DANA WANDERS THE AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK 3/29/02
Gets run out of camp by angry bull!

Howdy Friends and Family,

After driving six days across the Australian desert and cattle country (and being chased out of my campsite one night by an angry bull-larger than my rent-a-car)(and being chased out of camp another night by thousands of ants-still in the rent-a-car) I’ve arrived at an oasis outside of Alice Springs. And that’s good news because after camping in the outback at 100+ degrees (F) day after day, I was getting a little crusty.

I’m on an Australian walk-about (drive about) exploring the countryside, writing tunes and checking out likely pubs for a future Australian Outback pub crawl concert tour.

The first two weeks of my trip were spent on a tropical island with a bunch of my Australian mates on the Great Barrier Reef. I wrote songs every day and really had quite a rigouous work schedule in between snorkelling and being fed coconuts on the beach.

Some fishermen stopped by the island -who knew Cows With Guns- and invited me to visit them when I returned to the mainland, which I did. They took me to the pub at Louisa Creek (near Mackay, Queensland) and set me up to sing there through an old guitar amplifier. If you mix a blown out over trebled 12 inch speaker with a crowd full of rum and 4X beer (Queenslands’ finest), you really end up sounding pretty good. The publican (head of the pub) said I could come back anytime, so I’ve begun planning “The Great Australian Outback Pub Crawl”. Everyone assures me that I’ll at least break even and if not, I’ll definitely have a great time.

Having a great time, just west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia,

Dana