Flies, Ants and Making Tracks

Well - this week has been much better - a prolonged weekend in Alice (a blowout on the highway on the way back to Papunya meant I had to return to Alice to get a new tyre)...and then a very welcoming homecoming from the workers. Maybe they thought I wouldn't be back, or maybe they were just glad to see all the bags and bags and bags of second-hand clothes I brought back from St Vinnies. Yes, I finally have my own op-shop! We have been doing a thriving trade all week. We also tried selling sandwiches and cold drinks to the card-players on cheque day but didn't do so well.

Anyway, let's stick to the topic: Flies, Ants and ... I know everyone knows all about how bad the flies are here, but I think it is time to be more graphic and to show some of the ways we deal with them. I don't do much actually except wait for winter when they will all be gone (though I rival the Brave Little Tailor with my new improved flyswatting skills) but many people walk around with mini-mossie-nets obscuring their view. Including Jan and Charlie...We went for a trip to Wigley's waterhole, the hang-out of bogans and water desperadoes like me. Steve and Sunny don't liek it because there are too many beer-cans, but for me , it's wet and I can swim in it - and there was a kangaroo and a glorious sunset to make up for the howling gale that made a barbeque impossible. And there were plenty of flies too.OK - that's flies. Then there's ants. Ants are everywhere. Big ants, small ants, biting ants, honey-ants, ants everywhere. I regret very much setting my little mingari free instead of keeping her as my own ant-eater.

She would have been in heaven just sitting by my front door. I am actually surrounded by ants even as I write - the trail winds up the wall by my computer and then meanders along and right around the room to the sink, the bin and the compost bucket...








this is not a good place for Buddhists or other people who will not step on ants. Just about every track is already occupied by long and busy processions...


Some people are happy and look beautiful despite flies...and it has been lovely to spend time with them. Damon is talking more every day and calls me granma, it's sort of a generic term, but I guess I am a sort of generic granma.



Tomorrow we will be making tracks early in the morning, following Toyota dreaming towards Haasts Bluff in the troopy we have for a month from the Carer Respite Centre. It is too hot to have any expeditions other than early morn or late afternoon ...I do all my walking at 6.30 a.m these days, and get some great track photos.

I might write some more in a few days. Thanks to all who visit here and particularly those who have written and rung to keep me from sliding off the edge of the world.