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Published: August 25th 2023
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My Wandjina
Artist - Samantha Wungundin Allies There's often a pivotal moment when a decision is made to travel to an exotic locale.
For some it is prefaced by procrastination...others a whim...a spur of the moment idea acted upon...others gotta tick a bucket list.
From a moment of vulnerability from a tennis match I never would have thought.
Ours are usually spur of the moment...
"I can do that" leading Denise and I on our David Hoo Tours in China (
"your travel experts with minimal experience but major optimism"...that's me folks).
A shock "
Gooday" in an icy Pingyao walled city one Winter when all I was thinking was
"How did I get us into this one?"...thus meeting Mike & Ros with whom we travelled to Mali & Ethiopia years later.
An offer over a dinner table to drive me to a carved mountain in NW China...heading off by myself to Xian to travel
"as brothers" with my Chinese Xiondi one Spring.
Taking our then teenage kids Simon & Anna-Louise to Tibet
"so they would remember their father".
A piece of music leading us on a 39 hour flight to the mud mosque at Djenne and the Festival of the Desert
at Timbuktu, Mali.
An idea by a raging fire and G&Ts while travelling up the Niger River
"in a leaky boat" that resulted in Denise & I recommitting 30 years of marriage in Our Tuareg Wedding and the birth of Dancing Dave in the Sahara.
A tiny tin boat in giant seas and blinding rain to climb smoking Anak Krakatoa 50kms off Java in the Sunda Strait resigned to
"We will never survive this" (the volcano blew up a few years ago and no longer exists).
Vietnam for
"Mischief on the Mekong" with Cockle & The Travel Camel.
Bob from Home & Away visiting Sydney...Monument Valley in a Polar Vortex on the way to stay with Bob and Linda at their home in the Colorado Mountains.
The Legendary Blues Cruise in the Caribbean to meet Dangerous Dave & MJ from USA...later travelling with them in the Dancing Car in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia.
Following the Dakar Rally in Bolivia 'cos our driver had set the course.
Canada for Christmas in Simon's bar in Toronto.
Dancing in Putin's pastures in Russia...wouldn't risk it now!
Always gotta follow the music... down the Blues
Rock Art
Mitchell Plateau Highway in a Cadillac...BB King's Blues Clubs in Memphis and Moscow.
Many chance encounters...the gigs go on and on.
But not until now 'cos of a tennis match
It was the Australian Open January 2022...the one The Joker was deported from...Rafa's big chance to join Roger Federer & Novak Djokovic on 20 Grand Slam Titles.
The Final...Rafael Nadal (Spain) v Danii Medvedev (Russia).
Medvedev two sets up 6-2, 7-6...Rafa never say die...the impossible revival...third set Rafa 6-4...fourth set Rafa 6-4...hard to mute those adverts after every two games.
Ad after ad of a cruise up the Kimberley Coast of NW Western Australia...jab, jab, jab...always wanted to go there jabbing our consciousness between games.
Four hours becomes five...edge of our seats...matchsticks holding open our eyes...unwittingly vulnerable.
And so at two sets all in the early hours we booked a Kimberley Coast cruise and paid a deposit.
Rafa won the 5th set 7-5 and after 5 hours and 24 minutes Medvedev was shattered!!!
Rafa had thus tied Roger & Novak with 20 Grand Slam Titles each.
Saw Rafa rise like a Phoenix to win...booked a Kimberley Cruise...exhausted...excited...our savings spent on a whim.
But sleep often brings reality.
Do we want to spend all that money watching coastlines go by when it's deserts and paths into the remote we crave for?
Nah...gotta get our deposit back and book a land trip into the Kimberleys...remoter the better...indigenous rock art...Horizontal Falls...the Bungle Bungles...not too cushy...not too rough.
And that is exactly what we did.
What a blast...what an adventure...join us on a trip of wonders.
The oldest lands on the planet...stunning vistas...culture of our First Nations going back 60,000 years.
Many faces...many smiles...introducing some of them here.
Relax & Enjoy,
Dancing Dave
The Broome music video only works on page one and worth watching the Panorama Slideshow at top of page while listening to it.
Click on the photos to enlarge them.
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gangopa
tab gangopadhyay
Walking down the memory Lane!
Really Dave, what part of the world haven't you touched yet! Love the reminiscence of your never ending journey in this planet. So, it was the tennis match or Rafa - what really prompted you to take a trip to Kimberly valley? Great photos...my favourite ones are "Our First Sunrise on the Trail" and the reflections of "Magnificent Sunsets". And lucky you...must be a memorable trip with lots of like-minded crowd. Last but not the least, I would have loved to take a drive down the dusty Gibb River Road - my type of wilderness thrill. There is a saying "You either make dust or eat dust". On Gibb River Road, I guess it is both...LOL! “Pulvis et umbra sumus. (We are but dust and shadow.)”