Bath time fun

Mummy does a great 'Jaws' impression, don't you think?

Gove Christmas adventures

Christmas day 2010 in Gove was just as much of an adventure as everything else in our lives.

Miriam wasted no time, waking us up at 6am as usual. Allan wanted to sleep in but those Christmas morning's had passed - now we have a child to contend with. There were presents to open, breakfasts to make and Church to go to.

Unlike last Christmas when she was 3 months old, this year Miriam took a great interest in opening her own presents - and some of ours as well! She ripped off the paper and then shredded it all over the floor (Yay) before inspecting each gift. She didn't quite grasp the concept of 'more'. Allan and I kept telling her to put the present down and open more, but all she wanted to do was play with the one in her hands. Thus our Christmas morning present opening took a long time.

Opening her present from Opa and Oma

Toot toot, here I come

After Church we spent Christmas lunch and afternoon with a few close friends and their families at the Giles' house. Lunch was delicious (even if I do say so myself!) and in true Gove style right after lunch it started to pour with rain.

Christmas lunch at the Giles'

Shortly after the rain came the thunder and lightening and then came the blackout! The power stayed out for most of the afternoon and certainly made for a 'sticky' Christmas.

But it was nothing that a bit more trifle, or cheesecake or pavlova couldn't fix. Unfortunately we couldn't make a cup of coffee/tea to go with.....no power!

Whilst we did enjoy our day, I must admit we missed our family down south and won't be making a habit of spending Christmas at the other end of the country.

I am not a performing seal

As parents it's funny how many times we try to make our children perform on cue. Whether it's saying the first word they ever learnt over and over again for visitors, showing the Grandparents how they can clap, or getting them to sit still and smile in a photo with Santa.

Miriam as revolted against the 'performing seal' mentality this Christmas and flatly refused to go anywhere near Santa on a number of occasions. Despite my soothing words of encouragement she squealed and squirmed and turned red in the face.

So this is the best we could do this year.....

Maybe next year?

Our (pictorial) year in Gove

A true Territorian - Miri on a quad bike

Miri loves the beach (East Woody Beach in March)

The De Rooy's love Gove

The 'Top Gear' mud challenge

Miriam the water baby

Miriam hanging out with her yapa (sister) and wawa (brother)

Miriam with her Oma and Opa at Gurrumuru


Miriam and her Daddy love The Dragons!

Holly representing Rio Tinto Alcan at Garma Festival

Miriam starred in Holly's work photo shoot

Spending her birthday in hospital felt like jail for Miriam

Allan's great fishing success - the giant Spanish Mackrel

Mmmmm buffalo!

Adventures of H.A.M - Christmas Edition

Merry Christmas everyone! 2010 has been another year of adventures for H.A.M — would you really expect anything else?

Our move to Nhulunbuy (Gove) at the beginning of the year went well. Allan settled in quickly to his new job, despite a few painful weeks of training, and Holly enjoyed catching up with friends and being a stay at home Mum with Miriam.

Shortly after we arrived Holly turned the big 3-0! Our wonderful friends (thank you Christie!) threw her a great party to celebrate this milestone.

In April Holly decided to go back to work at Rio Tinto Alcan 3-days a week, taking on the same role she had when we were here in 2006. In June, Allan’s company handed over the contract for the air medical service to CareFlight and Allan changed companies too.

Both of our jobs have proved challenging in the latter half of the year, but we are determined to stay here for a while longer, knowing this is where God wants us to be.

We are spending Christmas in Gove this year, celebrating with our friends here in town. So as you celebrate Christmas, however you do, remember the words in Isaiah 9:6

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Blame Canada, blame Canada

It's true, I do blame Canada...... for one of the most amazing holidays we have ever had. If New York was crazy and hectic, then Canada (or more specifically Montreal) was the exact opposite.

The Canada part of our trip was primarily planned to visit my former boss at Alcan, Stefano, and his family. We hadn't seen them since they left Australia 3 years ago. Of course at the time we said "sure we'll visit", but have never actually got around to it until now. Thanks to SB and the troops we had a wonderful time experiencing all that Quebec and Montreal have to offer.

After a quite first day mostly recovering from the drive from NYC, I spent the next two days in the Rio Tinto Alcan office meeting my colleagues while Al and Miri amused themselves exploring parts of Montreal.

We shopped in Montreals famous underground shopping and ate their local cuisine (ie Poutine - chips, gravy and cheese). All of my high school French came flooding back to me as we negotiated our way around the city by ourselves. Allan soon learnt that I wasn't kidding when I said "you need to learn some basic French before we get to Montreal". Having said that everyone was very accommodating when they realised (which didn't take long) that we were not French speakers.

SB took us to Old Montreal (kind of the like The Rocks in Sydney but bigger and older) and on the weekend we all went to Quebec City.

Unlike NYC, Canadians appreciate good coffee (particularly SB) so we enjoyed a number of fine coffees in Canada. I would recommend Tim Hortons (coffee chain) for flavoured coffees and yummy doughnuts. Without a doubt thought, my favourite was Beaver Tail. A large flat doughtnut type thing with toppings like caramel or banana, or nutella (see pic below). It's one big piece of fat and sugar but boy did it taste good MMMMMMM!

They also have fantastic bagels. There was one place that open 24hrs. We drove past at 11pm and got a dozen bagels for breakfast the next morning. They made the car smell soooooo good.

Now it's time for "Canada - the best bits" in pictures

Miri falling in love with Stefano's dog, Benji

The leaves in Quebec City



Miri playing in the leavs in Quebec City

Our first Ice Hockey game (Montreal Canadiens v New Jersey Devils)

BEAVER TAIL!

Parental abuse

I have no idea where she gets it from but Miri has decided it's hilarious to kick Al in the butt while she's on the swing



Take a look for yourself.....

Empire State of Mind - New York (the Best Bits)

Our week in New York was crammed with so much stuff I thought I would just give you the highlights. I call it The Top Ten things to do in Holly's New York.

Eat a bagel at Esa Bagels on 53rd but skip the coffee no matter where you are
New Yorkers make great bagels (particularly the ones we had at Esa Bagel in midtown) but their coffee culture is about 10 years behind Australia. Remember those days when filtered or percolated coffee was popular? Well the US is still stuck in that timezone. They haven't moved on to the joy of espresso.

Go to the New York Public Library just to look at the building (and pretend you are starring in The Day After Tomorrow)
New York has many spectacular building but I think the Library was my favourite. Whilst others may be bigger (ie Empire State Building) and others may be more arty (ie The Guggenheim) there is nothing quite like the peaceful aura of a library.

Times Square during the day is just as interesting as at night
As crazy as it may appear in the movies, Times Square can be quite sedate during the day. If you want to experience the craziness, just go on a Friday night. We could barely move and poor Miri...all she saw was people's legs. The Toys R Us store is a must, check out the life sized ferris wheel and the giant Lego Empire State Building.

Eat a hot dog from a 'weaner cart' and a slice of pizza for 99c
Pizza in NY (I can't speak for the rest of the US) is soooooooo much better than here in Australia, and BIGGER! I could of eaten pizza everyday but there were so many other culinary delights to sample. AND for a great burger and an even better experience go to Bill's Bar and Burger under the Rockafeller Centre.

Shop, shop, shop till your drop
Macy's is a must (cute Calvin Klein baby outfits were 40% off), as is a peek at Victoria's Secret (not telling you what I bought there!) but the greatest bargains are to be had at Century 21 in NY's business district. You might have thought Wall St was just for the stockbrokers, well think again. Get your Guess jackets, DKNY Jeans and Harajuku t-shirts just around the corner like we did.

Let out your inner tourist
There is no denying it. Somehow when you are in a foreign country (even a western one) you still look like a tourist. So embrace that tourist-look and buy an I "heart" New York t-shirt (one for each member of the family), a Yankees baseball cap and hop on the open-topped bus for a tour of the city. It's better if it doesn't rain, but you'll get to see all the sights and hear some great commentary from the guides.

Forget Empire State, go Top of the Rock
Never have I had better travel advice from a friend. Needless to say we didn't take it and did both. Top of the Rock (Rockafeller Centre) has a better view, is better organised and less crowded. Empire State Building is disorganised, takes forever to get to the top and when you finally get there, the view is somewhat disappointing. We went up the Empire State at night. One side was closed because of the winds and it was so crowded we could barely move. If you managed to get to the edge you had to try and hold your camera between the pieces of wire fencing to take a picture.

Overspend at the M&Ms store
Go crazy chocolate style! Whether it's buying baby suits with the M&Ms characters on them or getting way too mmany pounds from the wall of coloured M&Ms, you really can't go wrong. Try a peanut butter M&M (my personal favourite) before indulging in the new pretzel M&M. And when you're finished eating you can apply your M&M lip balm.

Take a walk through Central Park
The most amazing park I have ever seen. For starters it's huge, some ridiculous number of hectares in the middle of one of the largest cities in the world. Apparently when they 'built' it they actually knocked down buildigns and reclaimed the space from the concrete jungle that is Manhattan. Way to go NYC! Try out one of the 17 different playgrounds, chase a squirrel or hire a bike and join the hundreds of others cycling round the park. Finish it off with a trip to the Central Park Zoo. But don't expect to see any of the characters from Madagascar.....they don't exist. :(

See a Broadway Show (or The Knicks - whichever takes your fancy)
Definately the highlight of the whole trip (well for me anyway) was seeing Promises, Promises on Broadway. Starring Sean Hayes (formerly of Will & Grace), it would have to be one of the most entertaining shows I have seen. I don't think I stopped smiling during the whole show or for hours afterwards. If Broadway doesn't take your fancy then take a leaf out of Al's book and catch a Knicks game at Maddison Square Garden (which is actually round). Al saw the Knicks play the Washington Wizards and in the breaks was able to do some celeb spotting including P Diddy and the guys from Good Charlotte.

So that's my top ten things to do in New York. If you think that's a lot, there was sooooooo much more I didn't even tell you about. Well, you'll just have to come round for a coffee to hear the rest.

Stay tuned for my round up of Canada and Maine.

International travel with a one year old

Are we mental? Some people would certainly think so. But it wasn't all that bad.

We made it safely to NYC after 21 hours of flying. Miri was an absolute trooper. She slept most of the flight from Sydney to LAX and spent the rest of it watching Sesame Street and Elmo's world episodes on my inflight TV. The A380 Airbus is a great plane. Really quiet and loads more space in the toilet for nappy changes. The QANTAS staff were nice enought but more preoccupied with fawning over the semi-celebrities sitting behind us than serving anyone properly.

Once in LAX we had to change to American Airlines for our flight to NYC. After cruising through customs (yep the people in Sydney are scarier than those in LAX) we had to transfer to domestic and go through another million security screenings. If I lived in the US I'd rethink frequent air travel - it was a pain in the ass.

Miri slept some more on the AA flight while Al and I ate the only food left on the flight by the time they got to us in the back row - Stax Chips (like Pringles in the tube).

Although tired when we arrived in NYC it was great to finally be there. A bit of fuss trying to pick up the keys to the apartment but other than that we go to our place in Midtown pretty easily and settled in for bed. Miri went straight to sleep (surprise surprise) and Al and I woofed down a pizza (so hungry!) before crashing out in bed. All of us slept to 10am the next morning.

Have started a celebrity spotting list. So far on the A List is Elijah Wood. Way down on the F list was Anthony Callea and his boyfriend Tim "can remember his last name" who sat behind us on the flight to LAX. Miri played peek-a-boo with them through the seats.

More on our New York adventure soon.

Miriam's first steps - The backyard challenge

Like any good parents, as soon as Miriam could put one foot in front of the other we decided to challenge her to see how good she really was.

Our backyard, like many, is not a flat surface and so we decided to see if Miriam could work out slopes. I might add this was about 1 week after learning how to walk.

Let's see how our little champion goes.....

The first steps

Just days before her first birthday our little girl decided it was time to walk

Note my wonderful albeit partial rendition of incy wincy spider

Our feral bush child

It's getting clearer by the day, our little girl is turning into a feral bush child. This little cutie loves to get her hands on dirt, sand, leaves and anything else she can find whenever we are out bush. Forget trying to keep her clean, it's easier to let her get dirty and then throw her in a bath when we get home.

These pictures were taken just outside of Nhulunbuy at Rainbow Cliffs, where we were enjoying an afternoon picnic with our friends and their 2-week old daughter. Miriam was enjoying her surroundings and showing her appreciation by eating them!

Learning to drive already

We borrowed this car from a friend of ours. Miri has taken an instant shine to it, but has only worked out how to go backwards so far.

Can't believe we have a 10 month old now.....on the downhill run to the big 1

The art of rasberries

One of Miriam's new talents is 'the rasberry'. It's hilarious.....except when she's eating food!

De Rooys vs Wild - the sequel

We are gluttons for punishment and in love with this dry season weather so just before Al's parents (hereafter known as Opa and Oma) hit the road back to Katherine we decided to all head to Gurrumurru for the night. Now there wasn't any further bogging adventures but that doesn't mean our trip was devoid of excitement.

On the way into the community we decided to measure how far it was we'd actually walked that day. I had bets on 10kms but Opa thought that it was probably only 6kms considering the fact that we were carrying Miri. On arrival in Gurrumurru we were all stunned to find out it was actually 14kms.

The bog spot all dried up - doesn't look too menacing now but it was

After we arrived we discovered that our Yolngu family were still in town even though they were expected to return two days earlier. Oma was disappointed as she had not had the chance to meet any of the family and it didn't look like it was going to happen.

After some initial awkwardness we set-up camp near Bruce & Susan's house and set about getting organised for the night. We were halfway there when we were invited to go down to the saltwater river by Trevor, one of the elders (and Bruce's brother) where some others were fishing.

Opa, Oma and Miri at the saltwater river

Sunset at the saltwater river

Dinner consisted of scotch fillet and potatos on the fire - great camping food. In the throws of getting dinner ready and Miriam to bed, I got eaten alive by mosquitos - it was after we got home the next day I realised I had more than 50 bites. I don't think any of the others had to wear Mozzie repellant, I think they just sat next to me.

Trevor came over after dinner and had coffee and a chat with us. Even though Bruce and Susan weren't there it was great to get to know some of the other people that live in that community. Technically we are related to all of them in some way so it's nice to know who they all are.

Our camp at first light

The next morning we had a very lazy start. When we'd finally packed up and gotten going, Opa and Oma headed straight out and onto Katherine whilst Al and I stayed and went fishing with Lance, and his family. They took us over to another river where Lance and Al proceeded to catch freshwater barramundi. Lance was much more skilled than Al with the handreel but they both caught a few.

Freshwater fishing spot (somewhere through the trees)

Al and his smallest catch of the day

On the way to the fishing spot we saw a number of buffalo in the long grass as well as an abundance of birds. Lance and Al forgot to bring the shotgun otherwise we would have been eating buff for lunch (and days afterwards!).

It is difficult to show the beauty of this place in the photos but it is really one of the most tranquil and spectacular places I have ever been. Everytime we leave we remark how priviledged we are to see this part of the world - one which few white people will ever see. God in all His wisdom created this beautiful place and all of it's inhabitants and it's truly breathtaking (although sometimes I question what He was thinking when He created mosquitos).

It always amazes us that we are fortunate enough to be welcomed into this land by its traditional owners and are able to share in their life and their culture.

Mischievous Miriam

Our little mobile girl has discovered there are lots of things to explore now she can move around for herself. In one day she managed to pull the cover off the piano and get wrapped in it and get stuck under the coffee table.

You might be thinking "D'uh Holly you need to baby proof your house" and you would be correct except that we are moving next week and don't want to do anything to this house. Until then we can just derive hours of amusement from Miriam's mischievous antics!

Forward motion - the movie

I've finally worked out how to put video on the blog, so here it is....Forward Motion - the movie!

We have discovered forward motion

Miriam has discovered the art of forward motion. One moment we are in Sydney celebrating Zech's 1st birthday with a sitting baby, the next minute we're home and we have a crawling baby!

Zech had a great celebration with lots of friends and family and of course, his favourite cousin and Aunty. Miriam is a good little traveller. It takes all day to fly from Gove to Sydney, with stopover in Cairns etc. She was still chilled (literally) when we finally arrived in Sydney at 6pm.

Miriam chillin at the airport and minding the luggage

We have also discovered the joy of the swing. We have one in our yard but Miriam enjoyed this much fancier version at Zech's Uncle Reg's house. I don't think her smile has gotten any wider.

Well maybe when she found at Elmo ride at Miranda Westfield. Thankfully she doesn't yet realise that the rides are actually meant to go round and round. She was just happy staying in the one place.

There has been plenty of forward motion in the rest of our lives (other than Miriam, that is). I am now back at work three days a week and loving it. While it is definately a challenge to juggle working and baby and home stuff, I am much happier being crazy busy and working than I was staying at home.

I have realised that "each to their own" is a great saying. Some women love to stay at home and if they are blessed to have that opportunity are quite happier to never go back to work. Then there are others like me that, whilst they love being a Mum, also enjoy their careers and make an attempt to balance the two.

I am very fortunate to have a flexible and understanding workplace which is making this time a whole lot easier.

Allan is about to change employers as the contract for the Air Medical Service in the NT changes hands. It's been a very confusing time and we're not out of the woods yet. The NT Government has yet to award the 2011-2016 contract so we have no idea who Allan could be working for next year. Oh well, one step at a time.

The visitors keep on coming too. Just before our Sydney trip my Dad came for one week. Al's parents will arrive soon once the track is open and they can drive in, and then Al's sister Benita is coming in September.

Before you know it, Miriam will be one! *Gulp* where does the time go?

DeRooy's vs Wild - Our Gurrumurru adventure

Ever wondered what it would be like to get bogged while 4wd-ing with your 7 month old daughter, in the middle of nowhere with no way to contact help. Well yesterday we found out.

Our trip to Gurrumurru to visit our Yolngu family for the day turned into an adventure worthy of an episode of Man -vs- Wild. It was DeRooy's -vs- Wild! Let's start back the beginning so you get the whole picture.

We left Nhulunbuy at about 8:30am for the 3-3 1/2 drive inland to Gurrumurru. We had food and water and all the bits and pieces for Miriam, plus lots of fruit for our family. A couple of Gatorade's from IGA and we were on our way.

The first part of the track was pretty good, but about 1hr or so out there are some BIG ruts in the road from the wet. Some are marked others are a lucky dip! Apart from avoiding potholes and ruts the driving is spectacular.

The Arnhem Highway

After about 1 3/4 we reached the turnoff to Gurrumurru. The road was great, for about 5 or 6 kilometres then we hit a problem! A huge bog. After checking which side would be the best to drive on, Al put us into 4wd and we were off. Unfortunately about halfway across the drivers side tyres slipped off our track and down into the mud. This left us lopsided and sinking into the mud on the drivers side.

Al and I got out and dug out the tyres and tried to reverse out but we weren't going anywhere! We were bogged and bogged good.

The next decision was which way to go for help. We knew one direction would take us back to the track where we could wait for a car to go by. There isn 't a lot of traffic but someone would go by before dark. This would mean leaving our car behind and coming back for it the next day.

The other option was to walk ahead to Gurrumurru and get help. If they didn't have a car to pull us out at least there was a phone and we could call for help.

Allan wanted me to stay at the car with Miriam but I was stubborn and said we would walk too. We had the baby sling (thanks Benita!), water and food and surely it couldn't be that far. It was, however, at this point that we realised we had left some of our food and Miriam's bottles at home. Al thought I had put the bag in, I thought he had done it....oh well, not much we could do about it. Thankfully I am still breastfeeding a bit so Miriam just had to survive on booby-cino for the day.

So, off we went into the wild blue yonder! We walked for an hour and then rested by a stream with the nicest water you have ever seen. We wet our hats and washed our feet (we were both walking in thongs!) drank some of our water and then kept going. At almost two hours of walking, I started to slow down....we stopped again and I fed Miriam in the shade. It couldn't be that much further?

Another half hour and I was having thought of passing out and dying somewhere in Arnhem Land, never to be seen again. And then we heard it.....A plane. If we could hear a plane the airstrip couldn't be that far which meant we weren't that far away from Gurrumurru. Another half hour and we saw the tops of the houses. I nearly burst into tears. After 3 hours of walking I was well and truely stuffed!

The community had seen us approaching somehow - how silly we must have looked - and sent the quad bike out to get us. The bike took me into town and then went back for Allan and Miriam.

Needless to say our family was surprised to see us and couldn't believe how far we had walked. We rested in the shade while they sent all the boys in town to fetch shovels and the tractor. They were mounting a rescue mission.

It would have to have been one of the funniest rescue mission's I have ever seen (not that I have seen that many). First they got the massive tractor - with a shovel on the front and a box trailer at the back - organised. Togther with the quad bike we headed out. By 'we' I mean, Al, Miriam and I plus about 30 people including around 15 kids, plus 10 dogs (no joke). It was a hilarious site.

The tractor and the trailer had to make it through 4 smaller bogs and two creek crossings before getting to our car. Each time we all had to bail out of the trailer so they could negotiate their way through the mud.

Miriam and her yapas

Thank goodness in Yolngu culture everyone helps with the children so I had many yapas (sisters) to help me with Miriam. They could tell I was exhausted from walking and took any chance they could to look after her for me.


Once we got to the car (about 1 1/2 hours in the tractor), it took about half hour to dig enough under the car so thetractor could even get attached.

The crew helping to dig

The tractor pulling us out

As soon as they completed their rescue mission the team headed home as it was getting dark and the tractor didn't have lights on it. We handed over almost all the food in our car to our hungry helpers and they waved us off.

We got about 100 mtrs down the road when our other rescuers (Thanks Ben & Em!) turned up in their landcruiser from town. Al had called them when we arrived at Gurrumurru and they insisted on coming out to help. Ben was disappointed he missed the actual rescue but they were happy to see we were alright. They had brought supplies (food, ice coffee, solo) which we scoffed down quickly!

Another couple of kms down the track, Al noticed the temp on our car was up high. We decided to stop at the river crossing to check it out. What was bad day just got worse. There was a leak somewhere in our engine.... maybe the radiator, maybe not. The boys decided that Ben would tow us so they set about attached the snatch straps as tow ropes and off we went. About 10kms down the Arnhem Highway the strap was looking mighty worn so we pulled over.

We then decided we were going to have to drive, stop every 15 mins or so, re-fill the radiator and keep going. And so we did. at 9:30pm we rolled into town after one of the longest days of our lives.

Our wonderful friends Rob & Kim had made dinner for all of us so we headed round to their place where Kim served us roast chicken, vegies and lemon meringue pie. They also fed Miriam - she practically inhaled it! Thankful to be home but exhausted we all fell into bed about 10:30pm.

Needless to say we are waiting for a few months, well into the dry, before we attempt a trip to Gurrumurru again!