The latest in Airline Tickets

you can get 4 out of each A4 page But Hey it has a Stamp so it is all good

Progress??

New road begins up the proposed middle

road gang

Evening Sun Through a Lalop Tree

Trees are down

Evening ambience

How to Mellow Frustration

Just ignore and learn to spell and type at the same time would make ahuge differrence

The best id=s just live for the moment and if you dont enjoy it stiff learn too and dont whingr=e to your self relief is just arounfd the corner.

Have killed some trees this week and we are due to make a major assult this wekk and down some more .
Have pushed the mud off the roads made a causeway and got to 6 ks north where it is dry and we will be a goer tommorrow have hooke up doers to chain and we are away
Finaly we are off and runnig cant worry about fuel and all that shit to keep as sudtained heave enough for a month or two.

Thae "Haggee"" or great rest should be over this week if the poor overworked towell heads can get enough strength and committment to go back to work after "resting" wonder what else thay do? seems as if nothing different.
We may get ?? ys container and gravel movement and see our way forward a bit more and yes of course some fuel we have had some more tanks built and should be able to store a million litres of diesel if we can find it? in this oil rich part of of africa ,Oh i forgot no refinery silly me. and if  there is one? Oh dear its Arab !!!

Birds of all sizes shapes and colour have arrived to live in our swamp they are magnificent and will endeavour to put up some photos when have enough net speed.
 But the variation in grasshoppers is stagering ,large small beautiful colours realy big fuckers and tiny little blokes.vibrant green and yellows magnificent if you are an etamologist .
All sorts of bugs on my little bit of corn have taken a couple of ute loads to the locals  who are enjoying I am told

AND guess what one bag for the Vice President of South Sudan isn't that one of this weeks best world news stories. I hope he enjoys it and he thinks of all his fellow South Sudanese who also have a bag of green maize.Shouldn't  need a big memeory.


So we are off and running have shown we can grow it just need a bit of luck with supplies and there arrival and we will certainly make a contribution to the Souths food supply

ALL Gwarlong

I have been amongst the the most privaledged persons in the experiences departments .

3 wonderful men a 20 year marriage of which they were part, which these days few have.

A few hard times but the worst being no baked beans for tea ,no doe in the plastic dispenser, no passport in a remote area, a large gun pointed at my head,no water for a shower ,no tonic for the gin, but perhaps the worst ? dinner at the Govs. Company was good, a very attractive Italian lady Berna dettia and a yank called John and of cause my friend the gov.

The B 52;s used during the Vietnam war were moddelled on the Mossie's from Maanga, although it was a mild night as the smoke bombs seemed to confuse the squardron leaders and jammed their radio communication.

Poor old gov had a cold and was reduced to removing the flem from his throat hawking it over his left shoulder on numerius occasins  poor man he was in a bad way as the flem hit the ground dispersing dust and mossies in all directions he was most enmbarissed. Chewing and spiting bones go well together as the bones go over the right soldier with right amont of spit to make sure they make  a safe  distance to be used later in the citrus tree holes as blood and bone, such great environmental and recyciling practices should be adopted by us all.
No more cutilery for the girls to wash ,fingernails used as knives .the sharper ones as forks.just use what God gave us .Not ALLah as we would still be Inshalla waiting for his willingness.

The food was great fish beef goat and ??  only one spoon who got that we all did such a wonderful community spirit that exist here we share every thing that we have.

But GaU Tauk is a great cook and I asked the Gov if I coulfd borrow himm and train him to be a farmer and hopefully he will come as he is a very bright young man not married so he has great sense in that department or maybe just not enough cows.
But seriously he will be a great asset if I can get him .A child soilder but has had a few years education in Khartoon great english,intelligent and wonderful with animals has raised some Ostriches from eggs no incubator ?? He is also consumate body guard and totaly loyal and I dont know why but I really like him.[ he would fit in with my boys:] and I do have a good gut feeling about him.

Christmass day is building with more wanting to stay and work which is great .Really have a wonderful mob here and they make me laugh so that is the best thing .

Trying to find truck rim to make camp oven and do turkey etc just need to nail down pestasio nuts to do  force meet.

All else we should have in the garden

Hey all good just having problems sleeping which as most of u know is unusual for me. doing abot 3 hrs a night .have to find some rum but haey corn moonshine may be the answer

Mid November 2010

This little Chap is the most destructive bird in Africa maybe the world.

Zacarea at the Back [Will be governor one day] Pyangarra {Mr bulldozer for short] one of the worlds gentleman and one of the best Machine operators I have seen.

Mr Solomon our Surveyor and concument gentleman who is now a grano man as well

They meet every morning at 10

Another bit of rain on the way

Road to town Main Road Bentiu to Khartoom

Auxillia  a great cook

Rumbi the scorge of pests one of the agrononmists

Well November

Trees have been killed hard stand nearly finished ,fish have laft the road, big green monatas rule the shallows ,baby ducks are hanging on the wall.

The end of the wet mood is confused ? The rain just stopped no gentle easing it just stopped.   We do not quite trust it and we cant really venture out, Still to wet to do too much but the 43 degree days have a bit of an affect on the swamp. Killed trees today and will be able to incinerate some large areas in a few days and then seriously get into some development in preparation of the cropping area

So we are emerging like a bear from his winter sleep all angry and hungry for action. Every one is sick of been locked up in a quasa jail .The staff have been fantastic learning skills they did not know even existed and their development and willingness to learn has been outstanding and I would take these guys any where in the world to develop a project ,No whinging , just a new challenge.

From tents to building a village, Machinery assembly, road construction, Hardstand and benching all perfect with out any electronics. There is nothing they can't do

 and with a smile .All the machine they had never seen before let alone construct, cooks with one stove for 40?? No complaints.

I cannot thank them enough for making my job so much easier.

Insect levels are stable to slight increase of certain types . Will launch a large scale scorched earth policy this week and probably just make them a bit more resilient and determined to eat us slowly at their pace as we are a valuable food source for a few more years yet,

All quite on the political front with referendum preparations the main concern at the present time. No hint of any conflict so quieter than the elections so far.

Meeting up with Fin and Dan in Cape Town early January so that will be great to see them .Bob is being Roberto ,L.A. New York, San Antone, all over Mexico and he tells me he is going to pass as well, He is going to stay foe another semester before coming here so that is good. his spanish is improving .

Warming grey matter for battle of the Insect

A Bit Later

Not your average garden snail

Bit Latter in week

 Fuck what  a Groot Doosa as the local white Africans would say  just more Chinese shit infiltrating into my electrical system  to cause the maximum Kluc when not needed mainly during ale hour and in the evening when the boys and  Ladies? Need a bit of air con as we got over the hump well and truly today.

Had a very varied day one of exceedingly low blood pressure whilst plumbing up the container we have buried as a septic to needing almost a full flask of Prozac and valium and any other soother available to calm one down as the pursuits and fuck ups of Mr. last worked there way through the day to when you would assume all is good and the amber has hit the spot where your tonsils used to live and the final fizz slides down the throat, the power goes out, the fans stop replaced by the beat of mossie wings and some Chinese crap circuit breaker  over heats well I can say it was well below my temp at the stage and I must thank Beatrice for  her diligence in getting it going and even Mr. Last gets an honorable mention for holding the torch and keeping his mouth shut/ Patience is what I was told I needed well that is quiet true and I have been good and kept my tongue in check marginally for  while but I guess it may be time to vent the full spleen but you can’t drop 52 cards and expect to win so will have to move up the to the 26 card stage and develop a more dignified  method of removing the problems of northern Arab influence and go and show him the Coolgardie Shire Clerk Method which I guess only my contrary mate was witness to and simply grab a throat  over the counter and squeeze .But then perhaps just take my mate Dach with his AK so much more civilized.

Please just don’t buy Chinese Shit/

Dr Tomatoe looking for his plants

The Doctor, Security Consultant and M/C

Storm is coming.

Main Road Khartoum Bentiu

October Reflections

31^st October 2010

A little more rain this week just enough to lift the frustration rate to a packet a day of Prozac and 500mgs of  blood pressure pills. The air born hordes of insects are rising to new heights well above those I have experienced even worse than after the flood at Credo ,out the back of Uardry and the wost place of all I thought Dirk Hartogg Island where the only place to escape them was under the sea.

The road into town after a few mills is know basically impossible to get along with trucks and even 8 wheel drive cranes getting stuck. At least there is a feel that the rains have stopped pretty much.

Not been able to do anything except slow progress with the camp infrastructure due to still no containers still plagues our efforts to start the farm not the least the 4 inches of water all over it .

No communication this week with the out side world, as the net work is having a “Bookra Inshalla” time and god does not seem to up with the latest technology when it comes to phone systems.

The inability to go any where and do anything out side the Camp area is starting to take its toll on every body it feels like being in jail and you don’t even need any walls to keep you in as there is just no where to go.

I have always heard about the wet in Northern Australia driving people insane now  I know why they shut shop and keep just a few people around ,the heat ,humidity and boredom are just not conjusive to keeping ones sanity. You can only do so much reflection of life and the effects of your past and future on your continuig journey of life, we certainly have learnt to laugh at nothing  and are trying to subdue our contempt of  those of you out in the free world, of entertainment , and a supposed civil society. An environment that I think we all took for granted even the Zims who have had an extremely hard battle over the years.

Sitting under a Lalop tree in a plastic chair enjoying the cool. Is this  perhaps the Locals way of dealing with the forced inactivity.  Having no expectations of what we call a better life or dreams of the past or future beyond today and just living in the moment is their way of dealing with the environment we now find ourselves in.

Some of our containers have now being in customs for nearly a year and still are no closer to being released. The political meddling and corruption from the north to stop any development in the South is plainly evident with incomprehensible fees being asked for the release of the goods. In some cases more than we paid for the goods.

Still we will get a crop in next year some how and clear some more land. Those of of you who have lost your sanity and are thinking of buying Chinese equipment please don’t it is just plain old shit like when Japan started selling its manufactured goods in the 60s but worse.

We will just keep soldiering on task by task and get ourselves in a position where we can just concentrate on farm development once it dries out perhaps going away for the referendum will be a blessing as we wont be tempted and be frustrated by the conditions being too wet and it will be full steam ahead once we are back.

Luckily for me there is an insane embitted white African here who is keeping my tender grip on sanity a reality who as I write has just taken a photo of my washing hanging upon the door of the Grand Poobas’ who is currently and temporarily housed as described in Upington Africans Groot Doos “ a large box “ room small things I guess amuse large lateral minds luckily.

Large flocks of Quelia are now starting to fly with a black cloud just passing by a minute ago .These birds a really tiny and totally destructive of cereal crops such as sorghum, rice wheat etc and are arguably the largest single problem to agriculture in Africa apart from NGOs and politicians.

12 midday

Just back from an excursion in the swamp courtesy of the CAT a good bit of gear .Serious water for about 2 ks them starts to dry off where it has moved south towards us .The road travelling east west appears to be stopping the flow into the river to the south so when it drys out we will have to remedy this put a few more culverts etc in the road and make sure they are surveyed in and in line with our planned drainage system that will have to be implemented.

Went up to the north of our cleared area where it is quite dry and tempting to start chaining but will wait another 10 days and we should be ok .Still will not be able to burn for a while as all is very green away from the itchy grass with mountains of creepers and plants all looking very well and thriving so we will need mountains of herbicide next year as most appear to be pioneer plnts which are the hardest to kill.

The big snails are on the move and appear to live under the water and graze on the algae and slim on the bottom.

Many different types of water birds have moved in. Large flocks of Spur Winged geese a large bird about the size of a large turkey and look very appetizing along with numerous ducks, plovers, egrets, spoonbills and smaller birds I have no idea what they are.

October Reflections

31^st October 2010

A little more rain this week just enough to lift the frustration rate to a packet a day of Prozac and 500mgs of  blood pressure pills. The air born hordes of insects are rising to new heights well above those I have experienced even worse than after the flood at Credo ,out the back of Uardry and the wost place of all I thought Dirk Hartogg Island where the only place to escape them was under the sea.

The road into town after a few mills is know basically impossible to get along with trucks and even 8 wheel drive cranes getting stuck. At least there is a feel that the rains have stopped pretty much.

Not been able to do anything except slow progress with the camp infrastructure due to still no containers still plagues our efforts to start the farm not the least the 4 inches of water all over it .

No communication this week with the out side world, as the net work is having a “Bookra Inshalla” time and god does not seem to up with the latest technology when it comes to phone systems.

The inability to go any where and do anything out side the Camp area is starting to take its toll on every body it feels like being in jail and you don’t even need any walls to keep you in as there is just no where to go.

I have always heard about the wet in Northern Australia driving people insane now  I know why they shut shop and keep just a few people around ,the heat ,humidity and boredom are just not conjusive to keeping ones sanity. You can only do so much reflection of life and the effects of your past and future on your continuig journey of life, we certainly have learnt to laugh at nothing  and are trying to subdue our contempt of  those of you out in the free world, of entertainment , and a supposed civil society. An environment that I think we all took for granted even the Zims who have had an extremely hard battle over the years.

Sitting under a Lalop tree in a plastic chair enjoying the cool. Is this  perhaps the Locals way of dealing with the forced inactivity.  Having no expectations of what we call a better life or dreams of the past or future beyond today and just living in the moment is their way of dealing with the environment we now find ourselves in.

Some of our containers have now being in customs for nearly a year and still are no closer to being released. The political meddling and corruption from the north to stop any development in the South is plainly evident with incomprehensible fees being asked for the release of the goods. In some cases more than we paid for the goods.

Still we will get a crop in next year some how and clear some more land. Those of of you who have lost your sanity and are thinking of buying Chinese equipment please don’t it is just plain old shit like when Japan started selling its manufactured goods in the 60s but worse.

We will just keep soldiering on task by task and get ourselves in a position where we can just concentrate on farm development once it dries out perhaps going away for the referendum will be a blessing as we wont be tempted and be frustrated by the conditions being too wet and it will be full steam ahead once we are back.

Luckily for me there is an insane embitted white African here who is keeping my tender grip on sanity a reality who as I write has just taken a photo of my washing hanging upon the door of the Grand Poobas’ who is currently and temporarily housed as described in Upington Africans Groot Doos “ a large box “ room small things I guess amuse large lateral minds luckily.

Large flocks of Quelia are now starting to fly with a black cloud just passing by a minute ago .These birds a really tiny and totally destructive of cereal crops such as sorghum, rice wheat etc and are arguably the largest single problem to agriculture in Africa apart from NGOs and politicians.

12 midday

Just back from an excursion in the swamp courtesy of the CAT a good bit of gear .Serious water for about 2 ks them starts to dry off where it has moved south towards us .The road travelling east west appears to be stopping the flow into the river to the south so when it drys out we will have to remedy this put a few more culverts etc in the road and make sure they are surveyed in and in line with our planned drainage system that will have to be implemented.

Went up to the north of our cleared area where it is quite dry and tempting to start chaining but will wait another 10 days and we should be ok .Still will not be able to burn for a while as all is very green away from the itchy grass with mountains of creepers and plants all looking very well and thriving so we will need mountains of herbicide next year as most appear to be pioneer plnts which are the hardest to kill.

The big snails are on the move and appear to live under the water and graze on the algae and slim on the bottom.

Many different types of water birds have moved in. Large flocks of Spur Winged geese a large bird about the size of a large turkey and look very appetizing along with numerous ducks, plovers, egrets, spoonbills and smaller birds I have no idea what they are.