Bush Camping on APY Lands

I have no photos, as we cannot share them outside of the organization, however I can write respectfully about it here. I went camping with the agency I work for and the members we represent, and this was bush camping alright. We had to pick up some ladies in South Australia and drive across the state and into Western Australia where a big meeting was being held and ladies from all over the lands were brought together to discuss the agency and it's work. We were there to make sure the ladies were comfortable and to share ideas as well. So good or bad and in no particular order, here are some of my thoughts on this amazing week.

- Man it is hot. Real hot. 42C hot and here I am in the middle of the Western Australian desertlands, camping without a drop of water for miles other than what we brought ourselves.
- brought my new tent, screen on all four sides - now my new favorite tent and admired by many of the ladies. They sleep on either swags, foamies, or small mattresses on the ground or a simple bed frame, and all forms are still exposed to the bugs and spiders.
- Man it is dusty. Real dusty. Between shoveling out grass and spinfex roots, and raking up the dead stuff; the dust raised by vehicles coming and going, and the occasional blast of wind currents through the camp, everyone and everything was covered in the bright red dust of the desert. My entire body was coated in it and the more we sweated, the more stuck to us.
- listening to the ladies sing their inma both in our agency vehicle and at the camping area was the highlight of the week. At one point we staff were invited into the dancing circle around the fire, shuffling our feet through the now cool red dirt as dozens of ladies and staff sat around us under the stars. I feel quite privileged to be there, as did many of us.
- extreme heat, dehydration, and gastritis are not things you want to hear about in the desert when camping with over a hundred women. A couple of workers suffered heat stroke and had to be taken out, while I had my own rough day on Tuesday. I felt faint and dizzy most of the day, so spend much of it drinking water and eating fruit to keep my strength up. I had no energy and no appetite. I was traveling alone with three ladies who needed help to get around and get set up. Once that was done, I was completely exhausted in that heat and felt like either throwing up or passing out, or both which could be bad. I was more afraid that I would  be taken to the clinic and left there and miss out on the camp, and someone else would have to look after my ladies.
- the smell of freshly cooked kangaroo tail (baked in the dirt covered in hot coals) or three stuffed into the cab of the Hilux with five women as we bump our way over the bush roads of the APY lands is one that I will not soon forget. I thought the raw tail we brought smelled bad enough, but cooked is worse. Thankfully within a couple of hours the smell went down as they ate them, and the hot meat cooled down. At one point there was a cooked chicken in the back being shared out by the ladies. It was a reprieve from the kangaroo tail aroma. They just love them though, and they were being cooked at every campsite.
- The driving was probably the next most exciting experience. We covered 2300kms from Sunday to Thursday, with over 1300kms of that on bushroads that were either quite good, quite rough, or inbetween. Passable by all means, but a rough ride at times with corrogations, dips from rainfalls, and road work. The sandy bits are definitely smoother to drive on than the crushed stone bits. The scenery more than made up for the road conditions, and I actually don't mind the road conditions as it makes the driving much more interesting than long stretches of paved highway through a flat land. The wildlife along the way was spectacular. We saw hundreds of camels in both night and day, enjoying the fresh shoots of green grass from a recent rainfall. It doesn't take much for the landscape to bloom.
- along with camels we saw a pack of dingos, some feral cats, a mob of kangaroos, a gorgeous wedge tailed eagle atop it's prey, flocks and flocks of white cockatoos, cows, feral donkeys, and several horses. I didn't stop for any photos as we were trying to make good time in order to cover such long distances.
-pit toilets were actually quite good at the campsites, private and with a proper toilet seat. Of course they had to cover the drum on which the toilet seat was installed with cardboard and duct tape after one of my friends burned her cheeks on it...ouch!
- firewood galore - with such dry conditions and times of drought in central Australia, there is no shortage of available firewood. It need not be chopped or sawed as it is often brittle as bones, since it is so dry here. No rubbery twigs here! A fire was always simple enough to light and walk away as it blazes up. With so much dead and dry grass and spinifex, no need for paper or cardboard. The ladies liked a small fire going near them on which to chuck their billy can on for tea.
- There was a lot of language being spoken and discussions I had no idea were about. It wasn't a negative thing, but more of a "I wish I understood language" thing as I wanted to participate more. The ladies were quite open to speaking English when they could, but many did not have strong English skills as it was not their first, or second or third language. Traveling by myself with these ladies meant conversations were very simple and short. Much of the time the ladies were telling us about their homelands, where family was born, buried, killed along the way in car accidents.
- As much as I enjoy bush road driving, having 3 backseat drivers was challenging at times and felt like I had my mother in the car with me again, 3 of her. I learned tolerance, slow and steady. I did break down and cry at one point, and asked one of the ladies to back off a bit, that I had been driving for 30 years, and have already spent a great deal of time driving in the bush in central Australia, both with someone and by myself. She backed off and apologized and then said she would pray for me to feel better. Later on I had two of the ladies come up and tell me they were going to pray for my tummy to feel better. I hadn't told them I had an upset tummy...
- the colors of the landscapes along the way were just absolutely stunning. The landscapes change by the kilometre, with so many different textures to the mountainscape. I might not have taken any photos, but those images are burned into my mind forever.
- kungka fighting. Kungka means woman, and with so many women camping together from all corners of the lands, some who hadn't seen one another in years, or spoken to one another in years, there was bound to be conflict. I'm not sure what it was about but there were two separate episodes. It was all sorted out in the end and camp life simply continued on, and voices were lowered once again until someone busted out another inma. All across the campsites there were small groups of ladies singing inma from their own homelands/country. It really was quite special.
- camped in community along the way. That was interesting. We camped out in someone's front yard on the concrete block under shade roof. There were about a dozen dogs milling about, fighting, trying to nip ankles, and pissing on personal belongings/beds. The owner of the house was very generous and offered me a bed frame to throw my foamies on. Yes, thank-you very much, I shall take it! So there we were, me and three elder ladies from the lands, camping out under the starts. Before long the owner's two cats found their way to my bed. I woke up hearing purring in my ear, and had to rouse to realize I was outside, not in my room at home with Dundee. I had my toes licked a few times by random dogs, but overall it wasn't a bad night. I got over worrying about the spiders and bugs...too bloody tired to care.
- tying up the swags/mattresses on the roof rack of the Hilux is not a big deal until it's really hot and you feel like you are going to die, climbing all over the truck's surfaces to lash down numerous bundles. I didn't mind it in the early morning, but all other times were in the midday sun, as it scalds your skin.
- bush fridges - awesome. The Hilux I had taken from work had a second battery for the bush fridge so I had cold drinks all the time, and cold fruit, which made so much difference to my recovery I think, as the alternative was very warm water, which surely would have made me vomit.
- bought me a propane lantern, the kind that screws right onto the top of the tank and provides very bright lights for when you are cooking or doing other tasks that need better lighting. I didn't need to use it on this trip though as I had no appetite and did not eat much the entire time, nothing cooked at all. I lived on fruit and granola bars. I had a few cans of Coke, and once the word was out, I had someone come and ask me quietly if I had any more cold Cokes. Fifty bucks I told him...then I gave him one, lol. He had "helped" me put up a shade for my ladies to sit under as the trees were not enough. He really didn't know what he was doing, and the knots really puzzled him, so I ended up finishing it myself.
- I gave each of the ladies some handmade mittens I had made, and they were both tickled and somewhat puzzled, given the temperatures. I just wanted them to have a bit of Canadiana, as it is very much mitten weather there right now. The ladies gave us hugs and thanked us for looking after them. I had a second worker with me for the return drive, and it made such a difference.

- all in all, an exhausting week, but an amazing experience. And in a few days I take off to the Byron Bay Bluesfest with some friends and plan camp out under the stars all week, and hoping it doesn't rain too much or it shall be a mudfest. Bring it on.

Let's Catch Up Before We Melt

Yes, I know, shameful that I have not blogged in a month. It isn't that I have been very busy. In fact, I've been in a semi-permanent hide-in-the-air-con-couch-coma. It has been 35C and above for months now, with several weeks hitting the 40C and above, and this past week, 38C and above, 40C this afternoon. Want to know how that feels? Too fucking hot. That's how. I am OVER the heat. It started back in September and it hasn't let up for more than a day or two a couple of times. Last summer was not this hot, by far. I don't even know if we cracked 40C more than once or twice. All I know is I am so tired of being sweaty. It's not too bad at the office as the air con in the office I share with two other workers is the best in the building, and I have my desk shoved right under the vent (any surprise??). In my car isn't too bad once you get past the boiling hot feeling of everything in the car, and the air con gets going, however it is barely started to cool by the time I reach my destination as Alice Springs just isn't that big. One must be careful in the car after it's been sitting out for hours in the boiling hot sun. Things to be careful of - the buckle on the seat belt, you know, that silver bit - touching it is like being branded by a cattle iron. I have a purple furry cover on my steering wheel, but in the work cars, it's bare molten lead. You also want to be careful of how short your skirt is when you jump into the car on a black seat cover. BURNS.

Where I really struggle is in my house. I have air conditioning, and as long as I don't move much, I can manage to stay cool, but the moment I get up to do anything like wash dishes, laundry, vacuum, I am soaked in sweat and have to keep mopping my face off as the sweat stings my eyes. I haven't had to have the air con on much at night to sleep, as the temperatures, despite being furnacelike in the daytime, always drop a significant amount here in the desert at night. Like today it was 40C but tonight the forecast for the wee hours of the morning is 18C. So I sleep with a fan blowing directly on me in bed. If I happen to want to sleep in on the weekends though, I have to get up and turn on the air con early in the morning as it can be about 35C by 9am and boiling in the house. Or if I fall asleep on the sofa on the weekend, even with the air con on, I wake up covered in sweat because the sofa holds so much heat.

So I've spent most of the last several months inside the house, panting in the heat. It's too hot to sit out, too hot to go hiking, even too hot to go swimming. I was at a friend's house a few weeks back and there was a pool that looked oh so inviting, but it was 40C outside and there was no shade over the pool. It was a somewhat cloudy day, so when the sun was behind the clouds, it was bearable and I had my legs in while we drank and chatted, but as soon as the sun appeared, it was like being under a heat lamp - we all ran for the shade again. Lucky enough I always have been able to entertain myself indoors. Between reading books, watching downloaded tv shows and movies, knitting, sewing, playing the Wii, or spending hours on the internet playing games or reading articles, etc I am never bored. But I am beginning to feel like I'm suffering from cabin fever. It isn't much different than when I lived in the frozen north where it was winter 9 months of the year, and friggin cold for 8.5 of those months.

I may have mentioned it before, but I am looking at cooler pastures to spend the next year or two in Australia. I've applied for jobs in Western Australia, namely Mandurah, Perth, and Fremantle. There are lots of jobs in WA, most of them remote, but I've decided I don't want to be remote any longer, and look forward to some city time. The money is so much more than I make right now, being government wages like I had when I first came and worked in child protection. They also pay moving expenses which is key for me - I don't want to sell all of my furniture here at a loss only to have to buy more over there. I've heard from the one in Fremantle and they want to know if I have had my credentials assessed. When you have a degree from outside the country, they require you to have it assessed to determine if it is equal to the Australian social work degree. I didn't have to do that for my NT job that I came here for, as they have an exemption, but all other states require it, so I had to bundle up a truckload of paper and send it off to the AASW (Australian Association of Social Workers). They wanted a certified copy of my degree, passport, CV (very detailed resume), all of my course outlines, and $935 of my hard earned dollars, among other things. I thought the course outlines might be a challenge since I lost all mine in the fire, and it has been nearly 11 years since I graduated, but I contacted Renison College and they were able to pull them all from their files and email them to me, which was very nice of them. Each outline is 3-5 pages long, so by the time I was done, I had a bundle of paper over an inch thick to send off. Now I have to wait for them to process it, which can take several weeks.

Fremantle Beach

In the meantime, I've heard from one of the jobs, the Fremantle one, and they are asking for my assessment, so hopefully it won't be much longer for the assessment to be completed and I can still interview for the job. Fremantle is just south of Perth, almost like a suburb, and is right on the ocean, with a gorgeous beach running alongside the town. I stayed there last April with my sister while visiting with a friend of a friend who was gracious enough to let us come and go from his house. He has since returned to America where he is from, but since then two other friends have moved to the Perth area, so I will at least know someone when I get there. One is from here in Alice Springs, and the other is an Aussie I met in 2001 in Ireland, and we've kept in touch ever since. She came to see me in Victoria a few years ago.

So that's the scoop. My timeline is this - my lease is up at the end of May, so if all works out, I could be living and working in WA by June. Until then, life will be busy enough. On Sunday I am off to South Australia to pick up my 4 women and head with the convoy to Western Australia to go bush camping with over 100 Aboriginal women from APY lands. It is the AGM for NPY Women's Council and most all workers go along with the members. It should be rather amazing, as there will be inma at night, which means singing and dancing in language. It is quite a privilege to be invited to participate in this, and only women are permitted to be at the camp at night. I'll be able to write about it when I get back, but photos will be limited as they are very strict about that.

Once I get back from bush camp on Friday, the following Tuesday I head out on my festival journey to Byron Bay with some friends. Five days of music and friends with a stellar line-up should be quite a blast. It's quite a journey to get there, but then again, that is all part of the experience. Me and another friend leave here on Tuesday and fly to Melbourne where we stay overnight with another friend, and then four of us fly out to Gold Coast from Melbourne. Then we all catch a shuttle to Byron Bay and stay at a hostel that night. The following day we will grab a shuttle bus to the festival site and the music begins! These are a few of my must-see musicians - Paul Simon, Carlos Santana, Robert Plant, Steve Miller Band, Wilco, Xavier Rudd, Bonnie Raitt, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Roger Hodgson, Iggy and the Stooges, Counting Crows and Matt Anderson.

Chamber's Pillar

After I return from there, hopefully it will have cooled enough to go bush camping with my friends here again. We have been itching to go to Chamber's Pillar, but with temperatures so hot, it just isn't possible. The track there is 4-wheel drive only and rather rough, and neither of us want to get bogged or a flat in such heat.

Now it's time to crawl into bed with a good book...I'm reading Lee Child's Jack Reacher series. I still want to see the Jack Reacher movie, even if it does have Tom Cruise playing Jack, which in my opinion is stupid. Jack Reacher's character is about 6'5" and 250 lbs. He could life wee Tom with one hand. Tom is only 5'7" and likely only about 175lbs if that. However, I shall go into it with an open mind...