12 ON THE 12^TH

Our last day in Darwin….and what better way to finish our N.T. experience than to celebrate Gracie’s 12^th birthday (on the 12^th !)

Might be best to let the photos tell the story of the day’s festivities.

Day started with beautiful breakfast at Cornucopia next to Museum. Pancakes!

Then off to Leanyer Water Park and the Water Slides

Gracie's feet!

Heaps of fun!

Party Food. Gracie's favorite....French toast, smoked salmon, advocado, dill, cream cheese, capers and dill. Yum!

Next stop....indoor trampoline centre Flip Out .Thanks Sarah and Josh .

Smile says it all!

Grip socks....a great look!

Spag Bol for tea....Gracie's choice.

Guess who threw a Yahtzee to win!

Happy Birthday Gracie!

BEER CAN REGATTA

Excited to be in Darwin on the same weekend as the infamous Beer Can Regatta and even more exciting was that Sarah and her work colleagues had built and entered a boat for this year’s event.

They even made the NT News, and luckily on page 5. (If you know the NT News….you never want to be on the front cover!)

The event is held on Mindil Beach and attracted thousands of onlookers…… and thankfully no crocs!

Sarah’s boat proved to be very ship shape and completed the course quickly…unlike other boats.

Well done Sarah!

JOIN THE DOTS

                Gracie, thanks to John at Mt Allan has discovered and enjoyed completing highly complex dot to dot drawings, and has produced some amazing pieces of work, including cats, horses and this elephant. So realistic!

CAHILLS CROSSING AND UBIRR ROCK ART SITE

Spent this morning viewing a notoriously dangerous river crossing named Cahills Crossing. This crossing over the East Alligator River serves as the connection to Arnhem Land and is renowned for crossing crocodile infested waters and where a number of deaths have been recorded of people who have lost control of their car, fished on or waded across the crossing. Google Cahills Crossing for some spine tingling recounts of crocodile attacks, including one in January this year!

While there today, three men fishing for barramundi were standing in the water close to observable crocodiles. Hope they’re not on the news tonight!

We then ventured onto Ubirr Rock Art Site, home to some of the world’s most significant rock art and an area steeped in Aboriginal culture and tradition. The site also afforded spectacular views of Kakadu wetland areas.

We have made an Animoto of Ubirr that can be viewed by using this link.

Rock Paintings

Tomorrow we head off to Darwin for the last leg of our adventures in the N.T. and more importantly our chance to spend some time with Josh and Sarah.

Robyn is really looking forward to catching up with friends from her time teaching in Katherine, Libby, Eric, Yve and John.

THE TOP END

After spending two days at Bitter Springs, mostly spent floating down the spring fed thermal waters of the stream, as well as completing  a long walk along the Roper River to the Mataranka Falls (no swimming due to crocs!) we headed towards one of, if not our favourite spot in the Territory, Edith (Leliyn) Falls.

Originally we were going to stay two nights, but so good was the campsite and the swimming holes we extended to three nights.

Again, most of our time was spent in the water, with frequent walks to the Top Pool with its beautiful cascading waterfall and plunge pools to swim in. We also hiked into Sweetwater with its tranquil setting and nature provided spa pool! Amazing!

Barra and Buffalo burgers were a perfect way to cap the day!

KAKADU

In 2015, we promised ourselves that we would revisit Kakadu and stay longer to do it justice.

We used Cooinda as our first base for two nights, and spent a day visiting….and swimming in two spectacular waterfalls and plunge pools, Gunlom and Maguk.

We walked to the top of the Gunlom waterfall and found ourselves taking a relaxing dip in a crystal clear natural pool high above a sweeping vista of Kakadu National Park! Breathtaking!

We then drove to Maguk Gorge, walked through a lush monsoon forest full of pandanus palms and arrived at a cascading waterfall and large plunge pool. Another swimming opportunity too good to miss.

After such an adventurous day, we celebrated at Cooinda Lodge with our meal highlight of 2015….Barramundi Curry, made using bush tucker. Divine….and so too was the lemon myrtle tart as dessert!

Today we have taken the relatively short drive to Jabiru to spend the next two nights. Gracie has spent most of the day making friends with another girl and spending a lot of time swimming together in the camping ground’s resort style pool.

Baked beans for tea tonight!  Then back in the pool for a swim under a moonlit sky!

And who should Robyn bump into (not literally) in the spa but (singing) Dave and Lyn from Mitta days.  So good to see them!  Dave and I sang Leaving On A Jetplane for old time’s sake!

ULURU , KINGS CANYON THEN NORTHWARDS

We ventured back into Alice Springs to pack away our teaching resources and get our camping gear ready.

While there, we received a fantastic piece of news. Tim and Eli announced their engagement, which was received with much joy. A couple that bring out the best in each other!

After repacking the car and van we headed off to Uluru for a few days. When we visited in 2015, we were so inspired by Uluru and Kata Juta we just had to go there again.  Magnificent Uluru is a truly amazing natural wonder!

We did the obligatory sunset viewing and watched the colors of the Rock change to many hues over a 15 minute period. The next day we walked the 10.6km track around the base of Uluru and gained further  understanding of its significance to and the spirituality that the Rock holds for the Indigenous people.

It was here that we received another piece of fantastic news. Robyn and Gracie were notified that Gracie has been accepted into the SEAL program at Wangaratta High School which Gracie (and Robyn) is over the moon about….and well deserved!  We celebrated that night with dinner at The Gecko Café in Yalara.  For those of you who have dined out with Gracie, no guesses for what she ordered…..calamari and it was delicious!  The blueberry and lemon pudding got the vote from everyone too!

The next day we revisited another awesome spot….Kings Canyon. We trekked the 6.5km Rim Walk and relished its breathtaking scenery. Lots of photos taken!

We then did the long road trip back into Alice, did some repacking and sadly said our farewells to Jake and Gemma…and to Alice Springs.  It has been a real oasis for us throughout the term as we have used it as a base between our trips out to the remote communities.

Now for the long drive north towards the Top End. Our first overnight stop after a 700km day was Renner Springs. Such a long drive but it made it easier for us to arrive by lunchtime at our present location, Mataranka, and the famed Bitter Springs. We have spent most of this afternoon floating down the warm waters on our noodles. Our first of many water experiences to come!

HASSTS BLUFF

Hassts Bluff by Chrystal Rimmer, a Read Tutor...and very talented artist!

We’ve travelled to Haasts Bluff for our last teaching stint…..with a touch of sadness as our time with some truly remarkable teachers and adorable kids comes to an end for 2017. A big thank you to Geoff and Nick in the Regional Office for allowing this to happen, Cherie at Amoonguna,  Gaby, David, Sarah, Amanda and Kerrie at Kintore, Rob and his staff at Papunya, Kandi, Rob and Lauren at Haasts Bluff and Phil and John at Mount Allan, the dedicated Read Tutors (who we are looking forward to catching up with when we return home)…and all of the indigenous staff. We have had an amazing ten weeks teaching in your schools. But it is us who have done all the learning and we come away truly enriched by the experience. Gracie has made some wonderful friends and will carry with her long lasting memories. At Kintore, Ampi asked Gracie what are her plans for the future and was delighted when Gracie indicated she would love to come back and work with the community.

The kids of Haasts Bluff took us out on another adventure, this time to their favourite climbing rocks. Breath taking scenery. Watch the highlights on this link.

Rock walk

On Sunday we climbed a very tall hill called Memory Mountain which has a cross planted at the top….with plans to erect a much larger one in the future. An interesting story!

On the way home we detoured to the local car graveyard. Literally hundreds of vehicles piled beside and on top of and predominately Commodores and Falcons….easy to get parts!

It has been good to finish our teaching here especially as Gracie made some very close friendships with Zurana, Gina and Bianca.

Zurana and Gracie enjoying Sunday night tea together.



But after teaching for the majority of the term, we are now looking forward to our next adventure as we make our way further north….but not before we make our pilgrimage to Uluru, Kata juta and Kings Canyon.