Goodbye Darwin, Hello Ballina

Darwin City from Fannie Bay
Darwin Wave Pool

L-R Back Row: Lincoln, Shae, Gemma, Lisa, Georgie

L-R Front Row: Bailey, Bridgette, Mark & I

Kate, Nick holding Rebecca, Anna, Me, Mark

Ballina Shelley Beach

My 10 days in Darwin went so fast, but it was wonderful to catch up with the family and familiarise myself with how the city is growing. I enjoyed my time weighing & packing beef jerky with my niece and nephew who have a family business in Darwin, as it gave me the opportunity to hear about their comings and goings.

My son Mark & I joined in two family dinners - the first one was held at my niece Rosie & Mark's home where I was living. In the photo you will also see Rosie's daughters Georgia & Bailey plus my other niece Bridgette (Rosie's sister), her other half Rob, their young son Lincoln and Bridgette's two daughters Gemma and Shae. Gemma also bought along her friend Lisa. As everyone had worked that day (except me) I made a spaghetti bolognaise to have with a tossed green rocket salad and garlic bread. What I pity I forgot to take the salad out of the fridge and didn't find it until everyone had gone home. Blame it on the tropics...

The second dinner was at my nephew Nick and his wife Karen's home. Their delightful daughter Rebecca and my 2 nieces Kate & Anna, Nick's sisters joined in the BBQ. Nick sells very good quality meat that he gets trucked up from down south, so the porterhouse steaks we had for dinner were top notch.

Finally it was time to say goodbye and leave Rosie knowing she only has 2 weeks before her baby is due. She will be glad to be able to walk instead of waddle! After my 3.5 hr flight from Darwin to Brisbane, Murray met me at the airport and we drove the 2 hrs south to Ballina. He had the B&B set up very comfortably and had even bought us a new full fridge as the B&B only had a small bar fridge which we found out very quickly last time that it was not big enough for us PLUS Murray's bait PLUS his fish catch! The next day we went for a drive around and then had a walk along the sea wall. I took a photo for you all so that you can have an idea of our environment.

Morning Walk, Darwin, Northern Territory

My Morning Walk Route

Encouraging Exercise

Beachside Fitness Station

Danger Sign for Box Jellyfish (click on photo to magnify and read the blurb)

Back to the city of my birth in the Top End of Australia. Darwin sure has grown into a sprawling tropical destination, and is home to my youngest son Mark (25 years old), 1 nephew, 4 nieces, 6 great-nieces and 1 great-nephew. I am staying in a very comfortable self-contained unit underneath one of my niece's house.

This morning I walked out her front gate, crossed the road and in less than a minute I was on a great exercise path that goes right along the Nightcliff beachfront. I was impressed with the efforts to encourage exercise - they had these neat little fitness stations complete with instructions on how to use the equipment. There were certainly a lot of people out taking advantage of the walking/cycling path and the beach itself. You have to be careful swimming in the sea between October and May here and in Queensland, as dangerous jellyfish deliver a nasty and sometimes fatal sting. Such is life in the tropics...when the humidity is the worst and the sea looks so inviting, the safest place to cool off is in your own swimming pool!

Home, Sweet Home

South Bank Brisbane
My son Benn at Coogee for lunch

School friends Liz & Sue with me in Alice Springs

Sun setting on a 'White Gum' tree

'White Gums' homestead

As I am typing this, I am immersed in the countryside of my youth - the red centre of Australia. The red dirt, the white trunked green/blue gum trees and the blue sky are colours so familiar they almost hurt. I am here in Alice Springs to attend the 80th birthday of the mum of my 'oldest' girlfriend - we met 46 years ago. Her parents had the only dairy farm in the area during the 'ten year drought' of 1956-1966 (I arrived in Alice in 1961 and left at the end of 1968) and my favourite times were the weekends spent on their dairy farm. Ah, memories - I was on the property yesterday and walked away from the throngs of family and special guests to just look around me and take in the 'aura'. A truly magical place of remembrance for me. Check out just one of the White Gum trees that they named their property after! Whilst here in Alice I stayed with another of my school friends, and also caught up with another two. It has been fun reminiscing about our life back then.

But I digress...after our usual 13 hour flight from Australia to Brisbane, my sister Loretta met us at the airport and whisked us through the early commute traffic to a hotel on the south of Brisbane. We then met up with my other sister Rose, brother Tracy and his son Greg and had champagne with lunch. How decadent. We knew to overcome jet lag we should stay up until night time, so although Murray succumbed and had a mini-sleep, Loretta and I took a lovely walk along the river on the south end of Brisbane city where they have created an artificial beach. Beautiful. The next day we put Murray on a plane to Melbourne and he caught up with his three kids and attended the football grand final. Sadly his team lost on the day.

My 93 year old mother was in fine form and happy to have me back home safely. Then it was time for lunch with 3 of my sisters and another brother and their spouses. So within 30 hours of arrival I had caught up with all of my family (except my Aunt in Ballina who I will see very soon).

Within 4 days I flew to Sydney and spent a fabulous day & evening with my son Benn, and my nephew Pete and his fiancee Sam who joined us for dinner. After I leave Alice Springs I will fly to Darwin (tomorrow in fact) and spend a week with my youngest son Mark. From Darwin I will join Murray in Ballina where we will stay in our B&B by the river for the next 6 months before returning to the USA and our 2 month RV trip to Alaska commencing 1 June.