Livin and a workin on the land

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We’ve had an awful lot going on since the middle of the year, hence the delayed update but we will endeavour to recap on everything we’ve done.

July school holidays we set off to explore the national parks of the top end, being Litchfield and Kakadu. We stayed at the Daly River after leaving Katherine our first night and began Litchfield the morning after travelling from the south. Surprise Creek Falls, Bamboo Creek, Wangi Falls, Tolmer Falls, Buley Rockhole, the Lost City and Florence Falls all made the trip over a few days before getting back to the A1 on to Darwin. We spent a few nights in Darwin taking in Crocosaurus Cove, Fannie Bay Races, TIO Stadium for the Eagles v Demons on a Saturday night, Mindil Beach Markets and Sky City Casino. We get sick of the city pretty quick so soon we were refilled and turning on to the Kakadu Highway. We did the jumping croc cruise on the Adelaide River, hired a boat on Corroboree Billabong to scratch the fishing itches to no avail in Australia’s densest population of saltwater crocodiles. We also covered the famous Shady Camp, Point Stuart where we would see our first wild buffalo, Cahills Crossing and Ubir on the border of Arnhem Land, Jim Jim Falls, Twin Falls and Barramundi Gorge. We then came across a poster in a caravan park promoting Noonamah Rodeo and set plans to be there. That rodeo would be by far the best we attended all year.

We tracked back to Katherine to meet up with the crew and enjoyed the Katherine Show that ran for the week including the camp draft and rodeo. This annual event would kick off the beginning of a frantic couple of months in the top end for camp drafters and rodeo goers alike. I was lucky enough to ride a station plant horse for the season and rekindled my love for barrel racing. We attended a couple of these including Kununurra and Timber Creek. We filled in time between meets with fishing, hunting and some work.

Jess hosted a fishing competition between Oct and Nov with a Policeman neighbour from Yarralin taking it out with a 94cm beaut. Fishing was hard in the later months of the year mainly due to the awfully hot weather and fluctuating river levels, fish were few and far between despite trying efforts. We did however put a dent in the feral pig population and are now hooked on it. We would strategically stalk up on turkey nests, dams, and known dead animals hoping to catch our game unaware. We had the opportunity to weigh the biggest we’d shot all year, a boar coming in at 149kg, quite big for the district. As we close another chapter in our journey we say farewell to our friends at VRD.

A spontaneous one-week trip in September saw us travel to Fiji for Leah’s (Mum) surprise 40^th birthday along with our east-coast family and Granny and Grandad. We stayed at the Hideaway Resort on the Coral Coast. Although the weather wasn’t great we enjoyed our time eating, playing table tennis, mountaineering on horseback and sipping cocktails while laying by the pool. It was really nice to see everyone and soon enough our trip was over.

Something we’d been planning since the beginning of the year was a cruise. After spending little time in Kununurra after leaving the station in December we once again made our way to Darwin, then on to Brisbane where we would set sail.

The Sea Princess at full capacity of 2200 passengers and 850 crew took us across the Coral Sea and on to some amazing destinations. Villa was our first port of call with a shore excursion booked for the Cascade Waterfalls. The short walk with a local guide through the tropical path lead us to the beautiful namesake. Back on-board time was filled with eating, sleeping, live shows, gambling, seminars, art auctions & Big Bash cricket. Mystery Island followed then Champagne Bay for Damien’s 24^th Birthday. Christmas day was spent at sea before arriving in Noumea, New Caladonia for the day. The 11-night voyage was an experience we will never forget. Total distance travelled from Brisbane to Brisbane was 5141 kilometres.

Apologies for the rushed update but hopefully the pictures will tell a better story. Our next stop is Carnarvon for 3 weeks and then onto the South West of Australia. Hello to everyone.

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