Rainy Days
November 4, 2007 on 7:01 am | In Travels, November | 1 CommentWell, the wet season is here….YAY!
Last week we had about 2 hours of rain in the night. Apparently it was 57mm and when we got up in the morning it was nice to see the place still had plenty of water around. The garden loved it, even though I keep it watered regularly, the rain is so much better for it and the garden plants have all responded so well.
Then last night (3rd Nov) we had another downpour…again it was only for about 2 hours of solid rain. We decided that we would go for a bit of a walk around town today and see how things are. We walked to hooker creek, where I took this photo just after we first got here (its in the slideshows)
Well, this next photo was taken in almost the exact same spot (I couldnt actually get exact as it was underwater)
Not bad for a couple hours of rain eh?
Well, we were pretty surprised at that. We actually thought of visiting the creek after the first lot of rain, but figured it probably wouldnt be worth it just yet…I guess we were wrong.
We kept walking towards the main road (the Lajamanu road) on the outskirts of town, as there is a bit of a bridge there and we could hear kids playing. So we went to investigate and found just about every child in town playing around the bridge. Of course, as soon as they realised I had a camera they all wanted thier photos taken. No worries, I was happy to oblige and I think I got some great shots.
The kids were having an absolute ball, jumping from the bridge and generally running amok. No parents were there, a couple of parents drove past, dropped thier kids off then went off home again….but the older kids are very good at looking after themselves and the younger ones, so it was all pretty good.
Even the dogs were in and swimming about, one in particular didnt get out of the water the whole time we were there, must have good strong legs :) it was deep where he was swimming and against the current also.
Checkout the pictures in the slideshows part of our website http://www.troopytravels.com/slideshows1.htm
After all that frivolity we headed home and worked up a sweat (or two) in the garden. Its looking very nice now and we cant wait for things to grow (especially those fruit trees).
Speak to you all again very soon.
Milpirri
November 4, 2007 on 6:46 am | In Travels, October | Comments OffHmm, ok so Im a bit out of whack here. I guess you will just have to live with it, hehe.
Milpirri was staged on the evening before we went to Katherine.
It was a cultural event that was performed and narrated by the local aboriginal people, the Walpiri tribe. They have put this performance on for the last 3 years now and people come from all over the place to check it out.
They narrated a story, both in the Walpiri tongue and in English and performed and danced to convey visually the story the narrator was telling us. But it wasnt only performed in the old style of an Aboriginal coroboree. The young people did things thier way, it was a nice blend of the old and the new with many of the younger kids doing rap and other styles of dancing.
They obviously put a lot of effort into it and it was pretty cool to watch them move from old to new and back again. At the end of the performance they set fire to an image, but we arent really sure what that signified. Then they proceeded to set fire to some of the sets (some trees they had made and put to the sides of the stage).
The pictures I put in the slideshows arent the best, but hopefully they give you some indication of what went on. I think NITV (National Indigenous Television) also recorded it and so it may be possible to either see it on that station (if you can get it) or see them for a copy of the recording.
Katherine
November 4, 2007 on 6:39 am | In Travels, October | Comments OffSo after working our butts off for about 5 weeks we decided it was time to take a short break, freshen up and buy some supplies. So we took monday off work and headed to Katherine.
Katherine is about 550kms from Lajamanu, 100kms up the dirt road to the Buntine Hwy, then about 300kms to the Victoria Hwy then the last 150kms to Katherine. It was a pretty uneventful drive, we left at about 4am on sunday and had no problems with animals and saw hardly any other vehicles. All up it took us just under 7 hours. We were going to stop at Top Springs for a cuppa and fuel, but they we all still in bed at 7am and apparently had a big night and were not keen to move….fine by us.
At Katherine we stayed at the Riverview caravan park. We were going to just sleep in the troopy, but it was really humid that afternoon so we chickened out and got a cabin with airconditioning for the night…we are soooo hard :)
We then did some shopping, bought some clothes, check out the hardware store, then decided time to head back to the cabin and cool off. I proceeded to nod off for a couple of hours.
When I eventually woke up, we took a walk to the Katherine Hot Springs which were about 500mtrs from our cabin….pretty cool. They werent really hot (like Lightning Ridge) but were pleasantly warm, about 30 degrees celcius I reckon. The water was crystal clear and very nice. There were a few people around, but it was certainly not unpleasant and we spent a good couple of hours up there. Our bodies liked it very much…if you are anywhere near Katherine, go to the Hot springs, they are so nice.
Next day Anneliese got her hair done in the morning and then we headed back to Lajamanu, getting home about 6pm.
It was a very quick trip, but a nice break and certainly gave us the want to go back and spend a good few days exploring the Katherine area.
Kalkarindji
November 4, 2007 on 6:31 am | In Travels, October | Comments OffWell we took a drive to this place (that Ive probably spelt wrong). Its about 110kms up the road from Lajamanu and is the closest settlement to us. The Lajamanu road is 100kms of dirt, to the Buntine Hwy and then just a few klms to Kalkarindji…which, like Lajamanu, has a single shop and a couple of petrol bowsers.
We drove to Daguragu which is another aboriginal settlement just behind Kalkarindji…they had a LOT of mules there.
At Daguragu there was some nice creekbeds with flowing water, so we hung around there for a bit and had a swim. We were later told that both places flood quite a bit in the wet season and can become little islands surrounded by water…cool.
Quite a nice little trip and both places seemed nice enough, but although they are both next to running water, we both agreed that we like Lajamanu better, its greener and just generally nicer we feel.
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