(Dangerous )Tales from the UTE (pick up truck) near death experiences,dangerous travel ,bicycle, cycle touring ,hitchhiking,sailing,illegal border crossing,drugs,guns, corruption, comedy,humour,philosophy,

Dicky and me return to Fuengirola but the place ain’t the same for us anymore . Dicky is pining for Maria so badly that we jump on a train to her home town.Money is running low and we start to feel the pull north .

After getting my moon bag pilfered in Torromolinos ,we ride even further south toward the tip of Spain and the Atlantic Ocean .We have a couple of brush in with the boys in blue ,Dicky falls in love . But will we find our Shangri-La

Despite living like kings on the Costa Brava the call of the wild is calling .

After the slight oversight ,being two months early for the grapes , Dicky and me roll to the coast and over the Pyrenees to Spain, in search of Dickys mate Toni in San Antoni.If want to send me a message I can put it on the next episode and you will be famous 😎

After waking up alive we jump on our steeds and ride out of Paris,rejoicing when we find the countryside again . After several more scrapes in boat and a Mercedes we hit a big blob of a mountain range. Undeterred by the perpetual headwinds ,we labour up and onward toward Perpignan and the chance to pick grapes .

After getting knifed /falling in love /being crushed in a mangle .i limp back home to lick my wounds . Poor Dicky was in the same boat and back under his old superman duvet at his Ma’s . It was at this point my Padre said “why don’t you go and pick grapes 🍇 in France 🇫🇷!

This is another travel tale but with a much younger self and with a very good mate of mine Dicky Hanlon .It’s the summer of 1988 .. both of us 19 years of age .After getting simultaneously dumped by our girlfriends ,my dad aka Padre said “why don’t you go and pick grapes 🍇 in France 🇫🇷 . “Notoriously low on cash 💰 we buy a couple of second hand push bikes and with just 300 quid each ,we point the pushbikes south and roll into a new life .This episode does have some backstory in it ,to give the listener an insight into how’s these kids were shaped into who they were by the time they were 19 .The end of this podcast also has Dans message . A decent sounding chap who left me a message of encouragement on my podcast ,asking, if i would do the story about riding to France and Spain 🇪🇸 and making many a mistake along the way 😎 so here it is . I hope you enjoy it and if you do ,please record a message for me and I’ll put you in my next episode .And finally “this one’s for you Dicky 😎”

Back at the Blue Oyster Bar Trying to get enough cash to leave Tonga 🇹🇴 while avoiding gold diggers and getting married .Lil Frank burns his bridge with Naomi .This is the last of the book 📕 chapters . Gonna finish my book next and if I get enough positive feedback do another podcast of 7 months hitching and walking back through SE Asia . Just gotta make sense of my old journals and sort the gems from the grime . Let me know if you’re keen to hear more yarns 😎

I sail out the outer islands where I meet Lavasi who takes me across stone fish infested reef to a place I can pretend I’m Robinson Cruiso .

Got a job working for a Swedish lady at the Blue Oyster Bar surrounded by many interesting characters.

Limboing my way out of the kiwi plantation for a chance to sail away to Tonga with an Angry Pirate and a Cherokee Indian Surfer from Cali.

Crossed the pacific in a shinny silver bullet. Bought a bike off a bloke at the Flying Hedgehog 🦔 for 150 kiwi dollars ... Tied my backpack on the back rack and headed south .

Working two jobs… amongst drug and alcohol dependent tenants during the day and cocaine addicted customers and staff at night . Then a dude rocks up smoking bongs from dawn til dusk and drags Deano into the darkness. Justin and me take sanctuary in the ocean swells at maroubra . A local Bra boy hurts Jay . Amongst all this my old man shows up ⬆️ 😎

Finding Bri living in “The Cross (Red Light District ) thick in the clan with a gang of Scottish blokes bent on causing mayhem when ever they could .And a Jean-Claude Van Damme wanna be gets jiggy with a big knife 🔪.

Still in Byron hunting down Gold Tops and watching the sharks follow the surfers .

Back to Perth with a wad full of splodoonies . Searching out my old mate Bri . But he’s already heading east toward a rising sun ☀️ so I take off after him with a couple of naked blokes .

Subjected to a daily rattle ,getting verbal and actual shit thrown at me .I strive to pull my weight and get my own back on the shearer’s .Warning this podcast has some crude shearer’s humour which I’ve left in to project the true reality of life in the sheds .

Hitching South away from the tropical paradise. Bri and me wander different paths in the search for work.I arrive at a shearing town out in the salt lakes .

Bri and Me hitch into Broome in search of work.

As we slice through the India ocean we meet up with Ant Muffy and The Funky Turtle . We sail together toward Broome.Danger is always close by .We tread with trepidation past croc slides and box jelly fish . Ant loses a prized possession and Muffy finds treasure after a close call with a cliff.