RAIN....RAIN.....RAIN!!

 

 

Well, the wet is setting in. We have been having a lot of rain lately and everything is going green. We have had to mow the grass and even close the windows a couple of times.  Thought I'd share a couple of pictures to show what happens here when it rains. 

 

 

Yes, with the rain comes mud! And I guess the girls were missing that lovely red Malanda mud, so......  I'm not sure of it's beauty properties and whether it's advisable to try this in your home, but it sure beats sitting

inside doing school work!

 

 

 

And then there's the washing off. For some reason the pool doesn't

look as clean as it did before??

 

 

And here's a couple of photos of the view from our back verandah.

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

This is how I feel sometimes!! (or is it all the time?) I thought it was so appropriate!

 

Yes, life is always on the go here and not much time to catch your breath.  But we were able to do something as a family this weekend. We visited the Cutta Cutta Caves, just out of Katherine.  This is a tropical cave so it gets more hot and humid as you venture into the cave. We had a guided tour (which is the only way you can do it) and it was very interesting. The girls and I had been back in June, so this time, at 40 degrees outside, it was a whole lot warmer inside. We were all dripping in sweat by the time we emerged.

 

We were able to see some rock wallabies that live in the entrance of the cave, and 2 banded tree snakes in little holes in the rocks, inside the cave. When you get as far as you're allowed to go in the cave, they turn the lights out and boy is it dark!! 

 

Just another display of God's wonderful and creative creation. 

 

The entrance to the cave

 

Some amazing formations

 

 

 

 

Our guide told us there had been a large olive python in the sink in the girls toilets, so of course the girls and I had to go check it out. Instead, we found this Golden Tree snake. He posed nicely for me to take his/her photo! (Although I wasn't sure how close to get as he/she was really checking me out)

 

 

We checked out the boys loo too, but no luck!

 

 

These beautiful birds have been hanging around and when I have time,

 I try and get some shots.

 

 

In other news, we have been having infrequent showers every couple of days so we had to mow the grass yesterday (we as in "Maddy") and it was thick and green in places. The place is really greening up here in the wet.  Things are slowing down but somehow, I'm not!

 

Dave is flat out with work and has started working on a project involving lots of welding in his spare time (one day so far). Cam will be doing a lot of the welding

next week before he leaves.

 

We had new split systems put in the girls rooms on Saturday, so that is a real

 blessing.  Now we are all very cool at night.

 

I have organized a bikky decorating morning for the kids in December,

 so that promises to be messy and a lot of fun.

 

Oh, and in BIGGER news, I am in search of a piano!! Yes, a real one! Not just my keyboard, that has many frustrating issues! I am so excited I can hardly sit still. I don't expect

you'll get much except music out of me when I finally get one!

 Will keep you posted (no pun intended).

 

 

And on that 'note', I'll finish.

 

 

 

 

FIRST PROPER RAIN FOR THE WET SEASON

 

Well, we have finally gotten our first real rain storm of the season!! Yes, it actually does rain here. After 6 months, this wet stuff fell from the sky and made puddles (which of course we had to splash in).  We had 28mm on Sunday and then another 7mm yesterday. I have uploaded a short video just to prove it.

 

Note: I have noticed that the videos don't come up on the emails so you will have to come online to our blog to view them. And about the quality, sorry, when I resize them so they're small enough, they lose quality. 

 

 

And here's a couple of photos too.

 

 

And our lately cleaned pool:)

After going GREEN and being refilled!

 

 

And a puddle!!

 

 

 

As to life here at the moment, Dave is kept busy at work. Looks like he's on course for a 100 hour week this week :(

 The girls and I are flat out trying to get caught up with school.

Lauren is busy working at the child care 4 days a week and Tafe 1 day a week. She is also trying to finish her year 12 schooling and teaching the

5 and unders, Sunday school class.

 Abbi works at least 2 times a week at Brumbys. She also helps out with crèche at church and occasional baby sitting.

Emilee helps out with crèche at church too, and keeps busy antagonising her sisters and playing with knives and wishing she had a tree to climb.

I have been busy trying new recipes to improve our health and well being

 (and the results of too much free bakery food).

I am also teaching the 6 to 12 year old Sunday school class for a while.

The girls have enjoyed being able to cool off in the pool every day.

Chloe and Maddy keep busy setting up different shops, dressing up, pulling things apart with Dave's drill (and rendering them completely useless) and basically being very creative and imaginative.

I have been scouring the local paper every week for garage sale bargains!

We are supposed to get 2 new split air con systems in this weekend

in the girls rooms, so that's a plus.

And that's life!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just posting a couple of latest photos

 

 

We recently had the Hockey family staying with us on their way back to the station. They were taking 10 baby chicks back with them. They were so fluffy and cute!! 

 

 

The sunset from our back verandah.

 

 

We were given a huge bag of stale bread for horse food (Hockeys couldn't take it with them for lack of space), so Chloe and Maddy put it to good use and set up a bakery! Abbi kindly told them the names and prices of the different breads and they were on their way! (which reminds me, it's still there in their cupboard!

 

Luckily it's not in Malanda, or it would be very green by now)

 

 

 

Dave's been busy working and today is no different. He is off to a mine about 500km away. It's an 8 hour trip one way. Home tomorrow. I took him out some coffee before he left. Half of the tautliner is taken up with 4, yes I did say 4!!! tyres! Also taking 2 water tanks each 3.5m wide and a large generator and I don't know what else!

 

By the way, that's Lauren's car in the picture for those who don't know.

 I know, it's a Ford! An ultimate "Holmes" sin,  but beggars can't be choosers!

 

 

 

And finally, something to sum up our life! Enjoy:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful Country

 

    Just wanted to share a couple of photos taken yesterday out our way. 

 

 Yesterday, Dave rang to ask me if I could drive out to Roper Bar and pick him up as he had to take his truck out there to leave with another driver whose truck had broken down. Now, Roper Bar is 290km from Katherine, so it was a little bit more than just down the road.

 

    Well, I took Chloe and Maddy and some water and crackers and off we went (after swapping Lauren's car for the cruiser). We headed out and off into the wild blue yonder. It was a great afternoon's drive, 3 hours one way actually, before I came upon Dave waiting for me beside the road next to a broken down prime mover (which was half on the road because they couldn't get it off the road due to the brakes being locked on).

 

    The dirt road that I had to drive on was so corrugated, I thought I'd loose all my teeth and that everything that usually rattled on the cruiser, would actually fall off!! None of which happened. I only had to pass a few roadtrains and 2 big quads (roadtrains with 4 trailers) from the mines. I just headed bush for the tabledrain and let them have the whole road to themselves!!

 

    Well, after refuelling the cruiser up at $2.20 a litre at the little Roper Bar store, we were headed back to Katherine. (The reason we had to refuel was because I hadn't spared the horses on the way and did 120 on the bitumen until I turned off the highway then 90 on the corrugates, you gotta skim across the top of them you know!) I know, you didn't think the old cruiser would go like that, but it does. It's held together by a lot of prayer, and dirt!

 

    Anyway, we made it home, tired but in one piece. So, I've just put some pictures on here that Maddy took and a couple of mine too and a video of our 'getting out of the way' for the trucks. Oh and at the end of the video, Maddy is trying to count the tyres, but the truck went too fast for her!

 

Here's a shot of the road and it's corrugates!

 

 

Termite nests are abundant out here and in varying colours depending on the soil

 

 

Had to cross the Roper River, don't think I'd swim in it tho....Crocs!!

 

 

Dave thumbs a ride!

 

 

 

 

And here's the video!

 

 

Hope you enjoyed the news.

 

 

 



 

Latest News

Well, we have just finished a week of having mum and dad visit, which was great. They had to suffer with the very hot temperatures that we have here in the Top End, but hopefully, it was all worth it! The 40 + degree weather even saw mum jump into our pool to cool off! The girls and I got to drive up to Darwin to pick mum and dad up, so we were able to squeeze in 3 hours of speed shopping to pick up stuff we needed. And of course, we managed to get in 2 op shops before the plane landed.

 

We have started back to school again, much to the girls (and my) dismay! Next weekend, we will have the Hockey's back to visit with their 6 boys, so the house will be very much alive again!

 

Today we visited 2 garage sales and bought up BIG!! Dave is working, so hopefully, he'll like what I found. Some real bargains!! I was so excited at my great finds! Here is a picture of some of it!

I found some more 'old stuff' for my antique shelf, which is already over full, so I think I'll put my order in for a bigger display cabinet! Found a gorgeous old Remington typewriter, some old sewing things, old metal pails and some great baking tins. And of course, my windmill!! Always wanted one of those! Found Dave some great tools and rope and such, so he'll be happy!

 

The girls were very excited at finding an army backpack complete with hoochies, hats, mossie net, canteens, camo cover, knife and even some very old coffee sachets and matches (which they kindly donated to my antiques shelf). Of course, Emilee grabbed the knife!

 

So, Chloe and Maddy have happily been playing in their 'shelter' complete with their MRE ration pack, but the heat has driven them back inside.

 

 

 

10 Great things about living in the Territory!

 

1. You can drive at 130km/hr (that is providing you have a car that actually goes that fast without      blowing something up or boiling, which we don't)

 

2. Truck drivers don't need a log book (which can be a bad thing when your husband is able to work 21 hours straight!)

 

3.  You don't need to wear a bicycle helmet (we don't have any bikes yet, so this doesn't apply so far)

 

4.  Learner drivers don't need a logbook and only have to have their learner license for 6 mths before they can go for their P's! (this has made Abbi very happy)

 

5.  You can get a 10c refund on all your cans and bottles (we've done pretty well seeing all the cokes we drink)

 

 6.   You can keep rabbits legally! (Our rabbitsitting is going well as they haven't escaped yet)

 

7.  You can leave your washing on the line overnight and it's dry in the morning, or hang it up for an hour during the day and it's dry (for those of you who live in Malanda, you'll be jealous)

 

8.  Tying down a load on your ute or trailer is an optional extra (which is not so fine when a drum of av gas goes awol in the back of the truck your husband is driving)

 

9.  Being a Territorian allows you to get into Kakadon't, I mean Kakadu, for free! (haven't been there yet)

 

10.  And last of all, if you like very loud and annoying music, you can play it all day and all night at 1 billion decibels, and it's perfectly fine (at least, our neighbours like to think so)

 

Edith Falls and the Leliyn Trail

 

Just sharing a couple of pictures from our little 3km hike we did yesterday up above Edith Falls, 60km out of Katherine. We hadn't had a chance to go before because of Dave's crazy working hours (90 hours last week, 80 hours the week before), so we headed off yesterday morning around 8am to try and beat the 40 degree weather.

 

We hiked up to the upper pool and had a wonderful refreshing swim and then back down to Edith Falls which was beautiful as well. Definitely worth another visit. In the wet season it floods, so is often closed, but hopefully, we can get in a few more visits soon. It was a very hot and sunny, cloudless day, so we were all happy to cool off after our walk. 

 

 

Heading out to Edith Falls. There has been a lot of bushfires lately so there is a lot of burnt country.

 

 

Beautiful scenic view from the walk

 

 

 

 

 

Emilee sits on the edge

 

 

 

 

It was so nice to have some family time adventuring! It's in our blood since our recent jaunt around Australia, we just don't have much time anymore!

 

Stop the world! I want to get off!

 

STOP PRESS!!

 

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!

 

We just had our first rain storm this afternoon! I was so excited and had to run around in it. I managed to take a video, but not until after the wind had died down as I was too busy playing in the rain to remember! My bad!

 

 

This is the first time I've uploaded a video so I hope it's ok. I noticed the quality is not as good when it's resized. Hey, I'm learning! Do I look like a computer geek??

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah! It works!!

Ok, so it looks like it's working now! Thanks to all who have signed up. I'm just posting this so you can see what it is you get on your email for those who don't know! Some of us (myself included) are a little slow when it comes to technology!! Like it that way!

Still Working on it!

Well, I'm still trying to get this 'follow by email' thing to work, so I've decided to post again and see what happens this time! Here's a couple of pics of Chloe's cast that she got us and the Hockey family to sign.

 

Life is Crazy but Fun!

Well, the last few days in the Holmeses house has been crazy, noisy and fun. We have had the Hockey family with their 6 boys staying with us. The girls have been really enjoying the company and have been busy playing ping pong, swimming, having nerf gun fights, eating heaps and lots lots more. Dave has been busy working so we haven't seen much of him unfortunately. We are going to rabbitsitting the Hockey's 2 rabbits while they are away so that will be a new experience for us. 

 

10 kids in the kitchen doing the dishes!! And my kitchen is not very big!! (one is missing).

 

We blew up all the inflatables and put them in the pool to add to the mayhem! Unfortunately, they have mostly all deflated themselves :(  

 

 

And here is a picture of sweet little Isaac!