The last day of July had us celebrating Chris’s birthday, Wadeye style. We went down to the beach for sunset drinks and then home for a quiet family dinner. The boys each made a birthday cake for their mum, which was great (especially seeing I had arranged nothing). I did manage to get myself into a bit of strife and was accused of not putting a lot of forethought into the day. I think that may have had something to do with the fact that we had no presents to give the old girl. No shops I hear you say, yes, that was the problem. But that didn’t get me off the hook as we had only been in Darwin a few weeks ago. Excuse there was that I quite simply forgot it was coming up. I was sure it was still April and that I had months to get organised. Anyway, who needs presents anyway when your whole life is a gift and you are married to me!!!!
Chris’s birthday was also the day we found out that
the plans for our
next destination had changed. I received a phone call wondering if a
change
from Docker River to Kings Canyon
Resort would cause any troubles. Now let me think. Pools, tennis
courts,
restaurants and coffee shops, not to mention great things to see and
do. It was
a tough one but they twisted my arm until I caved in and agreed. I have
been
told that our house has the best view of the canyon in the resort. We
will be
there for at least a month and then after we have caught up with the
Priestleys, who knows where we will end up. We will start to head back
to QLD
most likely early to mid November, before it gets really hot. You would
have
thought taking your wife to a resort for a month would have got me off
the hook
over the present thing, but apparently not.
The first weekend in August and our last
weekend in Wadeye we again went out with Pat and Anne in their boat.
Back to
the Moyle and back to those bloody Barra. We fished our fingers to the
bone and
some of us (excluding me) did hook a barra. Alex and Harry both hooked
beauties
and got them all the way to the boat when the blighters spat out the
hook (they
have a habit of doing that). The boys were very happy and disappointed
at the
same time, where I on the other hand couldn’t even catch a snag and
was
delighted to still have that title of the ‘Barra Virgin’. The worst
part was
that being a small town everybody knew we were going out in the largest
and
best-equipped fishing boat that Wadeye has to offer, and of course they
all
wanted to know how we got on. I should have just lied and told them we
got shit
loads, but being environmentalists we let them all go. Like they would
believe
that!! Pat and Anne are a great couple and lots of fun. I will miss
Pat's cynicism and we will certainly be keeping in touch and catching
up
with them again, hopefully soon.
The next day I was on call and Chris continued the
packing thing,
trying to work out how to get this mountain of stuff into a camper
trailer. I
did suggest she try mirrors and fine wires as certainly some sort of
magic was
needed.
I have mentioned our famous neighbour, Timothy Dumoo
the great local
artist previously. The last painting that we got from him can be seen
in the May
2008 update. Well we decided we would love another, so on one of my
daily visits at his place to have a chat I hit him up for another. Well
2 days before we left over he came with it. We wanted one to compliment
our first and we could not be happier. The detail is amazing and has
everything in it we wanted. So leaving Wadeye we have 3 paintings, 3
didgeridoos, a woomera, a spear, a dilly bag and clap sticks, as well
as the 3 kids paintings we got from Merripen Arts Festival. All this
after 6 months. How much will we have after 3 years??
On our second last day it was off to Redcliff again
with Marina, Basil,
Julliette (their daughter Tanya who is Harry's age)
and Adrian and our neighbours Michelle and Peter. (Michelle works with
me at the Clinic and has just resigned to go to Peppeminarti for a
short stay and then to Robinson River to
work). We had a great time getting the car bogged (again), crabbing and
exploring
the caves and cliffs along the foreshore. I really would like to skim
over the
bogging as I was completely unable to get myself out of the quicksand,
having
tried every trick in my book. I will definitely be purchasing some more
recovery gear when we get back to civilisation including a hand winch
and an
exhaust jack because the worst possible thing that could happen, did in
fact
happen. I had to get snatched out of this predicament by a Jeep. Yes, a
Jeep.
Can you believe my misfortune and how I felt being put in this
situation. Do I
dig for days, spend the night with no food and water and be attacked by
sandflies, or do I suffer the worst fate of all and have to be grateful
there
was a Jeep around. The choice was a tough one, but alas out came the
snatch
strap, and out of my sandy grave I shot. The worst part was that I
constantly
give Peter a hard time about owning such a car, and then!! He was very
gracious
and said nothing, but that smirk said it all.
We all had such a good day and it is these times we
are really going
to miss. Basil, Juliette and Adrian have all become good friends and
that is what makes it hard to leave. While the adults were sitting
around having lunch under a nice shady tree the kids were down at the
mangroves playing. When they returned they were less than clean, with
Harry taking the prize as the newest little 'Black Fella' in town (see
photo at the bottom of this page). Basil decided it was his job to
clean them all up so took them all to a small billabong where he tipped
many, many buckets of water over them until they were clean (or at
least
cleaner) again. Is that what they mean by 'Good Clean Fun'!!!!!
So that left the final few days of packing and
cleaning. The school
had
a huge going away morning tea for Chris on the Thursday, which was
lovely seeing she
only worked 3 mornings a week. There was a big staff turnout with a
speech from the Principal, Deputy Principal and the HOD of Special
needs. As if that was not enough, she also got presented with a
painting from a well known local female artist, which was totally
unexpected. She obviously made an impact and they were very
disappointed that she was leaving. The boys also received a gift each
which was lovely. (Ed: For me leaving this job was perhaps one of the
saddest in my career - I really enjoyed the work (although I left a few
things unfinished) and could definitely have stayed longer. Just seeing
the smiles on the kids faces when I fitted them with hearing aids was
something I will never forget.) We had a barbeque for my send
off with most of the staff attending (other than the 2 or so that
were sick and the others that were on holidays) It was a nice night
with everybody having a great time and a laugh. While there were NO
speeches (this really needs improving as I am sure that staff leaving
feel the organisation could not give a continental, which I am sure is
not the case) I am extremely pleased with what I achieved, and am
really happy that I did my
little bit for Wadeye. As a
parting gift I received a really nice hand painted local t-shirt and
a book about local mucic groups complete with CD. It was great, thanks.
So we all had Friday off and cleaned and packed all
day as we
did most of Saturday. While the house was less than clean when we
shifted in, it was spotless when we left, as was the yard. As sad as we
were about leaving, we were determined to actually get going, so at
3:00pm, after visiting a few locals that we really wanted to see, we
finally drove out of town. It really was a sad moment and I for
one had
two eyes full of tears. While none of us wanted to leave, we all knew
we had to so that we could experience as many things and places as
possible in this 3 years. Wadeye, or the locals that call it home, will
always be a very special part of our lives, and we will be back. A guy
who came to work with us for a month a while back, summed the place up
perfectly. He told me it was the best 'Shit Hole' he had ever had the
privilege to live in. All the Parfitts agree 100%. Thank you for
everything Wadeye, you have changed our lives forever.
So as I said we got away at 3:00pm and decided we
would only get as
far as Peppeminarti and stay the night with Michelle and Peter. They
had no idea about our plan, but how could they say 'NO'. My main reason
for wanting to stay there the night (other than seeing these guys and
having a free night's accommodation) was because of the Peppi Club.
This
is a community run pub that is open 4 nights a week from 5:00pm to
7:00pm and only sells mid strength beers. Every night that it is open,
car loads of Wadeye locals make the 200 km return trip to have a few
beers (expensive beers @ $5-00 a can). The club was much nicer than I
expected and I had the chance to see Claver and Jules who I missed
saying goodbye to prior to leaving. After a few beers and a chat it was
only a short walk back to Peter and Michelle's for dinner.
So we were finally on the road. The tears were gone, the eyes dry and
now we looked forward to the week off, the 1,400 km drive (with the new
cruise control) and the next adventure. Now there was one small
stumbling block and that was the car. When we packed the car and put
the camper trailer on I noticed (being extremely observant) that the
rear of the car was about 3 inches from the ground. When I tried to
reinflate the air bags (that are in the coil springs) they kept going
down. Bugger. So now we had the car front up, the back down
and no way to fix the problem (well not out here anyway). We rearranged
a few things that really made no difference at all and in true
Australian 'who gives a toss' tradition took off regardless. Now those
who know me, will also know I am somewhat critical. One of the things I
am very critical of is badly set up cars and caravans/trailers. There
is no worse sight on the road than the car rear down and the draw bar
dragging on the road. Talk about embarrassed. I even became slightly
paranoid and thought everybody was looking at it. It got so bad that
when we pulled up, down would come the jockey wheel to level it up so
people wouldn't talk. After a number of phone calls the only place that
we could get it fixed, without heading North to Darwin was Alice
Springs, and that was 1,300 km away.
Anyway, more about that later.
The next night we pulled up in a friend's front yard
at Tindal
Airbase in Katherine. It was great to see Mitch (and his daughter
Tehlia) again who we haven't seen
since our 2006 trip. He is a very considerate chap and recently
shifted into a new house on the base with a big front yard that easily
accommodated the camper. It was level and the grass was green.
Add to that a barby, a few beers and a pile of laughs and a bit
of 'what have we all been up to' and it was great. Next stop was
Daly Waters Pub. For those who are regular readers, will know this is a
bit of a favourite of ours. On our 2006 trip we just missed the 'Frank,
the Chook Man Show' that runs nightly for the whole tourist season. We
did catch up with Frank at Renmark S.A. when he came floating (or
actually sinking past) on his small house boat complete with outhouse
(see November 2006) when he stopped and gave us a personal show on the
banks of the river in the caravan park that we were staying in. We
chatted to him at
Daly and he remembered giving us the performance. We booked in for the
Barra Barby that night and were entertained until late into the night.
During
the show he got both Alex and Harry up onto stage to help him sing a
song and he asked Alex if 'Mum and Dad' ever argue while
traveling. Alex
thought for a few seconds (Oh my God, what is he going to say!) and
said
Dad does get a bit cranky because mum sleeps all day in the car. When
Frank asked him what happens then, Alex said, Mum tells Dad to 'shut
up', and goes back to sleep. How true.
Next stop was the 'Devil's Marbles' campground. This
is an excellent
campground with great facilities, all for the grand sum of $7-00 a
family. We walked around these huge boulders for hours while Alex and
Harry chose to climb all over them instead. As the sun started to set
it started to really cool down. By the time it was dark it was bloody
freezing. In fact it was so cold we all went to bed straight after
dinner, just to stay warm. It was amazing how much colder it was
getting every night that we traveled south. While we were only doing
400-500 kms a day, the night time temperature was dropping by at
least 5 degrees a night. We started to worry about how cold it was
going to be in Alice Springs. As we were driving into Alice, our phone
came back into range and started to beep its head off with messages.
One of those messages was from the lady from NT Health that I had to
see prior to us going out to Kings Canyon. The message was that she had
to go to Tennant Creek on Wednesday (which was today) and would not be
back until late Friday and that I would have to see her on Monday
morning. Oh dear. That was 5 days away. We pulled into the caravan park
and I got out to book in. When I got out of the car I nearly died. It
was just after lunch and was bitterly, seriously cold. Really really
cold. I then did what every overgrown girls blouse would do and booked
into
a 'Superior Ensuite Cabin'. My justification was that we could now
watch some of the Olympics!!!! I must say it was a very popular
decision with the family. Maybe this will get me off the hook over the
birthday present fiasco!!
Luck was again on our side as the lady from NT
Health rang again to
say I could see her Saturday morning and they would pick up the bill
for our accommodation. All falling into place very nicely thank you.
Our
few days in the Alice were busy with getting the new suspension put in
the car and doing a huge grocery shop (over $700-00), so it would be
ready to send out
on the truck to Kings Canyon the next week (we will get groceries and
mail sent out every Wednesday). Then we set up our library membership
so that we could get books sent out to us and that was pretty well our
time up. As soon as my meeting was over on Saturday morning we headed
off, arriving at the Canyon around 4-00pm. (After a very bumpy, rough
but entertaining 'shortcut' road trip on the Ernest Giles Road).
When we arrived we went straight to our new
house and there
was a bit of laughter coming from the back seat. Alex was making cracks
about me having to do the mowing, with us all laughing. You see our
house is plonked in the middle of a red sand desert with nothing but
spinifex and small scraggy trees as far as the eye can see. Not a
blade of grass, not one. Won't be spending much time gardening here.
The
house is a very modern brick number, fully fenced, front and back
verandas and a carport. We opened the house and were amazed at how big
and how well appointed it is. If we thought our Wadeye house was good,
well this one is fantastic. Then just to top it all off, the view we
have from the front and back of the house over the mountain range is
spectacular. We were told we had the best view in the whole Resort and
they were right. Sitting out on the front veranda with the sun setting,
with the mountains glowing red, having a coffee is a nice way to end
the
day. The biggest downside is that it is extremely quiet. In fact too
quiet. I really miss looking out our kitchen window watching the local
kids kicking their footy while the adults have a fire in the front
yard. I even miss the music and dogs barking!!! By Sunday we were
unpacked and everything had been put away. We
put the camper in the carport next door leaving our carport for the
car.
My first week was mostly orientation. This is a very
different
posting for as well as the Indigenous communities to look after we also
have tourists, Resort staff, any Canyon rescues as well as road
trauma to deal with. So my week consisted of meeting key rescue staff,
doing the Canyon walk (need to know the location of emergency
transmitters in case I am needed to help with a rescue) and doing
helicopter rescue training (choppers are used to transport clinic staff
and equipment to the top of the gorge in an emergency). So much to
learn, so much to absorb. Chris and the boys have been flat out trying
to catch up on their school work. So far, so good but boy, is it time
consuming.
Then it was my birthday on Sunday and I had a
great day ( I must say Chris was more organised than I was for hers).
It was great to finally be 35. I was on call so we had a lazy low key
day, just hanging around. Then the next week I had to take the
Ambulance into Alice Springs for a
service. We all went in and were put
up in nice accomodation for 2 nights (and a bit more retail
therapy) which was lovely. It is because of this trip to Alice that
this web page has been updated a little early,(as opposed to very late)
as we have no Next G wireless internet at Kings Canyon and we would
have had to wait until we got to Uluru in nearly a month's time to
update it.
"Failure is
taking the
path that everyone else does, success is making your own."...