Friends!

In the midst of the madness over the past 6 weeks or so, there has been some severe lack of posting on our blog.  All apologies to friends and family that read our posts, and in the next week (before our next trip begins...more on that later) we'll try to update you all on what's been going on up here.  Having said that, here is a post about our friends coming to visit way back in June:

To the managers’ amazement, we actually have friends crazy enough to want to visit!!

The scene was set; we had talked the talk while staying with Sally and Landon in Darwin in April. We were now thought to be harbouring the biggest fish in the NT that hook themselves…Disclaimer: our fishing adventures, as previously stated, are catch and release only, as this is a wildlife sanctuary. It was all well and good until they decided they might just have an opportunity to come and visit!! 

This was great news though: never did we think anyone would be crazy enough to voluntarily drive the 300km’s into the middle of nowhere on some of the roughest, rockiest, most corrugated roads in the country. But luck was on our side - a date was set in June and marked on the calendar.

Landon had given us a tray of lures and a rod- Ethan was the most excited about the rod as he could make it lefty! He had also been given the down low from Landon in May on each type of lure and when to use them. I, meanwhile, had bought myself a new rod and reel as I was fed up with spending more time on the bank with the line in knots than actually in the water…

We headed out at every opportunity prior to Sally and Landon’s visit, eager to find the perfect spot that would deliver us the goods. It seemed like the new rods and lures were not popular with the local fish…only the undesirable ones. We began to panic! No one could even get a hit, let alone land one! We emailed Sally and Landon with the bad news and let them know that we would understand if they cancelled their trip.

Sally and I weren’t too concerned about the situation as long as there were books to read, wine to drink and shady trees… Fortunately for our social life, the boys weren’t deterred and we excitedly made plans for the weekend.

We met them on the way in to provide some running commentary and guide them through the washouts and tight bends in the road. We quickly ate some lunch, then headed out for the afternoon. We never quite caught the big one… although I may have hooked it, battled it and saw it roll on the surface before it snapped my line and left me with nothing. Landon definitely caught the most fish and Ethan the biggest. Sally and I had a relaxing time, while also trying our luck from time to time. Ethan and I picked up a few tips from Landon on the art of barra fishing and I’ve decided it’s all rather labour intensive and may or may not be worth the effort. Despite the lack of fish, we enjoyed camping out for one of the nights and were treated to some excellent meals cooked up in their Weber Q.

The weekend was topped off by making a trip to Barunga Festival, an Aboriginal community on the road back to town just 80km’s from Katherine. Sally and Landon were meeting friends from Darwin and we were invited to join, we agreed and were not disappointed. Some 3,000 people attended, many from the communities all across the NT. Gurramul, a world-renowned Aboriginal musician (who even played for Barack Obama), was the main draw and it was just perfect under the stars.

Thanks to Sally and Landon for a fabulous weekend and bringing all the food and conversation we had been missing!