Sunday, December 15, 2013

 
 
Coloured icing, sprinkles,
 chocolate chips,
 sticky fingers and lots of fun!
 
Well, thought I'd post a couple of
photos from our little bikky
decorating morning yesterday.
It was a lot of fun for the kids and mum's alike.
Everyone went home with their little plate of hand
decorated bikkies to proudly show off and eat.
 
Note: I am not to be held responsible for
 their behaviour after consuming 
an excess of sugar and colours!
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
And here is a very deep and profound
statement for you all to ponder:)
 
 
 

Sunday, December 1, 2013

ALL IN  DAY'S WORK....
 
Well, I thought I'd share with you some photos and information
 about a typical day in our lives. Mainly Dave's. 
 
I was able to take a trip in the truck with Dave on Friday while the
girls stayed home, so I could see firsthand his typical day. 
 
This particular day he was heading out to Hodgson's Station and the
 Aboriginal community of Minyerri. 
 This is only a couple of hundred kms from
 Katherine, but that doesn't mean a short trip.
 
Well, our day started off with us getting up at 5am and Dave heading to work
at 5:45am.  Dave rang me at 8am telling me he was getting fuel and the girls
 and I headed out the door to walk down to the highway (15 minutes) to meet him.
 
I hopped in the truck at 8:30am, said goodbye to the girls (who walked back home),
 then we headed towards Mataranka. We stopped at the weighbridge for the routine weighing, only to find out that the truck he was driving that day had run out of rego at midnight the night before. After sitting in the truck for what seemed like an eternity, waiting to see what the problem was, Dave, his  boss and an inspector came out with the verdict. 
 
Unhook the trailer, go back to the depo, and get another truck.  Sigh.
 
The truck he had to now drive is not one of Dave's favourites as they call it "Horse".
 Reason being, the driver's seat bounces so much that you nearly
 get bucked off! Sometimes it bounces so bad that the
 driver hits his head on the roof of the cab. Anyway, after fuelling up
 this truck, we were on our way, back out to the weighbridge
 to pick up our trailer and get the green light to go.
 
By this time it was now after 10am. Great start, and not abnormal for Dave.
 
We headed to Mataranka and did a drop off there.
Then turned off onto the Roper Highway towards Hodgsons. 
 (This is the road that I previously drove out on to pick up Dave before). 
 
The first thing I noticed was how green everything looked
 compared to the last time I was out.
The wet is here and things are getting soggy.
 
We stopped at a cement company, a mine, a station and another mine to do drop offs.

 
Unloading at a mine
 
 
On our way we came across a truck with 2 trailers that had slid off the
road into the sloppy side cut. We were able to pull him out as he
was empty and we had 3 ton of cement bags
 on that was just enough weight to do the trick. 
 
Pulling the truck out of the side cut
 
 
Beautiful open road
 
 
Interesting sign.  Look for people??? Nope didn't see any.
 
 
When we arrived at Hodgson's station, the heavens opened and the
rain came down. We unloaded stuff and kept on to Minyerri.
Here it rained briefly too.
 
The Minyerri football oval
 
 
 
Main street into Minyerri community
 
 
 
Little locals hoping for a horn blast (which unfortunately didn't work on this truck)
 
 
We did some drop offs here and turned back the way we had come,
picking up a dolly to take back to Katherine on the way.
 (which didn't turn out quite so simple, seeing it didn't have any brakes,
so was difficult to hook up) I was able to drive the truck and trailer
forward so Dave could get it sorted.
 
The side cut we pulled the truck out of. Doesn't look too bad, but he had nearly tipped it.
 Note: Always go thru the puddles, not around them!
 
 
 
Heading home, we got into some heavy rain, but it soon cleared.
 
 
 
 
I was excited to enjoy the beautiful sunset and we were also treated to an
 amazing lightning storm that looked like it was right
 over Katherine. The girls were watching
 it out on the verandah and said it wasn't too close.  (the only phone
 reception is at Mataranka so I was able to txt the girls
 around 11 am and then again at 8pm)
 
 
 
 
Well, we arrived back at the depo at around 9pm. There we had to unhook our
 dolly and fridge as another truck was heading out and his fridge
had stopped working, so he was having to unload all his load into our
fridge. Fortunately, Dave didn't have to stay and help.
 
Anyway, this was a shorter day than Dave often has, getting home around 9pm is early!!
 
I had a great time riding in the truck and only missed out on driving because
of the rain and the slippery roads. Next time, next time......
 
Hope you enjoyed this long saga and the photos attached.
 
Below, I've put together a short few video snippets of our day.
You'll see Dave 'bouncing', some lovely scenery, some rain,
rough roads, truck towing etc. 
 
 Hope you enjoy it!
 
 
 
 
And this is my first attempt at photographing lightning. I didn't have my camera on the tripod, so was a little shaky. It's very addictive too, you don't
want to stop in case you miss a good one!!
 
 
 
And I leave you with this. I'm sure this is how Dave
 feels with Lauren and I around!!