My mate Andrew McMillan died yesterday and I’m not sure the place he held in my heart will ever be filled…Not sure I want it to.
The pictures below were taken in his beloved Larrimah a place only Andrew could love.

Here’s the last time he got behind the wheel

and in a rare moment of self preservation,suggested I get off the middle of the Stuart Highway at 3 in the morning and turn around as a bush fire approached on both sides.

After his diagnosis he chose to go out working , constantly writing and dreaming up new projects like his latest band ” The Rattling Mudguards”

He was the only one that my motives for being in the Territory made sense to, and the big brother I never had.
Like many before me his bunker in Westralia St was my first port of call after I first arrived in Darwin 9 years ago, sitting opposite him surrounded by maps , drafts of novels , model airplanes and the assorted relics he took home after 3 decades of picking over the bones of the Territory I felt like I was at some bizzare job interview with Andrew the CEO of some mysterious organization that may or may not let me in on it’s secrets.
Our conversations were littered with gentle laughter and short pauses as he stopped talking to write down a choice phrase or anecdote for future use , with plans to come together for various projects that intrigued us both…The notion of history and place in a part of the country that had plenty of both if you chose to look as he wisely said “History is on the ground , you just have to look for it”…a bit of advice that I have followed to the letter resulting in our collaboration on my 2009 exhibition 42/45.
I have spent the morning listening to your voice brother, and I am crying!

Australia…What fresh hell is this ? My all time favourite movie quote from Ray Winstone’s character in the movie ” The Proposition”, Captain Stanley brought over from Mother England to sort out the colonists on the Australian frontier…If you want to see one movie about Australia this Australia Day , do yourself a favour and give it a try!
It was shot a few hundred k’s from where I grew up and in the same area that this photo was made…It’s not all beer and barbeques down under.

and the score by Nick Cave is essential listening

The story of the week in Europe must be the sinking of the cruise ship Costa Concordia , high drama with an allegedly negligent captain but it’s the negligence of the sub editors in the British Press that really stands out…Is any one manning the wheel at the Guardian and Belfast Telegraph?

For some reason I sat bolt upright in bed this morning at 5.30…..This shot of a storm cell passing over my back verandah was the result, getting great pictures sometimes is just a matter of dragging your arse out of bed when the photo gods call.

If the cool change that descended over Darwin yesterday, bringing the temp down from 35 degrees C to 25, is the signs of another Big Wet then we are in for a monster storm season with more like yesterdays effort.

An early start to the Top End storm season hit Darwin yesterday as a tropical downpour passed over Darwin signalling the beginning of the La Nina period which will bring increased rain to the Eastern seaboard and Northern Australia this summer.