And the Adventure Begins

So we have made some adjustments to our travel schedule - as in scrapped the whole Brisbane thing due to heavy rains and shitty weather there, and now are looking at heading to Western Australia across the desert to Perth. My sis has a good friend there in Perth, and the adventure of crossing on the Great Central Road through the desert shall be an adventure of it's own. We will head south to the coast after Kalgoorlie and get our beach time in...yahoo!

I had to work yesterday and today, but after work we went out for supper and then to Anzac Hill for the gorgeous sunset...never tire of it I must say...tomorrow we head to the gorges for some swimming and picnicking...bring on the vacation...I am more than ready!

The Sisters Hit Australia - tomorrow

Well my sister was to arrive in a couple of hours but because Customs was backed up, she missed her connecting flight to Alice Springs! Major bummer...so now she will arrive tomorrow. I have to work so will be picking her up from the airport and flinging her in the door before heading back to the office...bugger it all. Qantas didn't have enough staff and apparently many people missed their connections. I was so jazzed for her to arrive today, and we'd have the whole afternoon to hang out and catch up. Now it's going to be rushed tomorrow and today is going to inch by. I want my sissy!!

And Life Goes On

It's been a very busy month here in central Australia. Violence and sexual abuse has been rampant, which means my team has been very busy. There have been 2 murders, several stabbings, several viscious assaults with everything from a machete to an axe to a shovel to a lead pipe to trying to run someone over with their car. The girls have taken a tragic hit this month, with more sexual assaults that just curdle your blood. Daddies and daughters, gross old men and young teenagers - more than enough to last a lifetime. I know it's what I do, but sometimes it just gets to me. Some of these girls will never get over what has happened to them. They trusted someone who brutally abused that trust. I hear people tell me all the time that they couldn't do my job because they would want to go out and punch the person responsible. I know why they feel this way. But someone has to listen to their stories, to help them find what they need to move on from their tragic stories. It's why I get out of bed in the morning. Someone has to do it. For now, it will be me.

I've heard people say that the social problems in Alice Springs are right there in your face. Some days I feel like I've been the one punched in the face, as I listen to one more young child tell me of the wrongs that have been done to them, be it sexual or physical. I know what vicarious trauma is. I live it on days like that. I'm going on vacation next week with my sister. It won't come a day too soon. We have a new addition to our team so I can at least go knowing the team will not be left short without me. Thank-you I. for coming to central Australia. You will learn more than you can ever realize during your year here.

We head for the bush tomorrow and again on Thursday. Life goes on.

Ormiston Gorge

Today a friend and I drove out to Ormiston Gorge, which is about an hour and a bit out of town. I had never been, so was excited to finally get out somewhere new again. I was also hankering for a hike too after the long hot summer, so we hiked to the lookout and looked down over the gorge and other lands that spread out below. After the hike we went for a swim in the refreshing waterhole that was bottomed with sand for most of it.

     Ont the way there we went through several floodways with varying amounts of water, and so at one point I had my friend film me and the Rav 4 aka Nomad spashing through the water which is SO MUCH FUN! It's so nice to see water around again after such a long and dusty summer.

Bush Trip

I love going out bush with my team. I just never know what I'm going to see and today I saw something I had never seen before. A long stream of fuzzy caterpillars crossing the road, lined up one after the other. The line was broken at one point where a car had clearly gone over the stream. And then we did...sorry caterpillars! We saw about 4 more just like this crossing the road - very strange! The weather was just gorgeous today and we just had to sit by the water for lunch at one of the many floodways that still had water. And tomorrow we get to go out and do it all over again. I love Australia!

a long train of fuzzy caterpillars crossing the road

poor caterpillars that didn't make it across the road

finally some water at the floodways

floodway lunch break

Floodwaters Recede in Alice

So the Todd River flooded a few nights ago and now it has receded and we can drive on the causeways again, even though there is about 6-10 inches of water over the road. Still lots of water in the normally dry river bed. Awesome!

And The River Flowed!

So I the Todd River began to flow last night JUST as I stepped onto the bridge to see if there was much water in the usually dusty dry riverbed and the river just started flooding like crazy, and with in 24 minutes, was flooded from bank to bank. It was just amazing to watch. I'm not sure how many days it will flow as it depends on the rain up north, but it's still raining today. This riverbed is normally dry for about 95% of the year and then if and when we get a big rain at the end of summer, the river will flow. There are many years that the river doesn't flow as it's just too dry. It's just so crazy to see so much water in the desert after such a dry and dusty summer. Magnificent! Check out my links in this post to youtube videos I took.