ERROL PARKER| Editor-at-large | Contact

Despite it being nearly 50 out here on the fringe of the Simpson Desert today, a young carpenter is down in the French Quarter this afternoon enjoying a few cold ones in his ski gear after a long hard week of having a go.

Dennis Harvey has just returned home from Hong Kong on business and thinks he’s coming down with the flu or something.

But as it’s Friday and it’s stinking hot, he knows that he’s had a go this week and he’s got one in return – which makes the Friday afternoon beers taste much, much better.

“Mate, I feel like I’m actually going to die,” he said.

“I’ve never been so sick. But you always get sick coming home from holidays. I remember the last time I came home from Darwin. I couldn’t keep anything down for days. Acute chardonnay poisoning my doctor told me,”

“But God these Betoota Bitters taste fantastic! I can’t feel my face or my feet. Tell you what, but. If I spent all week on the couch, these beers would be putting me to sleep like I’m a sick 89-year-old on the last ride to Switzerland!”

More to come.