Settling into Wadeye life

We've been out here for a month now and time is flying by. We managed a trip into "town" (Darwin) to load up on food and get more gear out of storage. Food won on the day so unfortunately the boys' toys remain in the shed!

Moyle Creek- our favourite spot on the drive!

Brahman and buffalos- near our neighbouring community Peppimenarti (about 40km from Wadeye). They have a butcher, so we might be eating one of these guys in the future!

Lots of events happen in Wadye, and apparently if something big is happening our school becomes a bit of a 'rent a crowd'. So a couple of weeks ago we released our students to watch the graduation of about 20 locals graduate from courses offered by the Batchelor Institute of Tafe. Millan and Marcello were sitting with our secondary mob, and as you can see Millan is still a hit with the ladies! They have achieved minor celebrity status out here!

 We went to Mass for the first time last Sunday, and it was like no other Mass we have ever experienced! I will have to ask Father Leo if I can take photos of the church next weekend. The church is situated pretty much in the middle of town, and the bells ring signalling the start of Mass. The windows on the western side of the building are painted in aboriginal art, and glow as the sun sets and the light passes through. The doors are flung wide open, so you can see out into the street as the boys play hide and seek in the Sister's front garden and bomby old cars fart their way past. There are no chairs, expect for benches on the perimeter walls, so everyone sits on the carpet. Camp dogs wander in the door, mangy critters they are, and then wander out when they realise there's not much doing here. Families sit around the floor and their children, aged under two, run in and out of the doors, completely nude. The kids that attend our school and live at the boarding house sit together next to all of the teachers, and they hold onto their baby cousins and play with Millan. Matt, as per usual, spent most of the service outside with Marcello, who hates having to sit still for too long! The majority of the service is in murinpatha, so we get a real feel for what it's like for the kids when they come to school and have to listen to us speak in English all day. When we left church, it was twilight and it is the time that the bats come out. An amazing sight.

Another thing that happens out here is the super fog. It gets up to about 31-32*C here in the day but drops overnight to about 13*C, so this thick pea-soup fog drowns us. It has only just started this week and is amazing to wake up to! Consequently, none of the kids like coming to school early so we have had a slow start with numbers every day this week!

 Looking up our street- the main road of town is at the top of the hill.

 Looking across to "Chicken Oval" (no idea why it is called this, have seen no chickens)

 Our house, the dew is dripping off the roof!

 Front yard- please note distinct green colouration! We almost have grass!

 Looking over to the oval

 Backyard- this road leads to our school

 You can just see the Ranger's building through the fence- that's our school

Walking to school

Millan and Marcello are settling right into life in Wadeye. The other afternoon we had some of the neighbourhood kids over to play on the front driveway. I discovered that chalk is a big hit! Millan is modelling the standard dress code for boys aged 2-10. (Under 2s are naked, over 10s wear footy jerseys)

 Me at work- one of the students took control of my phone!

 We have finally got a permit to visit a few of the local beaches. Matt took us out to Main Beach for a run this afternoon. Beautiful! Is about a 10 minute drive out of town.

Britney in the bush?

Matt was asked by the Ranger Cadets to go bush with them today. But as we are both new, our Indigenous Leader said that we should both go out together. One of the traditional land owners met us out at Fossil Head. As the tide was going out, it was the perfect time to go and collect mud crabs. It was a 30-40 minute drive out, and as always with students- they got to select the music. Now, I was thinking they'd be into old school rock, maybe some ACDC, Jimmy Barnes, Slim Dusty even. I have to say that I was shocked and surprised. Here were four tall, strong lads, bobbing away in the troopie to Britney Spears "Oops I did it again". (They liked it so much they played it twice in a row!) I wonder if she knows that she has fans all the way down here?

Here are a few photos from the day.

 Boabs at Fossil Head

 Looking to the south, towards the border with Western Australia

 Looking out into the Timor Sea

 One of our Aboriginal Assistant Teachers (ATs) about to throw the cast net

 Old cattle run to the station. To the right is the Fossil Headland, but I didn't take any photos as we hadn't seen the traditional owner at this point.

 These are the dreaming stones for Fossil Head and the people of this area. It is important not to pick them up or move them as they are connected to their dreaming.

 The fishing wasn't any good, so we decided to go catch crabs. To get to this place, you have to cross the flood plain. But even though we haven't had any rain since April/May, the ground is still too wet to drive on in some parts. We were headed to the mangroves you can see in the distance.

 Heading out to the mangroves. This boy is the grandson of our guide. A good day off from school I reckon!

 Boab Island

 It was a long walk from the troopie to the mangroves. We estimated that we walked at least 10km round trip. The kids were stuffed by the end of the day!

 You can just make out the troopie in the distance. In the background are hills that display rock art for the people of this area.

 Collecting shellfish. I can't remember the traditional name, they are a slug that live inside a cone shaped shell that are cooked on the fire. The kids love them, so we were busy collecting them as we walked. Almost filled a Woolies green bag full!

 The boys trying to get a crab out of it's hiding hole in the water.

 Giving the "Wadeye West Side" sign. We didn't get that crab either....but after crawling, climbing, stumbling and bumbling our whitefella selves through the mangroves, hustling to keep us with the guide lest we get lost, we managed to bag three crabs. For our teaching colleague, Matt and I, it was amazing to watch the kids in the mangroves. We were surrounded by green leaves and massive roots. You couldn't see a thing three metres away from you, but you could hear the kids and our guides near us. We had NO idea where we were, or how to get out. We would have been three whitefellas wandering around. Not these guys, our guide says- this way, and lo and behold we're on the beach! (Needless to say, as I was so busy climbing over mangroves I didn't get any photos! But we have plenty of cuts and scratches to prove we were there!)

 We made it!

 The long walk back to the troopie!

It was such a great experience and a privilege to actually visit a local's traditional homeland, as it is a place that very few people get to visit. 

We have a long weekend now, so I have three days to wonder what on earth we will get up to next week!