Kimberley and NT News: Why I have been AWOL and what will be happening from here.

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Kimberley and NT News: Why I have been AWOL and what will be happening from here.
January 12, 2026

12 January 2026, Special Issue

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Hi!

I hope this finds you well!
I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas break and got the new year off to a great start.

2026 already. There was not a single newsletter in 2025.
In fact, I sent the last one in April 2024!
This short newsletter will explain why, and what will happen from here.

Everybody who contacted me last year to ask why I have been so quiet already knows this, and I may have mentioned it in a previous newsletter:
I am not healthy.

I have an insidious, chronic illness called ME/CFS.
I had been managing it pretty well up until two years ago. Then a viral infection triggered a bad flare that lasted 3 months.
When I came out of it I hoped that with time I would return to my old baseline. I did not.
For two years I have been mostly housebound and unable to work.

In November 2025 I spent five days in hospital, not due to acute problems but because through sheer luck I had come across a doctor who actually knows and is interested in the disease. He had offered to do a thorough investigation and finally diagnose me.
So, after 18.5 years of dealing with this on my own, I finally have an official diagnosis. I also have a stack of test results that clearly show I am not imagining it. It's not hysteria, or laziness, or depression. It is indeed a severe, neurological condition.

I was prescribed several medications that should help with the symptoms. (One of them I'd been trying to get my hands on for 11 years! Thanks, medical establishment...)
And last but not least I received a much-needed dressing down regarding how I manage my energy limits.

The thing is, some people with ME/CFS can still do a lot despite the condition. You can push yourself and white-knuckle through whatever it is you need or want to do. And then you pay a price, usually referred to as a "crash".
That's how I have lived my life for almost 19 years.
My medical report from November explicitly states that getting out of that "push-crash cycle" is a priority.

So here I am, pushing again. (insert facepalm emoji)
I wrote a newsletter. (It took me four days.)
Because I have to let you know.

But don't worry, I will follow doctor's orders to the best of my ability.
I don't know yet how much time in front of a screen I can tolerate. Focus is a massive problem (with or without a screen). I can only concentrate for a very short time, then I am exhausted.
I don't know if or how quickly these symptoms may improve.

Working on the guides and websites is not my priority and I am not going to pretend it is.
My priority is to be able to leave the house again and have face-to-face contact with real human beings, to be able to move my body a bit and spend some time in nature.
The last two years were hard. Really, really hard.

But I also fully intend to have a go at updating Destination Kimberley and Destination Top End, as much as I can do so without pushing too much.
As I said, I don't know if or how much that is possible.
It might take another year to really get there.

Your guide Destination Kimberley is still the most comprehensive and best advice for independent travellers to the Kimberley and I hope it continues!
We recommend it to everyone … and it is still compulsory reading for our new tour pilots every year.

(Steve Irvine, Managing Director of Shoal Air, on Jan 19, 2019. Read many more testimonials and reviews here.)

And that is all I can tell you for now.
If you buy one of my guide books now, please be aware they were last updated in 2024.
Come Easter, you may be able to re-download an up-to-date version, or you may not.

I used to update the guides every year, always in time for Easter, which marks the beginning of the tourist season in the drier parts of the north.
Customers can re-download their purchase - that is, the most up-to-date version - any time and as often as they want.
So it doesn't matter when exactly you make a purchase. You can always get the latest version.

But I can't promise that I will be able to do the updates this year.

Does that make a big difference?
Honestly, I myself don't think so.
You can easily double-check details that are important to you. These days it's not hard to find the information online.
And expect a bit more bitumen than what I describe. :)
Beyond that, these are still very solid and useful guide books, if I do say so myself.

But ultimately, I have to leave that decision to you.

And that's it for today!
Wish me luck, and if all goes well we may talk again in the not so far future. :)

Take care,
Birgit

Destination Kimberley, Destination Top End and Destination Red Centre have all the information you need to put together your dream trip.

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