Merry Christmas and a Happy New Adventure

We are adding stickers as we speak!

Well well well, I must say. It took us a full 1160km driving before we finally got distracted from our mission to drop down the Stuart Highway. For my last post of the year 2010, you dear friends are in for a treat (if you enjoy reading...if not, the photos should keep you entertained)

Firstly, let me start by saying we did the right thing by staying in Katherine for Christmas. We had a fabulous time, and Caleb needed the extra week for car maintenance as well as packing the van all ready to go. My last week at work was great, and I will miss the wonderful people I worked with at Roper Gulf. Check out my goodbye gift - they knew me enough to know I'm a complete sweet tooth!

Peter and Caron - Katherine
Baptist

Christmas day itself started as all Christmas Days in Australia should - presents! Yes I know, it's the birthday of our Lord and Saviour, and that should probably come first, but since there were no parents telling us 'You can't have presents until after Church' we hooked in. Thanks to family who sent stuff to Katherine - it was great to have a reminder that our families were gathering without us but we were still included. That day we had lunch with a lovely family we have met in the Katherine Baptist, as well as pastor Peter and his wife Caron. I would really like to take this opportunity to thank the Katherine Baptist for welcoming us with open arms and giving us a home away from home with our Christian brothers and sisters.

So then, on to it. The plan was this: drive down the Stuart Highway (armed with Chilli spray given to us by one of Caleb's conerned customers) until we hit cooler a cooler climate. We would stop in Daly Waters to check out the WW2 stuff, which we did. No point stopping in Alice Springs, as it is the middle of nowhere, and in the desert, and the desert on a Summer's day is NOT a place we really wanted to be, with 50 degree heat and all.

GUESS AGAIN.

Devil's Marbles - in Boom Time!

Our journey took us past the Devil's Marbles, just below Tennank Creek where we stopped for a bite and we were astounded to realise, that the landscape was pretty green for the desert. We had fun walking around the marbles and even managed to spot a god looking dingo. Caleb, always telling me off for my naivety, asked a lone German backpacker to have a bite with us - I said to check the back of his car to make sure there was no axe present while planning in my head how to get hold of the chilli spray - however, Caleb's instincs served him well, we had a great conversation with this lone German.

And back to it, we hit the road yet again. We made it to a rest stop 30km north of Alice Springs, right on the Tropic of Capricorn where we just crashed. We had driven 1135km, at 80km/hour. It kind of takes it out of you.

The next day we woke up to the most pleasant morning we have had for the past three months. Warm, a breeze blowing and no humidity. It was beautiful. After changing the oil and then getting to Alice, we figured hey, this isn't too bad, we could check out the Macdonnell Ranges if this weather keeps up! So....that's what we did. Got a touch distracted, and headed out to the West MacDonnell Ranges for a few days.

How incredible. Now, I should tell you that the nice guy in the info center informed us that the Alice region has had 7-8 times its annual rainfall this year. This means that the desert is in Boom Time - everything looks green and lush (even though its still dry as anything, and if you look closely you can see the red sand). But the spinifex is green not brown, and there are millions of birds. And, just a point we found interesting, who knew that budgies were a desert bird? There were hundreds of them, thousands that we heard and saw, it was great!

We camped at Ormiston Gorge for a few nights, absolutely beautiful. We got up early and did a 7km walk before the heat of the day (smart move). On this walk I was blown away by the awesome scenery of the ranges. We walked around some hills and came in to the gorge from the back - then we had to swim accross the river to get to the path on the other side, which was actually really refreshing. The dry bag given to Caleb came in REAL handy here! (It saved my camera)We also checked out all the other gorges and waterholes in the area, then hoofed it 219km down the Merenie Rd (I don't think that's how you spell it sorry) to Kings Canyon.

Now, I'm not a gambler, but let me tell you the story of the bet. On our way to Kings Canyon we took yet another detour to Palm Valley in the Finke River National Park. We left the van at Glen Helen because we knew this road was 4WD. Well, the sign on the road in said clearly, in bold and highlighted yellow 'SEVEAR 4WD TRACK'. The NT doesn't tend to muck around about things like that - if a sign says a road is ordinary, then it's ordinary. About, half way along the track, we hadn't even had to slow down, Caleb says:


"I bet this isn't real 4WD. I bet we don't even need 4WD!"

I look ahead and see a patch of sand. "What do you want to bet?" says I

"Ok then, what are the stakes Lisa?'

"An ice cream. If we have to use 4WD we get an ice cream in Alice Springs. If we don't, well, you're playing for bragging rights and we don't have to spend that money!"

"Ok then!" And we hit the sand, which was met with a resounding "If I hadn't made that bet, I would have put it in 4WD!" to which I responded:

"You can't not put it in 4WD to prove a point, we need to be safe! If we get stuck because your trying to prove a point, it's two ice creams!!"

Needless to say, this prodding went on for a while, with me saying, "I think you need 4WD" a couple of times, until we hit a rocky hill that while not huge, was steep and ditchy and Caleb relented. Woohoo! Ice creams today!

On the Rim of Kings Canyon

We had a great time at Palm Valley, an oasis in the desert - a valley filled with palms. We did the walk in the heat of the day (stupid idea) and had a bit of fun 4WD on the rocks.

Then, WOW. We arrived at Kings Canyon. Here, we got up at 5am (this was yesterday by the way) to do a 6km Rim walk. We had to climb to the top of the canyon and walk all the way around and it was just spectacular. I'm sure as far as canyons go, Kings is pretty tame, but the landscape is filled with domes that look like something out of Indianna Jones. We then walked up the canyon itself along the creek.

Redbank

Once this hike was completed, we hoofed it back to the MacDonnels and entered the fabled Red Bank Gorge. Now, Redbank is narrow - so narrow that the sunlight doesn't hit the water at all, meaning that water is deep and coold. We walked there, 1.2km (me stupidly in thongs) over rocks and sand and virtually no shade along the way. We did this at about 2:30pm - the heat of the day. We got to the gorge, not much shade once again, we ate and just jumped into the water. Needless to say we weren't too fussed about the coolness of the water! (being Summer, it wasn't as cold as it normally gets - we reckon we've been in colder water) We swam right to the end which was awesome.

After than nice swim, we drove back to Alice Springs and just crashed at a van park. Caleb has some maintenance he would like to do on the car and I thought I would fill you in on our latest adventures! We were so very tired last night though, and it was rather hot for most of the night - we had to resort to a wet teatowl over us during the night! This being said, however, it was much more bearable than a build up in Katherine with NO air conditioning - a wet tea towl would have done zip there!

This morning, I am in the camp kitchen, my lap top plugged into a power point here with grungy looking backpackers milling about having breakfast and speaking German. Europeans come here for the heat - idiots! (I guess, it would be pretty cold over there at the moment...) Caleb and I now call them 'butter-beans'. Europeans are everywhere! You can tell - they are the ones with the rented vehicles with logos on the side...Not to mention the FLIES everywhere...but I am maturlly ignoring them for the time being. I am about to add more photos to the blog, and I have added more to Flickr - check them out if you have time! Facebook will have some as well...eventually today!

Until next adventure comes unexpectedly out of the blue (either East MacDonnells or Uluru...) keep safe and true, and I hope your Christmas great and I'll see you soon!

The Weeks that Were...and the Weeks that Will Be

Well my fellow Australians, I thought, being another lazy Saturday morning of having husband at work and me....shopping with no money....I thought I would fill you in on the weeks that have been, and the weeks that will follow, as I can feel a change in the wind, the tides are about to turn, and we are about to turn a corner (quite literally).

Straight off the point though, I may not get another opportunity, (although knowing me I probably will) to wish you all out there, ether friends who are reading this blog, a very, Merry Christmas! I hope it is not too much of a stress, and your times is well spent and you remain safe on the roads! One good thing about Katherine Christmas is that people dissappear once school ends, so there is completely no shopping stress.

So to it - the weeks that were.

We have met some terrific people at Katherine Baptist Church who have welcomed us with open arms, and allowed us to get to know them during our time in Katherine. We have had some terrific social time with RAAF families, the pastor and his wife and some of the true Katherine locals who have given us tales of the Katherine '98 floods, and life in general. We have had a tour of the Tindal RAAF base, saw some jets, been told about local fishing spots and generally been wonderfully welcomed by the people of Katherine Baptist, which has been a real blessing.

Our work has been really rewarding in Katherine. Last night, we had two Christmas parties to go to - one for Caleb's work and one for mine! Both were terrifically fun. We have both learned a lot at our workplaces in Katherine, Crowhurst Engineering and Roper Gulf Shire Council about Katherine, communities and the Northern Territory. In case you are interested, here is a link to the Roper Gulf website. It has been a terrific place to work and get to know people and communities.
However, despite our warm welcome in Katherine, we are both pretty keen to stretch the rubber on the tyres once again (although, not stretch them much, as we desperately need new ones, and a busted tyre is not something you want in the middle of no-where down the Stuart) so we have decided to take off around Christmas time. So this weekend and next weekend will be devoted to readying the car and the van for the big drop south. The Stuart is the road for us, with the goal of a Summer section of our holiday in South Australia and south-western Western Australia. Our aim is Exmouth (Ningaloo Reef) by February, and to find work in the south-western corner by late Feb in time for university to start. That's right, as if the stress of constantly being on the road wasn't enough, I am enrolling in my final year of study as well.

So forgive me if the posts begin to dwindle, but at least you won't be berated with benine chit-chat and ramblings about the weather. In the weeks to come will be a Merry Christmas...and a Happy New Adventure!

Glorious Katherine Weather - Too Hot to Play Outside

Yes it's wonderful!

Really?

NO

Just when I think I'm getting the hang of sarasm!

In actuallity its not that bad....just really humid, and hot. This has the affect of disenabling any fun or adventure between the hours of 10am and 4pm. If you go outside during this time, you will re-enter the building sopping...either from the rain or the humidity.

Ok, we have gone from sarcasm to extensive exaggeration, but my point is that we have been unable to venture out of our cosy ice-box due to the hotness of the weather. It is simply tooo hot to play outside. Very Sad. We have considered a number of times going out to Douglas Daly where there are impressive hot springs...but seriously, who wants to visit hot springs when the temperature is approximately 40 degrees and the humidity is over 90%...and that's not an exaggeration! Currently, the local time is 9:26 pm, the temperature is 27..8 degrees celsius and the humidity is 74%. We can hear the occasional burst of thunder in the distance - fragments of a thunder storm that passed over this afternoon consisting of clouds, little lightning, and thunder. No Rain.

But when it rains, it pelts down. It is not uncommon for the river to rise a few feet in a couple of hours.

Yes the weather is the reason no adventures have been had of late, and it is the reason that this post consists of benile chit chat about the weather. One thing that is quite impressive about this weather though, is the storms.

The territory is known for its storms and its sunsets. Unfortunately my as yet, untrained photographer's eye has not been able to capture the spectacular sunsets we are treated with each afternoon, due to the flatness of the area and the imposing trees that stand in the way, nor has it been able to catch the spectacular lighting we are treated with almost every afternoon/night. The colours in the countryside around Katherine are enough though.

We were lucky enough to catch this stunning rainbow and watch it spread itself out over the sky, accross a storm to divide the dark clouds from the light. This was while we were taking a Sunday afternoon drive to try and find a local fishing spot, wNhich unfortunately we were unable to locate as we were not game enough to drive down any road with a "No Tresspassing" sign. You get the filling in the territory that people shoot first, and ask questions later. I'm not really one for confrontation.

Still, the rainbow was a pretty incredible reminder of God's creation and His promise. And isn't it just beautiful? Not even my Betsy Canon can capture all thos colours in the rainbow...it can only capture up a fraction of what our human eyes can see. So faint and subtle, yet so strong. Ok, now this is turning into waffle.

And of course the thunderheads. This is only a titchy one. Teeeeny tiny in fact. Still, these fellas embrace us with their presence each afternoon at the moment - often lighting up with impressive flashes of forks, or shrouded with other clouds coloured a deep and menacing grey-blue.

Yes the weather up here is tumoltuous - it matches the feel of the place and the culture. I'm sorry that I have rambled on for a whole post about the weather, but at the moment in Katherine, there is not much else to talk about!

Swim straight on through to Sydney...

...or in our case fly.

For all those unfamilar with Finding Nemo just ignor the random quote title, and weird references to the movie that will most likely ensue in this post.

For those who have been checking this blog anxiously for the past three weeks, gripping the edge of your seats, unable to contain yourself until the next chapter, well you are in luck, you are in for a doozy.

Road greened up on way to Darwin

Last weekend we travelled to Sydney.  Caleb was Queensland apprentice of the year, which meant he had the opportunity to compete in the national title. This opportunity came with the 'obligation' of being put up in the Novotel Hotel in Olympic Park (12 storys up) for a week of activities and nominee bonding.While Caleb lived it up in Sydney for a week, I went to work and drove down to Darwin on Wednesday night to catch my flight early Thursday morning. One thing this wet weather does in the Northern Territory is make everything so green to create the most impressive, intense gorgeous colours the human eye has every seen. Especially at sunrise and sunset.

Thursday arvo was a day of luxury at the Novotel. Friday was spent shopping and eating sushi, and that night was the big finale - the dinner.While Caleb was not given the award, he still looked mighty handsome up on stage, met some wonderful people and had a fantastic night with his parents and his wife. Saturday was spent sightseeing in the harbour and then up to the Blue Mountains where we enjoyed fabulous panoramic views at Echo Point where one can see the Three Sisters.

How refreshing! A breath of spring and mountain air! Can cure any work blues.

Yes, we made it to Sydney, probably the most iconic city in our country. Face it, Melbourne tried by building that tall building, but really they copied the Gold Coast. Brisbane's best feature, the river, is truly, disgustingly polluted. Darwin, well, they have the Mindel Markets, but seriously, how does that compare to the Opera House? Perth may be beautiful (apparently, this we have yet to validate) and Adelaide may be designed to be easily navigated (so I have heard...it's never been tried and tested by the Mayne directional system, which, without the trusty Mio is not so great...) but I put it to you, that no other city quite has the status as Sydney.

But Lisa! You forgot a city! How could you leave out poor old Hobart? Well folks, as beautiful as Hobart is, I hardly think it qualifies as a city....waayy too small.

Ok, city/state jabs aside, and let me assure you, we've had our fair share this weekend, Sydney was beautiful in its own, human constructed monstosity way. A city is a place to admire human accomplishment and embrace modern culture. Not always something truly inspiring for me, but one cannot look at the harbour bridge with the Opera House in the background and not think it impressive. The thing that struck me while in Circular Quay, was the amount of seagulls. They were everywhere (and fat too)! I finally truly understand the end of Nemo....

The Blue Mountains were absolutely breathtaking and the little jaunt to Sydney has certainly wet our appetites to once again hit the road.

This is why we love Katherine...

...beacuse Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) is only 30km down the road.

We went back there today, after a pretty average week, with the idea of going canoeing. This unfortunately, ended in disappointment as the gorge was closed yesterday to swimmers and canoes as the river has come up enough for salties to get through - BUMMER. Highly dissappointed as last time we were there, we said we would come back to canoe. Oh well, there is always next dry I guess.

We did end up going on a cruise though, and it is such a beautiful gorge. Different from Canarvon and Cania and highly, highly impressive.

It was hard to believe that this place could get any more awesome. One awesome feature I would like to share with you, are these bottle wren birds that only grow to a maximum of 12cm - SO CUTE. They build their nests from the top of a cave out of mud that looks like bottles and dart in and out - they are simply adorable! We were also greeted by a pretty impressive parrot and the end of our tour...

 Certainly a beautiful place in God's creation. It was great to see it from the river point of view, but we are definately keen to do the Jatbulla trail, from the Gorge to Edith falls sometime when its not too hot, and to canoe up the gorge, hopefully up all 13 (can you believe we only saw the first two?)

Many blessings to you in your week to come! Hope you have adventures and a heck of a lot of fun!

It's a looong way to Tipperary...

Yay! We were finally granted access to the Cutta Cutta Caves - complimentary access! (yes, it was for free considering we were duped out of a tour last time). This was just one limestone cave, full of stalectites and calcium crystals. The name Cutta Cutta comes from the local Jaowyn people and it means 'many stars' (cutta being the word for star, repeating it meaning many). This was because of the glittery nature of calcite crystals - they really are beautiful (and difficult to capture). Interestingly, indigenous folk do not like going under ground because they believe the rainbow serpent lives there, and will get them if they go there. So the cave was never actually used by the indigenous people for this reason. It was only named Cutta Cutta after the land had been returned to the traditional owners. (Before that it had been something silly, like Smith's cave, cos smith was the dude that found it when some of his cows toppled in - the indigenous story is WAY cooler...) The othere interesting thing about the cave was that it was really really humid. This was because there was a pool right at the back. We didn't get to see the pool, but there were some pretty impressive stalectites and curtain formations in there..

Unfortunately after that exciting episode - Caleb had to work. Sunday afternoon he drove with his workmates to Tipperary Station - one of the most famous stations in the Territory, which is really by the sounds of it, a rich man's tax dodge. Seriously, its the rich guys that own it, one fella even installing his own zoo complete with giraffes and rhinos! These were no longer there of course, and Caleb was there just doing a job on a tractor part...ask him about it, I think that would be best! He did however, bring back some pretty impressive photos of the place...



               

What to do on a Saturday Morning?

Greetings my fellow martians! This morning, I was rudely awaken by my husband insisting he needed to be at work at 6:30 am an that I needed to drive him. So now, I am awake, with nothing to do until the shops open in Katherine. What to do? I know, I'll have a good ol' one sided chat with my ether friends - that being whoever is reading this blog post!

The past two weeks of the Mayne Adventure have been a touch dull compared to the rest of the adventure. They have consisted of work, caravan tweeking and church and thats pretty much it. We did attempt to visit the Cutta Cutta Caves about 30km down the road last weekend, but they seemed to be open on NT Time (No Time, or Not Today, Not Tomorrow, Not Tuesday, Not Thursday) In reality the guy running the tours was running late, so he cancelled the last one, meaning Caleb and I missed out! We will try again tomorrow, hopefully the first or second tour of the day proves more successful!



The van at Caleb's place of work



No doubt by now, you all have heard of our fabulous news about the air conditioning! Well, when we installed it, we had to make the sacrifice of our 12 volt ceiling fan (well, actually, we asked the air con guy to put it in, but I think he was working within the same time paradigm mentioned above) So last weekend, Caleb industriously cut another hole in our caravan roof, to put our ceiling fan back in. So now we really are living in luxury - air con and a ceiling fan to keep the air moving - good thing we don't pay power bills at the caravan park!



Caleb Installing the ceiling fan at his work -
NOTE the mango tree in the background!





Precarious much?



 Also last weekend, we checked out the Katherine cinema and saw Tomorrow, When the War Began. Finally, this story has been made into a move! Good cinema too - big. (Well, bigger than the transformed squash courts back home - don't get me wrong though, NOTHING will ever beat the Kingaroy Cinemas!)

We have slowly been making friends at the local Baptist church. The church its self is great - full of great characters. The only thing is that in Katherine, there is such a transient population, consisting mainly of travellers such as ourselves, and RAAFies, as we call them, who are posted at the Tindal Base 15km south of Katherine. So getting to know people is difficult. Still, we have been to a lunch and a dinner and a games night, and I have been to a Bible study, which was nice. Last Sunday we had lunch with a few other people at the pastor's house. Curry! mmmm....

This weekend, well, Caleb is working today, so tomorrow it will be Church and then Cutta Cutta, hopefully!

Before I go, I have two things I wanted to share with you, these two things being two of the reasons I've written this post. The first is the NT friendliness (That really, really matches the whole concept of NT time). I guess it's a good thing in the Territory that you always know where you stand to a business - basically no-where. I have met all of one nice customer service person, and that was at the Katherine visitors information centre. The post lady, the woolies ladies, the air con guy - all are unhelpful and grumpy. I will now share an example of this attitude with you.

During our travels we have noticed that washing machines in caravan parks do not work that well, so we try and use laudromats (Which sometimes are little better) unless Lisa is lazy and doesn't feel like driving to the laurdromat. So, I found a laundromat in Katherine to use last Saturday. To those unexperienced travellers, it is the norm for laundromats and coin operated washing machines in general, to only use $1 coins (very, very painful) and for laundromats to be open 24hrs. this particular one opens at 6:30am. Good laundromats, however, will have a change vending machine. Take a look at the Katherine's laundromat change policy, and how much the Dry Cleaners like it....

How very, very friendly, wouldn't you agree? (holds up sarcasm sign)

The last and final thing I want to share with you all, my dear friends and family, is a much much brighter note. Springvale, where we are currently staying, is beautiful - many birds, and springs, and greenery. Trees planted over a hundred years ago thriving, and the river a stone's throw away. It does however, get hot and humid at times, and despite all the springs around Springvale, some of the birds get a little desperate, as you saw in my previous post in the picture with the cockies. In taking that picture, I was really hoping to snap something else - this....

would you believe there were two more on this set of taps before I could get my camera out? How cute are they!?

Until next time, so long. Live long and prosper.


PS you know you have been watching too much Big Bang Theory when you can quote Star Trek without actually seeing Star Trek...

Around our Temporary home - Springvale

Hello once again from Katherine, Northern Territory. As I have had a few days to spare on my hands, I decided to take a few pictures of the place we are temporarily calling home - more will probably follow, this is what I have so far.

Springvale Homestead was the first settlement in the Katherine area, and is now a caravan park/camping area/motel/tour operator. It's right on the Katherine River and is approximately 6km out of town.

 The swampy land around Springvale - nobody swims here except the ducks.

 The cockys along with the rest of the birds feel the heat - so they drink from driping taps

 The Original homestead on the bank of the river - now reception and a nice place to have devonshire tea, apparently....

 My favourite tree - planted by Alfred Giles who founded the homestead and was the first person to live in the Katherine area.

 The guinea fowl population will soon out number the residents of Springvale - despite their odd-looking presence with small heads and dumb faces

The Katherine Low Level Brige - 3km on the road into town. A popular (and not without reason) swimming hole, although probably won't be during the wet.

Our little van parked at Springvale - note the air conditioner on top. Needless to say that I can no longer pop the top myself. I'll need to build up my muscles to lift the baby - but gee it keeps the lil van cold!!

Litchfield and Darwin...and finally, air conditioning!

Well hello. And after a few weeks of back to work drearyness finally we did something of interest that I can post about on the blog!

To start off, let me just clarify that work hasn't been all that bad. I have been in communication with the good people of PCA Kingaroy. Not anymore though, I have a new job starting in exactly a week, with the Roper Gulf Shire Council. It should be a great experience. It is a six month contract, so it looks like we will be in Katherine for a while!

Caleb's job is going well as well - still getting a feel for the workshop. He's working with a good bunch of people though, which is always a plus!

So, I'm not sure how much a lot of you know about our air con debarcle. Basically it a was a whole lot of 'Should we, shouldn't we'? To put air con in properly cost a pretty penny, let me tell you! Due to the size of our van, which is really really small, the cheaper choices were not really an option due to 1) a lack of free space and 2) not wanting a huge thing sticking out the side creating bad wind resistance and a dangerous hazard of falling and breaking and costing even more money...so cutting that boring story short, we found out our friends Brian and Debbie would be in Darwin last weekend, and thought, we're going up anyway, its getting hot, lets get air con while we are there!

Saturday included lots of fun and laughs exploring Litchfield NP. It's about an hour from Darwin and Simply Beautiful. A great place to swim as well! An extremely different experience to going to Kakadu - where there was a lot of cultural experiences, birdlife to spot and driving....Litchfeild is smaller, and the waterfalls are more easily accessible. Due to some recent spattering of rain (no where near as much as Kingaroy and the rest of the south east I hear...) everything was greened up. The only problem? way way too many tourists....

There was also a really interesting piece of history. We visited the Blyth Homestead, which is an original building, an out post of Sargent Station. Inside was a whole lot of info about the family that ran the station, and goodness gracious, those pioneers did it tough! Here was me complaining about the flies (as they were back on assault...grrr...) and the heat, reading about this family of ten or so, getting up at ridiculous hours, working 15 hours a day at the tin mines, having hands squashed and making pets out of crocodiles...yeah, it was intense...needless to say I shut up pretty quick!

The termite mounds were also noteworthy. Now, I know this was a place my family visited on their great big holiday, as we used to call it (when I was about 5...so I don't remember much). BUT I do remember the photo Dad wanted of our landcruiser in between two great big magnetic termite mounds (please let this be the correct photo!!) I found it quite amusing that the termite mounds are now fenced off and you can't even walk there....you can only look at them from a distance....My how the times change....

After we were finished exploring Litchfield we drove on to Darwin where we met up with Brian and Debbie who were staying with their daughter. We had a great time, and really appreciated Lacey's hospitality. We went to the Mindal Beach markets and watched the sunset on the beach. Great times. Did I mention we were eating Thai food? We were eating Thai food. Really good Thai food. (That encouraged me to attempt another curry..hopefully its not too hot!)

The next day we left our van with the air con people, and explored the Darwin Military Museum. This was fantastic - did you know Darwin was bombed in 64 raids between 1942-43? 253 people lost their lives, and Darwin was just flattened! Our generation can't begin to imagine a war that affected the entire world...it really was right on our doorstep, with raids spreading as fair inland as Katherine. Wow. Hopefully we will get to see more of the military history. The Stuart Hwy (between Darwin and Katherine...it goes further as well) is lined with WWII air fields.

So that was our exciting weekend. Air con in, we slept while shivering last night, which was a nice change from sweating...saw some friends from back home, some great places and learnt about one of the more dramatic events in our nation's history. Great! hopefully, the adventures to continue...

Give me a home among the peanuts...and lots of....flies

Well, we have done it! succeeded in securing some work in the Katherine area of the Northern Territory. 300km from Darwin, 1000000km from anywhere else....

Monday saw an interview for both of us at PCA (Peanut Company of Australia, for those unfamiliar, travel down the main st of Kingaroy, you can't miss the silos!) who have not one, but two (three maybe) farms up here. They needed admin work, and so I said yes. Starting Monday, I will be in constant contact with PCA in Kingaroy...HAHA. I'm sorry, but I just think that it is so very funny and ironic. All this time, we are trying to get away from Kingaroy, the South Burnett and the peanuts, and here we are, in the middle of it....or maybe off to the edge I'm not sure. It's just irony for you.

Caleb will be working at a local engineering works in his trade which will be some fabulous experience for him.

Over this past week, our jobs secured we tried to explore Kakadu...and gee, that place is so beautiful and so big, we could not get through it in three measly days. We definately need to go back.

Not at the moment though. That place is hot, humid and absolutely FULL OF FLIES!!! especially at camp sites with pit dunnies. They are the most aweful things on this planet, that like to fly into my eyes, land on my eye lashes, into my ears and my nose, all around my head, and you can't kill them....SO IRRITATING! but I soon got over that and learnt to live with it (once we were out of the fly infested park...)

So that's us to this point in time, blog will only be updated when interesting things happen....Or, I am bored. Either one. Keep in touch!

I Must Kill All Flies

I must kill all flies
The sticky, obnoxious ones that land in your eyes
The ones that fly in your nose and ears
Never leaving and bringing frustrated tears
The ones you can't brush away or clout
Unless your prepared to poke your eyes out!
They sit on the bridge of your nose
And behind sunglasses they impose
Buzzing and fussing all around your head
Feasting on sunburnt skin that you have shed
Do I smell that bad? Is it my stench?
That feeds your hunger you just can't quench?
Add a sticky fly to humidity, heat and sweat
All you have is frustration, fury and frets
And its not just one single fly I am talking about
But a whole stupid swarm tends to hang about!
I don't know how I'll do it, but dammit I will!
Big or little, every fly I will Kill Kill Kill!
For my sanity and the safety of my eyes
I must, I MUST, kill all the dam flies!!

Katherine, Darwin, Brisbane, Darwin, Katherine....in 3 Days!

Just a quick update from the Mayne adventurers. We made it to Katherine safe and sound, and set about looking for jobs. We have a few leads that are a bit promising, fingers crossed next time we will be posting about our new work oportunities! We explored Nitmiluk NP, (Katherine Gorge) which was absolutely stunning. Had a few close calls with the wildlife, what with crows stealing our lunch out of a sealed box (Including Lisa's Snickers bar...) and Lisa nearly stepping on a snake in the middle of the path. Never the less, the gorge is close to the top of our most favourite list.

On Thursday we travelled to Darwin to try and sort out small things such as air conditioning for the caravan (which as it turns out is not such a small thing!) before flying back to Brisbane for yet another whirl wind trip. Caleb was nominated for the Queensland Apprentice of the Year, so we had a fantastic night out at the Brisbane convention centre, and Caleb managed to come home with the accolade, a huge congratulations! We also were able to catch up with family over lunch on Friday and breakfast on Saterday before flying back to Darwin. Today we drove back to Katherine, as Lisa has an interview tomorrow, and one on Friday and Caleb has other avenues we can pursue. Should nothing arise, I believe it is off to Kakadu NP.

Some things caravans just cannot do...

Since our last entry to this blog, Caleb and I have learnt some lessons about what our van can and cannot do.

1. Spontaneously back into place
2. keep out all the dust
3. Keep out ANY dust...
4. Travel through rocks, it must bounce over them
5. the door doesnt stay together when bumped on rocks in the middle of a creek

You would think that the map saying 'unsealed highway' with the national highway indicator '1' would mean the road was pretty good. Think again. The road between Lawn Hill Np and Borroloola is not such a road. The travel guide wasn't kidding when it said 4WD recommended. Five creek crossings and countless corrogations later we were still 20km from Borroloola when the sun went down. At least we made it to the Northern Territory!

We learnt from our trip to Lawn Hill NP that our van is not the greatest at keeping out dust. At a nice free campsite near Gregory Downs we had to beat out the grey nomads trying to buy our stuff as we cleaned it, and put up with about 6 of them telling us 'you should have taped up your vents!' Yeah, thanks for that, we kinda realised it from all the dust inside our kitchen cubboards!

Lawn Hill was beautiful though - great place to swim and some good walks as well. We have come to realise on the Savannah Way that Australia is a diverse place. The Gulf country is nothing like the east coast. Unfortunately we had no luck on the fishing front at Karumba or anywhere really, but thats ok. We are having a good time.

Yes, the road to Borroloola was tough, and we did have to cross a creek that was half way up Calebs thigh deep - the deepest one yet - with the van. This turned all the dust to mud, and didn't we have fun cleaning that up! We stopped at Mataranka - a perfect oasis to get ourselves together a little bit.

Now we are in Katherine, hoping to find work and possibly experience a NT wet season.

Old Territory, New Territory, two birthdays and Repairs...

Well, we have survived the track back from the most northernly point of Australia. We zig-zagged it a little coming back down with detours to Weipa and Iron Range National Park. In Weipa, Caleb tried his new cast net for bait that he was given for his birthday, and succeeded in catching small flounder, hermit crabs and a nice bream that we ate that night. Also, while standing in the water cast netting, he had a close encounter with a 4m Saltwater Crocodile. It was only 20m away...needless to say he got out of the water and away from the edge pretty fast, especially once it disappeared below the surface.

Iron Range National Park is a beautiful spot, after all the corrogated, dusty, dry Savanah country. It is rainforest, close to the beach with different flora and fauna to that you get further south. Incredible! An oasis on the Cape. Here, Caleb decided he wanted to go fishing at a small township called Portland Roads. We took his cast net, and while eating lunch we saw fabulous bait fish leaping out of the water, so Caleb quickly grabs his cast net, takes off his shoes and starts throwing the net in. He managed to score about 8 or so reasonable bait. Time for the fishing rod! Unfortunately, his tacklebox was left 30km down the road back at camp...so there was no possibility of fishing unless we drove back to get it (unless we tied the baitfish onto the end of the line I suppose...) In his dissappointment we drove back to camp to get the box so he could fish. Half-way there, lo and behold we realise he has left his shoes at the beach! We race back, only to find a single shoe...floating down the coast with the tide. We came home with one shoe and a wet pair of socks and no fish..useless! About as good as our attempts at drying our clothes in the rainforest...

We headed out to Cooktown after that, and stopped by Maytown, a ghost town on the Palmer River just accross from Cooktown, that in its own era had a population of 20,000 miners and was the richest alluvial gold site in Australia. Over 1 million ounces of gold are officially recorded as being produced by the area, with countless amounts smuggled into China by the Chinese miners (90% of the area's population at the time). We loved Cooktown, unfortunately many of the walks we were unable to do due to Caleb being one shoe short.

The history of the Cape has facinated us. The Jardine brothers who were in their early twenties drove cattle from Rockhampton to Sommerset Station, right at the tip, before the area had been explored. How they forded some of the rivers with no roads or bridges is a mystery to Caleb and I. The story that you constantly hear though, is that of Edmund Kennedy and Jacky Jacky. Edmund Kennedy was an explorer who was charged with the task of opening up the Cape York Peninsula. The expedition was a failure - in the first 8 weeks they only made it 12 miles in the dense scrub. They missed their supply ships, and many of the men died, or were left to die at Weymouth Bay (near Portland Roads). Edmund Kennedy and a small remainder of men set off to meet their supply ship at the tip, and all were killed (Edmund was speared) on the way, all except Jacky Jacky, an indigenous member of their party who made it to the tip, met the ship and brought them back in time to save two of the men at Weymouth Bay.

While the Cape has really opened up over the last 10 years or so, getting to the tip is still a difficult task. Never before have we seen so many people in need on the road than we did in our two weeks on the Cape - a motorbike accident, broken down cars and people who have collapsed. While it may not be the adventure it was 20 years ago, the country is harsh and (with risk of sounding a touch like Russel Coit) if you are not prepared, be prepared for disaster. One guy we tried to help took a stupid vehicle up the Cape, only to have it die. And even we, sensible people to know the limits, had a couple of mishaps (such as jerry cans popping out our canopy window, dents from CREB track rocks, coffee everywhere, honey everywhere...) and our vehicle came back worse for wear. Was it worth it? DEFINATELY!

On Friday we travelled down the coast road from Cooktown, back to Mareeba where we were reunited with Caleb's parents, Lisa's parents and our van. We drove to Tinaroo Dam, where we stayed for the weekend and had a great time catching up. Where to now? We must admit we are not too sure - we are starting to be a bit more serious about looking for work, and if none crops up in the next few days we will be heading on the Savanah Way which runs from Cairns to Broome, heading to Darwin and the Northern Territory. Stay alert and watch this space...

Caution on the CREB

Our dive trip completed we were resolved to head north. Caleb was convinced he wanted to 'check out' the CREB (Cairns Regional Electricity Board) Track, which runs from Daintree Village through the Daintree world heritage area and on to Cooktown. Fortunately for him, and unfortunately for some of our food boxes, the first obstacle was crossing croc infested Daintree River. Lisa was not interesting in repeating this escapade so the rest of the 72km of track had to be traversed.

The first time we got stuck, it was put down to inexperience. The second - vehicle capabilities. Luckily though, we were never really stuck and both us and our vehicle came out at Roaring Meg Falls unscathed, save for a few scrapes and dents along the bottom panel and some food boxes that needed a bit of repairing - gaffer tape style. Our biggest concern during this particular adventure was weather, as the above clouds appeared a little too precarious for our liking. We were lucky though, we made it, camped the night at Roaring Meg then made our way up the Cape York Peninsula...

                                                                         Drying out after spilled water cans

Repairs on the road