Four Wheel Driving with Don and Louise

What a blast! We originally went out to see some big crocodiles on the Lower Ord River, but on the way, Don decided to show us some of the tracks he takes his students on for the four wheel drive course. We only saw two crocs and they were too far away for pictures. There was lots of bird life though, and the scenery was amazing!

Going over Ivanhoe Crossing (this is the old road to Wyndham) not passable in the wet season as you can well imagine!

The edge, right outside our window!!!

Stuck in the sand...bring out the shovel!

The ladies (Louise, Marlene and I) stayed out of the truck for this one. From the inside it looked really scary, but doesn't look so bad from the outside!

Our fishermen....

...and Louise and I trying to get their attention! :)

Lovely scenery!

Mum Patterson's visit and El Questro tour

Well, Eldon's mum has been and gone already! Time flies when you are having fun!!! And we did have lots of fun! These pictures are from the day Mum and I went to El Questro Wilderness Park.

WALK THROUGH EMMA GORGE

The huge red walls were amazing to see....

This is looking into Emma Gorge. The waterfall is at the end....our goal!

There were some magnificantly coloured pools along the way. This one is called Turquoise Pool because of the algae that grows in it.

Interesting things: Me swimming in the freezing cold water at the end of the gorge!!!

And a Merton's water monitor sunning itself on a rock. It was still in the same place on our way back through!!!

ZEBEDEE SPRINGS

These are thermal springs which come out of the ground at about 32 C (85-90 F), not really hot, but lovely and warm. We walked into the springs and had a quick dip. I was too interested in taking pictures so I didn't get in this time.

CHAMBERLAIN GORGE

After lunch at El Questro township, we went on a boat cruise on the Chamberlain River. It was so still and the reflections were almost perfect. Unfortunately, we didn't see any crocs :( but did see a few wallabies and birds.

Interesting things: Croc trap with a horses leg inside. Apparently they had spotted an 18-foot croc in Chamberlain Rive and they were trying to catch it. Unfortunately, we didn't see any crocs!

And last, but not least, a "cute" little turtle who tried to bite my finger off when I was stupidly coaxing it to the surface!!

Well, I think I've bombarded you with enough pictures...if you want to view the whole album, go to Our Pictures .

Long overdue "new" house pictures

We've been in our "new" house since April...and I've been promising pictures since then. Here they finally are. Not much, but enough for us!

Small kitchen..only room for one!

Living Room...lovely with the sun coming in

Living room again from the hallway

Guest Bedroom....hint hint!

Kitchen/Living room area

...On the street where we live. Hospital on the left, complex on the right

Eldon and I in front of our block

BACK ONLINE!!!!

Well, here we are, back again. Sorry for the long delay...you've probably given up on us!!! :)

Since our last post on March 30th, we've moved house, lost the internet for more than a month (ahhhhhh), bought a new laptop. and a lot of other boring stuff like that.

On the exciting side, we had our special meetings and 3 of the workers came to stay with us! Our four workers were Gary Packard and Winnie Melville from WA, Linda Larson and Pauline Turner from SA. (It is about equal distance for each pair to come up here.)

Here is Gary in his nice apron, our chef for the night! Eldon and I are with Linda Larson (Eldon knows her and her family quite well). The last picture is the four workers; Gary, Pauline, Linda, and Winnie. We felt very privileged!

We are loving our new little flat...pictures to follow once I get it clean enough :) .....and our lives are going along pretty normally.

We've adopted a cat, or rather it has adopted us! We are really just like grandparents; invite it in, give it a pat, and send it on its way again! His name is Buster and he's very much like our cat at home, Hugo. He lives in a flat just down from us, and he is very, very friendly!!!

My studies are getting along just fine. I'm into the practical portion of the course, and I have a feeling I'll be there for a little while!

Eldon is working flat out, as you can see. These pictures are from his week at Drysdale Station, where Alligator Airways base a plane in the dry season.

I'm not sure what kind of spider this is...but it sure made Eldon forget about going to the toilet! It is sitting on the cistern at Drysdale Station.

These are amazing falls...King Falls I think. An American actress was killed by a crocodile under these falls in the '80s.

Now that we are into our dry season, these bush fires will happen more and more. Some are accidental, some are not.

Well, that's a quick update in our little lives. I'll try to be better at posting new stuff on here!

Hope everyone is well!

Works Tour with Eldon!!!!

Sunrise at Alligator Airways

For the first time in a few years, I went on a flight with Eldon!

The company he works for, Alligator Airways, does a scenic flight called the "Works Tour". The company is really good about letting wives and family of pilots on the flight for a reduced rate if there is a spare seat. So I managed to get myself a seat last Saturday! It was a really good day for a flight...not too bumpy! It's technically still the "wet season" so there was plenty of water on the ground and flowing in the rivers. The waterfalls were pretty spectacular!

Waterfalls off the Berkley River

Mitchell Falls

King George Falls

The tour is about 4 hours of flying with a stop at Kalumburu (an Aboriginal community) for a ground tour and lunch. We were given a tour of the museum by the local Catholic priest. They have a really interesting collection of all sorts of things from around the world. Kalumburu was bombed during the second World War and he has things from that.

Lunch at Kalumburu

OutBack refueling!!!!!

We flew down the Ord River to do some croc spotting and then out to the coast where we saw 2 huge crocs swimming! We were going a bit too fast for me to get pictures of them though!

Eldon talked the whole time about the different areas and things to watch out for....he is really very good at his job as a pilot/tour guide! It was so good to finally see what he really does all day! :) :)

Berkley River...beautiful!!!

Ord River and Ivanhoe plains just outside of Kununurra

These are only a few pictures from our flight...to view the rest go to Our Pictures