Stuart and Rosemarie's trip to the Top End

1. At the lookout overlooking Katherine Gorge 2. Kayaking in the first gorge

3. Linda and Brendan in the canoe

4. Beware - Croc nesting area (although despite our best efforts, we didn't actually mangage to spot any!)

5. Linda in the gorge

6. Rosemarie and Stuart - setting off after a stop for lunch and a swim

7. Brendan

8. Linda

9. Relaxation on the grass at Edith Falls - Brendan, Linda and Stuart

10. Water crossing to Tjaynera (Sandy Creek) Falls (Litchfield National Park). Warning sign for crocs. Hope we don't get stuck in the middle!

11. In the middle of the crossing - but thankfully still moving...

12. Brendan at the beautiful Tjaynera (Sandy Creek) Falls

13. Linda and Stuart at Tjaynera (Sandy Creek) Falls

14. View from the top of Florence Falls. Lovely swimming hole at the bottom (Litchfield)

15. Brendan, Stuart and Rosemarie in Buley Rockhole, Litchfield

16. Our new tent house in Katherine, Knotts Crossing Campground. Our own ensuite, plenty of shade and a nice outlook. (It better be for $200 a week in rent!)

Stuart and Rosemarie’s trip to the Top End (Katherine Gorge, Edith Falls and Litchfield)

2 August 2009

First we must start by apologizing about the change to blog sites. Some have already noticed by trying to visit our old site, that Sampa has shut its doors and is no longer operating their blog service. This has meant that we have had to download all our data from the blog (we haven’t lost anything luckily) and try to find another site which we can use for the same purpose. This has been the cause for much frustration as none of the other providers seem to meet the exact criteria that we are after. This is the best we have been able to come up with. Unfortunately, in order to keep our blog private and accessible only to those invited (you guys!) this site only allows you to visit as a guest for up to 30 days. After that time you have to sign up with a Google account to continue visiting. Sorry if that causes inconvenience, but we haven’t been able to come up with anything better!


Anyway, the last month has seen us settling into life in Katherine and getting back into the routine of work, work and more work and sleepless nights spent not being able to get work out of our heads (particularly Brendan with lots of figures rolling around in there…) So far Katherine is treating us well (apart from the fact that we are here to work!) Linda now has full time work lined up at St Josephs School (some in the school and some in the Early Learning Centre) for as long as she wants it on a casual basis. Brendan is working between Roper Gulf and Vic Daly Shire Council offices and at the moment we expect to be here until around the end of September before shifting back up to Darwin to continue the work up there (and experience the wet season), with Brendan becoming part of the new Project Team. We are still living in our tent (see our photos) but are quite comfortable with a nice rural outlook, our own ensuite, plenty of shade and beautiful weather at the moment.


We have been able to take a break from work over the weekends and enjoyed catching up with Rosemarie and Stuart (Brendan’s parents) on their recent trip to the Top End. We met them in Darwin (on our last weekend spent up there) and were able to show them around some of the spots that we had discovered including Mindil Beach Markets, East Point and the Wharf area. We visited the Fisherman’s Wharf market and made ourselves a delicious dinner of a kilo of prawns for entrée followed by fresh, local, saltwater Barramundi fillets for main course. We then made our move to Katherine, while Rosemarie and Stuart checked out the Daly River, Adelaide River, Mataranka, Bitter Springs and then met us in Katherine for a night before we all headed to Katherine Gorge for a long weekend spent lazing by the pool, walking and a day trip to the end of the 3rd gorge in canoes. The gorge was beautiful and we were able to enjoy swimming in a few different spots – but although we kept our eyes peeled we did not actually see any crocs!  We also followed them up to Edith Falls for another day of more of the same (these weekends are hard work!


Rosemarie and Stuart headed onto Kakadu National Park and all the sights there (which we have not yet got around to seeing) while we went back to work for a week and we then met them again for another long weekend in Litchfield National Park. This has become a favourite place of ours – especially swimming at Florence Falls and in Buley Rockhole. This time we also took a trip down the four wheel drive track through to Tjaynera (Sandy Creek Falls) which took a bit of effort to get to but was definitely worthwhile (much quieter and lovely swimming – though freezing cold even for the visitors from NZ!) (And Ralf – our radiator was all ok!)


Our next little adventure starts on Tuesday night after finishing work when we head up the Stuart Highway back to Darwin and fly out at five in the morning heading for Cairns and Port Douglas. It is Justin and Emily’s wedding (Linda’s brother) and we are looking forward to catching up with Linda’s side of the family for a week before returning to Katherine again. After getting used to the heat up this way, we are expecting to find it quite cool over in Cairns…We know we are spending too much time up here when it gets to fifteen degrees overnight and we start thinking that it’s cold!


Hope everyone is well and that you have been able to access this site without too many issues. We are not bothering to repost everything from the last year, but have it safely saved away for later use.


Take care,


love Linda and Brendan. xox.