Wadeye - another trip to the middle of nowhere

Hi Pa,

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been running around so busily that there's been to time for posting on blogs. Now I'm having a quiet weekend and have found some time up my sleeve. I thought I'd tell you about another trip I did a while ago out to a place called Wadeye, or Port Keats. Most communities up here seem to have at least two names - the Aboriginal name, and the European name.

Wadeye is about an hour's flight (I flew in) or a 6hr drive from Darwin (I drove out). It's a large community of about 2000 people. The main street kind of runs along a ridge and the families living on one side of the ridge are the salt water people, while the families on the other are fresh water people. So there are different clans of people all living in the one community. Although there are many different language groups, the lingua franca of the Wadeye is a language called Murrinh-patha.

Here is another map:

View Larger Map

Although it is not part of the Katherine Region, you can see that it is just about equidistant from Katherine and Darwin.

We drove out to the beach (about 5km) and watched the sun set.

Mambaya!

(Murrinh-patha: good bye)

A trip to Maningrida Community

Hi Pa,

As I was telling you on the phone today - I recently went to Maningrida for work.  Here is a map so you can see Maningrida in relation to Katherine and Darwin.  The blue line is the roads you would take to drive there, but I flew.  It was roughly an hour's flight.  Back in 2007 I saw a band called Wild Water play in Katherine.  Wild Water are from Maningrida Community.

View My Saved Places in a larger map

The weekend prior to the Maningrida trip, I got some boot scooting done at the Katherine Country Music Muster for my birthday. Here's me and there's Harmony James in the back ground, crooning away as only Harmony can. I had a wonderful night and even learned some line-dancing moves. I also got a guitar the next day for my birthday, so maybe I'll be crooning soon? Who knows?

Well Pa, that's all from me for now. Speak to you soon.

xx Hooch.

Getting frogged in Katherine

Hi Pa,

Thanks for your phone call the other day.  I'm sorry to hear the sad news about Aunty Marg, I'm sure she is as peace now.

I'm feeling a lot better this weekend, I even had enough energy to walk to the shops and back today.

Anyway, I've been taking lots of photos with the camera I got from Imo, Ned and Ben for Christmas, and I wanted to share some unexpected froggy guests that have been visiting the Taj.

I found this one swimming around quite happily in our pool.  I felt obliged to fish him out, however, as there is no way for him to hop out, and he would have been sucked into the pool filter ere long.

This little tacker hopped in our front door.  My housemate and I thought that it could have been a baby cane toad because of the stripe on it's back, but on closer inspection of it's bulgy eyes (cane toads have a ridge over their eyes) we discovered it was a cute froggy after all.

I hope you and Nana had a good time for Nana's Birthday last weekend.  I hope to talk to you soon.

Love to you and Nana and the family,

x Hooch.

Legend 1

Legend 1

There was a young fella called Ned
jumped onto his bike
from his bed.
He took a nose dive
into a beehive
and 'like the dickens', he fled

His mates he did call
to retrieve bike and all,
their journey was not at an end.
And off and away
that very same day
'round Tassie their travels did wend.

When they stopped for a bresk
they found in their wake
this tale had already been told.
This biker called Ned
who from bees had fled
was becoming a legend of old

So... I had an inkling that something was afoot!

Yesterday, on my lunch break, I got my first tattoo.

I've spent many years wanting one, but never had enough meaning behind the want to justify sticking it on myself. I didn't want to resent it in later life.

About a month ago, I had the "back at work blues", and spent some time thinking about what was wrong, why I was feeling a bit average... perhaps even a bit below. I had some "emergency" time off work to figure out what's important - why I felt down.

After a lot of pondering, I decided I needed a balance.. a positive balance within myself. My engineering side (Dad) and artist side (Mum) decided to be friends - and together they came up with a design incorporating balance (yinyang), and positivity (a plus).
A friend has told me it looks like a cross and a tear drop which gave me a bit of a giggle. I can see it too :) but it's not my meaning. I find it curious and fascinating how different people interpret different things differently. I guess it depends on how their balance is fairing.

Anyway, It's a reminder for myself - for me to look at. It's on the inside of my left wrist, and so far, the longer it's on me the more I like it. It makes me feel elated - more so than I had imagined. Perhaps this is because I know it's right?

Who knows - it's awesome!

Dear Pa,

I am going well, and somehow surviving the heat up here (having a swimming pool in the back yard helps). My housemate has asked me to be bridesmaid for her in December; there will be two weddings - one in Melbourne, and another in Mexico (the groom's country)!

Here I am with two of my friends. It was too hot to just dip our feet in, so we recklessly threw ourselves into the pool, clothes and all!

I took this with the camera Imogen, Ned and Ben gave me for Christmas. It goes underwater and everything! Coooooool.... :)

Please say hello to Nana and any other family members you might see. I haven't spoken to anyone in a week or so - things get so busy up here! I hope to talk to you soon.

P.S. I'm typing this all from my very own laptop! Hooray!

P.P.S I've been giving my new bathers (which I bought with my Nana&Pa Xmas money) heaps at the local pool. Me and my housemates go swimming several days a week before work.

hi pa, how are you? Happy New Year, or 'Bonne Année' in french
im in science engineering class at the moment but its about to end so i have to type quickly.
school started again after 2 weeks break on monday. i have 2 weeks of school to go then im going to catch the TGV which is a very fast train back to paris for my 5 day stay there with my friends.
im having a lot of fun meeting lots of new people and visiting many new places.
we went to the village called Hyères on the weekend. it was probably my favorite village so far because all the old buildings and castles were still standing, because during the war Hyères wasnt bombed, like the town Toulon (closest to where im staying) which was heavily bombed by the germans because it is home to a lot of military boats and headquarters. Hyères had lots of palm trees, cobble stone streets and a big castle on top of the hill behind it which we walked up to.
Toulon which we also visited was really cool as well. there were lots and lots of boats, from tour boats to cruise ships and sailing boats to massive french navy boats which are the ones that my host father works on because he is an electrical engineer for the french navy. it was really cool, like a really big version of Williamstown!
tomorrow im going shopping with my friend because im not going to school tomorrow, so i think that will be fun. my friend is also an exchange student from pegs staying in Six Fours les Plages, another village near mine.
i hope you and nana had a good christmas and enjoyed catching up with all the family, mum sent me some photos via email. im sure it was nice to see everyone, especially John and Hooch who we dont get to see very often!
send my love to Nana,
ruthi
xoxo