Oh Dear! I went Walkabout!

walkabout

ˈwɔːkəbaʊt

noun

noun: walkabout; plural noun: walkabouts; noun: walk-about; plural noun: walk-abouts

1. 1.

   Brit.

   an informal stroll among a crowd conducted by an important visitor.

   "the prime minister went on an impromptu walkabout"
2. 2.

   Austral.

   a journey (originally on foot) undertaken by an Australian Aboriginal in order to live in the traditional manner.

And in such gorgeous country like this, why wouldn't you? (taken from Central Australian Tourism)


But seriously, I'm so sorry.....I had the very best of intentions and a wifi connection that wouldn't keep up the pace!  In the end I just had to give up until it was sorted.  Such is life in remote regions I guess.  And upon asking at the local Telstra office about that cabling that was supposed to have been in by now (I asked the same question last year on arrival) I was told just as jubilantly by a fresh faced customer service officer that it would definitely be ready in 'about a year'.  Aaaaaah the good old NT Rubber Time......*sigh*

Did you know...that NT stands for:
Not TODAY
Not TOMORROW
but if you're lucky
NEXT bloody THURSDAY~!

It's true.

Anyhoo, I digress.

In early days in this blog (HA! who am I kidding that's all I got up to!) I used to have the time to go to the lovely little public library and finish posts on their comparatively fast PC's. BUT alas, not so much time to spare nowadays.  You see, we have settled in well, better than anticipated even.  So much so that between, school, work, the kids sports, my 'stuff' and our new life, I really didn't get a lot of time to do that.  BUT I am excited now that I have sorted out our connection issues because I have SO much to share with you!! 

We have had some ups and downs, and visited some amazing places since I last wrote you, but hopefully now with the benefit of retrospect I will be able to offer a bit more insight into those great places I want you to come and see for yourself (and avoid our camping sagas like this last weekend where we ended up back in town at 9pm ordering pizza to take to the hungry hordes back at the campsite....umm yep, an all new camping low lol).  I am really looking forward to sharing some fantastic family adventures you can do on a budget, as well as some fabulous local secret spots if you don't have time to get too far out of Alice.  I LOVE to travel, and ever since I stepped foot in to the Territory I felt it was a very special place (way back when I was a wee Lassie of 19 landing in Darwin after a 36 hour bus ride with $80 in my back pocket.  Seriously, my poor Mother!....) & I hope this blog inspires you to come and see, no FEEL it for yourselves.  With probably a lot of tongue in cheek, I am looking at compiling some bush camping tips so you can get out here and have it all to yourself, just for a bit, so that you can let these ancient sacred lands recharge your soul too.  Now I am not going to pretend that I have been everywhere and seen everything there is to offer here.  But I will say that what I have seen is truly spectacular and unique and genuinely worth your time and effort.

I still have so much to tick of my list around here that I just don't know when we are going to fit it all in.....

......and there it is. 

We have signed our lease for another 2 years....though we still really miss 'home' & family and do occasionally feel landlocked (at least we don't have to worry about Jaws...) the kids are happy here, their school is great, Hubby loves his work and so do I.  We have been able to address some pressing issues while here & last but not least, we have made some truly special friends which was unexpected and & an amazing bonus to this journey for us. 

What are you waiting for?  Oh sorry, me again!

In the meantime, go and get yourselves a great travel mag, like the ones my hubby is partial to...like 4WD Australia, the Lonely Planet Outback Australia or for some eye candy head over to Explore Uluru's site or the NT Tourism site:
http://www.travelnt.com/

Thanks for popping in,
Aretyehenge (pr: Arich you nung a) local Indigenous (Arrende) lingo for See you later!