When I told people that I and an old school mate were going to drive from Adelaide to Townsville along the coast including a New Years eve at Falls Creek, I must admit I was met with quite considerable envy from those gentlemen of my age, bound to........other things. So before the trip even began I knew it was going to be a once in a lifetime event, it turned out to be just that.

We left before dawn and were crossing the Murray as the sun came up. We had over 1000km to cover in the first day, which was New Years Eve, so we had a little motivation to arrive at the University Ski Club as early as possible to enjoy the festivities.

The terrain changed considerably over the day, 'til we were atop the mountain!

We met up with Tom, Nic and Kevani who were busy preparing a package of food and drink to take to the very top of the mountain for a sunset dinner and drinks. This of course included the Metallica rich night time 4wd trip back down......

Back at the club we enjoyed drinks until count down. The building emptied and somehow we found ourselves on the twister square. The rest, well, most of the rest, is a blur.......

The next day Tom took us to his secret waterhole for a swim. It was the 'secret' waterhole we could see from the mountain the night before, and in our opinion was only secret because it was an ordeal to get to and it was f*cking cold. Even so, it was fantastic and apart from the ice cream headache it gave me, freshened me up quite well after a night of no sleep and over indulgence.

Then the paddleboards and the kite came out by the lake for one of the most beautiful days of relaxation I've had in a while.

Soon the rest was over and we were on the bikes for a lap of the dam.

Drinks in a very Christmasy pub before a few quiet one's and a rest prior to departure for Newcastle.

Thanks for inviting us Tom, a New Years I'll never forget.