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.