What’s the oldest thing you own?
Probably my four-wheel drive Land Cruiser, because I’ve had it for 20 years. It’s done nearly 777,777.7 [kilometres], and when that happens, it’ll be a blessed day of my life to know full well that my mate has travelled with me over the last 20 years and done over three-quarters of a million kilometres around this island.
What’s your favourite place to visit in Australia?
Probably up to Kimberley, [I’ve got] lots of good family and friends up in the Kimberley. I’d go back to the desert – Mparntwe, out to Ntaria, even out to Uluru. Even south of there, in the desert. I’m a freshwater man, so I’d go and enjoy that. But if I had to go coast ways, I’d go back up to Kimberley, [from] Broome to Wyndham, near Kununurra. You don’t have to say much at all, you just be there, in and around people who enjoy life. I’ve done my fair share of barking inquisitives, now I just want to enjoy life. And people from there that I’ve known for 50-plus years; it’s good to just sit down and have a cup of tea.
What would be on your ideal road trip playlist?
Sun Don’t Shine [by the Pigram Brothers], then that would go into [their songs] Dry River Bed and Maysong, and then I’d listen to the brothers do Moonlight. Then Stephen’s [Pigram] got a new album out, called Solfish – so I’ll chuck that on and just let that play. A bit of Fitzroy Xpress, a bit of John Williamson, Ernest Tubb or something like that, a bit of Missy Higgins and a bit of TCD [Troy Cassar-Daley] – rounded out with a bit of Dan Sultan, and the old Warumpi Band.
Do you have a party trick?
I’d probably pick up a vacuum cleaner and blow it like a didj. I’m not a drinker, so I wouldn’t have a clue when it comes to alcohol. I’ll play pool – kick-arse playing pool. A lot of people are still chasing me to try and win a game back off me.
If you could have a sandwich named after you, what would be on it?
Something like a BLT, maybe. I do like a bit of Swiss cheese and a bit of gherkin, good roma tomato, some good ham. Mm, yeah. But then again, I wouldn’t knock back some crayfish from the midwest – Turkish bread, hot with melted butter, and a nice hot piece of crayfish.
What are you secretly really good at?
I’m very good at watching. Like security guards – basically their job is to observe and report; I observe, I don’t have to report. I enjoy watching a lot of things: watching the sun, colours, environment change; watching [and] listening to birds, the sounds that they make at different times of day; watching kids; watching my own kids; watching people around me. If somebody walks with a bit of a limp, is it the shoe they’re wearing? Or [maybe] they’ve got an injury from the weekend, because they didn’t have it last week. Sometimes I’m wrong, but I love making up stories.
What is your go-to dinner party dish?
It depends on the time of the year. Chicken and vegetable soup in winter time. Chop a lot of vegetables up in a pot, make a vegetable soup out of that. Break it into four quarters and use one quarter, freeze the other three-quarters. When you’re halfway through the quarter, you’d get what is called a bachelor’s handbag – a cooked chook in a bag from the supermarket – and trim all the meat off it and put half the chook into your vegetable soup.
What animal do you most relate to?
Well, at the moment it’s a cobberdog. They’re like a little labradoodle, but they’re bred for temperament. Amazing little dogs. I love my little cobberdog; she’s only about 18 months old, and I’ve spent the last year and a bit with her. She’s left me today, to go to school.
What is your least favourite animal?
Probably a chihuahua – those things are like a ball of fluff with demonic mannerisms.
Do you have a nemesis?
I’m a mad [West Coast] Eagles fan so probably the Fremantle Dockers Football Club. Personal nemeses – I’ve got a couple of mates from when I started playing basketball over 50 years ago: a bloke called Ian Satie, because I’m still better looking that he is and keep reminding him; and Eric Watterson, he’s an ugly bugger now and he knows it, and I remind him of it. So just sporting rivalries. It’s all we can brag about at our age, because some of us still play but we’re not as good as we were 50 years ago.
The new season of Going Places with Ernie Dingo is on NITV and SBS on Thursdays at 7.30pm, with new episodes premiering weekly
