Farewell to the Top End

We moved out of Darwin on Saturday 16 December, and bid a sad farewell to some fantastic friends and family. Given we could no longer expect David, Jess and Chloe to our table on a regular basis, we compiled a collection of their favourite recipes and gave them a (broken) aioli jar, and a mandolin slicer.

For our other friends, who became our Darwin family we know that our goodbyes are not permanent, and that we will catch up regularly with them all. I will miss the dinners and events we shared – they were really good fun with wonderful people. Some of those friends also moved from Darwin, whether for work or service reasons, and we now have friends spread even more broadly across this wide brown land.

A snapshot of my work colleagues last year...

To Rob, Kim and the boys; Brad, Danni and the girls; Bec, Brendan and kids; Jen, Mark and the girls; Holly, Scott and the kids; Kiah and Chris and our Army colleagues – thank you for your friendship and support during our time in the Top End. Whilst nothing makes the climate easy, you guys certainly eased the burden!

We will go back, but not to live. We will visit regularly – particularly to spend time with David, Jess and Chloe. MacK and Hugo had a great relationship with Chloe and we want to make sure they have a chance to maintain that. We want to take Hugo to El Questro when he can appreciate it (I know it is in WA, but the jumping off point will be Darwin…), and there are a number of other natural wonders to keep returning to. We won’t miss the humidity, but there is a very attractive charm about the Northern way of life.

Clockwise from Top left: David and Jane at her significant birthday dinner in December...; MacK and Oli after their last Aussie Hoops training session; Proof that Jane can be girly from time to time!; MacK and a couple of his crazy beautiful mates from Darwin; Santa Crawf and Jess at the Livingston Volunteer Fire Brigade Christmas party; MacK with Mereme Hyde - his Yr 1 Darwin teacher; MacK with Katy Aspin - a brilliant educator and his teacher in Transition (2016).

Enjoying a slightly cooler and less humid Christmas...