The Steamtug Blog

Mitch took me in his plane to the historic port of Echuca at the weekend. It’s about 4 hours driver from home, but only 1 hour by plane! We got back just in time to meet my old mate that I worked with in Nigeria, and again in Russia, who was visiting from England!

But firstly, have you read the latest Darwin-ism theory? Apparently after dredging through the files for the next Master Chef series, it was found the Charles Darwin had come up with the theory of evolution as applied to cakes. Darwin state: “In 1 million years, there will only be 1 type of cake…. but it will be the most tasty one!”

Mike & Gloria tour Australia

I first met Mike when we both arrived (with our families) in deep, dark Western Africa on a clearing carved out of the jungle near the beach in Nigeria. We had both been seconded to build a new gas plant; Mike from an oil refinery in North Western England, and myself from the refinery here in Geelong.

We instantly hit it off, when we each discovered the other had a common interest in drinking beer and have been mates since. After getting the new plant up and running, along with all the adventures that go with that (see the “tab” at the top of this page on Nigeria) I missed Mike as we both were repatriated to our home countries. In between times, we went to England and Mike and Gloria put us up in their house, even moving out of their own bed for us to use the main bedroom and ensuite while we were there, and I felt like I had a debt to pay back.

When I arrived on  my next assignment in Eastern Russia Mike was there waiting for my arrival. Although we shared the same house, Mike was departing for his month off while I arrived for my month on.

Mike now works back in Africa, while I am doing project work around Geelong for a while, but we have stayed in touch by email and Mike finally decided to come out and stay in Geelong for a while. I brewed a special “London Ale” just for his arrival and was worried it would still be a little green when he arrived (still trying to catch up on the beer since Bathurst last October!) fortunately it was great by the time we got to tap the keg and we both enjoyed many beers while sitting by the fire on my back deck while the ladies chatted inside.

It all culminated last Tuesday evening when Mike and I sailed down to Portarlington for dinner at the golf club. Unfortunately I had to work every day they were here, but tried to make the most of our time by finishing work a little earlier to make use of the late day light saving evenings. Sailing home in the dark together across a flat sea with the lights made a nice experience for Mike before he left the next day.

Flight to Echuca

Mitch made a deal with me. If I pay for the taxi and lunch, he will fly us to Echuca for lunch! Echuca is the main port town on the Murray River, on the border of Victoria and NSW. It used to be the link between all the paddlesteamers that plied the Murray river, and the railway back to Melbourne and the rest of Victoria, so all the wool and wood from the riverina district was transported to Echuca for shipping out.

The weather started out with some threatening low cloud and as we took off from Melbourne’s moorabin airport and climbed up into the Dandenong ranges out over Sugarloaf reservoir where the cloud brushed the top of our wings as we passed by. Clearing over the otherside, saw the clouds left behind and clear blue sky all the way! The view over the green land below was stunning as you can see from Riley’s photo collection

View “Echuca Trip 2012” and video clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2MVDY8o7Bs

Latest News!

And finally from our news files…

TEXAS BEER JOINT SUES LOCAL CHURCH OVER LIGHTNING STRIKE!

A bar called Drummond’s (in Mt Vernon, Texas ) began construction on an expansion of their building, hoping to “grow” their business.In response, the local Southern Baptist Church started a campaign to block the bar from expanding – petitions, prayers, etc.

About a week before the bar’s grand re-opening, a bolt of lightning struck the bar and burned it to the ground!

Afterward, the church folks were rather smug – bragging about “the power of prayer”.

The angry bar owner eventually sued the church on grounds that the church… “Was ultimately responsible for the demise of his building, through direct actions or indirect means.”

Of course, the church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection to the building’s demise.

The judge read carefully through the plaintiff’s complaint and the defendant’s reply.

He then opened the hearing by saying:

“I don’t know how I’m going to decide this, but it appears from the paperwork that what we have here is a bar owner who now believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that does not.”