Brinkley's Bluff and Beyond

Sunset on the MacDonnells...and then sunrise...

Last weekend I finally got to do an overnight walk on the Larapinta - to Brinkley's Bluff from Standley Chasm and return. The company was excellent, Rick and Meg from the Bushwalkers club - and the views were stupendous. We camped the night on the bluff and here is the view from my sleeping bag in the morning. Sleeping bags, actually, too cold for just one. The wind reached gale force but I had my gloves and beanie and everything else on and the stars were my lullaby...



Then back to work, a very busy week. There have been hordes of whitefellas swarming around, doctors, nurses, centrelink people, even Sue Gordon, the chairperson of the taskforce - a women's meeting that had umpteen male photographers and cameramen recording it all. I even made it to the Alice Springs News (look for the blonde up the back).
The elders from Mt Liebig danced and presented Sue Gordon with some special totemic items. Sue is an Indigenous woman from WA who was stolen from her family as a child and is now a magistrate. She and Alison were both urging women to bring their children for check-ups and to view the intervention as benign, but there is a lot of mistrust - funny, eh.

Anyway, the doctor and nurses have all left now, they were a good bunch and probably saw half of the kids. The checks are voluntary and very thorough and there is no looking for signs of sexual abuse, so it has been quite helpful to some of the mothers and carers to get a total picture of their child's health. But we still only have a doctor out here for a few days every six weeks.

Aged Care has had a booming business in selling paintings to all the whitefellas and some of the old ladies sold lots of yininti necklaces.

The Centrelink crew have been very busy signing everyone up for work-for-the-dole. They couldn't quarantine the pay of CDEP workers, so CDEP's been abolished. And no-one had any plans for how to fund the hundreds of positions and programs that rely on CDEP labour - including Aged Care. There will be emergency meetings happening, I was assured by all the comfortable bureaucrats, and things are being acted upon 'higher up'. I still have heard nothing so am being pro-active and writing submissions - which have then to be signed and sent by Rod as I am his underling - bureaucracy rules the west these days.

Life goes on here, football is more important than anything else (these boys have been playing since they could walk) and Papunya is deserted this weekend while the whole community is in town supporting the lads in the semi-finals...except me, I am recovering from feeling like s...t all week. Been making ice-cream in my $10 garage sale maker: peach and mango - better than Weiss! And lying around reading and enjoying very much not being at anyone's beck and call.This funny little photo is of the circus driving through town, it really did look like a real circus, not just the centrelink mob or whatever...it's strange times out here!

Camel Kisses

Who would have thought a camel had such a soft and velvety snout, or could be so friendly and gentle? I have had some anxious thoughts about these critters chasing me down the road on one of my walks, but when it came to the crunch and camel met woman, it was instant attraction and no pursuit. Perhaps it's my new streaked hair, shades of spinifex surely appeal to camels.

We went out at the weekend and had fun collecting witchetty grubs - Helen the hairdresser was at first too horrified to try one toasted on the gas ring at home, but then she loved it! The cross was found along with a five dollar note way out there in the mulga where we went looking ...there are cultural symbols everywhere and here is the Papunya bora ring , a major cultural site...

The fence for the bush tucker garden is going up despite a howling bitter gale. And I hope to be on the Larapinta trail this weekend xxxxxxx

Beauty and the Beast

Well it's been a while, so it must be time for a blog. The volunteers are here and the beauty salon is up and running, very popular. Some of the women have great skills as hairdressers and are keen to learn, while everyone else is just lining up for a haircut. Dyeing is very popular too. The blokes are working outside making a bough shade shelter while we wait for the fencing materials to arrive.

The mark of the beast (perhaps it is uranium mining) is also upon us. The army has arrived (one truck and three people in gear that looks like 1990's kids fashion wear, I'll post a photo when I have one) and will be here for three weeks, taking over the clinic. Saving the children in that time seems a big ask but then it is a very demanding government we have. If anyone had asked the people here they would have asked for the army to build houses and train builders, as has been done elsewhere. Reducing overcrowding would definitely reduce child abuse (and ill-health).

I have just taken a long weekend to camp at Wigley's waterhole, the expected overnight walk with the bushwalkers club didn't eventuate and I was so exhausted it was a good thing. Instead I hung out with the birds, stargazed and enjoyed the absolute peace and stillness of the massive quiet of the desert at night and the frost patterns on the van window in the morning light. I played my recently araldited guitar by the fire, explored and read two books. I saw so many different kinds of birds, the rarity of water drew a huge variety - cormorants, finches, parrots, thornbills, flycatchers, everyone was there to delight me and heal me. The parrot in the picture is a rarely seen mulga parrot
and my favourite willy wagtail posed for me.

I have been feeling very stressed and torn, knowing that I will be leaving at a time when there is so much turmoil and change here. I am still hoping to find someone good to take over my work as it has all been going so well and it does make a difference to the women here.

This worrying may just be me making mountains out of molehills (I hope so), like the huge piles of rubbish that adorn the landscape all around the Papunya tip. Everyone here has been keeping their yards really clean and clear of rubbish (just so it's plain that they look after their kids and won't be harrassed or lose them) but the effect is somewhat marred by the fact that the CDEP co-ordinator can't get the workers to work to pick up the overflowing bins in the streets...ah Papunya!

I leave you with a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh, my favourite Buddhist poet: " You who are journalists, writers, citizens, you have the right and duty to say to those you have elected that they must practice mindfulness, calm and deep listening, and loving speech. This is a universal thing, taught by all religions..."