Bobj

Can that be translated into, 'don't know how to use it'?

Love it! Spent a very pleasant 30 minutes sussing out new camping and fishing pools in the NT semi desert.. Well...almost semi desert.. A very clever piece of work. Thanks, Google Maps.

No indication of any splitting. I believe it is made from mulga, a member of the acacia family. "Wood from Acacia aneura stands up very well to being buried in soil, so is used for posts. The wood has a density of about 850–1100 kg/m3.[10] It is also good as firewood, and good-quality charcoal can be produced from it.[10] Mulga was a vital tree to indigenous Australians in Central Australia; the wood was a good hardwood for making various implements, such as digging sticks, woomeras, shields and wooden bowls.[11]"

As mentioned, this is a section of the 'blade', the back is plain. All cut by stone as I am sure it predates European settlement by several hundreds of years. (extremely hard wood with signs of rot, ex desert country)

Interesting... In my work as a 'looker for gravel and water' in the East Kimberley Region of Western Australia in the 1960s, I found several pieces of glass that were being made into Aboriginal spear heads at some waterhole or other on the edge of the desert. The first white people there were the Durack Brothers in 1883. That, @Phone, was the longest cattle drive in history. In the Pilbara, I came across a small ravine that had ancient petroglyphs . In a small recess in this ravine, I found a woomera and digging stick. Will take a pic and post later on.

The last japanese to surrender in WWII Hirō Onoda (小野田 寛郎 Onoda Hirō?, March 19, 1922 – January 16, 2014) was an Imperial Japanese Army intelligence officer who fought in World War II and was a Japanese holdout who did not surrender in 1945. After Onoda spent 29 years holding out in the Philippines, his former commander traveled from Japan to personally issue orders relieving him from duty in 1974.[1][2] He held the rank of second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army. ex Wiki.

I watched a re-run of 'Tora!, Tora!, Tora! 'last night on the tv and, as I like to see the trivia behind the films I watch, I saw this nice piece, ex IMDB... The USS Phoenix, a cruiser, survived the attack on Pearl Harbor and went on to have a distinguished career in the Pacific theatre of war. After the war she was sold to Argentina and made world headlines when the General Belgrano, as she was re-named, was sunk by a Royal Navy submarine during the Falklands War.

Ball Bay, Qld

Not quite as bad as 'Walmart wimmin'...Heaven forbid!!

November, 1967, 100 miles south of Kununurra, East Kimberley, Western Australia. Temperature about 42 C I was driving to my workplace at Hall's Creek, (Main Roads) and came upon a car stopped at the side of the road I pulled up and enquired if the bloke needed help. (Tourists were almost non existent in those days). The man, rather fat, very redfaced and sweating profusely, said that his car was overheating . He had a knotted handkerchief on his head and I noticed a wide brimmed hat in the back. I told him that the big hat would be far better for shade...His exact words, " Nay, lad, it meks me look daft!" Most likely a product of Lancashire...

And they managed to live for over 40,000 years like that...

The Devil's Marbles is Karlu Karlu in the local Aboriginal dialect. Seen it many times and still wonder at the grandeur of it.

It is the start of 'The Wet' in northern Australia and we, in the Mackay area, haven't missed out. In the first 10 days of January, we have received 11 inches of warm rain...Because of that, we are also getting lots of fungi shooting up; mainly the common toadstool type but also these, purple mushrooms, (cortinarius) and (phallus multicolor)

Thought I had replied earlier to Cory's question... It is basal granite. Odd thing, Phone, 13 km away from my place is a saltwater creek that has freshwater fossil crayfish that are about 10,000 years old, (Thalassina anomala)

The commercial sector has been fairly strong in Qld but the voice of the amateurs was a bit louder.... Many years ago (ca 1980s) 2 lawyers wrote a paper re the pros and cons of commercial fishing against recreational angling. These 2 lawyers reasoned that a released barra brought more revenue to the NT than the killing of a day's catch by pros. They postulated that several fishos could catch the same fish many times over, whereas a dead fish was only good for its weight in a restaurant. From that, the NT and Qld, have seen quite a few guides take up good areas for their clients. Indeed, that paper helped the NT stop pros netting river mouths and decimating the barra stocks. The NT has since gone on to promote recreational angling by releasing million $ fish for the holiday fishos.

A tiddler this morning, 71 cm...But a very good fight. The new 'No Net' laws are really working well.

All the best for the New Year. It is exactly 4 hours old...

>>> I found myself in a pub in Cork, Ireland. A group of American tourists came in. One of the Americans said, in a loud voice, "I hear you Irish think you're great drinkers. I bet $5,000 that no one here can drink 20 pints of Guinness in 30 minutes." The bar was silent, but the American noticed one Irishman leaving. No one took up the bet.40 minutes later, the Irishman who left returned and said, "Hey Yank, is yer bet still on?" "Sure" said the American, "20 pints in 30 minutes for a bet of $5,000 ." "Grand, " replied the Irishman, "so pour the pints and start the clock." It was very close but the last drop was consumed with 2 seconds to spare. "OK Yank, pay up." said the Irishman. "I'm happy to pay, here's your money" said the American. "But tell me, when I first offered the wager, I saw you leave. Where did you go?' "Well sir", replied the Irishman, "$5,000 is a lot of money to a man like me, so I went to the pub across the road to see if I could do it."

About 14 years ago, I bought an Abu Record from my local tackle shop. It served me well, longer casts, smoother drag and neater look. It was only ever used in freshwater, but I decided to try it out in the briny earlier this year...It still serves me well, accounting for 20 + lb sea-run barra. Seems that Australian distributors don't bring these reels into the country. Looked atSweden...horrendously expensive. USA, Only one I noted, East Coast Tackle, has them at a good price. BUT, I don't have plastic money/credit card.No, I won't be looking to offers, but it just seems that a very good reel is 'sidelined' for some odd reason. Might lower my standards, ( ) and buy the Abu 65000

Similar thing here, in Qld. Went through Woolies and 1 checkout open...Went to Coles and all checkouts open. And...All cashiers do the packing.

Started watching the Royal Command Show last night. What a load of drivel! Turned to SBS and thoroughly enjoyed Andre Rieu 's Christmas in London show.

Too many stupid adverts on Australian tv to watch anything. Though I do record a few fishing shows and fast forward the ads.

My weight and bank account...Both are moving in the wrong direction.

Bah, humbug!! Pity a poor bloke who has to withstand next winter's bitterly cold temperatures, occasionally descending to the realms of single digits!! Well, 8 C is cold at night when we are experiencing 24 C at night in summer...

Yeehaa! fishing yesterday morning for mackerel using pillies for bait and got a solid hook-up. This is the result, a(nother) 92 cm barra. As it is 'closed season' for barramundi, had to return the big girlie after a quick pic. Managed to get a 60 cm 'doggie' mackerel a few minutes later. Never heard of barra hooking up on pillies before. Indeed, I once hosted Chevin and took him barra fishing on our local dam. He bought a packet of pillies for the barra and I told him the barra don't go for pillies...And all he caught were several catfish.