October and the birds

 Birds were the theme this month! I spotted a tawny frogmouth nest in the trees next door, within eye line of my dining table. A couple of days later there were 2 chicks, and they quickly grew! I was away when they fledged, the nest is already empty, but I hope they will nest there again because the internet says they do get attached to nest sites.

I had a spontaneous opportunity to see the Billy Elliot musical at Newy Civic. The production was excellent. The singing was excellent. The dancing was very good. I think the simple poignant moments were my favourite - the mum's letter duet, the ballet with young and adult Billy. I also liked the grandma's song. None of the songs were memorable, they tried to be catchy but they weren't songs you'd want to listen to again and memorise the words obsessively, the 80s music from the film was more iconic.

The second half of October was holiday! I took off on Wed the 18th on an early flight to Brisbane then on to Darwin and met AM with a hire car, did a quick shop and headed to Kakadu national park. We went straight to Ubirr rock for the sunset, then to the Crocodile hotel at Jabiru for a late pizza dinner. A very long day.

The hire car betrayed us by scraping the road with some plastic next to the front left wheel. The next day we ingeniously repaired it with paper clips, only to have even more plastic fall down, so we ended up scrunching the plastic up and behind something else. This was the approach with the plastic on the front right wheel so we weren't very original.

The photos below are out of order, but basically we had 2 full days, and each day we did some short walks and a cruise. It was hot. But we took a LOT of water, and extra water in the car, and we saw amazing amounts of rock art and stunning views so it was worth it.

This was one of the cruises which was mainly looking at crocodiles, hearing about culture and the uses of trees, and stepping off onto the Arnham Land side to see a fresh water spring.

This was a walk we did where we actually got a little bit lost due to going backwards, we missed a sign, ended up on an access path, and some rangers turned us back. We were excited to show him our park passes and ID and tell him we had water. Turns out a woman was getting lost and dying in the bush while we were down there so water and getting lost isn't a joke, but we were pretty safe, it was just a bit of extra excitement.

I really liked seeing the art in location on country. Learning that they don't alter anyone elses art but they are allowed to paint over the top of it. Learning the art here is often an xray of the animals showing spines and stomachs. Learning some of the stories about lightening man and about fire woman.

The other cruise we did was a sunset cruise on the yellow river, which was fantastic for birds. So many birds! I had my binoculars, AM had a camera with a good zoom so these are her photos.

First, a great billed heron which we were told is rarely spotted.

Another highlight was the Jacanas, this is the parent with the babies all tucked up in it wings! I saw this as a photo when I was a child it was cool to see for real.

This is one of the babies.

This is the babies on my phone camera, as you can see, TINYYYYYYY.

We enjoyed the restaurant at the hotel - a lovely buffet breakfast, and some very delicious dinners. We had some afternoon swims in the pool to cool down. Ginger beers in the pool under the big shade cloth umbrella.

On Saturday, we headed back to Darwin, with a stop at a wetland with a nice shady viewing hide, saw many many other birds.

We didn't fill up with petrol in Jabiru so we had some excitement when the next petrol station had no pumps and it was 100km to Bark Hut. Some calculations on the fly around probably tank capacity and fuel economy, we decided to risk going forward instead of back to Jabiru. While the petrol light came on before Bark Hut, we were successful in not running out of fuel!

Here is the apartment building in Darwin CBD. We did another little shop, I bought ingredients as well so that I could cook and eat in the apartment, AM had a conference all the next week. We went straight out for dinner on the wharf for another sunset, we had Thai. 

We both went to different churches on Saturday morning. I caught the bus up to Nightcliff, went to a local market that was very cool, resisted buying screen printed dresses and parrot earrings, then walked to the anglican church. My friend wasn't there due to being sick, but I had a few other connections from the past and they were very friendly. 

On Sunday night we went to Mindil Beach for more markets, these were big ones, dinner and sunset at the beach. We no longer had the hire car, and it was a 40 min walk, so we decided to be crazy and ride the Neuron scooters. We made it back safely.

On Tuesday night we went to an asian restaurant nearby called Lazy Susans. Really nice.

I did Darwin at a fairly relaxed pace. I did some stuff in the morning, then would spend the afternoon at the apartment, chill down at the pool. Some of the stuff I did was, the botanical gardens and the museum/art gallery, the WW2 oil tunnels, and generally walking around the CBD looking at op shop, book shop, boutique, cool cafe. Anything that looked interesting and cool inside. 

On Monday, my friend was feeling better so in the afternoon she picked me up, we had lunch at a cafe in the industrial area that was very good, and then back at her place she taught me how to make polymer clay earrings. It was fun, very complicated, and I was very satisfied with my creations. In the evening we walked Charlie at the beach. The colours of the rocks and caves were stunning, and the water also stunning, and a lovely sunset. Shame you can't swim.

On Thursday I was due to fly to Brisbane, so I only went to a cafe for breakfast and then went to the airport. We all got on the plane to leave at 1pm, and then all got off, and then eventually the flight was cancelled. An issue with the wing caused delay, and then the crew had no time to fly. I did pray that all decisions would be made wisely and safely, so i can't complain with this decision. And of all the flights to cancel, this was probably the best. I wasn't making a connection, or trying to meet anyone urgently. I just went back to the apartment, bought maccas, saw AM again, and then went back to the airport in the morning for an 11am flight. I didn't get to spent 2 nights, a full day, with Heather in Brisbane, only one night. So she took me to Eat Street for diner (it was shockingly cold and I only had Darwin clothes!) and we watched the new little mermaid movie.

I used some downtime in Darwin to finish a cross stitch that has been going for almost a decade. I started it some time after I moved to Maitland. It matches one that G gave me! 

I got back to Maitland on Saturday morning, did an evening shop. Music practice on Sunday morning, music at 6pm church. Pretty quiet weekend. Took Monday off too, had some appointments, went to a bad cafe, pilates, pretty chill.

I had some time to think on my break, and I coalesced some vague thoughts into some intentions. Next year I turn 40. I should take some long service leave. I would like to step back from music for a while, sort of take long service leave off church rosters. I want to do life slower next year. I want to not just have a regular quiet time, but a deep quiet time. I want a bit of a change and also to grow, and not just go through the same motions next year. I'm not leaving this to be some kind of big NY resolution that isn't achievable. I am starting training now, to see if it sticks. I'm also pondering what I should cut out, what no longer serves its purpose. I think this blog might have turned into a chore, it might come to an end. I started it before I had a smart phone, and now instagram stories have all that sort of craft and adventure updates. The older I get the less I want to express myself too. A monthly recap has been good as a way to reflect on how I'm going, but it feels more like another job I have to cram in to my life lately. I don't know if it's being squeezed out or outgrown. I'm good at persisting with things for a long long time, and sometimes you need to stop the thing and maybe other things can happen. Anyway if you have been reading along here all this time, thankyou! I'll continue another 2 months and see what happens next year - I might keep going but I won't pressure myself if I don't want to.