Movin' On In

So I finally moved into my own place in Melbourne today. It's on the third floor, so a whole lotta hiking up the stairs, but I managed it okay without passing out, snapping an ankle or knee, or having an asthma attack. I'm pretty sore tonight, but that is to be expected. I had to move everything from my friend's second floor apartment down into the car first. I have discovered more to love about my new apartment such as:

• the balcony is covered
• The kitchen cabinets are quite large
• the tub is huge - have missed that since coming to Australia
• I have windows on three sides, and no neighbors bordering my bedroom as it's on the corner
• there is a liquor store and grocery store just down the street
• the closet space is enormous, more than I've had in years
• there are lots of plug-ins (known as power points here)

There are a few negatives, one rather large one that I hope to tackle - the place reeks of curry. And I hate curry and the smell that comes from it. I have washed down all the walls and cupboards in the kitchen, and some of the living room, but will likely have to do all of the walls, ceilings and floors. I also have bowls of vinegar out hoping to absorb the stench. The other negative is that my large tub is peeling terribly, so I'm going to have to ask them to redo the tub. The screen door does not close properly and I can't seem to work the lock, so they shall have to fix that too. There are also no upper cupboards so I'm going to have to sort out a shelving rack, probably from Ikea, which is fine - I love Ikea! 

Dundee kind of freaked on the drive over, which annoyed the hell out of me. He was fine for 2300kms in the car from Alice Springs but for a 30 minute drive from Thornbury to Footscray, he wouldn't stop meowing and climbing all over the bloody car. He was unsettled at first in the apartment but has since calmed down, loves all the windowsills for him to sit on, and is currently curled up on the bed for a snoozer after all his exploring. 

I stopped at McDonalds next to the IGA today and had some totally random strange person come right up to me at my table and ask for a hair tie. The strange part is he looked like he had Down's Syndrome, which isn't all that weird - but he was wearing a brilliant long red costume wig that he was looking to put in a pony tail...he was dressed like a woman, but clearly a man. He was very thankful and went on his merry way after putting it up while looking at his reflection in the glass of McDonalds. Strange...I love randomness.

I managed to get the car fully unpacked just as it began to piss down rain again. It rains a lot in Melbourne. I don't mind. At least it isn't hot. And my new digs has new air conditioning - a split system actually so I can use it to heat the place as well, not that I'll really use that, not here. It doesn't get that cold at night like in Alice Springs. There are also mini-blinds in every window, which I hate, but will work well to block out the sun in summer to keep the apartment cooler during the day when I'm at work. 

So now I'm sore and tired, and about ready to lay down with kitty to watch some downloaded television. Tomorrow I am going to see a play about Johnny Cash with some friends, and then going out for Chinese food afterwards. I'll also be continuing to wash down the place in hope of ridding it of the stench of curry...

Melbourne!

I've been in Melbourne for a week now, and it has been busy enough so far, looking for apartments, organizing this and that, doing a bit of shopping, orienting to the city, exploring the many suburbs, and settling into roomie life with my friend for a few weeks. My roomie is extremely power conscious, to the point of insanity at times, as I've told her. She cannot stand to have a power point left on, or a light, or a computer, or a computer that is shut down, or the speakers, and so on and so on. My 7 watt reading light by my bed apparently is what is destroying the ecology of the country, that and my sleeping computer with it's two LED lights flashing. I try to tell her that the amount of power used is so minuscule it could hardly be measured. I've also offered her money so she may stop nagging me...it doesn't help. She sits there and looks around the room for things to turn off, constantly. I recognize that I am in her space, but come on, it's all a bit ridiculous. She can spend $2000 on botox but won't take my $20 for power so I can leave my computer turned on. I am on a mission to find my own place ASAP so this does not destroy our friendship...she knows how I feel, but my words are lost on her. Lots of love to you, girl, but the whole power things is beyond me sometimes, heh heh.

I interrupted his catnap in the sun

Dundee looks over the 'hood

I spent most of the past week looking for apartments, organized a bunch of inspections, and went to see several and then checked out the commute to work - over an hour. Back to the drawing board again to look for apartments in Footscray where my office is, and spent most of yesterday inspecting apartments and putting in applications. I'm very particular about what I want, and know I won't get my ideal place, but there are certain things I am going to hold out for. My ideal place is this: one bedroom or very large studio in an old building with gas cooking, on-site laundry, adequate cupboard space, off-street parking, and hardwood floors. Additionally I would like a shower over tub, and a courtyard or balcony. So far I have found no old buildings in the area I need to live in, you know, the character buildings with lots of beautiful footboards, ceiling and window trim, huge windows with large ledges. I have found several with hardwood floors, but not always with gas cooking, or on-site laundry. Most all have parking, but few have a courtyard or balcony. I prefer ground floor but have only seen very dumpy apartments on ground floors so far. The search continues. 

Dundee found a nice chair to curl up in

Tomorrow I go to the office for the first time and meet my new coworkers and team leader. I'm both excited and anxious. It is a chance to reinvent myself once again and start fresh, but what if they don't like me? And does that matter? I wonder what my desk space will look like? Will my new team leader be as awesome as my favorite team leader in Alice Springs? What is the workload like? How many days will training take? When do I get paid?? So many questions. I hope to have many of them answered on my first day. Stay tuned...until then I am curling up on the sofa on this rainy day in Melbourne and settling in with a good book and my kitty.

possible apt - nice kitchen

the living room and balcony

Leaving The Red Centre

After a crazy few weeks of packing, sorting, camping, working, and organizing, I finally finished it all up and hit the road on July 5th and headed south to Melbourne in the state of Victoria. About 2300kms ahead of me and Dundee to cover. I wasn't sure how he was going to cope but turns out he was a terrific traveler. The car was stacked to the roof as usual for a move, but after a few initial protests of "what the hell are we doing in here with all our stuff????" he found himself a little cubby space back on the bedding and stayed there for 2 days. Yes, 2 whole days. I'm sure he came out when I left the car for one thing or another, but he didn't show his face the entire time I was in the car. I checked on him at each stop for gas, and he was snuggled deep into my bedding.
I did get a fright/panic attack at one stop along the way. I had just finished filling up and put the hose back on the pump when a cat shot out from under the car and dove under the store into a crawlspace. The cat looked just like Dundee - a tabby, but I was in shock and couldn't work out how in the hell he got out and I didn't notice. I had locked the windows so an errant paw couldn't push it down while climbing about, and was careful when I exited the car. I ran over to the store, started calling for Dundee, and then thought - wait a minute...how about I check the car first before diving under the store...and sure enough, there was Dundee, snuggled deep into the blankets. PHEW! I had visions of spending the rest of the day calling out for the little fucker under this massive store...thankfully, it wasn't him.

The first day of the journey I drove from Alice Springs to Port Augusta - both beautiful and excruciatingly boring with such a flat landscape, I thought I was on the prairies of Canada again. We stopped over in PA for the night at an old pub/hotel with tons of character, but they were not kitty friendly so I had to leave him in the car for the night with the window cracked. I don't think he minded. Up early and off again through the rolling hills of SA and northern VIC until I finally landed in Melbourne early evening. It was a heck of a long drive, but we did it.

I stopped by Indulkana/Iwantja

my last glimpse of Indulkana hill

yeah, I was packed to the roof!

the landscape begins to fill with dirtpiles from opal mining

so very flat

rest area watertank graffiti

Port Augusta hotel room

finally some green!

rolling hills finally

I had a lot of time to think about my time in central Australia along the drive. I am so glad I started there as I think I really got to experience outback Australia like no other place I could hope to travel. Between the bush trips for both jobs, and my own bush travel for pleasure, I saw as much of the outback as I could hope to see. I visited nearly 50 remote communities - I've listed as many as I can remember below, some by their English names, and some by their language names:

camel near Amata

Elliot, Ampilatwatja, Ti Tree, Tennant Creek, Hart’s Range, Haast’s Bluff, Bonya, Engawala, Gemtree, Papunya, Yuendumu, Yuelamu, Nyrippi, Mt Liebig, Laramba, Willowra, Alcoota, Willara, Hermannsburg, Areyonga, Kintore, Docker River, Titjikala, Finke, Wallace Rockhole, Amoonguna, Utopia, Mimili, Indulkana, Fregon, Ernabella, Kalka, Pipilyatjara, Watinuma, Amata, Turkey Bore, Mintabie, Kanpi, Murpitja, Kenmore Park, Warburton, Jamieson, Wingellina, Warrakuna, Tjukayirla, Blackstone, Umuwa.

These are not easy to find on a regular map, particularly Google maps, but if you look for remote community maps online or the APY lands map, you can find many of them. They were all quite similar in structure, some were bigger than others, and some were small homelands with just a few houses. I shall remember them all for the people found in them, and the landscape of their lands that surround them. I will hold them in my heart forever. I am so very lucky.

Camp Out in South Australia

never get tired of this view on the bush roads

How cool is a job that pays you to go camping? Well that was my job at the end of June. Along with a youth worker, a policewoman, and a mental health social worker, we took a dozen female Aboriginal youth and several Aboriginal elder ladies camping at a homeland near Ernabella. Our focus was talking to them about sexual assault, the age and concept of consent, gunga and grog, and domestic violence. And we managed this as we sat in a dry riverbed perched on swags around the fire. It was a cold weekend, but such stunning beauty surrounded us, I hardly felt the cold - that and I am also Canadian so conditioned to be comfortable in the cold weather.

The girls were very receptive, and while they do not tend to talk much, you could see they were definitely listening and taking in the information we provided. Other highlights of the trip included cooking kangaroo tails (I did not partake), taking a girl to the clinic for stitches after she sliced her finger open cutting her kangaroo tail, listening to dingoes howl at the moon, watching wild horses thunder by our campsite, and listening to the stories the elder women had to tell, partly in language, and partly in English. After the girls settled into their swags together with the elder ladies for the night around a campfire, the rest of us swapped stories around our own campfire. It was a lovely way to finish out the last days in my job with NPY Women's Council.

beautiful homeland near Pukatja (Ernabella)

bush flower in winter

camp

very sacred tree - lands given back to traditional owners here

most beautiful classroom

let's learn girls!

dry riverbed where we camped

dirtiest 4WD ever...belonged to the mental health sw

telling stories around the campfire

learning about STI's

swags on the roof

cooking kangaroo tails

time to eat the tails

some huge tails

sunset on the homeland

all cooked

girl at bottom left cuts her finger moments later

cutting up the 'roo tail

2 stitches and 2 steri-strips later