Category: July 2018

Back to work again on Thursday and Friday and working with Tiff so that was good.  She heads off on holidays for the next two weeks, so will be working with someone else next week.  She definitely makes work fun.

I was meant to work again tomorrow on Saturday but they were quiet and asked if anyone wanted a day off they could have it.  I almost dislocated my shoulder with my hand shooting up into the air.  So annoying though as we could have planned to go away if we had known I would have the weekend off.  It is so hard not having set shifts as you just can’t book anything in.

The application process is progressing with Woolies and I am waiting to hear confirmation of whether or not I have the job.  I have been playing phone tag with the Woolies Recruitment team due to not being able to take calls during my shifts at the Resort.  Hopefully we can line up a time to talk on Monday.

Pay day again today and once again had a laugh lining up and collecting my cash envelope from the General Manager.  Whilst it is amusing, it is also annoying to then have to drive to the bank to deposit the cash.

In the evening we headed over to the resort restaurant next door for dinner.  It is really nice that it is still so warm after dark and you can walk there and back, I do enjoy that.

I finally had a day off from work and cleaning, but with working so much our van and ensuite was in much need of some cleaning.  So I did cleaning on my day off.  The good thing is I didn’t need to achieve this in 25 minutes.  So I took my time and worked through my list of things as well as catching up on the blog. Continue reading “Day 186 – 18th July 2018 – Darwin”

I got to work again with Tiff today and again she was a lot of fun.  I am starting to feel pretty exhausted and really need a break.  Club Tropical has signed a contract with a Business to house some of their staff and the first large group will arrive this week.  Work is crazy trying to get enough rooms cleaned and prepared for this onslaught on Friday.  No rosters have been given and I seriously need some days off, so I asked the Housekeeper Superviser what days I am working and what days I am off.  Apparently no days off were scheduled so I requested one and I now have Wednesday off – whoop whoop.  Bliss.  I have to be back for Thursday, Friday and Saturday as these will be the busiest.  Glad I asked as I couldn’t have done 7 days straight!  We had to work through till 4.30pm today which is a killer.  You really notice the additional hour at the end of the day. Continue reading “Day 185 – 17th July 2018 – Darwin”

Nothing too exciting to report today.  I worked another shift at the Resort and I finally caught up on some blogs!!!  Today was the first time I have blogged since we arrived in Darwin and I was definitely missing the interaction with everyone.  The longer I left it the more overwhelming it became because there was more and more I had to catch up on.  But I bit the bullet and started filling in the days since we arrived.

Col worked on his videos and pottered around the caravan.  He is getting a consistent number of new subscribers which is great and his Makita Chainsaw video is growing in views at an incredible rate.  Maybe this might become a source of income in the future.

Today we went to Gunn Point with Angry and Kat to do some fishing.  Gunn Point is about 70km from our Caravan Park.  Unfortunately I have to work on Sunday so we couldn’t camp with the rest of the group this time, but agreed just to go up for the day and try some fishing.

We met Kat and Angry at Maccas at 8.30am.  Unfortunately Kat was coming down with a sore throat and wasn’t feeling well, so she spent most of the day sleeping in the car.  We drove to Gunn Point but took some interesting turns off the main track and ended up in some tricky 4WD spots.  To the point where Col had to get out his chain saw and cut down trees so we could get through!  It was really interesting scenery and the drive was enjoyable although scary at times.  Col and Angry particularly loved it.  We arrived at where we thought we were meeting the rest of the crew later that day, but we were actually at Leaders Creek (we think) and not Gunn Point Beach, it might have been because we took the scenic off-road route there (or because Col was leading the way ).

We walked out across the mud flats and tried fishing with lures in a part of the creek that met the ocean, but didn’t have any luck.  I was fairly scared as I hate the idea of walking through a muddy swamp in a Croc infested area but Col assured me that I would survive and he was right.  It is also scary here the amount of tidal movement and the speed of it.  You can be standing somewhere safely one minute and not notice the water moving quickly and blocking off your exit.  This is especially concerning if there are Crocs around.  Anyway, I had the choice of going with Angry and Col and being brave or staying on my own and fishing in the creek where there are Crocs anyway. I kind of rely on Col’s knowledge of what fish we catch, if they are sizable or edible, if they have poisonous barbs or sharp bits to avoid.  I don’t quite feel ready to fish on my own with the Crocs, so brave I was and off I went.  We didn’t catch anything but we weren’t eaten by Crocs or stranded out there so that is a bonus.

In the afternoon we managed to get the others via the UHF radios and found out they were about 4km south of where we were.  So we drove down to the beach and met another group of great people.  There were 7 dogs of all different shapes and sizes too, two british bull dogs, an Irish Wolf Hound, two Kelpies, a Ridgeback and a Bitzer.  It was crazy.  We hung around there for a few hours and then headed home again.  We just don’t seem to have any luck with the land based lure fishing in Darwin so far.  We need to get the boat in the water I think!  It is well overdue.

Guess what?  I worked again today, totally surprising.

When I got home from work my neighbours Peter and Helen called me over to have a cuppa. It was lovely catching up with them.  They are pretty amazing people, Helen said she didn’t like the fireworks on Territory Day because she remembers living through WWII, so I am guessing they are in their 80s.  They swim twice a day (everyday without fail), ride their bikes and do exercises.  I really enjoy talking with them, they are interesting people.  They have been coming up to Darwin during the winter for the past 10 years but are usually based in Geelong.

Col and I went out to dinner in the evening at the Casuarina Club.  We went to buy alcohol at the Cellarbrations there a while ago and when we went to pay for it the guy said we needed a membership card!  So we had to go into the club and sign up and pay $1 to join.  This allows you to use the other facilities at the club such as the restaraunt, pokies and sports bar.

I had today off to get my car serviced. Angry kindly picked me up  and we then went to the Telstra Building in Darwin to reset my password and access my Group Certificate and other Tax info in preparation for doing my tax return.  Just easier to be plugged into the LAN than trying to do it remotely. Everyone was really friendly and it is way more relaxed in the Darwin office than the Adelaide office.  I was impressed that one of the people we went camping with at Barramundi Gorge, Chris, is an AE and works for Telstra in Darwin and he recognised my voice while I was on the phone.  I had my back to him but he realised who I was and came over to say hi.  Hmmmm maybe I just have a really annoying voice that is easy to pick!  I hadn’t thought about that.  Here I was giving Chris Kudos for knowing it was me

Angry had his weekly one on one meeting with David Lawless, by boss.  So I sat just off screen of the camera and then randomly walked in and sat next to Angry during the meeting.  It was great to catch up with David and we had many laughs and enjoyed talking about the journey so far.  Thoroughly enjoyed my day at Darwin Telstra.  Angry and I went to lunch but unfortunately Col and Kat couldn’t join us.  Then I did a bit of shopping and errands and Angry dropped me back to my car.

Angry played a bit of a practical joke on me that is a Darwin Tradition apparently.  I am not meant to say anything to Col about it as Angry plans to get him too.  Col generally doesn’t read the blog, so I should be safe sharing it on here   There is something called a ‘Salty Plum’ and true Territorians actually like these things.  Angry insisted on buying them and pressuring me to have one, which I really didn’t want.  I eventually accepted and started eating one, more to shut him up than for any other reason.  I did notice that he didn’t eat his though which made me immediately suspicious.  It wasn’t really bad but wasn’t overly enjoyable either and I questioned why he wasn’t eating his and he started laughing.  At this point I grabbed the plum out of my mouth and threw it in the bin.  Angry was still laughing and told me to look at my hand which which was bright iridescent orange!!!!  I then realised that so is my tongue and possibly teeth and lips.  Apparently someone gave one to Angry right before he had to go to a Customer meeting the first time, so he felt compelled to get someone else with the joke.  Luckily I wasn’t at work and speaking to Customers but I did need to go to the bank and pick up my car and I spoke very strangely, trying not to open my mouth very much and avoid showing my tongue, teeth and lips.  People must have though I was very odd.  Anyway I will let you know if and when Angry finally gets Col with this prank as well.

Monday and time to go back to work.  I was certainly feeling it after working 3 days, then camping for two and then back at work again for another 3.  My body isn’t appreciating me very much.  Col only has a very mild dose of Mondayitis, it is not as bad in Darwin for some reason.  I got to work with good people this week and the shifts all went pretty smoothly.

Col is facing the usual challenges working on a big project with tight timelines, but he is getting good feedback on the work that he is doing so he is happy about that.  There are a lot of people changing and leaving roles which is making an even bigger challenge for the project.

Chris and Shannon cooked bacon and cheese damper on the hot coals in the morning for breakfast and we packed up our camp and headed off.  Some people were going to stop in at Gunlom Falls on the way, but as we had a 3 and a half hour drive ahead of us and a pack up when we got home, we decided not to stop.  Both Col and I had to go to work on Monday so needed some time to wash clothes and get organised.  We are keen to go to Gunlom Falls, so a good excuse to come back again!

It was another funny drive home with lots of radio banter on the way and once unpacked at home, Col and I enjoyed a relaxing evening.

The people in Darwin are so friendly and inclusive, it is such a great part of the experience of being up here.  I think that people are used to new people coming and going all the time and there just isn’t the clicky culture that you find at home.  We have certainly enjoyed it.

We were up really early to finalise the packing and had a half hour drive ahead of us to get to Maccas by 7.30 where we were meeting Kat and Angry.  So it was about 5.30am and still dark when Col was trying to put the Port-a-loo on the roof of his car.  Unfortunately he lost control of it and and it rolled off the roof, hitting his bonnet then bouncing and rolling down the road making an almighty racket!!!  Lights switched on around the caravan park nearby with people wondering what the hell was happening.  Hoping people will still talk to us after this effort.  Unfortunately it made a small dent on Col’s car too so he was not impressed with the start to the day.  On the flip side it was before our trip so the toilet was empty…. could have been a whole lot worse really hahahaha.

We met Kat and Angry at Maccas at 7.30 and then did the 3 hour drive to Barramundi Gorge, Maguk in Kakadu National Park.  We stopped off at a petrol station about an hour out of Darwin to meet up with Lenny who joined our convoy.  My sides were hurting with laughter by the time we got there, there was a lot of very funny banter on the radios during the drive.

We got to Barramundi Gorge and then set up camp.

Once we were unpacked and set up we headed off for a 2km hike to the Gorge.  There were some really tricky parts to navigate but the hike was beautiful and so was the waterhole.  There is a larger part at the bottom where most people go, but we were told about an unsigned turn off half way along to get to the upper waterhole above the main waterfall.  We went swimming in some fresh water plunge pools and swam up to a warm spring waterfall.  Such spectacular scenery.

There are warning signs when hiking about Salt Water Crocs inhabiting the area.  The start of the walk is through a swampy area but you are on a path with rails for most of the way.

I really loved this section and the colour of the water.  The water is so clear you could see fish and turtles swimming around.  Again this section is inhabited by crocs, so didn’t get too near the waters edge and definitely no swimming here!

This photo shows a little bit of the upper pool where we were swimming.  You could swim along a narrow section with high walls either side to get to the warm waterfall.  It was just breathtaking scenery.  No Crocs here.  It is so important to only swim in areas in the NT that are clearly marked as safe.

This is the view down to the main swimming area below and the waterfall.

Afterwards we hiked back to camp and met up with Dan, Chris and Shannon.  We got the fire going and Kat and Angry cooked pulled pork in the camp oven on the fire.  We had a very funny night which included a game of Up/Down, Up/Up, Down/Down that frustrated many people in the group.  There was a palm tree that had grown at a slanted angle out of the ground and the guys all agreed, after a significant amount to drink, that it would be easy to walk up it.  Col was the first one to accept the challenge and ran up the tree only to fall out and land on his knee!  I was freaking out but he was totally fine.  So all the men decided to attempt this challenge.  I am pleased to report that there were no significant injuries sustained to the best of my knowledge and it was definitely entertaining.  It was a great night with a great group of people.