Emptying out the park...

Well today we had to say goodbye to another lot of wonderful friends, Kerrie and John. They are from Albury, Vic. and with any luck we'll catch up with them next time we are down that way, or better yet, maybe we'll run into them unexpectedly somewhere in the great beyond! Sorry, too much "Land Before Time" (one of the kids fav. shows). We had a little send off last night, and I do mean little. There are only two couples left now from our original group of 7 "long-termers", and the last ones, Carol and Paul will be leaving on Sunday! As I'm not fond of goodbyes at the best of times, I am glad there will be noone to wave us off when we leave, we can just jump in and hit the road. No tears, just lots of great memories!

Jen sent me some photos from when they were up last month (seems like much longer ago now), and I've added some of them in. Love the one of Nikki on the back of the motorbike with Uncle Chris, she thought it was wonderful, and the other one of Nikki on the swing in her new dress (cute!). The rest are us at the waterpark and the kids in the tent.

My husband officially became unemployed today, YIPPEE!!! Now we can spend some time with him and get on with the rest of this trip. OK, truthfully.... Deb just wants to get to Darwin, but I am glad poor Chris doesn't have to do any more 3am wake ups, and the kids have been missing him something shocking so it's great for them too. We will need to be a bit cautious with the finances, but at least Stevo is catching fish again so maybe we won't starve after all! At the moment he is off trying to catch some red claw (yabbies) at a nearby dam. Just hope he doesn't find a snake instead, the taipans up here are deadly! We sold the motorbike yesterday, although we didn't really want to, we just couldn't fit it on the trailer. Will buy a cheap car in Darwin instead. Well that's news from me for the moment, cheers to you all and take care, Deb.

FISH, GLORIOUS FISH... (AT LAST!!!)

LOOKIE WHAT WE GOT!! Chris, Elliot and Kai went out on a charter while they were up on holidays and came home with these 5 beautiful fish. Kai got a flathead and a mangrove jack, Elliot got the barra, and Stevo got a GT and a morgan's cod. For three yummy meals the eight of us stuffed ourselves with fish. Delicious!
So for all you doubters out there (yes, I mean you two, Holty and Mooka!!!) here are the photos. Official photos of real, beautiful, fresh fish. OK, caught on a charter (to Stevo's disappointment), but still caught and able to be eaten by us, not brought from the shop!
Tans, Elliot and the kids came up for just under a week and although it wasn't nearly long enough, I think they had fun, so now onto the relaxing part of the holiday...

Spent lots and lots of time in the pool. Everyone's skills came along in leaps and bounds. Will learnt to float on his back and to dive. Elliot and Takia also learnt to dive and practiced at every opportunity, getting us to give them a score out of ten to see how they went. We had scores anywhere between 2 and 10 and lots of laughs!

We caught the bus into town one day to go to the water park (we couldn't all fit into Jimny) and the kids had a blast. Poor Chris had to go to work, but the rest of us made the most of it.
Here are Stevo, Deb, Tans and Elliot relaxing after a hard day of swimming and catching up on the news from home. It's a tough job but someone's got to do it!!
We had a going away party for Paula and David while our visitors were up, so they got the chance to meet all the lovely people we have befriended here at the caravan park. They also went to see Chris at work and Kai got a now customary ride in the tractor to see it all up close.
But like all good things must come to an end, so did the holiday :(( I hope they all had a wonderful time, we sure did. Here are the girls (Laura and Takia) spending a little quality time together on the swing.

RIP Bindi

I'm sorry to report some sad news this week...our one and only bus pet has passed away. Dear little Bindi the spiny leaf stick insect died yesterday from unknown causes. She had just shed her skin a few days earlier and although it was the first time she had done that she seemed perfectly normal, just understandably a little sleepy. Over the next few days she got floppier and floppier until finally, thank goodness, she died and put us out of our misery! Laura and I took her out to be buried last night, Chris and Will decided they had more important things to do (go figure!). I said a few nice words over her grave about what a lovely pet she was and Laura sobbed for an hour or so that "she wasn't just a pet, she was family". Then this morning we all woke up to a brand new sunny day and have moved on, so no more sad faces. Despite Laura's insistence that we get another stick insect NOW, we are going to wait until we get to Darwin and spend a little time in Caz's menagerie and hope that satisfies Laura's need for a pet, at least for a little while. Correct me if I'm wrong, but at last count Caz had a couple of dogs, a couple of cats (and photos showing a handful of kittens, maybe not hers??), chickens, ducks and a rat, all in her little backyard. That should give our girl plenty to do for a while. OK, we are off to the pool now. Tans and family arrive in TWO DAYS!! YIPPEE!! Chat more later, that is if anyone out there is actually still reading this site???

Things are heating up...

Jen and I took the girls to the markets in Sarina during their visit. It was a busy morning and after dragging them around to all the stalls we grabbed a bite of lunch and headed off to the beach to cool off. As you can see, a lack of bathing attire was no deterrent to our beautiful girls who stripped off and jumped right in. The next photo shows the little darlings relaxing on the way home...please note: Jen's kids NEVER sleep in the car!!

Just grabbing a quick bite to keep the energy levels up! Laura, Nikita, Will and Hughie having brekkie in the bus.

The weather has been heating up over the last few weeks (early 30's) and the humidity is pushing 50% some days. Building up a bit today and looking like rain but whether we get any or not is anyone's guess. Just getting us ready for Darwin where the temperature will be in the high 30's and the humidity will be in the 90% region...can't wait!! Have been getting lots of emails and photos on the phone from Caz, who just happens to be in Melbourne at the moment and is freezing!

Last week we had to say goodbye to some wonderful friends, Carol and Allan, who have made our stay here in Mirani a really joyful experience. They live in SA we are planning to drop in to see them on the way across the bottom of OZ at the end of 2010. In true Mirani Caravan Park style we cracked out the drinks and nibblees the night before they left, and after lots of chatting and a few tears we gave them an unforgettable send off.

Laura is at the party with Paula and Dave, our friends from NZ.

The Mirani Girls! Kerrie, Carol, Paula, Deb and (Kiwi) Carol.