KATHERINE part 5, 2012

 Riley and Matthew dressed up to attend a party where you couldnt wear any traditional clothing, so they wore shopping bags...so cute

 Mia and Diva having a cuddle

 Riley and Mitchell on their way to Daly Waters Rodeo

 Katherine River at Knotts Crossing

 playing in the creek on a Sunday afternoon

cooling off in the river

BUTTERFLY GORGE Katherine part 4

 Diva and Riley sleeping in

 Up early the next day to walk a 12 klm round trip to Butterfly Gorge .

 Spotted this little fellow, not sure what he is but he looks like a Bilingual Froglet.

 It was a gorgeous day, not too hot but we still worked up a sweat.

 We saw lots of native plants in flower which added colour to the landscape.

 On arrival we found this lovely pool of water which was perfect for a swim.

  There was a small waterfall 

 and Riley played with the fish.

All up a good day spent with Clare and Phoebe, pity we couldn't take Diva.

KATHERINE 2012 part 3

 On the 24th March Mia and i took a walk with Clare and Phoebe at Katherine Gorge. We did the look out loop, Baruwei walk which is 3.7 klm walk. We did it late afternoon and it was just lovely. We've done this walk many times and it never gets boring.

 Mia and Phoebe adding 4 rocks to the pile that someone started.

 Almost there, i can see the lookout.

 The river is still up a bit and a muddy colour, hard to believe we are only 20mins from home.

 I think they are lost !

 Coming down from the lookout you have to climb down lots of stairs which can give the old knees a work out.

On the 1st of April we wished Mia Horton a happy 12th birthday. Each guest made their own cup cake which then became the birthday cake. So pretty.

KATHERINE 2012 part 2

 Mia in her new high school uniform. She is so far enjoying high school and has a good set of teachers and lots of assignments to do !

 Katherine high school swim carnival, Mia is in the red hat, she entered the relay race for her house.

 cheering on the swimmers with the help of a teacher.

 Riley before last Saturdays footy game against Waratahs. The Katherine Hawks won which means they will now play in the grand final next week. Riley flew back for the game and he will fly back again next week, i hope they win. One day when I'm rich i will buy myself a bigger lens, its very frustrating not being able to zoom right in on the action.

I don't know why some of the photos are horizontal when they should be vertical, I've tried to turn them and it will not happen.

KATHERINE 2012 part 1

 We had a lovely Christmas, just the 3 of us.Riley and Diva waiting for lunch. It wasnt to hot so i cooked the roast pork and vegi's. Afterwards we went visiting around town and had a really nice day.The kids got a Wii from Santa and we had a lot of fun doing Just Dance.

 The river came up for a bit but quickly went down again, it's been a terrible wet season, not much rain around.

 Riley wanted a tattoo ....i gave in and took pictures of him in pain, unfortunatley it wasnt painful enough because he wants another one.

 Diva still loves her walks, here she is sneaking up on an unsuspecting Wallaby, dont worry the Wallaby was never in any danger, Diva is not a fast runner.

 Santa gave me a new car, although i had to pay for it. Its a big step down from the Commodore wagon i had but the Commodore was ill and this is all i could afford. It's tiny but there is plenty of room for Mia, Diva and i and it uses no fuel and zips along and its brand new ! I got it in October 2011 and so far i've done 3,600km it should last me a few years. It's a Hyundai Getz 1.6lt, i love it. Parking is a breeze !

KATHERINE IN DECEMBER 2011

We have had a busy few weeks ,as is the norm for this time of the year. I hitched a ride to Darwin last Saturday and watched Riley play football with the Hawks, they beat St Marys,Riley's old team 128 to 38. The heat was incredible and it amazes me how these boys play in it at 2 in the afternoon.

I drove home with Riley because he had Bruce's car. We had a few discussions over who was going to drive, now that Riley has his P plates he doesn't want to sit in the passenger seat, an agreement was hashed out that he would drive to Hayes Creek then i would take the wheel. This allowed me to take photos because there was nothing else to do. We drove through some blinding rain and near Hayes creek i spotted the above rain clouds. It was a long day just over 3 hours up, watch footy for 2 hours, get in car drive back...never went near a shop.

Mia has had a very busy time this month with a class trip to Darwin, school concerts and graduation ceremonies. She has possibly the best teacher ever...or did have, and because of her Mia has taken with her some fantastic memories of her last year at Primary school. The photo above and the ones below show the little skits that Mia's and and Mr K's class did, spoofing each other. It was hilarious....the girls should have won.

it was also emotional for Mia and Christine, who will not be teaching a class next year at Katherine South she is leaving after completing her 10 year sentence.

i loved the end of the ceremony when the year 6 class were all given a helium balloons and lined up on the oval and released them, the tears flowed.

Christine was crying but Riley was there. He went through this 5 years ago when he graduated Christine's class.

he caught up with our darling Iain

and i got a photo of my 2 babies for the last time at Katherine South.

this is Mia at the school Xmas concert, she received the class citizenship award and the Somerville Mentor award...we are very proud.

Christine took the class to Darwin for two fun filled days of swimming at Leanyer and the Wave Pool, Lazar Zone, Museum, breakfasts at the Botanic Gardens and Lake Alexander, bowling and dinner at the sailing club and Fasta Pasta. They slept in the gym at Darwin High School and i drove up and joined them for the last night but i don't do gym floors anymore so i happily left them to it and booked into the Mirembeena hotel.

On the way home we stopped at Emerald Springs for lunch and a surprise birthday cake for one of the girls who turned 13. This is Christine demonstrating how you eat cake the Scottish way.

The year 6 class also had their grad dinner at the River Lodge and they all dressed up and looked beautiful. I have tried everything to turn this photo but it wont turn.

To end this busy month of December the long awaited arrival of Mr K's first child happened on Monday. Suzanne took the girls up to the hospital so they could give Simone a foot massage and meet Mr K's little boy, Yonaton, i hope i spelt that right...it's the Jewish form of Jonathon. Mia said he is gorgeous and has his dad's eyes and same shape head. She cant wait to babysit Yoni.

Two more sleeps till Christmas. Work tomorrow then one last assault on Woolies and that's it till next Thursday when i go back to work. If the cyclone stays away from Darwin i am going up on Tuesday with Suzanne and the girls for some retail therapy, therapy for them and change of scenery for me. Have a Merry Christmas.