Australian Retrospective

This was me in April of 2011, just a couple of weeks after arrival on one of many bush trips to the outback. It seems like a lifetime ago. I was an investigator at the time, working on a team with Northern Territory Police, so most of our bush trips were in police vehicles, but we had something much more comfy than this Toyota Hilux. We usually had a Toyota Prado, which is a much nicer ride. Oh the sights we saw on those bush trips...dust storms, whirly whirls, bushfires, camels, kangaroos, lizards, snakes, emu, dingoes, wild donkeys, wild horses, abandoned homesteads, and so much more. It was an experience of a lifetime...

Settling into Australia was rough at first - I was homesick, I couldn't find the foods I liked, I didn't have my kitty, I was learning a whole new child protection system, and was broke as shit after travelling for a year and the NT Gov took their time paying me my salary and my settling in money. It wasn't long before I met who was to be my closest friend here in Oz. She started the same week I did and we sort of fell in together and discovered we were "old souls" and kindred spirits. Now when I think about the adventures we went on together...crazy! This photo is of us on our way to Palm Valley which was at the end of a very tough 4WD track. We got bogged twice in sand, but only needed a tow once. We also hit some ricks on the left side (aka my Canadian side) but otherwise, survived our first bush camping trip off the beaten path. 

F. and I camped all over the Territory, and during my first year here, we struck out for Cambodia, stopping in Bali and Kuala Lumpur, having one of the most epic adventures I've had. We laughed and cried together, shared our work and personal life stresses, drank the nights away in our courtyards, discussing everything under the sun, from our teen pregnancies and our resulting daughters, to comparing life in Canada to Australia. I hope she comes to Canada to visit me someday, as I would love to show her my country. 

Those initial months in Alice Springs opened my eyes to a whole other world. The Aboriginals of Central Australia were so very different from Aboriginal people of Canada that I was so familiar with. English was not their first language, and usually not their second or third, however the most striking difference was the living conditions. For the most part, the families I had worked with back in Canada were usually quite clean, with minimal rubbish and state of disrepair. Here in Central Australia, the homes were by far the filthiest and most disgusting I had ever come across. From piles of rubbish strewn about the yards and within the home, to the feral flea infested dogs, to the feces smeared on the house walls, both inside and out, to the cockroaches crawling EVERYWHERE, to the unimaginable stench of the unwashed bodies. And by unwashed I don't mean a bit of body odor from perspiration, I mean clothing that has not been washed in months, and bodies that have not been washed in weeks or months as well. Someone explained that they excrete goanna oil which adds to the pungent stench, but for the most part, it was simple filth. I could never understand why things were the way they were. For the most part, most parents did not work in paid employment, and were on Centrelink Benefits (like welfare) aka "sit down money". And sit down they did, playing cards, sleeping, drinking, chewing the fat. 

Some of the highlights from those experiences were quite memorable - my first home visit in the bush - we did not enter the house most of the time as it was not culturally appropriate, not to mention there was usually no furniture in there to sit on anyway. So we squatted in the dirt under the shade of a gum tree and talked about the concerns. Neighbors and family members wandered over and left again, and we were very popular with the feral dogs. And by feral, I mean flea bitten, half-starved with ribs showing, covered in tumors and infection, riddled with mange and who knows what else. On one trip, I was chased by a pack of dogs and the police I was with had to throw things at them to keep them from attacking me. On anotther home visit, one bit me on the calf of my leg. Then there was the dog in Ntaria aka Hermannsburg. We had pulled up to a house to check on a family and noticed a dog laying in the dirt next to the front step. Usually the jumped right up and surrounded our cars, hoping for food, or picking the dead birds out of our front grills. This one didn't. So I nudged it with my shoe...it was dead as a doornail...oops..then the family came home, I told them about the dog...the father went to the rubbish bin. looked inside, and proclaimed - he'll fit in there...and got back in his car and drove off...

I remember another bush trip where we were caught inbetween burnt out grounds and a whirlywhirl that scooped up the soot into a black tornadolike whirl. (They are something like a dust devil). We sat in the car while it passed over us, and I filmed it. There was another bush trip where we stopped in a riverbed for lunch and happened across a trail of caterpillars - it strung across the entire road, thousands of caterpillars. 

Once I left my government job and went to work for NPY Women's Council as a domestic violence worker. With that job came even more bush travel, which was just awesome. Most of my bush trips took me to South Australia, but I also spent some time in Western Australia, and southern NT close to Uluru. Bush travel for NPY was usually all week, so meant overnights. That was when I became acquainted more closely with a swag - which is a bedroll that is quite popular in Australia. The padding was quite thin, so I usually carried another foamie with me to pad it more. Usually we had housing to stay in, but not always, so we sometimes slept outside under the stars. I remember one trip when I was taking 3 of the ladies to the AGM nearly 900kms of bushroad away. We couldn't make it all in one day as the ladies were very nervous if I drove over 45kms/hr...so it was a LONG drive. Without any booked accommodation, we slung our swags out in someone's front yard. The tenants offered me a bedframe to put mine on so I wouldn't be down on the ground, which suited me just fine! I did however wake up to two kitties sleeping on my bed. The ladies treated us to somethings wonderful along the journey - they sang inma as we passed their traditional homelands - inma is songs in their native languages. They also sang a variety of hymns in their language. It was quite special, I have to say. We were treated to even more at the AGM. (Annual General Meeting) which was a gathering of ladies from all three states, known as APY Lands. The groups of ladies would just bust out in inma here and there and at night, we gathered by a giant fire and danced traditionally and sang in the moonlight around the fire. It was part of the reason I came to Australia - to experience the culture first hand. It was in those moments that I forgot about the smells, the filth, and the piles of rubbish. In spite of the horrid living conditions, these people had such vibrant spirits and personalities that were a delight to get to know. I learned some of the language, and a great deal more about the culture.

I remember another bush trip where we had two flat tires on our 4WD and the right sized jack didn't work...so we macgyvered a solution - we found a big square rock and put it under the small jack and continued on. And then there was the bush trip that came with significant rains, filling the many floodways, and creating the hugest of puddles, some as long as 3 football fields. I was initially apprehensive at driving through them, particularly as I was on my own for most of the trip, but before long, I was smashing my way through and loving it. There was a road train stuck in one of the bigger puddles, blocking the entire road. Not to worry, an Aboriginal family waiting ahead of me suggested making our own damn road, so that's just what we did. They were driving a Holden Commodore, which is NOT a 4WD, but it didn't matter. I created the road up over the dirtbank at the edge of the road, and he shot up over the bank in his car, and I followed right behind. We broke our own ground through the bush for about a kilometre around the bogged truck and the many vehicles trying to get him out, and then popped back down on the bush road again. No worries!

I've seen a great deal of Australia, both by air and by road. We often took the police plane to remote communities when we could, and the plane would wait for us while we completed our investigations. On one trip the police escorted 5 prisoners back on the plane - they had been remanded at the local circuit court earlier that day. I got to sit in the front, so was able to take some amazing photos while sitting in the co-pilot seat. We even flew over the space base aka Pine Gap. The Americans have a military base there and non-military folks are not permitted anywhere near it. There are several radars and satellite dishes as it is the only place in the southern hemisphere in this neck of the world where they have a base. I've driven on thousands of kms of bush road, some in my own vehicle. On one bush trip with my sister, we drove the Great Central Highway, 1100 kms of desolate bush road through the centre of Australia into Western Australia. It was amazing. I've driven the Great Ocean Road, the Stuart Highway, and so many more. I've been to every state except for Tasmania, and each one has it's own beauty. The red dirt, the bright blue skies, the surprising green of the desert, the abundant wildlife - it will be sorely missed. The weather here is what I will be thinking about as I freeze my ass off in Canada next winter...but I won't miss the sizzling heat of Central Australia.