks. Great beers. Climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The view of the city, the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour from this location is spectacular. We enjoyed walking The Rocks which is the oldest section of Sydney. Visited the Toranga Zoo where we had the opportunity to be close and personal with the Giraffes, Koala bears, Bilbys. This was possible due to a friend of Peggy's who is a Veterinarian at the Zoo. We took a 30 minute bus ride to the famous Bondi Beach. We spent the afternoon enjoying the fine white sand, the water. Gus enjoyed this topless beach. Since Nhunlubuy does not have great restaurants we took advantage of what Sydney has to offer and enjoyed Sushi, Italian, Continental cuisine accompanied by some very nice Australian wines.