Living it up in The Top End

1. Bundy

2. Chester

3. The top of Gunlom (UPD) Falls, Kakadu National Park
4.Vistas of Kakadu from the top of Gunlom Falls

5. Looking down at the swimming hole at the bottom of Gunlom Falls

6. Beware - Crocodiles!

7. Maguk Falls, Kakadu

8. The boat ride to Twin Falls - years ago this is where we swam to Twin Falls. This is now illegal due to the large number of Crocs in the area.

9. At Twin Falls - though not flowing as it is too late in the Dry

10.Twin Falls

11. Twin Falls

12. The board walk to Twin Falls - showers posted along the way as the walk can get so hot!

13. Jim Jim Falls - not flowing either

14. Jim Jim Falls

15. Bushfires at Yellow Waters, Kakadu

16. Yellow Waters

17. Yellow Waters

18. Sunset at Yellow Waters

19. Yellow Waters Boat Cruise

20. Finally! We see the much anticipated Estuarine Crocs in the wild!

21. Crocs at Yellow Waters

22. Yellow Waters bird life

23. Ubirr Rock

24. Views from the Top of Ubirr Rock

25. Brendan and the sunset from Ubirr Rock

26. Sunset, Ubirr Rock

27. Sunset, Ubirr Rock

28. Cahills Crossing - the crossing from Kakadu into Arnhem Land - Crocs here too!

29. Aboriginal rock art at Nourlangie Rock

30. Magpie Geese nesting, Mamukala Wetlands, Kakadu

31. Views from the balcony of a friend's apartment in Central Darwin

32. Linda, Steph and Kate - a combined party for Linda's 30th and Steph and Brendan's engagement

33. Linda and Steph

34. Clockwise - Brendan, Anna, Brendon, Steph, Linda, Nick, Chris, Kate, Brendan, Ella - The Wallakis

35. Steph, Ella, Linda and Anna

36. Brendan and Linda

37. Brendan and Ella

38. Chris and Ella

39. Brendan and Anna

40. Michael (Hendo) and Brendan - fishing trip in Darwin Harbour for Ella and Nick's farewell from Darwin

41. The girls - Ella, Linda, Steph, Kate, Anna and Penny - Ella and Nick's leaving do

42. All aboard

43. Captain Kate

44. Sunset over Darwin Harbour from the Mantra Apartments

45. Home in Darwin

46. Under the house

47. Our backyard and the beautiful croc free swimming hole

48. Emma, Brendan, Linda and Josh - Friday nights under the house

49. Darwin tropical storms

50. Views of Darwin

51. Linda, Kate, Steph and Anna - Xmas Party at the Mantra
52. The Xmas party continues
53. Linda, Steph, Kate and Anna - out on the town

54. Raphy

55. Presents for the bushcamper - it is great to be able to afford them!

56. New Tyres
Living it up in The Top End

22 December 2009

Well, there have certainly been a few changes in our lifestyle over the past few months. We now have jobs, a proper roof over our heads, a bed that we can sit up straight in and don’t have to pump up and check for holes every night, an oven to cook in, airconditioning!, a pool to swim in, a shower that gives out more than 20L of water at a time, a toilet where (for the most part) it is impossible to pee on your feet….and the list goes on. In summary, we are now living it up in style!

Since last writing, we made the decision to remain in the Northern Territory for the duration of the wet season, but also decided to leave Katherine and make the move back to Darwin. We ended up enjoying our Katherine experience and made a few good friends – but thought that being in Darwin would ultimately give us a better lifestyle through the long and hot wet. We ended up being fortunate enough to both get job offers in Katherine and Darwin, allowing us the freedom to make our own choice about what to do. We spent a weekend while in Katherine house sitting for friends who live at Tindal on the RAAF (Airforce) base there. We looked after Chester and Bundy (the Chihuahua and Boxer) while Kylie and Michael were in Darwin for the weekend (see the photos) and enjoyed the experience of Tindal – which is a whole different world away from Katherine. We are looking forward to staying with Kylie and Michael (and Chester and Bundy) again when we hit the road in March, and have also been able to catch up a few times since in Darwin.

We took the opportunity when leaving Katherine for Darwin to drive the loop through Kakadu National Park on the way. It was a bit of a rushed trip (we only had three days before having to start work in Darwin) but we went hard and managed to cover the highlights – Gunlom and Maguk Falls, Yellow Waters and Crocodiles in the wild, Twin Falls, Jim Jim Falls, sunset at Ubirr Rock, Aboriginal art at Nourlangie Rock and wildlife at Mamukala Wetlands. We plan on returning to Kakadu in the middle of the wet season in a light plane to fly over the falls that were mostly dry during our visit and see them in full flood. This is supposed to be an amazing sight. See all the photos of Kakadu.

Brendan’s job in Darwin has him working on a Project Team with several different local shire councils in the Territory – currently Victoria Daly (based in Katherine), East Arnhem (based in Nhulunbuy – Gove), West Arnhem (based in Jabiru), Tiwi Islands (based between Darwin and the Tiwis) and the MacDonnell Shire (in Alice Springs). He is helping to develop training packages for finance software for these shires and is enjoying being able to travel around a little and see some more of the Territory. He recently spent ten days in Alice Springs where he was able to hire a car with some other workmates down there and take a day trip round some of the roads in the East MacDonnell Ranges which we didn’t get to when we were last down there. He also had a chance run in with Adam (a friend from Darwin) where one catch up drink turned into quite a big night and a headache the next day…). According to Brendan, Alice doesn’t look quite so bad the second time round, especially after our experience of living in Katherine for three months.

On returning to Darwin, Linda took up a six month contract as Assistant Director at an Early Learning Centre for 3 – 5 year olds attached to one of the local primary schools. This position has been a challenge to say the least – resulting in Linda deciding to put in her resignation at Xmas time, and then making the turn-around decision to stay on ‘til March, with a change in management occurring and many other changes promised. Whether or not this is the right decision remains to be seen, but with our plan to be back on the road mid March, it will not be for too much longer anyway.

We were lucky enough to be put up by Brendan’s work in Serviced Apartments in Darwin for a week on our return which allowed us time to find our own place to rent. Wanting flexibility, we decided to take on a room in a house in Parap – not far from the city centre. We have been sharing with Emma and Josh (an English girl and her Australian partner –, Peita (originally from Alice Springs), Raphy (Peita’s mini Fox Terrier) and now Doug (moved up from Sydney to join Peita). It is a busy but fun household to be a part of and we have been enjoying having different faces to look at (aside from each others) in the evening. Many nights of sitting under the house, sipping on a cold one and solving the problems of the world have come to pass… Emma and Josh have just returned to England for two months over Xmas and are then moving onto their own block of land at Mandorah (across the harbor from Darwin – a 15 minute ferry ride or a three hour drive around). We are looking forward to a camping trip on Emma and Josh’s block after Xmas.

We have been enjoying the social life that Darwin has been able to provide over the last couple of months and are finding that Darwin is much like London in that there is a very transient community of people up here away from normal homes and situations, and wanting to meet new people and make new friends. Linda met Kate (from Wanaka in NZ) at work and we were invited to play touch football with Kate’s team called the “Wallakis” (cross between Wallabies and Kiwis) on a Thursday night. Touch was good fun – a team made up of half and half Australians and New Zealanders living in Darwin – where no one took the game too seriously. I think we only won one game all season and played in the lowest division – but we had a good laugh both on and off the field. The Wallakis have provided us with a good social life up here where we have had a combined party for Linda’s 30th and Steph and Brendan’s engagement, Lawn Bowls night, dinners, boat trips on Darwin Harbour, Poker Nights etc. Last weekend we had our own Xmas party before we all started heading off in different directions for the Xmas break. Looks like we may play another season of touch starting early in the new year so maybe we will do better second time around…We were also able to get to Kylie and Adam’s wedding reception (after they were married in Fiji) and check out the new house that they have built on land at Humpty Doo. Hopefully we will catch up with Kylie and Adam again before we leave next year.

Linda tried getting into the Xmas spirit with Emma while Brendan was away in Alice and Josh was also working out in Wadeye by going to the local Darwin Carols by Candlelight. The carols were good to listen to – but the real highlight was the huge lightning storm happening in the background behind the stage. The fireworks were then let off and no-one knew where to look – fireworks or lightning – both were spectacular. This is one of the experiences that we had made the decision to remain in Darwin over the wet for……

We are now looking forward to jetting off to NZ for Xmas at Waihi Beach with Brendan’s family, catching up with everyone and meeting Maria Cann for the first time. After five years of living in NZ and complaining about the cold, we are actually looking forward to a reprieve from the high temperatures and humidity of Darwin. On our way back to Darwin we stop off in Caloundra for four days to catch up with Linda’s mum and dad.

On our return to Darwin, we will be bracing ourselves for Cyclone Season (as mentioned before we have already had a few good thunder and lightning storms) and knuckling down to eight weeks more work before packing up the Bushcamper once more to head off. At this stage we think we are going to double back on ourselves for a short while and head south, back through Alice Springs, then onto Cooper Pedy and across the Nullarbor to Perth and then up the West Coast. This means that we are in the southern areas when it is warmest and are heading north to warmer temperatures as it gets cooler. It also means that we can leave earlier, as the wet season cuts off a lot of access to the West from Darwin. We are planning on the Grand Finale to our Australia trip being three big four wheel drive tracks – the Gibb River Road, the Tanami Track and the Simpson Desert. We are currently working on a few upgrades to the car to allow us to do that (we now have a lovely new set of tyres!) We will finish this at the end of August and then fly to NZ for two months of skiing and snowboarding. This is why we are save, save, saving hard now for another twelve months of fun and relaxation ahead of us next year. Bring on March!

Take care everyone. We look forward to hopefully catching up with a lot of you over Xmas/New Year. We will be in NZ from the 24th December through to the 9th January so please let us know if you are going to be around. We also have from the 9th – 12th January in Caloundra if anyone is around that area then.

Merry Xmas!

Love Linda and Brendan. xox.