Hermannsburg and Camel Riding into the Sunset

Whilst I scampered back to work, the rest of the team headed out the West MacDonnell path towards Hermannsburg, a former mission and home to one of Australia's most famous Aboriginal water colour painters, Albert Namatjira. His was a tragic tale really. He was a gifted painter and as such was granted citizenship, the right to vote and purchase alcohol, the latter leading to his eventual demise. Having met the Queen and become a light of the burgeoning art community, he decided to run grog to some fellow aborigines and was caught and incarcerated. Shortly after his release he died.

I caught up with the troop after work at a small property just outside of Alice for a Camel Ride. The weather gods had forecast thunder showers but there was ne'er a cloud in sight, the sun was just starting its descent and we were getting lifted up in the air by these massive gentle creatures. The ride is fairly smooth with a gentle sway up and down (lumpty-dump kinda feel). I had Piper in my lap and had to sway my knees out keeping them in the stirrups, leading to my knees being a bit strained by the end and I was happy the hour ride was up but enjoyed the scenery just the same. We saw some horses along the way and Piper was insistent that she ride the horses next - took a lot of explaining that this wasn't possible and she'd have to wait to ride with Grandma when the next opportunity arose. We'll take a day off of major adventures today as we have to get the car cleaned and ourselves organized for our planned departure on Friday.

Paradise...nowhere near the dashboard lights!

You often think of palm trees, a gentle breeze and a nice sandy beach in full sun as the essence of paradise - we've found a new rung on the ladder with which to compare. A 135kms up the West MacDonnell (apologies for yesterday's spelling) ranges lies the Ormiston Gorge complete with towering walls of reddish rock, a serene little lake or waterhole and sandy beaches. Although easily accessible by any Joe Blow, there were few people enjoying the tranquility of this impressive canyon. We felt a bit like loud Americans, with the occasional 'Aidan! Cole!' yelps into the echoing canyon, disturbing the otherwise quiet surrounds. The kids were in their element, enjoying the tepid waters and exploring to their hearts content. Alas we had to pick up and continue our journey up the road to Glen Helen Gorge - there was a resort there and the promise of ice cream! Although not quite as scenic or idyllic as the former gorge, the water was pleasant and offered us some respite from the heat. Small fish abounded in this part of the Finke River which curves through a narrow gorge of towering rock, and gave us plenty to look at. Piper was intent on giving Jen a heart attack as we had left her buoyant swimming vest in the car and she seemed keen on doing her best drowning impressions - not wanting the aid of a hand or shoulder. When she puts her mind to it she can actually get her little wormy stroke going and make some headway - needs a bit of refining but could be olympic potential there! We trundled out of the gorge and eventually back onto the road - destination Alice Springs Cinema to catch 'How to Train your Dragon'. It was a fantastic flick for the kids with everything a moralistically aspiring parent might want to engage their kids in. The cinema didn't have a 3D projector so we missed out on this feature of the film which would have added a stunning dimension. All tolled, it was a rip roaring weekend - a great way to spend our last weekend here in the Red Centre.

Ballet, The East McDonnell's and Triple J's One Night Stand

So much to tell! Friday night saw us dressed up in our fanciest caravanning clothes (jeans and a collared shirt essentially) and off to the 'ballet' (said with nose in the air and pouty lips). Cinderella as a ballet was being performed by a local dance company. The costumes and set were actually quite impressive but the performance...somewhat amateur and schoolish. The kids enjoyed it (especially Piper) and in the end, we felt somewhat cultured. We woke refreshed Saturday morning and prepared for a day out to the East McDonnell Ranges - first stop - the Corroborree Rock - a thin sacred slab jutting into the air like the massive bony spine of an ancient dinosaur. The rock was so thin in places there were actual holes where you could see the sky shining through on the opposite side. After a quick saunter around its base we headed up the road to the N'dala Gorge, touted to be filled with thousands of ancient aboriginal rock carvings. Unfortunately, Bessie wasn't likely to make the river crossing so we ended up walking our way in and perhaps didn't get far enough  to discover these purported carvings as none divulged themselves to our eyes as we wandered. It was still breath-taking, with amazing rock walls towering out of the ground, and plenty of insects and tadpoles to amuse the kids. Our keen naturalist, Aidan, spied what he thinks was a legless lizard (looks like a snake to me) on the way out and we caught a snap for Facebook.

From N'dala we turned Bessie towards Arltunga - a former gold-mining town which had long since been abandoned and made into a historic reservation. The drive in was exciting as it was predominantly dirt road with a few bouncy bits. After some lunch we had a wander and Cole managed to get socked on the head with a metal handle the boys were using to lift some rocks (like the miners used to do) - no serious head injury though - pride hurt mainly! Jen insisted on getting a photo of the police station so we let her have her way and then trundled back to the main road - destination - Trephina Gorge and the John Hayes Rock Hole (for the promise of a swim)!  After a quick snap by the massive 30m Ghost Gum we sadly met a 'Closed Road' sign blocking our way up to the Trephina Gorge. We turned back and then took the road (4WD only) toward the Rock Hole, making it about a kilometre in before being forced to stop by a gravel speed bump which threatened to bottom us out. A good 3 kms up the road (in stifling heat and half a bottle of water) we finally found the rock hole - a beautiful little oasis with cool clear water pools and a small waterfall. Once surveyed thoroughly and having sufficiently cooled ourselves, we trudged back to Bessie. Parched and tired we drove back to town fantasizing about iced tea and Gatorade as we'd completely run out of fluids. The sun was slowly setting in the sky and the starlings seemed intent on gathering in the middle of the road. There is nothing quite like the thud of a flying animal hitting the grill of your car - something I hope not to get used to - although 8 or 9 thuds later and the cringe was becoming a bit less than the initial. Poor little birdies! Back in Alice we grabbed some needed fluids and enjoyed a Thai dinner before we made our way to Triple J's One Night Stand - a free concert being held at the main stadium of Alice showcasing some up and coming Australian bands. We were mainly interested in catching the John Butler Trio and made it just in time for them to take the headlining stage. The kids were dancing fools - literally throwing themselves around the ground and doing the funky chicken - dance lessons may be in the cards! John Butler truly impressed with his guitar skills and we managed to make our way out of the melee of people at the end of the night - home, to bed and ready for another day of exploration!

Grog Laws, the Gaol, Weavers and a vision of health

This is an amazing place. Alcoholism and petrol sniffing is so bad that Alice has adopted its own rules in terms of purchasing alcohol from its liquor stores and offers a low aromatized fuel option at the pumps called Opal. Firstly, you can't purchase more than $100 of liquor in one transaction, can only purchase port or fortified wine during the last three hours of business and only one bottle a day. You have to hand over your Driver's License or other ID to the clerk when you purchase your liquor so they can scan it into the system. Your details are held for 24 hrs so you can't simply visit another liquor outlet and purchase more. Many of the aboriginal communities have banned alcohol but there is no one there to enforce it so alcohol still makes it through (...especially on 'pay day' - when the dole cheques are collected). The $100 a day transaction rule was meant to cut down on the entreprenerial sorts (Grog runners) who would buy a truck load and then re-sell it in the communities at a significant mark up. I drove one of the clinic bus drivers home the other day and had the opportunity of getting his perspective on the current Aboriginal situation. He was quite forthright and suprised me, saying that when he was growing up, there were far more athletic role models, especially in AFL, but that these mentors have fallen by the wayside or died (? in their 50's?). As such, the young aboriginees growing up in Amoonguna have few heros or mentors to look up to for guidance. Aside from the obvious runny noses and often unkempt and dirty appearance, the kids have a spirit and composure so different from any other kids I've managed in the past. They seem to be somewhat impervious to pain and suffering as well, evidenced by a couple of littlees I've recently seen with rip roaring ear infections/bulging ear drums and perforations and a smile on their face. The thin little tykes seem to be highly coordinated as well - like born athletes - if only they could be nurtured to play some sport and get motivated to do so I think we'd see some amazing feats!

Jen and the kids have been getting focussed on school-work this week as they've pretty much done most of the kid-friendly things to do in Alice. They visited the old Women's Gaol (read 'jail' - for you Canadians) the other day and Aidan wrote in his journal that he was glad he wasn't badly behaved when he was younger as he wouldn't have wanted to end up in there! I didn't want to point out the obvious as he tends to get rather sensitive about his journal at times. Yesterday they visited a weaving collective which filled Jen with 'Health Promotion' vigour and hope as it represented a component of health we so often overlook when trying to 'close the gap'. The story is that some women in a local aboriginal community decided to start traditional weaving again and to start selling their wares as craft in some of the local galleries. It was their idea and their efforts that made it happen and it has been quite successful. Rather than having something imposed upon them and therefore having no ownership or pride in their work, they'd created something from nothing and have spread their work and skills to other communities where willing weavers have also come on board. Having a purpose seems to be a rather integral component to their health and well-being as it makes taking care of oneself a worthy goal.  Like in Canada, the government has provided housing and infrastructure to its indigenous population, essentially throwing money their way to try to improve living conditions and thereby, the health of their communities,yet the removal of their sense of purpose and raison d'etre from prior injustices is something that is not easily remedied and as such health outcomes continue to falter. It's like we need to somehow instill our indigenous/poorer populations with the capacity to develop their own projects or programs so they are empowered to do so and can take control of their own destinies rather than having it 'doled' out as lip-service to development. 

Speaking of which... I had the opportunity yesterday evening of visitng the Centre for Remote Health here in Alice. It appears that Prof Wakerman, the fellow we had lunch with last Sunday, is actually the director of this incredible centre and has scores of publications to his name including chapters on remote health in various textbooks. In a way its like the mailboy hob-knobbing with the CEO - not sure how I managed to eke my way into being taken serious enough to make the acquaintance and be invited for a tour of the facility. I was utterly impressed and deeply inspired - one needs these re-affirmations now and again to move to the next stage of life. Aside from hob-knobbing, I've been busy planning the Queensland leg of our grand tour as that period of our trip will be closing in on the 28th of June when we finally depart this fine land. It's looking to be a rippa!

Getting to know the Alice

We've entered week 2 here at Alice Springs after a fairly uneventful weekend. On Sunday we were invited out to lunch at a community medicine Professor's house whom I'd met inadvertantly in Sydney at a dinner. He works at the Centre for Remote Health here in Alice as both an academic and researcher in health policy/administration. I've never really had a good sense of what a career in public health would entail and as I found out, it can be pretty varied depending on your interest. I must be reaching a crux in my life again as I've been scouring the community med/ masters in public health programs in Canada and abroad to see if they might be of interest. Rural General Practice is a wonderful dynamic field, with lots of hands on, procedural medicine yet it lacks the capacity to really affect large population groups - maybe I could do both? So many choices....

The kids had a blast in Prof Wakerman's pool and lunch was an exquisite array of salads, breads and cheeses - very pleasing to the palate.We nearly overstayed our welcome trying to get the kids out of the pool and into the car. Piper was feeling a bit off since the morning so we headed back to the flat to sort out the last of the week's school work and put her to bed. Before dinner, the boys and I ran/cycled to the local park and worked out any last vestiges of energy jumping off the swings, doing obstacle courses around the jungle gyms and the fitness structures located adjacent the park. Aidan was quite impressed with himself as he was actually sweating from his forehead - something he hadn't experienced before - perhaps a sign he was really putting some effort in? On the way home Cole was keen to have a run so I hopped on his bike for the last 800 odd metres and let him rip.

Work was a bit busier yesterday - I think that's the norm for clinics in general - it was always a crazy day in Narrandera - the worried well waiting impatiently over the weekend and then in dire straights once monday arrived. The kids had a varied day, starting into the weeks work, wandering town and doing errands. I caught up with them at the park at the end of the day and had Jen run through the obstacle course with them - good fun! This weekend coming Triple J has its one night stand here in Alice with the John Butler Trio headlining and the night before there is a Cinderella ballet which we'll try to get tickets for - a little bit of culture to soothe the soul! We'll hopefully do some more sightseeing to some of the outlying gorges and waterholes as we have yet to don the swimmers and take the plunge and it will be our last weekend here!

The Telegraph Station, Alice's Spring and some gaps and chasms

Sorry, it's been a few days since my last confession...er, blog. We've been busy - well the kids have - I've been swimming in ennui searching for a purpose and occasionally finding one. There seems to be a lot of lip service paid to the doctor - not a lot of reliability. I should get pretty good at Sudoku by the end! At the end of the day Friday I caught up with the Parker-Mitchell team at the Telegraph station where I heard all about the amazing station and it's continuous single copper wire stretching from Darwin to Adelaide. Far more amazing was the fact that someone was employed to sit with headphones on, listening to morse code all day - and I thought I had it tough! The kids had discovered water tables down at the spring and were keen to dig holes in the sand wherever it appeared dry to show me they could find water - seemed like a never-ending kind of game! We eventually extracted them from the springbed and headed into town to a place called the Bluegrass Restaurant which I'd found online and was touted as one of the best restaurants in Alice - my antennae should've gone up immediately. It was in this lovely old heritage building but if it was a fine restaurant before, it had fallen by the wayside lately. The tables were covered with red plastic tablecloths and the walls looked like they could've used another coat of paint or two - perhaps that's the look they were after? The promise of interesting tasting food was instilled by the menu selections but the follow through was lacking - seems to have fallen into the deep-fried trap so many Australian restaurants seem to gravitate towards.

Yesterday, Aidan woke up and out of the blue said he wanted to get into his schoolwork - we were flabbergasted as it was Saturday morning! Cole wasn't as keen but a few hours were spent getting some work done. We needed to get some passport photos and wanted to browse through one of the big aboriginal galleries (and grab a proper coffee!) so we headed down to the Todd mall walking street in town. From there we wanted to get to the Stanley Chasm, 50kms out of town. Again - it's a sacred area of one of the local aboriginal communities, open to the public . You hike in about 10 minutes from the information booth to a stretch of about 25 metres of  20 metre tall vertical rock on either side about 10 metres apart. The sun shines down the chasm for only 15 minutes a day and we managed to catch it at the right time. The kids had a ball checking out the isolated pools of water left over from some recent rains and enjoyed clambering over all the rocks and creeks on the way in and out. We'd made it there without having checked the fuel gauge before we departed and rather than heading further away from Alice to some of the other waterholes/gorges we had to head back. On the way, we stopped in at the Simpson Gap, only a few kms out of town. It's where a couple of small ranges come together at a steep valley leaving a 'gap' between the rocks - hence the name. At this time, there was a nice little collection of water between the gap in the rock, shallow enough at spots to take a wander in and across. It was incredibly scenic and very tempting to grab some ropes, a harness and some climbing shoes to scale some of the walls. The rock looks like it would come apart as you reached up to grab the next hold but - at least lower down - is actually solid and smooth without any real jaggedness. It looks like the ground has been split and angled upwards with a series of layered rocks split and cracked in perpendicular fashion, jutting in and out up the rock. You can see the different layers of rock pancaked one on top of the other rising out of the earth on a 45 degree angle with parallel seams - it looks ancient and spectacular. With the rising heat and the temptation of water, we ventured in to the local pool and cooled ourselves off for a few hours. The Alice Springs Triathlon Club had advertised a sprint and olympic distance tri for the AM so I mentally signed myself up. Back home though, I checked my mountain bike and found both tires flat - seems an inadvertant run through a bindi-patch had paid its due. As Jen got into making sushi for dinner, Piper and I attacked the tires. I managed to find a spare and some patches but the glue in the patch kit had all dried up and I needed two or three other patches. A quick trip to the Mobil for some glue and we were back on track. I set my alarm for the wee hours this AM, woke and checked my tires for success and found the front one to have softened overnight - so alas - it wasn't meant to be. I feel a little slack not having a go - will have to get prepared for the next opportunity - like maybe doing a bit of fitness!

Dirty shirts, no shoes and runny noses

I still can't get my head around the poverty and related illness I'm witnessing. The squallor in which some of my patients live in and how they present to the clinic is mind-boggling. Many haven't washed or changed clothes for days. Few are very happy and most have been through horrendous ordeals of alcohol-related violence and mistreatment. They live on top of one another in the small government supplied housing - 8-10 people in a 3 bedroom house. STDs are rampant, worms and parasitic infections epidemic, and chronic diseases like diabetes, renal failure, rheumatic heart disease almost the norm rather than the exception. Some patients actually live in the bush with addresses like "the big tree, Alice Springs" or "Long grass / Salt bush..." the list goes on. If they are kicked out of their community for whatever reason, they migrate to Alice and essentially camp out along the river or in the parks waiting for their government handout to have a party and continue day to day. The gap between your middle-class Australian and (what appears to be) your average Aboriginal here in the NT is massive and seemingly perpetual. You can see programs aiming at education in nutrition and general hygiene being undertaken and kids are fed two meals at school everyday so perhaps there is some hope in the mix - unfortunately there doesn't appear to be enough positive role models to catalyze change. Maybe it's coming...who knows.

The kids are trucking along well, getting into their schoolwork and enjoying the parks and swimming pool here in Alice. We've taken to an early morning ride to the local park for a play and run the last few days and it's been a great way to start the day. I'm a little worried about my childrens' lack of abdominal six packs so will be endeavouring to start some morning calisthenics and core training (Troy Jacobsen style). I'm probably in need of a bit as well. Jen's started her course again through Deakin so is starting to burn the midnight oil - she's such a motivated creature in this regard - I have utter respect. We're moving into the weekend and hope to do some touring of the outskirts - perhaps to some local gorges or water holes and maybe up to the Devil's Marbles north of here. We'll see how it goes.

The Desert Park and Dige lessons

While I've been off occasionally seeing patients and reviewing a backlog of pathology reports and discharge summaries/letters, Jen and the boys have been out and about - checking out the main attractions of the Alice. Yesterday they spent the day at the Desert Park, scoping out various birds and lizards indigenous to the area and learning about bush tucker and some aboriginal culture. Today they visited the School of the Air, went to a dige class at a local shop so now Jen can make a noise not dissimilar to a massive bout of flatus - I'm sure it'll come along though. They also visited the MBantua Aboriginal Art Gallery - predominantly of artists from the Utopia region - and were spellbound by some of the amazing works produced.

I managed to get through all the pathology reports today and hopefully organized a bit more work for myself, recalling about a third of the patients for review due to amazingly abnormal results. The amount of chronic and acute disability in this small community astounds me! I should hopefully be getting a bit busier over the next few days and if not will have to start a new project to keep myself busy, hmmm? It's not the most stressful job but not the most exciting either. We'll see how the rest of the week goes.

Amoonguna Medical Centre

First day on the job. I was picked up at 8 AM by the clinic practice manager and driven 15kms out of town to the small community (pop. 300) of Amoonguna. Didn't know what to expect on the way in but was ready for anything. The clinic was less than a year old and looked pristinely new. It has two clinic nurses, a local receptionist and a couple of bus drivers who go and collect the patients and bring them in. The practice manager gave me a quick tour of the community which is essentially comprised of government houses which the occupants are meant to pay rent for - some do, some don't. There is variable care taken to the yards and plenty of overgrown, trash strewn lawns. The aged-care facility looks fairly basic, complete with an old white Ford out front on blocks. Today was predominantly an orientation day and I only saw a handful of patients. I think I'll be doing a lot of clean up for the next three weeks - meaning  - there are pathology reports, discharge summaries and a whole bunch more paperwork in need of catching up in addition to follow up health checks and an overwhelming amount of diabetes/chronic health management assessments to tackle. The clinic hasn't had a GP for 3 weeks so the nurses were almost desperate in showing me lists of patients with diabetes and their abysmal numbers indicating poor control. As I started into some of the results I immediately hit a roadblock with the first two patients requiring follow up for STDs I haven't treated since being in Australia.  TB exists and the incidence of Rheumatic Heart disease is apparently epidemic - it's like I've been transported back to India, Guyana or Guatemala with that same smell on patients - a sort of sweet and sour charcoal-like smell indicative of poor living environments. I'm fascinated by the naturally blonde or auburn hair though, commonly unkempt and frizzled - such a contrast to the incredibly dark skin tones.

While I was struggling to get my head around what my job will be for the next few weeks, Jen and the kids checked out the reptile museum, handling snakes and lizards and learning about the local fauna. The boys said they were the closest they'd ever been to a salty croc - a smiley creature on the other side of a thick plexi-glass window only a nose or finger tip away. Once home from work we headed out as a family to the Cultural Precinct centre complete with a massive playground for the kids to have a run around. Cole has wanted desperately to try out his new boomerang that he bought  in Coober Pedy and we finally found a space to do so. After a number of throws with variable success at returns but no self-induced injuries, he joined his brother and sister in the park. We're settling in to Alice - should be an interesting few weeks - still lots to see and do.

Thorny Devils and washed out of the Kings Canyon

We started out early in order to make it to King's Canyon at a reasonable time in the afternoon. The kids settled into their schoolwork, excited by the prospect of a couple more days in a tent at a new location. En route we caught a good glimpse of Mt Conner - an Uluru mimick we noticed on the way in. It's a monolith about half way from the Stuart Highway turn off to Uluru with less rounded corners but a similar largess sort of stature. It probably doesn't capture the light as well as Uluru and perhaps does not have the spiritual association as much, so has been left alone by the tourist mobs. After the turn off to King's Canyon I finally managed to pull off the road to check out a thorny devil lizard that I hadn't run over. They are incredible little beasties which look like they have actual thorns attached to their legs and backs. On the way we pulled into Kings Creek Station for a coffee and fill up. The flies continued to be incessant in their desire to push us to insanity so we gave in and invested in the colourful head mesh screens - they even had a pink one left! We made it to the Kings Canyon Resort by early afternoon and enjoyed some lunch and a swim by the pool. Dried and refreshed, we made a quick trek into the canyon for a short walk to the valley lookout. On the walk out we noticed an enticing little pool of water to the side of the path and ventured the short distance to check it out. Small frogs littered the rocks and tadpoles with legs scittered around the shallow pools. Dragonflies - both red and blue, zipped around the surface and the kids found small ledges and areas to explore in the near vicinity. As we clambered out we crossed paths with a patronizing guide from the local Adventure Lodge who advised us to "stay to the trail" as some of these off-trail areas were sacred to the aborigines. There were no signs indicating this to be the case and plenty of footprints to suggest we weren't the only ones to explore this little pool. We are quite sensitive to the aboriginal areas and had no intention of trespassing where we weren't meant to go so I was a little perturbed by his lecture as we had done nothing noticeably wrong other than appreciate the beauty of the area. We headed back to camp and enjoyed another swim. The boys didn't seem to want to leave the pool and were good and water-logged by the time they eventually emerged for dinner. A game of snap, a quick read and we settled into a deep slumber.

I woke early and on my way back from the toilet block heard the distinctive clunk of something walking over the bonnet of a car. I looked up to see a dingo maybe 8 feet in front of me scampering off another camper's car. They had placed their cooking pots on the roof (clean or uncleaned I'm unsure) and the dingo was obviously up having a look. As I made my way to the tent the howls began in earnest, lasting maybe 30 seconds to a minute then abruptly stopped. The sunrise had an iridescent purpley-red glow on the sky and the old adage "red skies in the morning - sailors take warning" rambled through my head. The flies were in full force so we elected to have breaky at the resort as dark clouds began to muster and thunder and lightning to strike in the distance. We had set our sites on the canyon rim walk in the morning and a productive, fun afternoon at the pool if  the weather cleared. As we headed to the canyon, buckets of water seemed to be hurled at us such that my wipers had trouble keeping up with the deluge. We waited about ten to fifteen minutes to see if it would pass at the canyon parking lot and our window came...briefly. Traipsed up in our head meshes, hats and nylon rain slickers we trudged up the path to the rim. Two-thirds the way up and the sky opened up again with torrents. We pushed forward despite complaints from the boys about the loud thunder seemingly moving closer and closer the higher we climbed. We made it to the top and called it quits as it looked as if we would be washed away if we persisted on track to the "Garden of Eden" - the goal of today's trek. The waterfall visible from the parking lot, high on the canyon walls, had turned into a veritable Niagara Falls in contrast to its initial trickle and the steps down had come to resemble small cataracts building up steam. By the time we'd made it back to the car we were drenched - seems our slickers weren't so slick! We decided to push our travels ahead and pack up camp (which was very damp by the time we returned) to make our way to Alice a day early. The rain persisted in droves as we made our way to Kings Creek for lunch, with low areas of the road actually covered in a few inches of water, making that wave-spray of water as we drove through. I tried to convince Jen to run ahead and capture our "river crossing" on the camera but she declined. We eventually made it to Alice and Fiona directed us to where we'll be staying for the next three weeks - a small two-bedroom unit at the end of a cul de sac - a bit basic but we'll manage. We didn't know what to expect of Alice and initial impressions suggested significant impoverishment and social issues with numerous aborigines lounging on sidewalks and around the city centre, unkempt and very rough looking, but it wasn't only the aborigines who looked liked they'd had tough times. I start monday at the Aboriginal Medical Service about 15 kms out of town - should be a bit eye-opening.

Woken by the howls of dingos

…a piercing chorus of howls broke the early morning silence and stirred me from my slumber. I scrambled slowly out of the tent to view the commotion but it had already ceased and appeared to be coming from the hills behind the camp. Awake and behind on my blogging I took refuge in Bessie and plugged my computer in to get caught up. The sun rose with the kids and we organized ourselves for a short drive to Uluru and a pilgrimage saunter around its base. Having lived in Narrandera for 6 ½ yrs we were used to flies now and again finding the many orifices and moist areas of our face and managed quite well without putting the head netting on to avoid their advances. Perhaps due to the recent rains or not, legions of flies seemed to be doing their utmost to drive us batty – but we were tough (or stubborn) – unlike virtually all the other tourists making the trek who sported brightly coloured mesh over their heads to keep the annoying, buzzing, incessant creatures at bay. The 10 – odd kilometre walk and rising heat took it out of the kids a bit but we managed to eventually find our way back to Bessie and ventured to the local cultural centre for some lunch. As expected there were a couple of aboriginal art shops with literally hundreds of pseudo-professional dot paintings but nothing that truly grabbed our attention. The education centre was worth a look and the kids found some activity books which helped them break up the time and learn something about Uluru and the aboriginals in the area. Hot, sweaty and bugged out, we did a quick jaunt to the look-out over the Olgas – another sacred site opposite Uluru, which appeared more like a jumble of bolders which had all fallen together from the sky – quite distinctive in the flat otherwise featureless terrain of the area. Back in Yulara we keenly returned to an artshop we’d visited the day before and took a closer look at a few of the paintings. A couple of in-house aboriginal artists were painting as well and kept Piper entranced while Jen and I decided whether to purchase an amply coloured piece entitled ‘Bush Medicine’ – seemed rather 'a propo'. After some journal writing and other school work we packed up and headed back to Uluru to catch the sunset and witness the magic. True to form, without a cloud in the sky, Uluru lit up in different hues of red and dazzled the hundreds of tourists like ourselves gazing in awe upon it. Over 400,000 tourists visit it every year despite its remoteness and it’s easy to understand why. Having had our fill we headed back to base camp and under the romantic light beams of our AWD Bessie, cooked up and feasted on a mixed grill and veggies before retiring to our toasty warm and cozy tent for another night in the desert.

The Big Red Rock

There is little doubt - Uluru (Ayer's Rock) is a long way from anywhere! We struck the road early to cover the 730km in good time and make it to our camp before nightfall. I was actually suprised how well we went as we made it there by mid-afternoon - time for a play and swim in the campground pool before heading out to the rock. We were informed by the tourist office that sunset was around 6:30 pm so we needed to make tracks around 6 pm to check it out. As instructed we headed out and were in place at the sunset parking lot with time to spare - unfortunately, the clouds and sun failed to cooperate and we ended up calling it a night early. It wasn't a total loss though as the rock is impressive even without the right light shining upon it. All the pictures depict it as this seemingly rectangular shaped beast with rounded or weathered ends but it is actually more of a triangular-shaped formation well wrinkled and crevassed with age. We headed back to camp and stopped at the Brough Buffet located at the Outback Pioneer Hotel just outside the campsite. The kids were in heaven  (they love buffets) and had their choice of camel, crocodile, kangaroo and a few other tempting tastes. Kids ate for free so all was good and we feasted into the dark. At the end of it all we tucked into our cosy tent and had an uneventful night until...

The Coober Pedy Experience

Driving up the middle of Australia into the desert the shrub gets shorter and less dense while the roadkill seems to get bigger. I had never seen cows as roadkill before but now I've seen many. The further you go up you start to see remnants of cars that have been either destroyed in a roll over or simply left to be vandalized and stripped by whoever makes the effort to do so. Coober Pedy lies more or less half way to Alice from Adelaide ie) a long way from anywhere. Again quirky just doesn't seem to do it justice. It was established in the late 1800's when some young buck stumbled upon an opal seam. Now there are over 2.5 million holes in the area and although the population has dwindled, plenty of miners hoping to make it rich. Of every 100 holes that are dug, 99+ find no opal. About 1/10th of those that do find some, find some that is of any value, a 10th of those can make a living off of their find and only a 10th of those actually make it rich. To do an exploratory hole costs about $100. If something looks promising the hole has to be widened so someone can be lowered down to look and this costs about $500. If the miner decides to pursue this area then their initial outlay is about $3000 without any assurance that they will find any opal of value. Fools paradise! The area looks like it has been infested with monstrous ants as wherever you look mounds of dirt litter the landscape. As it is essentially in the middle of desert, greenspace is non-existent and the main road of the town is essentially bordered by cinder block businesses, hotels and restaurants (of which there are few). It's like a frontier town in one of those old Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns - dusty with an undertone of struggle and strife. The aboriginals in the area are as black as black and very dishevelled (at least the ones you see wandering the town). They seem lost, idly sitting on sidewalks or lounging beside buildings near the centre of town. On the day we arrived there seemed to be a feud brewing and you could hear shouting and witness some poor emaciated Abo being kicked and beaten in the street. Later, as we were going to dinner, we could hear a scuffle again and then witnessed rocks being pelted (..our way) at some poor fellow sprinting away in a cower. Sounds like a dreadful place but aside from these episodes we actually enjoyed it for a couple of days as there was plenty of interesting things to see and do.

We stayed at a hotel called the Desert Cave in which you actually stay underground in a holed-out sandstone cave - much like about 50 % of the towns people. We arrived on a public holiday so had to make the best of it finding interesting things for the kids to do. For a start we hit the Old Timers Mine, where you could take a tour underground and get a bit of a history of mining for opal in the area. The kids were stoked as they got to wear hard hats and check out a number of tunnels and displays 20-30 ft under the earth. They had a small sandbox outside filled with rocks with tiny shards of opal and fossils so the kids were able to do some 'noodling' and find some treasures. From there we found the Big Winch - one of those big things in Australia which some towns flaunt as tourist traps - not particularly exciting really - so we moved on to Josephines Art Gallery and Kangaroo Orphanage - what the two have in common is anyone's guess. As we walked in, there were a bunch of Didgeridoos on display for sale and conversation with the proprietor led to her espousing her husband's capability at teaching people how to play these long cylindrical instruments. Naturally we were intrigued and before you could say lickety-splitz the kids were all having a lesson while I sauntered around the shop checking out the artwork. Jo gave me a quick lesson on Aboriginal Art and pointed out some of the typical themes in some of the paintings. We were a bit early for the kangaroo feeds so had a wander nearby to a couple other opal shops owned by haggard-old grumpy Germans who seemed to be miffed if you were only browsing in their shop and not laying down hard currency or plastic. The lights would go out before we'd left the building kind of thing. We headed back to the Kangaroo Orphanage just as a busload of tourists had arrived and saw some of the smallest and cutest red kangaroos you could imagine. At the end, the kids and Jen got to cradle these small pups and because we were enamored by it all - bought a Didgeridoo for the kids to have a go at - might give them an interesting show and tell next year at school.

On day 2 of the Coober we ventured to the Catacomb Church - an underground church excavated into the sandstone and then did some further noodling in the public noodling area - again a bit of a fool's paradise as the chances of finding anything remotely resembling opal and of value is probably well less than zero. Once sufficiently dusty we aimed our sights at trying to find a place to scrub up one of the small stones we'd noodled the day before at the Old Timers Noodling area and organize an afternoon activity. After a few strikes we found a fellow who would shine up our precious find but couldn't do so until later in the day so we headed out to Tom's Working Mine on the outskirts of town for a family tour. The tour was run by this old Scot who'd smoked his lungs to death and was huffing and puffing like a steam engine throughout the whole tour. Again the kids had a blast as they were allowed to be winched up one of the small holes that miners used to descend in order to enter the mines, play with divining rods (which only I seemed to have the power to make work) and attack some sandstone with a hand-held jack-hammer. At one point we were 52 feet below the earth! For dinner we hit a local Greek restaurant and then trekked out to the Breakaways - a rock formation about 30 kms from town along some windy dirt roads better suited to rally racing than racing the setting sun for a few pics. On more than one occasion deep curves came up suddenly in the road without warning and as we were nearing the rocks the sun shone directly into my view as I was driving, blinding me from anything in front on the road. Fortunately we stayed on course and enjoyed the lookouts over these majestically coloured formations. All tolled, we found Coober Pedy a friendly enough place to visit with some very down to earth (literally and figuratively) people but am glad I decided not to take on the job here for a week - may have been mayhem in the emergency! Off to Uluru, King's Canyon and Alice next - looking forward to gazing at the big rock!

Woomera ? quirky military ghost town

It seems many places in this part of the world are touted as quirky - not sure that would be the correct term for Woomera though. When we arrived in Australia in April 2003, it had just been closed down as an immigrant detention centre due to purported human rights abuses and riots at the site due to overcrowding. Its other claim to fame has been military and aerospace research - particularly with rockets/missiles. As you drive into Woomera off the highway you're immediately struck by the conformity of all the buildings and these numerous cinder block apartments bordering the town. The caravan/'tourist' park is on the outskirts with a few portable trailer cabins scattered throughout the essentially barren concrete compound. Needless to say - we had a look and kept on driving. The hub of town centres around the visitor's information complex which also houses a small museum and bowling alley (...of course!). We came in on a Sunday afternoon and there were literally a total of 2 people walking the streets and maybe 5-6 (including staff) in the Visitors Centre - it was very eerie - kind of like the model town in Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull flick, just before the nuclear bomb goes off. We managed to find a hotel called the Eldo which seemed to be the former military dining hall. The dining facilities had been refurbished with modern wood rails and a nice looking bar and bistro. The rooms on the other hand looked to be not too dissimilar from the dorms Jen and I had in our first year at McGill. Once unpacked and into our room we ventured out for our regular picnic lunch. En route we ambled through the outdoor rocket and airplane museum along the main street and then found a park with a playground. We set out lunch while the wind picked up and made our cheese slices nearly airborne. A bag of lollies, some funny leather shoes and some balls with holes knocking over 10 pins fueled our afternoon entertainment. The Eldo Hotel bistro cooked up some lovely bratwurst and kids meals for dinner and we tucked in early for a big drive to Coober Pedy - the Opal Capital of the World - in the AM.

Bessie goes off-road and gets dirty

Bessie, the Toyota Kluger SUV, had yet another jaunt away from the tarmac, tackling some thin single-track (for SUVs that is) rolling, rocky hills with some steep ups and downs that made white-knuckles of Jen's hand gripping the HS bar. We'd joined a 4WD tour as a "tag-along" and were handed an UHF radio to keep abreast of the various plant and animal life and geological formations from our long white-bearded tour guide. There were some reservations about Bessie as she was only an AWD - one of the other tour guides would normally not allow such vehicles on his trips - but she stood up to the test with flying colours without barely a slip up. The rewards were immense as we were driven onto private areas of the Arkaba Station, with incredible vistas and cliff-hugging driving tracks aptly named Stairway to Heaven (coming down the otherside ? Highway to Hell?) Weather was a bit inclement with morning thunder showers and a heavy deluge as we trekked back to camp after the morning festivities. What originally appeared to be an area devoid of moisture had suddenly become a bit of a mud pit (especially around our caravan). Fortunately, the afternoon brightened up and we had our chance to hike into the Pound. It was listed as 7.8 kms round trip to the top of one of the lookouts inside the Pound so we were a little tentative as the kids generally put up a bit of a fuss when we say we're going for a walk. ("Is it going to take 500 hrs?!" ....Aidan) There was ne'er a comment though and we made great time up and back, finding lizards, wild goats and a number of roos along the way. Even Piper made most of the trip on foot - as we were coming down from the highest lookout some out-of-shapers coming up the otherway were amazed at the spring in her step and I explained she was a bit of a mountain goat - which she of course took to heart and announced to other trekkers coming up the same path. Back at camp we got ourselves organized for the next part of our journey which will take us up to Woomera, Coober Pedy, Uluru, King's Canyon and finally Alice Springs where I've got work for 2 weeks. Now we'll really get an appreciation of arid, dry and barren!

A fossil and feast kind of day

Woke to 'Ah, Ah, Ah' of a local crow seemingly just beside my window. Walls of caravans are pretty thin so it sounded almost like he/she was in the bed with me. After a bit of hustle and bustle we got ourselves organized and into the trusty Kluger which Aidan has decided to name 'Bessie' - like my old metallic purple VW Van - Fiona the GPS and Bessie the Beast! We'd decided to do a self-drive tour of some of the ranges and gorges in the national park. One area in particular had captured our attention as it was touted to be where the earliest known fossil , the Dixonian ... something or other - has been found. I haven't quite figured out whether it is an Edicarian or whether that was the age it was meant to have existed. It is ...or was an aquatic organism which prevailed in this area whilst it was completely covered by water and has surfaced through erosion and tectonic plate movements which have given rise to Wilpena Pound - Wilpena meaning out-stretched fingers and Pound - enclosure. It is like a massive 100 sq km. amphitheatre which was perceived by some early entrepreneurs as potentially a great catchment for water and thus ideal for hordes of sheep and agriculture. Unfortunately, rains are not all that common here and the area became over-grazed and over-cultivated fairly quickly. Areas remain barren today where such practices have left them effectively bereft of nutrients and sustainability for plant life. We headed along the road to the Bracina Gorge and past the Terzona area where the fossils were meant to have been found. As we traveled further west we encountered signs every km or so indicating a change of geological rocks or formations and a decrease by 10-20 million years in age. The formations were actually quite amazing to see - it felt like we were traveling back in time and taking in some amazing ancient history in the process. We hiked along some creek beds and along one of the many hiking trails in search of fossils touted to be abundant in the area but only stumbled upon some once back near our vehicle. Aidan was the keen eye and after the first find kept spotting new ones. We continued along our 'off road' adventure with Bessie and stopped for lunch at the top of a ridge where a look out allowed us views of some incredible valleys and hills. Once back at the camp we tackled the pool and tried to get some school work done before the weekend with variable success. Dinner was had at the resort Bistro and included a Flinders Native Plate - complete with Emu Pate, Smoked Kangaroo, Native tomato relish and goat's cheese. I had the Kangaroo dish for the main while Jen played it safe with a vegetarian salad and the kids hoed into some traditional kids meals. Dessert was the typical ice cream and sauce for the kids while Jen enjoyed (with us) a massive serve of blueberry, mango and lime gelati and I, the sticky-date pudding (see I am Australian!). With full tummies and yet another day of adventure ahead we tucked into our beds to await the early morning wake up call of our winged friends.

Wilpena Pound

Arid, dry and barren - three words that seem to characterize this place and have done so since settlers tried to make a living off its lands back in the 1800's. On the drive in a few remnants of their stone houses still sit empty and crumpling to the side of the road. We woke reasonably early to take in a day of exploration of the area. We were greeted at the information hut with " Mr Parker and family I presume" - as the kids' schoolwork bag had preceded our arrival and Jen's name is on the tag. The kids were a bit excited with the new environment and all the pamphlets at their disposal so I had to mind them while Jen collected the info on what we could do and when. Given the low wind we decided to do the flight over the Pound to start then zip around to the Old Settlers Village and Solar Energy power plant on our bikes. We were beginning to wonder whether it was worth carting all these two wheelers around as we hadn't used them much - today made the carting around all worth while. Piper managed to fall on her chin while traipsing around a monument recognizing the adversity suffered by the aborigines in the area and gave herself a nice purple goose-egg. You keep wanting to wipe it off but it just won't come. In the afternoon we enjoyed the pool at the resort and then did a short drive to the Sacred Canyon to see some ancient aboriginal rock carvings. The 500m trail took us into a small gorge weathered from previous floods and water flow with smooth rocks and narrow gulleys. The carvings were simple symbols like stick men, squares and circles depicting areas of old camps and the people who inhabited the area at times. The kids had a great time scrambling over the rocks and into little cave-like areas like novice explorers on their first trek. Night fell and the sky lit up with a blanket of stars. Aidan looked up and pointed out the constellation Orion and his belt like it was second nature (Can't you see it Dad - just there). We finished the night off with a short game of Scrabble - won't be long before Aidan will prevail methinks!

On the Road Again...

So Murray Bridge has come and gone. We headed out of the Avoca Dell Caravan Park ready to get this trek moving.  We had a slow start as we noticed a couple weeks ago our rego for the caravan had expired back in August 2009. As such we had to go to the Murray Bridge Police station to get a police check then off to the RTA for new plates and rego sticker. We noticed we'd forgotten to drop the keys for the toilets off at the Caravan park so had to go back to do so, then check the tire pressures, fill the fuel tank, pick up the remnants of our Giant bike from the cycle shop and check the pool for Aidan's lost croc shoes - oh the joys of travelling. While checking the tires I seemed to be getting nowhere topping them up - the pressure just would not seem to increase - if anything the pressures seemed to be getting lower. 10 minutes later ... ah! The air was turned to the off position! Minutes later we were off an running - without shoes for Aidan though - they have appeared to disappear or perhaps spontaneously combust as kid's things tend to do sometimes (I'm sure I was the same when I was a kid...how many sets of retainers did I go through?). We took the most direct route which took us back through the Barossa Valley and Angaston where we stopped for lunch. A local boutique cheesery (fromagier) helped add a bit of local flavour to our Cruskits and wholemeal bread with chocolate-covered figs for dessert - mmm. With many kms to go we headed out to the Flinders Ranges past the big Miner and Clare Valley. At Jamestown we stopped for fuel and were told it was another 3-4 hours drive - it was already 4 pm!! A quick reference with the Goog ( short for Guggenheimer - the google map program on my Iphone) and with Fi (our car GPS) and we decided our friend was very out to lunch and sadly must not have ever left his small shanty town for the hills as it was only another 150kms! We managed to roll into the Wilpena Pound resort around 6:30 pm and settled into some tucker shortly thereafter. It's a beautiful little enclave with hardly any other campers - so naturally we were placed right next to another couple - oodles of empty spots wherever you look - such is life. A feast of ravoli was had and we crashed into our beds ready for a big day of exploring in the morning.

Mt Lofty and the Barossa Valley

It was a blustery day but we hedged forward into the low-lying haze and up to Mt Lofty which gives quite a nice view of Adelaide and its burbs. There were plenty of cyclists and even a footie team who had run to the top making Jen and I feel a bit bloated and out of shape. The drive to the Barossa was great with rolling windy roads, vistas of different wineries and dry hills as far as the eye could see. We made our way to the Jacob's Creek Visitors Centre which is located near Tanunda. I think they've been jaded by too many visitors as their tasting was a bit impersonal and almost fast-food like. We did find a few tasty drops though so after a spell headed out to Penfolds - just outside Nurioopta. One of the oldest wineries in Australia it definitely had a more posh feel about it with bottles of red ranging from $15 to The Grange at $605 - needless to say The Grange wasn't offered but some other reserve Cab Sav and Savoignese were there for the tasting and were reasonably priced. The Koonunga Hill Sem/Sauv Blanc hit the spot with Jen so we also picked up some of it for those warm thirsty evenings. Finally, we found Yalumba - the oldest family owned winery in Australia - it was located on a beautifully landscaped area of Angaston with a clock tower / castle like building behind. The service was very personal with wonderful tasting drops of vino to partake - we settled on the Signature Range Cab Sav/Shiraz blend from 2005 and tucked a couple away for future use. The drive back took us past one fo the longest waterpipes we've ever seen and a section of boulders well anointed with graffiti - the funniest of which simply spelled out BOOBS in capital letters! A fan like my brother! He would have had a good chuckle. The long day and drive left the kids a bit feral but we managed to get some school work out of them and then send them off to sleep.

Woke with anticipation today as Canada was up against the USA in the gold medal game at the Olympics. As I entered the office for work there was a minute left to play and Canada was up 2-1 - destiny was here! Alas - with 24 secs to go, the USA netted one and my heart sank - it had to be me - the Canucks always seem to lose when I start watching! I hustled into my office for the day and started seeing patients. After my second consult, another  patient who had seen my keen eyes darting to the screen, informed me Canada had won! I was elated and it made my day! Now I just have to catch up with the replays!