Vote 1: Matt Bowen - Your QLD fullback for State of Origin 3

I'm going on the campaign trail! No, I'm not entering pre-selections in order to compete for a seat at the next federal election. I'm trying to get a little bloke from Hopevale, Qld into my favourite sporting team of all, the Queensland Maroons. It kind of hinges on the support on my fantastic Twitter followers and fans of him on Facebook. If you are reading this and you're not yet on Twitter, well get into gear and sign up and start using the hashtag #mattyb4game3 (if you're not a rugby league fan, you can leave now if you want). You're probably all asking why Matty Bowen deserves to be in the Queensland team to replace the injured Billy Slater. Well here goes my take on it.

First of all, Matt Bowen has his fair share of experience. He's a veteran of 10 Origin games already and has proven himself at that level. Not to mention his 200+ games of outstanding feats for the North Queensland Cowboys. He's even sunken my Broncos more than a few times. You can never feel safe when you have a guy like Matt Bowen on the opposition side. He's always up to something. In the last couple of years since recovering from some injuries he's shown he's still got it. He's also very solid at the back in terms of reading the opposition play, can catch bombs well - so basically I'm saying he's less prone to make a mistake than any other candidate. As I alluded to before he's just got that gamebreaking ability, as can be seen here:

Bowen's entry into the team would also be the best thing for keeping the current team dynamic as it is. Queensland would be best served as a like-for-like replacement. Greg Inglis and Darius Boyd (both good fullbacks) have built a great combination together on the left side, with Greg having the ability to draw defenders and put Boyd over the line as much as he been able to help himself become the greatest tryscorer in Origin history in the centres. Moving either of these guys would disrupt the harmony of the team and weaken probably our best attacking threat. Bowen's entry to fullback would also create another combination between him and long time clubmate Jonathan Thurston. That can only be a good thing. As can be seen in this video (tried to embed it, couldn't, but watch from 2.16-3.02 http://www.nrl.com/Video/tabid/10959/contentid/459399/Default.aspx).

A bit of that video also shows you the value of Bowen's playmaking ability. He's got an accurate kicking and passing game and could have easily played in the halves in his own right. Did I mention what he did in 2005 when he played?

That's what happened in the first State of Origin game I attended. Game 1, 2005. Call me nostalgic, but it just gives me chills like it does watching Mark Coyne score that miracle try for Queensland in Game 1, 1994. I remember everything about that night, from eating pizza in the car on the way to catch the bus and even the conversations on the way. I also got presented with my first Queensland supporter jersey that night. I remember Queensland dominating the first half then the stress of seeing our lead run down, then Thurston striking another field goal to send it to golden point. Confusion reigned in the crowd as to what golden point would bring. The concept was only in its early days then. The first few minutes I just remember the crowd was so quiet, waiting for something to happen. Then when Matt Bowen intercepted that Brett Kimmorley (now honorary Queenslander) pass - it sounds cliched - the crowd went up as one and went into a frenzy, understandably. I was sitting right in the corner of the stadium at the end where Bowen put the ball down. I felt like he intercepted the ball right in front of me. I remember embracing my friends and just spending the whole trip home just smiling and trying to comprehend just how awesome that moment was. It was perfect. Forgive me for wanting to potentially see that again and give other people the chance to experience some "Mango Magic" first hand.

I'll briefly touch on the other options for Queensland I've heard people come up with and their pros and cons, in order of personal preference.

2. Boyd to FB, Nielsen to W (Pros: Boyd has been Aust FB, he's solid, Nielsen can be a good finisher. Cons: Boyd has been in bad form for his club side, Nielsen doesn't play wing at club level.)
3. Inglis to FB, Nielsen to C (Pros: Inglis is a strong powerful fullback, massive talent. Cons: Weakens our left side, Nielsen is no Inglis and has no combination with Boyd, creates defence/dymanic issues.)
4. Inglis to FB, Tate left centre, Nielsen right wing (Pros: see 3. Cons: Tate is not a left side player, the changes weaken both sides of our defence and attack, too many changes imo.)
5. Barba to FB (Pros: direct replacement, in good form at club level. Cons: Inexperienced. Defence issues. Has had problems with catching bombs in the past. Could be exposed in Origin.)
6. Inglis to FB, Tate left centre, Barba right wing (Pros: see 3, 4. Cons: Barba isn't a winger)

In summary, how can you not want to see this guy running around again in maroon?

• Twitter #mattyb4game3
• Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/MattBowenForOrigin32012
• Were you there for Game 1, 2005? Share your experience below, and on Twitter, and on Facebook.
• What's your favourite Bowen moment? Share your experiences below, and on Twitter, and on Facebook.

***NEWS FLASH***
It's happening! Several people have already started getting behind the #mattyb4game3 movement. I've already got retweets from North Qld Cowboys players Ray Thompson, James Segeyaro, Ben Jones, Michael Morgan and former Cowboys backrower Steve Southern and plenty of their followers. Got to be happy with that! Get into it people!

I've got the blues - the post-travel blues

Earlier this week I was crashing hard after three weeks away on an awesome holiday to the US. I saw some unbelievable sights, had some memorable experiences, met some people and caught up with some who I'll be sure to remain in contact with and traversed the country top to bottom chasing storms. Then when I came back all I could do was intensely dwell on those good times. But while that should make me feel great, not actually still being out there was, and still is a bit, bringing me down. Everyone tells me I should be able to be happy and look at it fondly, but unfortunately it's not that easy. And the feeling down part isn't as simple as being "back in the real world" and back at work. Ironically when I got off the plane and came home I couldn't be happier to be back. Three weeks mostly folded up in tour vans really took it out of me and I know just the stormchasing did it for some people. I knew it wasn't just jet lag or re-adjusting to routines of sleeping and eating and working.

So I had a look around and found that the post-travel(/holiday/vacation) blues(/depression) is actually a proper, serious thing and I'm by no means alone in being a temporary PTB sufferer. It's something you really don't account for before you go on a lengthy trip, but as I've thought about it more and more I don't really think it's something you can stop either. There's no preventative measures you can take, other than trying not to have as much fun on your holiday as you planned. This would obviously negate the purpose of actually doing something enjoyable on your holiday. I figure the level of PTB you feel is exponentially proportionate to the time you spend away. I'm sure a cleverer mind than me would probably be able to plot it on a graph of some sort.

I read around a bit and found plenty of advice on how to tackle your post-travel blues. Some of it I feel wouldn't work for me. One website suggested it may be a case of getting the travel bug. I don't think this so much applies to me. I thought about the idea of another holiday in the making to give me something to look forward to, but I don't feel going to another far-off land really solves the problem. I will still feel the same about the trip I've just finished. Not that feeling really good about your experiences is a bad thing. It's hard to explain but just not being on THAT holiday anymore makes it hard when it's over since you don't when or if you will enjoy yourself that much again. Another suggestion was to take a language class. Not a bad idea. It's something I have considered. Another was to write about it, a box I have already ticked with this blog so far! Another is to keep in touch with people from your trip, which I have done and I have found has improved my mood. I guess that helps me in my thinking that my holiday will always last in some form. That the trip will in fact never end - it will always be part of my life. Knowing that certainly gives me comfort.

But what helped me was somewhat getting back to things that made me think more about the good times I was having before I even left on my trip. I found listening to a few songs I hadn't heard in a while really clicked with me. My band of choice was The Jezabels. Something about the passion and emotion in their music, dare I say, struck a chord with me this week. It wasn't before long I was in the car belting out one of their tunes (yep even I sing in the car, I know you all do too) and I instantly started feeling better. It really helped me. I needed it. It may not do it for others, but that's what it was for me.

Next time maybe I won't plan as long a trip and so maybe I won't feel PTB as badly next time. But for all of you going on long holidays, you might have to account for getting over it. But don't feel bad when it hits about the fact you're moaning after having a holiday while everyone else has been slaving away. Your feelings will be legitimate.

For those who know what I'm on about, I'd love to hear about your experience with PTB.

• Do you know what I'm on about? Have you had post-travel blues before? Have you recognised the correlation between length of trip and fondness of holiday? How long did it take you to fully recover? What steps did you take to do so?

Room for one more

This blogging thing is addictive. And when you collect some nice unexpected golf ball-sized hail on the drive back to your final destination, it's worth writing another post!

We started in Lubbock, Texas after a LATE finish and we dawdled around a bit in the morning before we finally got going (some people took on some partying even earlier into the morning). We made our way a few familiar places for me, starting with Amarillo, Texas - the location of the Big Texan Steak Ranch. It's the home of the 72oz (2.04kg) steak challenge. Eat it, the salad, baked potato and three prawns inside an hour and it's yours for free. Fail and it costs you $72 but you get a shirt and a boot-shaped cup. A few of us headed to the nearby Coyote Bluff Cafe for a more-than-decent burger and on our return our resident food-guzzling machine Mitch "Chip" Childs (Alice Springs) was mid-way through the challenge and looking in decent shape. Earlier in the tour he downed a root beer float in 45 seconds and some of the hottest buffalo wings on the planet in Abilene, Texas days before, so we thought it was possible. Alas, the challenge was just too much for Chip, but he still managed to devour 59oz (1.67kg) of steak inside the hour. Fair effort.

Funny sign I saw - Happy, Texas LOL

Once lunch was over our attention turned to some dangerous supercell thunderstorms with certain tornado potential... around Washington DC. A little bit too far away. While we were all getting blown away by those storms, a few were firing in far northwest Texas as we headed north back towards Colorado. We didn't really have to chase to catch them. We saw three wall clouds in it, it was slightly rotating and there was a small hail core. It looked like the unlikeliest of little storms and it was doing some funny things. We even saw some REALLY low-level mammatus cloud:

Mammatocumulus

Weird! We went directly north out of Dalhart, Texas (where I stayed on tour last year) and tried to find a road west. Dirt would do. We realised the next major road was 15 miles down the road! We'd be way past the storm by then. We took a dirt road, which we later realised led to a cattle ranch. So we had to go all the way back into town to stay in front of the storm. We rather conveniently ended up in the storm's hail core. They started out as marbles but soon became golf balls. It eased and I got a chance to collect a few:

Then we had a drive to find some more hail and it was a barrage of golf balls and it gradually got smaller and moved on!!! It was even piling on the roof of the van and we had a few :

We saw another nice-looking storm shortly after. It was kind of nice to see it from a distance.



Notice the shadow cast on the main updraft (the billowing bit) on the storm by the anvil (top bit) of the cloud.

It was a fun little chase and was totally worth it even though it delayed our arrival in Denver.  Being a chase without a realistic hope of a tornado, it was a similar kind of chase you could do in Australia. I just wish there were as many weather products available in Australia to make it a bit easier to track storms and monitor their life cycle. If it exists, I need to know about it. Here's an even better sunset photo to finalise this blog series! But I am going to continue blogging. Stay tuned!

Ok, sometimes it's REALLY not meant to be

The sun setting on my holiday...

Sometimes all you can do is laugh. Sadly, I don't think I'll be laughing about this for a while. It's kind of hard to after TWICE spending quite a bit of money to fly over here just to see some damn tornadoes and coming up with nothing to show for it. But as my fellow tourist Rachael (who's quite a good country singer and could surely make a song out of this) says, mother nature's a bitch. Don't we all know it. But it has been very kind to mid-west USA. It's the first time in seven years there has not been a single fatality from a tornado in the month of May. In a perfect world there would be tornadoes AND no fatalaties. It's what all stormchasers hope for. Considering my luck the US government might start hiring me to travel here to ward off tornadoes.

But to today, where we almost drove to Mexico to chase a rotating storm, the only thing that looked like doing anything all day. Ironically it was again outside the forecast area for any storms. But we were 250km from it when it started and we tried to get there but we were no hope. The thing was I was confident and optimistic all day that today, when many appeared not to expect anything from the day. As you could have told by my previous blog post, I haven't exactly hidden my disappointment and frustration. For some reason things don't appear to be going my way at the moment. That said I still think I'm quite a lucky person having a job most people would (and I did) dream of, being able to go overseas and do things I always wanted to do (although this has been an epic fail) and having it pretty good living at home. But sometimes I still feel unlucky at times.

Luck wasn't with us yesterday. After a cracker of a day in Oklahoma on Tuesday, the next day looked even better with a moderate risk of severe thunderstorms and 10% chance of tornadoes issued by the National Weather Service for the same region yesterday. Absolutely nothing happened in that area during the day. We were far enough west of that area, in Texas, to be able to drive five hours to catch another storm in the northwest of the state. For some reason we stopped in some town for half an hour which meant the sun had already set when we got to this storm.

First we got to see some impressive mammatus cloud, so we were on a strong storm. It also looked strong on radar and was FULL of hail. We also saw the damaged it caused in Childress, Texas with softball-sized hail and a 100mph (160kmh) wind gust (a tornado was reported but it wasn't confirmed). A huge sheet of metal was thrown across the town from somewhere. It could have caused some damage. So we drove into it. I got a great video of all the lightning and hail despite the low light conditions. We were following Dominator 2 and the navigator Reed claimed to see a wall cloud and one of our tour guides Kevin a cone-shaped funnel, which didn't touch the ground. It was intense. Red van (I was in blue) even got a small break in the windscreen.

Mammatus cloud aka "breast clouds"

Post-chase conference - our vans and Dominator 2

All in all I've still have fun on this trip. We've covered more than 6000 miles (9600km) and 11 states (Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, North Dakota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas), almost from Canadian border to Mexican border. I also had an AMAZING time with my California/Vegas/Arizona tour. I'm glad I got some encouragement to do something additional. I can't say the nice long holiday wasn't worth it. Although I will look forward to some proper meals (mum's lasagne), proper Australian beer and not staying in a hotel. I also made new friends from this stormchasing tour and my other tour I'll hopefully see again. I might give the US a rest next year though. I know a couple of my tour guides are certainly thinking of travelling over soon. I might be playing tour guide for them.

I'd say this will be my last blog about my travels until my next adventure, but don't desert me! I'm sure I'll find some interesting stuff pop into my head to keep this blog rolling. See you all when I get back home! I'm looking forward to telling you all about what I may not have mentioned in enough detail in this blog. Well, some of it...

PS - Please don't refer to my last two weeks as a tornado chasing tour. Not even for shits and giggles. I won't be in the mood for it. Stormchasing is fine. Or America trip. Tornado is off limits.

PPS - I still have a day left and we COULD be chasing a storm, so you never know, I could be changing my tune. I doubt it.

A nice photo to leave you with...