Yakka Downs

14/10/2026

Meet Jayde! 💗

Yakka Downs’ very first employee and an absolute superstar in our little team!

From being Daisy’s personal assistant to Ricky’s parts coordinator, managing our Airbnbs, helping with the kiddies and just about everything else in between, no two days ever look the same!

Jayde is the cool, calm and collected one amongst our organised chaos! She brings the most beautiful energy to our crazy little team, always taking everything in her stride with a smile on her face.

She’s become such an important part of the Yakka Downs family, and we genuinely couldn’t do what we do without her. We’re so lucky to have her! 🥰

When she’s not keeping us all in line, you’ll find her embracing toddler mum life, enjoying an iced latte and squeezing in Pilates whenever she can.

A little bit of chaos, a whole lot of heart and always keeping things moving!

Say hi to Jayde! 👋💕

28/09/2026

5 years married and almost 5 years of Yakka Downs.

Not long before Yakka Downs began, Ricky and Daisy had spent a few years doing the Army long-distance thing, separated by work and postings. When Daisy moved back to Darwin, they decided to take a working holiday together, a chance to reconnect with themselves, with each other, and have a bit of an adventure.

That adventure took them to Top End Safari Camp | NT, where they worked as tour guides… and also got married!

It ended up being one of the most epic years of their lives. Somewhere between the long days, big adventures and working side-by-side, they realised they made a pretty bloody good team.

Not long after, Yakka Downs was born.

It started with one little Airbnb on their Howard Springs property. Today, Yakka Downs has grown to include five Airbnb properties, a mobile mechanic business and an education consultancy.

Running your own business is definitely not all freedom and flexibility. It’s 24/7, it’s unpredictable, and sometimes it is very literally hard yakka. But that’s exactly what Yakka Downs was built on, working hard, backing each other, having a crack, and building something together.

Happy 5th anniversary to us. 💗

Here’s to five years of marriage, almost five years of Yakka Downs, and plenty more adventures to come.

26/09/2026

One of Yakka Downs’ biggest projects of 2026 is drawing to a close, and what a project it has been.

For the past several months, I’ve had the privilege of working as Project Manager for NT Youth Parliament 2026, delivered by The Y Northern Territory

This week, all of that planning, organising, problem-solving, stakeholder wrangling, travel coordination, workshops, late nights, spreadsheets, phone calls and countless moving parts came together as 25 young Territorians took over Parliament House for Sitting Week.

And they were incredible.

These young people, aged 15 to 25, debated meaningful and often highly sensitive issues affecting the Territory. They challenged ideas, listened to one another, disagreed respectfully and worked together to develop solutions they believed could make a genuine difference.

Across the week they debated proposed legislation around domestic and family violence, aged care, youth crime prevention, AI safety and mental health services, particularly for regional and remote communities. They also raised issues around education, safe spaces for young people, fast fashion and much more.

One of the most rewarding parts of managing this project has been watching the growth that happened long before Sitting Week. Over months, these young people built confidence, developed speeches, drafted legislation, learnt parliamentary process, challenged each other’s thinking and found their voices.

There have absolutely been challenges along the way, as there are with any project of this scale, but seeing them stand in the Chamber this week made every difficult moment worth it.

At Yakka Downs, a huge part of what we do is about building capability, creating opportunities and helping good ideas become real outcomes. NT Youth Parliament has been all of those things.

I’m incredibly proud of what this group achieved, and very grateful to Y Northern Territory for trusting me to lead such an important project, along with the many supporters, volunteers, partners and organisations who helped make it possible.

One very big Yakka Downs project almost wrapped and one very tired Project Manager signing off from an extraordinary week!

13/09/2026

Meet Ricky 👋

The other half of Yakka Downs and the bloke who can fix just about anything. From small engines through to heavy diesel, with a fair bit of bush ingenuity thrown in.

When he’s not in the workshop, he’s still serving in the Army, probably fixing something at home, training the dogs, mowing, cooking, gardening, cleaning the pool… or collecting something he’s convinced will be “useful one day” 😂

He’s a Tassie-born Territorian, top dad, mad hunter, champion clay shooter and absolute bush boy.

He’s also the calm to Daisy’s chaos and can regularly be heard saying some version of: “slow down”, “calm down” and “it doesn’t all need to be done yesterday” 😂

If you need something mechanical looked at, serviced or repaired, Ricky’s your man and if he can’t fix it, chances are he knows someone who can.

Say g’day to Ricky 👋🔧🚙

18/08/2026

11/08/2026

Yesterday we swapped work mode for birthday mode 🎂🥳

A very happy birthday to one of the littlest members of the Yakka Downs crew, Cooper! 💙

There are lots of moving parts behind Yakka Downs, but family is always at the centre of it all.

Happy birthday mate, we will make sure the year ahead includes plenty more fishing, adventures and cake! 🎣🎈

10/08/2026

🫏 W I N K Y & W O N K Y 🫏

🐐 And of course Mowie 🐐

What animal do you think we should add to the Yakka Downs Family Next? Matilda and I vote 🐴!!

📸 Rebecca Vale

08/08/2026

Hi there, I’m Daisy! The person behind the Yakka Downs emails, ideas, workshops, projects, invoices, slightly ambitious plans and approximately 103 open tabs at any given time.

My work is a bit hard to fit neatly into one box and I actually really like it that way. I work with people and organisations to solve problems, build capability, develop their people and turn good ideas into practical outcomes.

Sometimes that looks like developing a leadership framework. Sometimes it’s designing a workforce development program, facilitating a room, managing a project, building training, or helping untangle something that’s gotten a little… tangled.

I love good people, purposeful work, big ideas and getting things done.

So, hi 👋 Welcome to Yakka Downs.

There’s plenty more to share and I’m looking forward to finally sharing more of what happens behind the scenes around here.

10/07/2025

We are managing a beautiful new property in Darwin City. Main features of this modern property:

1️⃣ Epic 180 degree views of Darwin Harbour
2️⃣ 2 🛌, 2 🛀, 2 🚗
3️⃣ Pool and outdoor entertaining
4️⃣ Central and easy access to all the Darwin and surrounds hot spots!

Book Now: 🔗airbnb.com/h/darwincityviews