Bag a Barra — 19 April 2024

Um, there's a few boats just arriving because um, it's quiet during the week, but the same to arrive for the weekend. And uh, yeah, it's just like perfect conditions. 30 degrees today. But it's a dry heat, so it's very Mediterranean. And uh we're, well, I'm just walking past the Rotto pub.

People know that. It's right on the beach and everybody walks around their thongs and it's pretty casual. But yeah, Rotto's an amazing place. Really family friendly.

Um, that's what said you last week, we're staying at South Rotto, uh, South, um, of Thompson's Bay. But yeah, all the kids are out there. There's no cars, so they run around there, they push bikes and playing cricket on the streets and all that sort of stuff, so what a great venue for that sort of thing, and there's no, um, Because it's a government island. There's no sort of hierarchy as far as I'll do the wealthy mob, something like that.

Everybody's the same, so it's a cool place. Sounds like the Northern Territory. no real hierarchy there. Everybody's just a territory.

Sounds fantastic, mate. It certainly does sound, it does. It just sounds like an amazing place. And we often say it here where, you know, we talk about the beaches, I mean, obviously Australia, the Australian continents, an Ireland, and we're surrounded by beaches, but you talk, a lot of people wrap the Queensland beaches.

For me, I think beaches in New South Wales are amazing. A lot of those Queensland beaches, you can't swim in them because of stingers and crocs up north, but the beaches in Western Australia and that waterway is just beautiful, isn't it? I mean, right as far down as Esperance and then all the way up. Yeah, no, it's beautiful.

But yeah, Rotto, because we're 20 K's out. mainland. The water is crystal, crystal clear. And so we went with a snorkel yesterday just diving in amongst the reefs. Um, and so yeah, just got, it's got everything you want and so popular. And the, the main thing is this, they've really improved it.

There used to be a bit dry about 10 or 15 years ago, it was a bit sort of run by the government. Now they've contracted all that to. People to be running their own areas and spotlessly clean and all the, all the old family villas, which we stay in one, which is right on the beach. They're already clean.

They're done up and all got the facilities. So you're sort of going, well, this is pretty cool. And, you know, you compare it to a Bali top holiday and you go, Well,

actually this is uh this is he's better. We're just like some people who just come over here with friends and you know, they bought 4 houses next to each other, and like we bought 2 houses with our grandkids, the guy and us. So, um, you can sort of have your own space and and yet all be together and the kids can wander from one place to the other because there's no cars. Sounds fantastic, mate. It really does.

And it's very good that you're, because I know, you know, you get pretty full on and busy with what you do and you're not only, you're not only the guru of the uh, the four-wheel drive shows, but also the Perth boat show and and the motorbike show and all that and it's, things get very busy. So it's great that you've taken a bit of time. I'm no doubt you're still, I know you're woodsy. You'd still be on the phone doing deals and talking to people.

Yeah, but it's great that you've taken this time to spend with family and kick back on Rottenest Island. That's for sure. I'll tell you, we just a little bit while back before you, we spoke to young Owen Douglas, who's gearing up for a big tourist season up in his part of the world too. You called card, yep.

And also I just be working with Lachlan, Malcolm's son. We're going to do Malcolm's troopy up, and we've got a quote from Russ work sit down in Perth, and they're going to start work on it the next couple weeks, and we're going to rebuild it, and we'll probably have it at the the 1st 4-wheel drive show. Owen's going to come down, I think.

And uh we'll play a few of Malcolm's old things and um, yeah, because we, I don't know Malcolm for many years and probably one of the few people have been camping with him and um, sleeping in his boat. But yeah, to have that old car restored. Um, they let it go a little bit with the rust, um, so we're going to make it look pretty smith, and then Owen wants to take it on a big trip. across the top.

And that's something he's he's very excited about. So, we'll be working with him on that and keep your audience posted about the progress of that because I think, you know, I've reached out to a few sponsors like Bea, Goodrich, some of Malcolm's original sponsors and train tamers and a few other people like that and they're all happy to help. It's amazing. It's amazing, would you just how popular Malcolm Douglas still is?

Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah. No, well, here was the. I mean, talk about the guru.

He was the original crocodile hunter and he started this whole thing. I mean, he did the 1st filming of the bungle bungles. No, I was on the waterfalls, and he did the 1st lot of filming from that. I'm an aboriginal, New York, for many years, obviously, but he was the one who went, well, and filmed it and obviously started the whole thing and that was in the late 60s, early 70s.

So, um, certainly an icon. And the same with him with the crocodiles. You know, he was, he was a little bit, a crocodile hunter, and he went, this is pretty bad.