Flood Story in Pictures

Ah well - at least we are on the paradise side of the chasm...meeting today to work out a few issues of supply and transport for the 200 folk here ...People have been out talking and walking for the last three days - obviously just what we needed to revitalise the old place! Unfortunately, I was too busy wringing out 20 buckets worth of sopping towels from the seepage through my back wall when the flood was at its peak - so there's no photos of the truly amazing flood then! (well, actually it was pitch dark then anyway - and you can imagine how Murray and Joel felt when they drove up in the dark to the huge chasm that was once a bridge on the only road in :o)You will also just have to imagine the soundtrack of a raging torrent that felt like it was shaking my house, while the rain belted down on the roof and the drains roared all around me - and me out the back with my headtorch, wellies and raincoat wielding all sorts of implements to clear the drain and give all those myriad springs that just spring up somewhere to go...I evacuated to Tara's last night and managed to get 2,000 words of my assignment done - YAHOO! Solar power very low and the rain has just kept falling, though much gentler now. The beauty of a big flood is that the sun always seems to come out the day after and it is just such a lovely sparkling day that you see in these pics - lets hope we get a few more ...sunny days, I mean - not floods!




There is a movement happening to save our chasm, it has been a boon for community spirit - here's Bill, Terry, Dave and Ben working together to extract the tree, complete with roots, that was stuck under the centre bridge. But it looks like we will not have the chasm for much longer, the council are working hard too...and a concrete culvert should last better than the gal one...














WEDNESDAY May 27th: Mick managed to get out to catch his plane to Melbourne - by 4WD via the south end ford, so the creek has gone down a lot. But its been amazing to see so many people out and about, the chasm is a regular hub of activity as people commute and chat and look at the hole and what's happening to it! The shop is open every day and people are gathering and talking and walking all over the place. We need a few little warungs set up for tea and cakes...and a review of our present transport dependencies.

A hired minibus is taking workers to Lismore and to Nimbin, although lots of people are relying on the use of friends' cars each side of the chasm.
And the SES made a landing in the little paddock opposite the centre bus stop (twice!) and brought us some great fresh vegies, groceries and even soymilk and tofu! Not really necessary, but much appreciated - we have raised some good donations for them, and it raised the energy too.

Sadly, the fun may be over soon although lets hope the good feelings last a while - and spark up some discussion about how better to live and travel here.

LAST POST FOR THE CHASM Friday May 29th: Well, that's it folks - the chasm is no more, the bridge is rebuilt and open today (friday afternoon) and we are all back to a different sort of isolation now everyone can escape the valley at will - it's a bit sad really, for some of us....it was certainly fun while it lasted...

A New Year, Another Blog...

It must be a time for a blog…

We do live in paradise here, despite global warming, and it feels so far from those people suffering in the fires down south.It’s been hot but not too hot, except for one stinker of a day. Rain cools us down any time the mercury begins to climb too high and while the humidity has been over 90% for weeks, it’s a small price to pay. Steve and Sunny and Damon and Leila came up from Sydney for a few short busy days over the hottest time…
Here is the pied piper and kids at New Year – another great folk music camp down at Woody Head, where else do we still sing Auld Lang Syne holding hands and welcoming the new year? I love it – and snorkelling, swimming and beachwalks as well as music, music, music make it pretty close to heaven. I am all packed and ready for the next one at the end of this month.
We are starting up regular sessions and a café at the Tuntable shop, great times had by all – though cooking and serving 20-30 people left me too tired to play much music.
There has been a rash of big birthdays - starting with Tuntable's 35th in December - here's Katie and the kids with all the candles ...My beautiful youngest niece, Eva, turned 18 in great style – here she is with her mum. One day Eva may look older than Deb!














And Brian Childs, my boyfriend from all those long years ago when I was 16 - 19, turned 60 in even greater style last weekend. (This means we have known each other for 40 years!) He had a combined celebration at Bellingen with his youngest daughter, Ali and her older daughter Mwanampemba – and it rocked! It was so good to see some folk I haven’t connected with for years – particularly Kev, who now has a 2 yr-old daughter and partner and works with Indigenous Community Volunteers in their Qld office – and Silvia, who has not changed at all. Jenni, the same - is doing some groundbreaking work on programs to address racism in schools. Here's Brian, still at the kitchen sink, and Ali...
















The wildlife here is so absolutely photogenic - here is a huntsman spider protecting her eggs and a leaf-tailed gecko, my favourite.

My little currawong has grown to be very big and annoying, have been trying to teach it that old avian rock’n’roll hit “Big Birds Don’t Squawk” with varying degrees of success. (The broom sits by the door for when it gets too persistent).

Of course, the garden is rampant in this weather. I turned my back on it to focus on a few renovation tasks and now there are monster weeds threatening me whenever I glance outside…the driveway is awash with huge grass, getting vegies requires excavation skills – well, it’s not quite that bad, but you get the picture. So I’ve been hiding inside so the grass doesn’t get me …painting the kitchen whiter than white with a touch of mediterranean blue and gold...Uni starts in ten days and I'll be studying to become a Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development from ANU - this is such an amazing opportunity, I am so grateful to be able to do it and am looking forward to it so much that I am actually quite well-prepared for once!

Wet Days and Wwoofer Whinges...But Life is still Wonderful...

It's been such a long time since my last blog ...life has felt rather mundane, didn't know if anyone else would want to know about it…an endless series of wet days with millions of leeches and too many wwoofers has been the most recent saga.

Taking in strangers can be a perilous business at times, it’s easy to feel invaded and abused. I have decided to set a few rules about who I take in as wwoofers, having had some very bad experiences recently with some spoilt brats from America and a trouble-making young woman from England – wwoofers ganging up on me in my own home is the last thing I want or need! They can always leave, I don’t have that option. Now I have finally managed to clean up, get the chewing gum off the sheets and had a bit of space to myself, I realise where I went wrong. I should have realised that a teenage couple was likely to bicker constantly…and help themselves to whatever was in the cupboard …(but how could I know that they’d be too scared to venture off the verandah except to visit my neighbour and I’d have them totally in my space all the time?) So there I was, feeling like I had committed myself to looking after someone else’s kids for a month and trying to get them to work to pay for their bed and board. While they were charming and interesting young people, happy to talk for hours on end, they were not suited to working as wwoofers. Everything had to be done over at least twice, although the boy did try to do good work. They ended up appearing to expect me to follow the example of their family and friends in financing their travels by allowing them to stay for free. Because they hadn’t bothered to confirm their arrival, I’d taken on other woofers …so then I was running around trying to supervise three or four jobs at once – nearly went crackers! Next time I just say NO to anyone under 21, no matter how cute they look - and only allow people to stay for a few days until I know how its likely to work out! It’s just too exhausting – and after all that, they left with no notice, snuck off on a whim when the sun finally came out, leaving a very bad feeling (and a kitchen without a sink – yet another unfinished job …and now the bush turkey is having fun breaking my crockery out there in the bathroom where I have to wash the dishes now.) I have to ask myself how I allowed this to happen …and how to avoid a repetition…

Fortunately not all wwoofers leave me feeling so bad, I have had hundreds over the years and most manage to enjoy their stay in this beautiful valley, and to leave pleasant memories and a few less weeds – some have done some amazing work here. Stevie, who stayed with her daughter Tiff while the young Americans were here, has done the most beautiful tiled wall in the bathroom – it is absolutely delightful and I think of her with gratitude every time I see it. And there are countless other people who have stayed and whose memories warm my heart.

As well as looking after teenage humans I have had a teenage bird to care for – a baby currawong whose nest fell down along with the branch it was on. Having done the Wildlife Rescue course recently means I am now allowed to care for wild critters, although I only want to take on birds, because they at least sleep at night. Hannah had an orphan currawong years ago called Wong. He never flew - his feathers never grew properly because we didn’t know they need extra calcium, so this one is Wing – and s/he can fly! It’s been a learning curve and so far Wing has grown well, which makes me proud. S/he spend daytimes up in the trees now, coming back for feeds and then locked up in the cage overnight to stay warm, dry and out of reach of the carpet snake who lives in the roof. The aviary Margaret and I picked up blew down the hill in the last big storm so now I have to figure out how to get it back in place…it weighs a ton… and Ewen, my neighbour, has been a bit grumpy lately so I don’t know if I should ask for his help…maybe I’ll wait till he comes over with his washing…

Tara had some truly professional pieces in the latest Nimbin Fashion Show – I was so proud and smiling so much that I neglected to press the start button on the video camera – but here’s a photo…She is doing so well in everything these days…

There’s been a few big storms lately, quite exciting to watch - but I am glad that Xav is coming to cut down some trees. There has been another death in the family as Brian, Xav’s dad, passed away last week after a long struggle with cancer. I am glad that I am here for Xav at this time and have decided to stay on next year – this means I can spend more time with Murayah and Aidan who are getting to a good age for me to granny - and they are so lovely. I will also keep fixing this place up and do the Masters of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development by correspondence from ANU – it is probably the only opportunity I will get to do a masters degree and they will give me some credit for the units I have done for the native title stuff I have been studying this year. I hope to be involved in some local native title projects too.

I have decided to resign from the Board, too much petty provincial personality politics, and instead put my energy into organising Bush Dances and café sessions here to bring people together – we had a brilliant café last Friday night after the young woofers left, lots of people turned up, the night was balmy and a small group of musos had a great time playing irish tunes. Stephanie, George, Sophia and Nicolette worked hard cooking and serving and I did a bit of cooking too and the PR – I enjoyed it thoroughly and so did everyone else - it was a great success and we’ll do it again every month.

There was also a huge fundraising gig for Ted Cox, who is about to go off for a bone marrow transplant for leukemia,. At the Hall last weekend hundreds of people raised $14,000 having a lot of fun – an amazing, inspiring effort. Last night was the Nimbin Women's Dinner where I played ukulele and did some incredibly silly things on stage whilst dressed up in dozens of breasts ... but there's no photos yet...it was a lot of fun though...

Our Lisa is now in Tasmania - and we miss her! Still, it's another place to visit when I can afford to ...