Dave I just sent you a private message, dont know how these things work and I am very surprised to see you in one of these talky things, I recognised the camper, mate the places you've taken her, you must have been around twice or more by now wouldnt you, have you still got the campertruck you built, after our last meeting in the kimberleys we lost track of you, mate that was a meeting and a half, how many of us were there jeez buddy must have been 50 or 60, bloody hell you are a funny bastard had us all in stitches for the week, hows the missus, great sheila you got there and so understanding, christ we miss you mate whens your next trip up this way, you'd know it like the back of your hand by now, I hope these people are listening to what you have to say, there isnt anyone more knowledgeble on the planet, do you remember the night we were camped at the cooper and she came down all those snakes, hell that was funny we nearly lost the lot, anyway pal we've left our email for you and we want you to contact us again, we got some plans and they involve you

got your email and no its not called a private message freddo its called an "EMAIL", and as I know you wont be a regular in here I will just say good to hear from you again, if you read this, I have sent you an email back with a few details so get Bev to read it for you and yes we will meet up again, all details are in the email, it will be good to see the gang again, and the only reason I'm here is because they are a great bunch of folks,

yep got all that, bloody email, private mail whats the difference you got it didnt you, the boss read it out to me, sounds like a plan, well you big bugger I will look forward to when we meet up, this is not for me all this typing writy watchamacallit stuff, have a ball in tasmania and we will catch you on the flip side, say gday to all and have a merry chrissy and we will catch you in august, still reckon you should have kept the off road truck though, hell that was the best thing I or anybody else had seen, still a big surprise to find you in here but.

thanks mate, look after yourself and if ever you want a yak, you know where we are!!

You've got to give us a rundown on that Truck Dave. Sounds like it was worth seeing. Cheers, xina.

hell Gayle thats going back a day or two now, I'll try out the memory a bit here, she was a 1942 chevy blitz truck of ww2 vintage that I bought out of a wreckers yard for $150, absolute beasty of a thing, I took her back to where I called home at the time and stripped her down to the chassis and built a true "go anywhere" cab over motorhome out of her, it took me almost 2 years after a rebuild of the engine and thats all I had to touch, the rest was stock standard and low miles and being ex army was very well maintained, the engine was seized through just standing and some clown had tried to start the old girl and tore up the bore lining, the same wrecker had a heap of aluminium sheeting from the bombers so they became the walls we crossed all sorts of obstacales with her including "big red" which was a walk in the park for her, I had all sorts of boxes coming out from the bottom of her so that everything was at hand, like bbq's and external showers and an access point to the fridge extra batteries and a big old diesel genny, she had a pto centre winch with cable to either front or back individually operated. so she was never truly "stuck" anywhere but cape york (before the decent roads) was a bit of a struggle in places, we did the strezlecki with her as well as the birdsville and outback queensland also some of the kimberley region and there was nothing there that even made her grunt, she was heavy on fuel drove like a tank and as ugly as sin but we loved every inch of her old frame, we had pictures of her in all her glory but time has not been kind to them wherever we pulled up a crowd would very quickly gather, and she drew a hell of a lot of attention, we had a lot of terrific gatherings under the awning, in a nutshell she was a ripper and had many admirers, I sold her off to an elderly couple who were going to tour australia, I like to think shes still out there somewhere prowling the deserts and the outback

She probably is Dave. My father had 3 different sizes if Blitz on the farm at the end of the war. They were tough go any-where trucks, as you really proved by the sound of it. I'd love to have seen her.  I would think may-be any trouble you had would have been because of her weight.
Thanks for that.
Cheers,
xina.

-- Edited by xina at 21:46, 2008-12-20

     G,day
  Well wouldnt i have loved to have sat arround those camp fires, sitting there listening to Dave and Fred going at it. Me sitting back with a stubbie or many and listening to the bull and true storys coming through the smoke. Y does it only finds it way to where id plonked me bum down   [dont ya hate that]
   I betcha that ol blitz is still sitting out there saying gawd that Davo had no respect for my underbelly.
   Keep up the great reading aussies, see out there soon , look for the white headed fat little guy  being pulled from some camp fire buy his ever loving wife, wonder y she always pulls me by the same ear ouch.
    MERRY XMAS to every one and may the  NEW YEAR bring u all good health,  ts better than wealth

I just got a feeling that you pair and quite a few others would be well and truly happy and very welcome in those camps and like us had an absolute corker of a time, freddo would be one of the best story tellers this side of lawson the things he can make up on the spur of the moment is absolutely amazing, I've seen and been in big camp gatherings when the talk is in full swing and he will start up with a bush poem that he'd been working on and the camp would fall so quiet you could hear a possum running up a branch his wife, bev, has the voice of a balladeer, fantastic, she should have been a professional singer without a word of a lie, her rendition of "amazing grace" brings me to tears everytime, she would be a slightly plumper version of nana mouskouri and sings about the same or better, this particular camp sort of formed just back from kunanurra around lake argyle, and as freddo has said there would have had to have been fifty or more, it was a very strange occurance because when we went up there on other occasions we were lucky to see five other travellers on the whole trip anyway in this camp we had the lot, great storytellers, funny buggers, and as I recall a banjo player and a couple of guitar players as well as a great singer in bev, there were also a couple of blokes that could hold their own, slim dustys songs got a hiding, well we only planned to stay a day or two but nobody and I mean nobody wanted to leave and we stayed until the food run out, which was a bit over a week, the faces change and the camps are all in different spots but we come across this sort of thing all the time, once you make people welcome and feel at home then you have freinds for life, solo's, married, divorced it doesnt matter, we are all people and we all love company freddo come out of the blue this time but thats what freinds do they find you and keep the good times rolling, they dont brag about what they do or what they have done, they just help others and keep good freindships going and yeah I do miss the old blitz wagon, she was a good old truck

That's the sort of memory I'm sure we'd all like carry with us on our journey. Sounds like it was a Magickal week Dave. Cheers, xina.

Sounds like she was a wonderful old girl Dave. Did a little 'Googling' and came up with a couple of pictures, that may help you convey an image of her to your readers.

Just before closing this post, may we (my Queen Jenny and me) wish you and your family a very happy festive season, and may 2009 bless you all with good health and happiness.

-- Edited by Palebushman at 22:36, 2008-12-21

mate thats pretty much as to how she looked when we first bought her off our freind "Jobie" the wrecker (scrap value), we extended the chassis, raised the roofline and put an overhead sleeper on board and built underneath a bit, but yep that is a spitting image of her, hell theres a blast from the past and the memories that go with it, and look thanks for doing that for me and others and you have yourself a great xmas as well mate and make it a safe one, I got a tear in my eye now, all this talk about the old girl "I MISS HER", she was never one ounce of trouble, not once in all the miles we did and they were all rough as hell!!!