We share a fascination with raptors and in her most recent message she said:

Solitary Hawk! LIFER! 4 million migrating raptors for this season – not bad and still expecting four hundred thousand Turkey Vultures…Veracruz – River of Raptors.

Photo: Mercy Njeri

Mercy has been chasing the annual migratory movements of millions of raptors through the northern continental Americas and is now in Veracruz – where there is literally an aerial River of Raptors.

The wonderful people at HawkWatch International tell me will give Mercy and all the other lucky souls great views of:

Each fall, 4-6 million raptors migrate through Veracruz on their way to winter ranges in Central and South America. Because of the region’s geography, raptors from eastern, central, and western North America converge, providing visitors with a display unequaled anywhere on the planet.

As many as 2 million Broad-winged Hawks, 1 million Swainson’s Hawks, and 200,000 Mississippi Kites–nearly the entire world population for these three species–pass through Veracruz each fall. In addition, more than 1.5 million Turkey Vultures join the flight, as do thousands of other raptors, waterbirds, and songbirds.

Combine this with the hundreds of resident bird species in the state of Veracruz, and the scores of Olmec, Totonac, and Aztec archeological sites, all set in the friendly, unspoiled culture of east central Mexico, and you have the adventure of a lifetime.

Anyway – back to the barbie.

As anyone who has spent time in Mexico or the south-western USA will know, Armadillos are relatively common, and, as this entry at Wikipedia says:

Armadillos (mainly Dasypus) make common roadkill due to their habit of jumping to about fender height when startled (such as by an oncoming car). Wildlife enthusiasts are using the northward march of the armadillo as an opportunity to educate others about the animals, which can be a burrowing nuisance to property owners and managers.

Roadkill Armadillo. Photo: Professional Wildlife Removal

Anyway, in Mercy’s travels in Veracruz someone came up with the idea of barbecuing a few Armadillos.

Photo: Mercy Njeri

Mercy says that she is a bit ambivalent about the experience – delicious but:

Spiced Armadillo…poa lakini…ni Bush Meat…though nilimanga…now I am a vegetarian by circumstances…

Shell yenyewe ni ka ya tortoise…ati no nyama…tuiohere mehia maitu nitondu tutiui uria tureka…!

Super delicious, better than Crocodile meat!

Mercy told me that:

I preferred not to look at what i was munching because it gave me memories of our endangered African Elephant Shrew found in the Arabuko Sokoke Forest!

The meal is typical of traditional Mexican food. Eaten by locals and cannot be found in the markets – only occasionally in the homes of the locals. These was brought for us by the father of one of my colleague’s from upcountry.

Mercy didn’t have a recipe – “It’s a Mexican secret!!” – but I found this one from the folks over at Backwoods Bound:

Bar-B-Q’d Armadillo

Thanks to Jason Hunter for sending this recipe.

~ 1 armadillo

~ bacon grease

~ 1 cup butter

~ 1/2 cup ketchup

~ 1/2 cup grated onion

~ 2 tbsp mustard

~ tabasco to taste

In a sauce pan, combine the butter, ketchup, onion, mustard and tabasco. Heat over low heat until the butter is melted. Stir occasionally.

Rub bacon grease into the armadillo.

Grill over a hot fire for 5 minutes.

Reduce the fire by half.

Baste the meat with the sauce until done. Armadillo is cooked like pork.

Serve and Enjoy!

Serve and enjoy indeed! Photo: Mercy Njeri

111 Catalpa St, Clarksdale, Mississippi

With the $AUS getting close to parity against the $US this must be one of the bargains of the year – if not the decade.

Clarksdale is one of those small towns that was always going to be on its uppers when the Mississippi River decided to wander on it relentless course away from the town and it then lost a whole lot more when the railway closed down a few years ago.

When I was there earlier this year the town felt just a little bit like one of those “cultural museums” in that much of what was going on now was related to people and events from the past.

But there was also a very real sense of cultural, economic and community re-creation – the downtown area had some new storefronts, new business and ventures are finding their way into town and there is a very busy roster of blues music and literary events and festivals in and around this part of the Delta.

Plus you can all kinds of fun just cruising around the bayous and backroads and dropping into great jook joints like Po’ Monkey’s down the road at Merigold for a cooling ale and some of the raunchiest R & B you won’t hear on any radio – anywhere.

Roger Stolle and Cathead Music – among others – have led the rejuvenation of Clarksdale.

Today, Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art, Inc. is a 6-day-a-week store that features a full selection of blues CDs, DVDs, books, magazines T-shirts, artwork and collectibles. It’s kind of like shopping in a juke joint, I like to say. It’s the kind of store I always dreamed of finding but never did. It has become a base of operations for other blues projects and a clearing house of information about area musicians, juke joints and festivals

The cool thing is that Clarksdale, Mississippi, has a lot to offer. Great blues music four or five nights a week, every week — plus killer festivals a few times a year. Wonderful musicians, artists and characters live and work here. Since I moved here, I’m sure at least a dozen others have as well — from the Netherlands and all over the United States. Clarksdale is lucky also because in addition to its rich cultural history, it’s an hour or less from Memphis, Cleveland, Helena and Tunica. Because we’re part of the “roots music corridor” that runs from Memphis to Chicago, we get tourists from all over the U.S., Europe and Asia every single week. They come in search of the “land where blues began” and when they finally reach the blues mecca of Clarksdale for the first time, and they drop by Cat Head, I know they’re hooked!

And if you like the idea of cruising on the Sunflower or Mississippi Rivers on a canoe then John Ruskey and the folks at the Quapaw Canoe Company will look after you in the finest way.

One of Quapaw’s specialities is making hand-carved replicas (and modern versions) of the wooden canoes that local first nations peoples used on the rivers for hunting and travel – they are truly magnificent creations.

Launching the Wanbli Eagle

Quapaw’s website says that:

More blues musicians come from Clarksdale & surrounding Delta region than any other single place on earth. The main channel of the Mississippi River used to flow adjacent downtown Clarksdale, and it was once the center of a thriving Native American community of 2 – 3,000 known as Quiz-Quiz. There is evidence that Hernando de Soto and his conquistadors passed through this area during their 1540-42 ravage of the Southeast (and became the first Europeans to view the Mighty Mississippi River, which they called “The Rio Grande”). Jolliette & Marquette (1673), LaSalle (1681) and John James Audubon (1820) traveled this section of river.

…

Quapaw Canoe Company provides custom-guided canoe & kayak expeditions, day floats and other paddling adventures along the Lower Mississippi River from Cairo Illinois to St. Francisville, Louisiana. Spectacular reaches include the Kentucky Bluffs, Bessie’s Bend (20 mile bend of the river to go one mile), the 4 Chickasaw Bluffs, Memphis to Vicksburg (300 miles of remote river, only 2 bridges, only one town), Confluence of the Arkansas River & surrounding wilderness areas (rich habitat for the Louisiana Black Bear), Vicksburg to Natchez-Under-the-Hill, Natchez to St. Francisville. Long stretches of river, almost no industry or point-source polluters, few towns, few bridges, big islands, big forests, most varied inland fishery in North America, 60% of America’s songbirds, 40% of its migrating waterfowl. Longest free-flowing River (1160 miles). No dams. No schedule: we go whenever our clients are ready.

Sitting in one of Quapaw’s big canoes, doing not very much but watching that big river slide by under you with a soundtrack of the world’s finest blues and the American outback’s songbirds surrounded by the vast wildness of the Mississippi River – couldn’t hope for much better that.

And the house?  By Australian standards it is pretty well fitted out – and at this price…you’d be laughing!

And I just love this pitch from Roger for his house for its frankness and humour:

The front porch really is pretty big and cool. When you walk into the house, you find spacious, connected living and dining room areas that are loosely separated by built-in bookcases (that also work for blues CDs). There’s a long hallway with plenty of wall space to hang cool stuff, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a back office/sunroom, main floor washer/dryer, kitchen and butler’s pantry. There are decent closets throughout. The kitchen has a walk-in pantry and includes the built-in stove, dishwasher (sold to me by one of bluesman Big George Brock’s 42 kids) and garbage disposal; the two small fridges and the deep freeze are negotiable. (By the way, a full-size fridge fits/works fine; I just didn’t own one when I originally moved in.) The attic is unfinished but very very large and could be finished out, frankly, as an office or guest room. The basement is mostly crawl space; like most in the Delta, it’s fairly useless… except for housing the hot water heater, pipes, ductwork, etc. The house has modern, forced-air central heating and air conditioning, by the way; I like to stay comfortable. The yard is pretty nice sized and includes holly bushes, magnolia tree, etc. There’s a tool shed in the backyard that’s nothing special but holds plenty of junk. The backyard is mostly fenced in. The house is wired for cable/internet and has two ornamental fireplaces with mantles. A long driveway runs along side the house, conveniently linking Catalpa Street with Maple Street (nice for parties/visitors — though at least one visiting bluesman with the alias ‘T-Model’ has parked in the front yard, anyway, to my dismay!). In short, 111 Catalpa is a cool house located just across the Sunflower River from a neat little Delta downtown, and priced well below $100,000 — now at just $79,900 — it could easily be your next home or home-away-from-home! By the way, I’m only moving into a different house because my sweetie and I want to buy one together that is truly ‘ours’ if you know what I mean.

You can see the flyer for Roger Stolle’s house here.

Got a tip on a bargain-basement house of the week – anywhere?

Got some thoughts about what you’ve read here?

Marie’s first book, Every Secret Thing, was published in September 2009 by the University of Queensland Press.

The publishers blurb says that in Every Secret Thing:

When culture and faith collide…nothing is sacred. In the Aboriginal missions of far northern Australia, it was a battle between saving souls and saving traditional culture. Every Secret Thing is a rough, tough, hilarious portrayal of the Bush Mob and the Mission Mob, and the hapless clergy trying to convert them. In these tales, everyone is fair game. At once playful and sharp, Marie Munkara’s wonderfully original stories cast a taunting new light on the mission era in Australia.

Told with biting wit and riotous humour’ – Judges’ comments, Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards (2008)

For mine Every Secret Thing is one of the best books written about life in the Northern Territory since Xavier Herbert’s Capricornia – that’s a pretty big call but I reckon this book is just as funny, brave and deadly serious as that grumpy old curmudgeon’s masterpiece.

And I’m more than happy for you to disagree – but first read what Marie has to say here – and then go and buy her book.

In this first part of the interview we talk about how she came to write Every Secret Thing, her thoughts about what for me is the fine line of humour that runs through the book and her thoughts on the process of writing.

The Northern Myth – You were born in Arnhem Land but grew up on the Tiwi islands?

Marie Munkara – Yes, I was born on the banks of the Mainoru River in central Arnhem Land and then went to Nguiu on the Tiwi islands when I was about 18 months old. I was sent down south when I was 3 years old and went back to Tiwi when I was 28.

TNM – In September 2008 you won the David Unaipon Award for best unpublished manuscript by an Aboriginal writer person.

MM – Yes and “Every Secret Thing” was published by the University of Queensland Press in early September 2009 and was first launched in Brisbane, where UQP is based, and the Darwin launch was held in early October.

TNM – This is your first book? Are there any more coming? From reading it seems like you’ve got a lot more stories to tell.

MM - Oh, yeah!. There are a few more stories and books coming, don’t you worry about that!

TNM – How does it feel to have that book in your hands after all this time and effort?

MM – It was really amazing (laughs)…it was like giving birth to a child. There it is!

TNM – When people talk to you about it how do you feel?

MM – I’m quite pleased with myself and I’m quite intrigued. Everyone has different impressions about the book. I thought everyone would react the same to the same passages – you know, “That was funny” etc and there are some parts that I didn’t even think twice about. But people come up and say “Oh, that was my favourite part of the book”.

TNM – Do you re-read it or just put it out there and say – its gone now…

MM – No, it is out there, it is done. There are always things you would change – but you just have to put those things to rest and be happy with what you’ve done and move on to the next one.

TNM – When did you start writing and what did you write about when you started?

MM – Well, I’ve always written stories since I was a kid. This was just going to be a short story entry – based on the first chapter of the book – for the NT Literary Awards and it didn’t make it – it wasn’t shortlisted. So I just thought I could add a bit because it didn’t really say all that I wanted to say. Every Secret Thing took me 12 months to write and it was just a fantastic thing – I enjoyed every moment of it.

TNM – What do you do when you write – block out a few hours at a time or just bang away on the keys when you find time?

MM – For me it just becomes a routine – my daughters would go off to school, I’d do a bit of cleaning for half an hour and then sit down and off I go until they come home. Sometimes a bit of an idea would come into my head in the middle of the night but I’m lucky in that I can wake up in the morning and get into it – I don’t forget those ideas.

TNM – Do you show work to other people? Do you talk to other writers about what you are writing?

MM – No, mostly I just go off and do it. Occasionally I’ll get a good friend to read a chapter so that I can get a good idea of where it is going. No-one has ever been negative about it so that has been one good thing. I just get into it.

TNM – What about countrymen and family? You write about some fairly sensitive issues here, have people talked to you about that side of things?

MM – No, no-one in my family has read it yet! I’m just waiting for the responses to the book from them. Initially the material in Every Secret Thing came from things I would hear my family talk about while we were sitting around yarning. We would be laughing about what so and so did and remember when this or that happened. That is where it all started from and those ideas get a life of their own.

TNM – Someone said to me that you were very brave to talk about the personal and sexual issues in Every Secret Thing the way that you do. Do you feel brave?

MM – No, not really. It wasn’t even planned that way. If I had sat down and said “I’ve got to write a story about this business” I wouldn’t be able to do it. I really only wanted to write down some of the funny stuff so that one day my daughters would be able to know what happened and how things were for their mother, grandmother and other people. I didn’t write Every Secret Thing to be brave or funny. It is just something that came out of my head and I had a great lot of fun doing it!

TNM – You take no prisoners with your humour – everyone is up for it. Where does that deep funny side come from?

MM – Well, some of it is probably genetic! (laughs) I didn’t actually set out to make it funny – I just wanted to be sarcastic. Someone said to me recently “It is so hard to write humour, how do you do it?” and I could only respond that “I’m not actually writing to be funny, I’m just writing what is in my head and to be sarcastic.”

TNM – When you write about the anthropologist, for example, and the piss-taking that you have people inflicting on him, that is certainly sarcastic!

MM – That was actually based upon a true set of events. I won’t mention the anthropologist’s name but I’m sure if people put two and five together they will be able to work it out. My grandfather told me that story – and he is one of the characters in there of course.

TNM – Tell me about the writing process. Did you ever feel blocked?

MM – No, never! It just…it was almost like someone else was writing it through me. I never felt blocked and every moment was a joy – it was a really, really wonderful thing. And when I wrote the last sentence I knew that it was the last sentence.

In the next part of the Interview Marie and I will talk about her take on the sexual politics – and related issues – that she writes about in her book. Stay tuned for that because what she has to say about those issues is as interesting as her words and thoughts in Every Secret Thing.

Have you read Every Secret Thing? Have any thoughts or comments you’d like to make about Marie’s words or her book?

Register here and leave a comment!

Predictably the Bolter has picked this up and Australia’s blog with the most hits, and perhaps the least sense, has attracted the usual raft of ill-informed comments.

The Northern Myth isn’t familiar with the work of Mark Hughes, but Helen Hughes is a familiar conservative commentator with an interesting twist on matters indigenous and who has recently turned her attention to remote Aboriginal education in the NT.

And not without some controversy.

As reported by the National Indigenous Times in April 2008, Hughes wrote an opinion piece, published in The Australian, that drew on examples from one small north-east Arnhem Land homeland, drawing the following very general analysis from that meagre dataset:

“There are about 10,000 of these illiterate non-numerate teenagers who have been going to school … What is the government of the NT going to do about these 10,000 children?”

But [then] NT Deputy Chief Minister Marion Scrymgour has dismissed her findings and says the claims are “absolutely insulting and offensive”.

“I just find it astounding that she bases a report and a generalisation across the Northern Territory Aboriginal communities based on one small homeland centre that she has visited,” she said. Ms Scrymgour said Prof Hughes had left out “some fundamental pieces of information” and denied the government was providing misleading figures on education standards in the bush.

Nadine Williams, NT president of the Australian Education Union, said Prof Hughes needed to “stop generalising”.

“It would be helpful if Helen Hughes had ever been to some of the places she’s talking about,” she said.

Anyway, now it seems that Hughes and her research assistants are at it again.

In their opinion piece of last Friday, the Hughes’ say that, due to the NT Education Department’s training requirements for remote-based teachers:

Homeland Learning Centres lose eight weeks – almost 25 per cent of the school year – while their staff attend courses for the first and last weeks of each term.

Taking that statement on face value you would think that in each of the hundreds of small homeland schools across the NT students spend two months of each school year sitting in classrooms without teachers.

Fortunately for the students the Hughes’s version of events is at some considerable distance from reality.

It is true that at the top and tail of each term that a bunch of teachers from all over the NT – from homeland and “mainstream” schools – go off for professional development training.

But not all teachers go for that training at the same time. Depending on demand, individual needs or other factors some go several times a year, some perhaps once or twice.

And relief teachers and local Aboriginal team teachers are rostered on to fill the gaps.

How do I know this?

I asked a couple of the teachers here at Yirrkala where I’m staying with family while working on my Aboriginal bird knowledge book project.

The second line of attack that the Hughes’ make – on remote community festivals – suffers the same problem – a few facts and a dose of reality mug their story of apparent bureaucratic indulgence and neglect of the best interests of remote students.

The Hughes’s say that:

The limited school year is further eroded by cultural festivals and sports events regularly scheduled during school hours.

The commonwealth government is a serious offender with its Community Festivals for Education Engagement program. Under this program, 13 indigenous festivals are being held this year…all are held during term time rather than during school holidays.
…
As in previous years, the successful Garma Festival ran this year during the school term in August. Many children lost up to two weeks’ schooling. It would take little effort to reschedule next year’s Garma dates to the July school holidays. Financial sponsors of the festival, including the commonwealth and Northern Territory governments and high-profile private companies, should ensure this change is made.

Being in Yirrkala, just down the road from the Garma festival site at Gulkula, I was curious about the reference to the “many children” that apparently lost up to a fortnight of valuable schooling because of their attendance at Garma.

As the very informative Garma Festival website notes, the festival ran from 7 to 11 August this year – that is Friday through Tuesday.

I asked the organisers of the Garma Festival, the Yothu Yindi Foundation, about the Hughes’ claims.

The CEO of the Yothu Yindi Foundation, Alan James, told me that:

Garma formally starts at 4pm on Friday afternoon. The forums all finish by 4pm Monday afternoon – resulting in one school day “lost”.

Garma is not part of the Federal Government’s “Community Festivals for Education Engagement” program.

The music and multimedia training programs are integral parts of Garma and these operate in consultation and engagement with schools and other educational institutions and provides credits towards VET accreditation, so it is very much a part of formal schooling.

And in relation to the Hughes’ demand that Garma be moved to the June school holidays, Alan James said that:

Garma is strategically linked to a number of other events that are held in the Top End of the NT in and around August. Cooperation between Garma and the organisers of other large events is essential to ensure that logistical bottlenecks – on a national and local scale – are avoided where possible.

August kicks off with the week-long Darwin Cup Festival, then the three core days of Garma (with an extra couple of days for the tourists) the next weekend, followed by the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Awards in Darwin the following week. The fortnight of the Darwin Festival follows.

The other important consideration – bearing in mind that the more than 2,500 people attending Garma are camping in tents – is that August is the driest time of year – the last thing we want is for Garma to be rained out.

As the Hughes’ should know – but apparently didn’t bother to find out for themselves – one of the most successful events at Garma is the Garma Miwatj Youth Forum, a cooperative venture with Anglicare NT.

As Ann Buxton, Executive Manager for the Youth, Family and Remote area programs at Anglicare NT, told the Senate Select Committee on Regional and Remote Indigenous Communities Inquiry at Hearings in Darwin in May this year:

Over the past four years Anglicare, in conjunction with the Yothu Yindi Foundation, started the Garma Miwatj Youth Forum, which runs parallel to the annual Garma Festival.

We bring together about 250 young people from communities in the regions and it has become a key event.

We promote youth leadership, do a lot of skills development work, and look at issues that young people are experiencing.
Garma has become an important event. It is a little event compared with the overall festival but it helps to give young people in that region a role.

For some time many elders have been interested in supporting young people, getting them engaged in processes, and putting some positive energy into some of the issues that they are dealing with. This forum, which has become important, also brings together about 40 organisations from around that region to help get it off the ground.

It is a great event.

A great event indeed – a bit of training, mentoring, skills development, community support and engagement and lots of positive energy and maybe a fair bit of fun.

Perhaps that is what so bothers the Hughes’ – the idea that a few kids might “lose” a day of school while they do the hard yards at Garma and have some fun while they are at it.

But in the apparently joyless world of the Hughes’ vision of remote education that would represent an abject failure by governments of their core responsibilities to school-children.

There is more – much more – that I could say about the Hughes’ opinion piece – including that their comments about the Central Desert Shire’s policy of only supporting cultural and sporting events held during school holidays was old news and the quotes attributed to the Shire CEO, Rowan Foley and the Shire President, Norbert Patrick, are cast in the present tense.

If the Hughes’ had done some basic research- like having a look at the Council Minutes for the Meeting of 30 September or reading this ABC News report – they would have found out that Foley was stood down as CEO at that meeting.

“Motion 3 was amended to the following: “Whereas the Central Desert Shire has recently suffered the resignation and loss of key personnel attributable to the management style of the CEO, and there have been various complaints lodged relating to the conduct of the CEO and Council management, the Council resolves to direct that the CEO step down on pay for the time being and that LGANT be approached for assistance in resolving the crisis that has developed”. Moved: Councillor Bruce Finter. Seconded: Councillor Ned Hargreaves.”

Sounds to me very much like a Council in crisis management mode.

Makes the Hughes’ call of “Three cheers for the Central Desert Shire!” sound just a bit hollow – particularly when you consider that one of the two organisations to be funded by the Commonwealth’s Community Festivals for Education Engagement 2009 – the Ti-Tree school, according to the information on the Commonwealth website, held it’s festival from Tuesday October 13 to Thursday October 15.

In term time.

And the local governing authority with responsibility for municipal services at Ti-Tree is…you guessed it, the Central Desert Shire.

Miku Ganambarr-Stubbs

This is Miku Ganambarr-Stubbs, who is one of those rare creatures that lives such an absolutely charmed life that she has you in constant wonder when the charm might run out and she’ll get bitten hard by reality – or in Miku’s case – a bloody great crocodile.

You see, Miku has the rather unf0rtunate habit – for her at least – of taking herself down to the beach at the bottom of her backyard for a swim several times a day – a beach on a bay in crocodile country.

The photo above was taken as she was coming back from her regular morning swim.

Miku's backyard

Muku was bought as a birthday present for my god-daughter, Siena Ganambarr-Stubbs. On getting her home Siena’s parents realised that, as she had yet to develop teeth, that they might have been a bit premature.

So back Miku went to her mother’s teats for a few weeks until she was properly weaned and grown some teeth.

In order to make sure that they got Miku back – and not one of the several other cute little black dogs in the litter – they took the entirely sensible precaution of painting all of her toenails with red nail polish.

Hence her name of Miku – which in the Yolngu Matha language spoken at Miku’s homeland means “Red”.

When they returned to pick her up there were lots of dogs – but none with red toenail polish.

“Where is our dog?”

And, as proof of her qualifications to true campdog-dom, Miku – apart from her predilection for swimming in crocodile-infested waters – has a few other idiosyncracies.

Like most camp-dogs she loves an abandoned Kimbie (the generic term for disposable nappies) or three and she will bring home any abandoned toy that she finds in the street for a chew and a play.

But by far the best fun that Miku has with dead things is with the occasional Cane Toad that she finds squished on the road outside her house.

If she finds a newly road-killed Toad she will roll in its remains in an outburst of unalloyed joy – and comes back to the house stinking and in dire need of a good wash. If the Toad had dried out she delights in bringing it into the house for a good crunch and munch session.

Which usually results in more than a few screams and a firm and fast boot up the date immediately prior to a tumble down the stairs…

“Rust In Peace‘ is scrawled on the side of the sorry remains of this poor little Jayco pop-top caravan abandoned about 50 metres off the Central Arnhem Road 460 kilometres ir so from the Stuart Highway.

The poor thing had obviously had a hard life and, having just dragged my vehicle up the same road, I know that it would have been having a very hard time of it – at least my vehicle is built to take these roads – this poor thing was built for freeways and suburban roads. That it lasted the best part of 30 years is some kind of testament to either the people that built it or the care of the drivers that owned it.

And the owners obviously got their moneys worth – as the shot below indicates, they had been dragging it around the countryside for the best part of 30 years until it finally expired on a dusty, corrugated stretch of road in the centre of Arnhem Land sometime earlier this year.

And as the good people at the East Arnhem Land Tourist Association reckon, there are at least two good reasons why dragging a caravan up the Central Arnhem Road is not recommended:

The Central Arnhem Road is not recommended for caravans, only sturdy off-road camper trailers. The Northern Land Council will not approve a permit to tow a caravan into East Arnhem Land and Dhimurru Land Management Aboriginal Corporation will not issue a Visitor Recreation Permit to anyone with a caravan.

]]> http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2009/10/13/roadkill-of-the-week-jayco-poptop-caravan-central-arnhem-road/feed/ 6 http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2009/10/09/commute-9-october-2009-yuendumu-to-tennant-creek/ http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2009/10/09/commute-9-october-2009-yuendumu-to-tennant-creek/#comments Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:01:33 +0000 Bob Gosford http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/?p=1932 Wake.

5am. Alarm. Sleep.

Awake 5.15.

Three dogs shake and scatter off bed, step around four on floor.

Four puppies in bathroom cloud around feet, escape as slash splashes – mayhem.

All dogs, bark, howl and puppies yelp – doors open.

Bull outside fence, munches grassily.

Dogs bark madly. Bull clops-clops off. More dogs wake, bark.

Cigarette, yelping cloud of puppies underfoot eating laces.

Stumble for coffee.

Wait. Cigarette. Coffee, better.

Second coffee, best.

Dogs breakfast. Dog mess, dog blankets.

Pat all dogs. Again. Again.

Puppies to cage.

Two devil dogs – Tiger Lily & Miel – to vegie patch.

Baby mudlark in own cage gets water – parents watch closely – waiting for wings to work and fly away.

Meal worms for all. Parents harass all within sight or sound.

Dogs dinner, add vegies to meat cooked and soaked overnight, rice, boil. Rest.

Sort, fold, pack, lift. Again.

Pack car. Disappoint dogs – no. No?

Expectant dogs. Car. Us?

No. Sulks.

Food. Pats. Rethink sulk.

Pack, pat, pat and pat again. Cuddles to specials. All special.

Inside. Close door, open gate, car out.

Dogs outside. Sole, Linda, Linda & Nangaly inside.

To car. Shades, Stetson Open Road. Water. Gear, clutch, engage. Wheels roll.

Town, leave, rubbish.

Tanami Road. Hundred kilometre dust plume at rear.

Rough road. Rocks.

Roadworks. Smooth road. Long.

UHF radio chatters, roadworkers, roadtrain.

“You have to send me some money”

“What for?”

“Maintenance at Yuendumu”

Silence.

“Joke”

Pass roadtrain on inside, radio thanks. OK mate.

Bitumen. Two hours. Highway.

270 kilometres.

Stop. Piss. Coffee. Cake.

Give stranger 10 litres diesel. Stranger gives a lobster in payment.

Highway. Long. Longer.

World Today fades away from Alice Springs. Aileron.

At Ti-Tree fuel. 470 kilometres. Fix IPod FM transmitter.

Static turns to quality. Good.

Coffee.

Ti-Tree Roadhouse camp dogs eat the same chips I fed them a week ago.

Highway rolls with sound, paul kelly manu chao beethoven tex don & charlie statler brothers john williams paul kelly johny cash van morrison compay segundo dennis brown burning spear beach boys nick cave celia cruz the fall the pogues rodrigo y gabriela tito puente lee perry.

Whistling Kite chick in nest on power pole scrawny, baby bottle brush white and fluffy.

Brown Falcon, Butcherbird, Willie wagtail, Honeyeater, Wedgetail, Buzzard. More.

Flat, trees, spinifex, butte mesas, red, white ochre spills from scree walls.

Sun drops, shifts shadows.

Road longer, Tennant Creek closer.

On the edge of every town spun tyre donuts.

A bad day for red cars. Two and owners, bonnets up. Arms out.

Into TC the “Golden Heart of the Territory”.

800 kilometres. Or near enough.

Enough. Stop. Drink. Shower. Food. Hunter. Sleep.

Tomorrow, Tennant Creek – Katherine.

Weebill. Photo by M Seyfort © Australian Museum

This great shot is of a Weebill (Smicrornis brevirostris), bird of the week here at TNM, at one of their little woven dome-shaped nests with a neat side entry.

In many ways they are the archetypal “LBB” (little brown bird) that causes no end of frustration for no end of the birders that seek them in their natural habitat of the open woodland and forests that once dominated the Australian landscape.

Like many small birds, just about the best way to locate Weebills in the bush is to listen for their distinctive call then follow your ears. To hear the sweet call of the Weebill have a listen here to a great recording by Fred van Gessel.

You spend a lot of time fchasing the many similarly-sized and plumaged birds to Weebills around the scrub but you will also spend a lot of that time looking at Thornbills, Pardalotes, Silver-Eyes and small Honeyeaters with which they commonly form mixed-species feeding flocks.

And just maybe the occasional Weebill…

Weebills, at an average weight of a mere 6 grams in weight and a diminuitive average of 8 centimtres in length are reckoned by many to be the smallest of Australia’s birds.

Both their common and scientific names come from the primary morphological point of distinction from the other LBBs around the place – the stubby little beaks that are ideally suited to gleaning their favoured prey of small insects from and among the leaves and branches of forest trees.

Earlier today I was on what hopefully will become a semi-regular gig on the local ABC Radio Morning Show broadcast out of Alice Springs with my good pal Alice Brennan.

We’ve shared a few tips in her previous role as a news journalist and occasional radio producer and now she has stepped up a grade or two and is presenting on-air for a couple of hours a day, five days a week.

From what I’ve heard so far she’ll do a great job!

Anyway, we had a great yarn about Weebills for a few minutes – she played the call that I’ve linked in above and we did a quick “What Bird am I” Q & A.

One item we couldn’t squeeze into the allotted time today was the following story of the Weebill, the Emu, the Porcupine (Echidna) and some Meat Ants.

It tells of how the Echidna got it’s spines and was told by Arthur Dodd, one of the last speakers of the Yuwaalaraay language from the area in north-western New South Wales around Walgett.

For more information about the Yuwaalaraay (which is referred to as a dialect of Gamilaraay or Kamilaroi) language have a look here. There are also a number of school programs that use these languages in primary and secondary schools in Gamilaraay country.

There are a bunch of great stories at the Yuwaalaraay and Gamilaraay language home page, Guwaabal  here, which is where the following story comes from.

I’ve removed the interlinear translation for ease of reading.

Bigibila wiyayl – The Porcupine’s Quills

Bigibila yanaa-waa-nhi, biyaduul.

A porcupine was walking along by himself.

Bulaarr badjin mindjarru yanaa-waa-nhi.

Two little weebills were walking along. [Weebills are small birds about the size of a wren.]

(Giirr yilaalu nhama mindjarru, bigibila dhayn gi-gi-la-nhi.)

(A long time ago the weebills and porcupines were people.)

Milan-du mindjarru-gu gayawi-y barran-du nhama, dhinawan nhama.

One weebill threw a boomerang at an emu.

Giirr bundaa-nhi nhama dhinawan.

The emu fell down.

Bamba ngaama bundaa-nhi

It fell with a crash.

Bigibila-gu-bala winanga-y, guwaa-y,

The porcupine heard it, and he said:

“Aa, minya ngaama bundaa-nhi?

“Aa, what fell there?”

Bamba nhama bundaa-nhi?

It fell with a crash.

Bulaa-yu-bala mindjarru-gu nhama guwaa-y, “Waal, waal baayamba. Waal, baayamba.”

But those two weebills said, “No, no mate. Nothing mate.”

(Giirr bulaa-yu nhama gayrrba-lda-nhi “baayamba”

(The two of them used call him “baayamba, friend”.)

Giirr-bala nguu gaga-y “Waa, waa, waa, waa maaynndjul dhingaa.”

But he called out, “Waa, waa, waa, waa, lovely meat.”

Guwaa-lda-nhi nguu dhinawan-di bigibila nhalay

He was saying this about the emu meat, the porcupine.

Giirr gaa-nhi nguu nhama dhinawan

Then he took the emu.

Yilaa nguu nhama yilama-y nguu nhama dhawuma-y

Then he cooked it, cooked it in the ground.

Giirr nguu guwaa-y mindjarru girran.girraa dhiyama-li-gu

He told the weebills to get some leaves

Giirr guwaa-lda-nhi nguu:

He kept on telling them:

“Ngarraagulay-nga yanaa-ya, girran.girraa-gu, dhawuma-li-gu ngiyani dhinawan.”

“Go over there for leaves, so that we can cook the emu.”

“Ngaayaybaay ngaan.gii.”

Okay! all right! mate? “Okay, mate!”

Bulaa-yu guwaa-lda-nhi.

The two of them were saying.

Giirr banaga-y-la-nhi yurrul-gu, nhalay badjin-duul.

Those little fellows were running around the bush.

“Nhalay-gaa baayamba? ngaan.gii?”

“What about these, friend, mate?”

“Ngaangaarran-gu yanaa-ya.”

“Go further on.”

Nguu guwaa-lda-nhi, “Yanaa-ya!”

He kept on saying, “Go!”

Nhama bulaarr dhurra-y ngayagay-a maalaabidi-dja.

Those two came to another tree.

“Nhalay-gaa ngaan.gii?”

“What about these, mate?”

“Waal, ngaangaarran, ngaangaarran-gu!”

“No, further, further on.”

Yilaa-bala giirr nguu barraay dhinawan dhawuma-lda-nhi

But then he was quickly cooking that emu in a hole.

Yilaa dhinawan dhawuma-nhi.

Then the emu was cooked.

Dhinawan-bala nhama-nga dhuwima-y nguu, dhinawan ngaarrma, nyiyarrma nguu-nga dha-lda-nhi

Then he took that emu out, and he was eating that emu there.

Mindjarru-bala nhama dhaay-nga yanaa-w-uwi-nyi.

Then the weebills came back there.

“Yaama-nga ngaan.gii!”

“Hey, mate,

Giirr ngali-nga maayrr dha-lda-nha.

We’ve got nothing to eat.

Ngaa, gana-badhaay ngay wuu-na.”

Yeah, give me the liver.”

Bigibila-gu-bala guwaa-y:

But the porcupine said:

“Waa, waa, waa, waa; maayndjul dhinggaa!”

“Waa, waa, waa, waa; lovely meat!”

Dhugay nguu ngaama guwaa-lda-nhi.

He kept on saying that.

Waal-bala nguu dhinggaa wuu-dha-nhi nhama bulaarr-gu nhama badjin-gaali-gu

He wouldn’t give any meat to those two, the two little fellows.

Giirr nhama ngiilay yanaa-nhi, nhama bulaarr, badjin-duul.

The two went away from there, the little fellows.

Dhurra-y bulaarr gadhuu-ga

The two of them came to an ant nest.

(Giirr ganunga-bula dhayn gi-gi-la-nhi, nhama buurrngan.)

(At that time the meat ants were people too.)

Bulaa-yu guwaa-y nhama buurrngan-da:

The two said to the meat ants:

“Waal ngaan.gii-dju minyagaa ngalingu wuu-rri.

“Old mate won’t give us anything.

Waal nguu minyagaa ngay wuu-dha-nhi.

He hasn’t given me anything at all to eat.

Waal ngay gana wuu-nhi, waal ngay gii wuu-nhi.”

He didn’t give me the heart, he didn’t give me the liver.

“Ngaayaybaay,” guwaa-y nhama buurrngan-du.

“Okay! All right!” said the meat ants.

Giirr nhama buurrngan yanaa-w-aaba-y, bilaarr-iyaay.

The meat ants all went, with their spears.

Ngaa, ngaama-dhaay-nga ganunga, buurrngan yanaa-nhi.

Yep, they went there, the meat ants.

Nyiyarrma-nga ganugu bilaa-yu dhu-nhi nhama.

There they speared that fellow.

Bilaa-yu dhu-nhi, bilaa-yu dhu-nhi, aawu, burrulaa-gu.

Speared him and speared him, with a lot spears.

Giirr-nga nguu guwaa-y:

And then he said:

“Nginaalingu dhinggaa, nginu dhinggaa, nginu dhinggaa.”

“This meat is for you two, meat for you, your meat.”

Giirr nguu dhugay gaga-lda-nhi, “Waal, waal.”

He kept on calling out, “No, no.”

Yilaa-bala burrulaa bilaarr nguungunda wa-y-la-nha.

[Too late] But now lots of spears were sticking into him.

Nhama wiyayl nguungu, giirr nhama bilaarr gi-gi-la-nhi.

Those quills of his, they were those spears.

Yalagiyu bigibila yanaay-la-nha wiyayl-bil, bilaarr-bil.

And now the porcupine is covered with quills, covered with spears.

]]> http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2009/10/06/bird-of-the-week-mindjarru-bigibila-a-yuwaalaraay-story-by-arthur-dodd/feed/ 1 http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2009/10/05/the-weekend-australian-nicolas-rothwell-and-the-art-of-fantastic-journalism/ http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2009/10/05/the-weekend-australian-nicolas-rothwell-and-the-art-of-fantastic-journalism/#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:28:57 +0000 Bob Gosford http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/?p=1903

Wadeye township

I’ve written here recently about the fantastic (in the original sense of that word) approach that The Australian and its dwindling number of northern correspondents take to just about anything to do with Aboriginal affairs here in the NT.

This past weekend The Weekend Australian continued this dubious tradition when it ran this piece from its northern correspondent, Nicolas Rothwell.

Rothwell examines apparently new economic and governance developments at the troubled remote township of Wadeye, in the west of the NT’s Top End.

And Rothwell, after many years in the NT, has apparently finally realised what anyone with any experience in remote Australia would have found out a long time ago – that Wadeye, like most small townships in the NT, and elsewhere – is a town that is “mostly ordered and peaceful”.

If you take the assertions in Rothwells piece at face value you would think that the good citizens of Wadeye had turned their backs on all forms of Australian mainstream governance and were boldly charting a course of their own, free from the controls imposed by Australian governments at all levels.

As Rothwell says:

“…what bureaucracy gives, it can also take away. Not only did the federal intervention of mid-2007 sweep through Wadeye; the Thamarrurr local council was wound up as the Northern Territory unveiled its new regional shires. The council, though, gave birth to a new Thamarrurr Development Corporation, which was bolstered by strong support from the Rudd government. The upshot of this administrative upheaval was a deepened desire among the Wadeye leadership group to pursue their own path.
…
“The idea aims to assert control over their own region and in time to supplant the long-established Northern Land Council, which is widely seen as a moribund arm of the Territory Labor Party. “We will set up our own council,” Nganbe says bluntly. TDC’s Berto says: “There’s a lot of people here not happy with the NLC and its complete lack of service, and its standing in the way of progress. We want to set the political agenda from the ground.”

And notwithstanding the brief reference to “strong support” from the Rudd government, Rothwell reckons that the people of Wadeye:

“…don’t like the deal on offer from mainstream Australia’s authorities. They want to keep their own culture, they want economic development and they want it on their own terms, under their control.”

What Rothwell is of course talking about here is localised Aboriginal self-determination, an aspiration that he has frequently, and as recently as six weeks ago, condemned to the dustbin of Australian political history:

“For some time it has been clear Aboriginal self-determination has had its day.”

Due credit should be given to the good citizens of Wadeye for getting their act together in what are incredibly difficult circumstances. By all accounts they have established a range of business enterprises that will provide real jobs and offer economic opportunities to locals.

Rothwell implies that the people of Wadeye have achieved these successes in spite of the bureaucratic and administrative barriers set up by governments at every turn. But it may be that a few inconvenient facts – for Rothwell’s thesis at least – might explain a somewhat different basis for some of Wadeye’s recent successes.

The bureaucracies that Rothwell says have taken so much from the people of Wadeye with one hand have been very busy giving bucketloads of money to the recently-established Thamarrurr Development Corporation Ltd (the TDC) with the other.

The TDC is a non-profit commercial operation limited by guarantee with no shareholders – just members that represent the 20 clan groups of the Wadeye region.

In the 2008/2009 round of funding for the Indigenous Heritage Program announced on 7 July 2008, the TDC was given two grants to a total of $62,704 for “the investigation and management of cultural heritage” of the Thamarrurr region.

On 8 October 2008 Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin announced that TDC would receive $500,000 as “an establishment grant to deliver a range of business services” to the Wadeye region.

At it’s meeting of 10 February 2009, the Victoria Daly Shire Council (the Council), the local government body that replaced Thamarrurr’s predessor, the Thamarrurr Regional Council, passed the following Motion:

“That Council agrees to lease for one dollar ($1.00) to Thamarrurr Development Corporation for the period from the 10th of February 2009 to the 7th of December 2009 all non – fixed assets.”

At the following meeting on 7 April 2009, the Council, in the course of the Confirmation of the Minutes of the previous meeting, amended that Motion:

“The minutes of the ordinary meeting, item (8) TDC were amended with a further dot point
added, saying that if all the above conditions were met the vehicles would then be sold to the TDC for the sum of $1.00. The minutes were  then taken as read and accepted as a true record of the Meeting.”

The value of the assets leased to the TDC for $1, according to the Report provided to Council, was $760,073.

According to the same report, the insured value of the vehicles to be sold to Tharmarrurr upon it meeting Council’s conditions was $482,273.

You can read the Minutes of Council meetings and the Report from Council staff for yourself here.

On 4 March 2009, by joint press release Minister Macklin and Member for Lingiari, Warren Snowdon announced that TDC would receive a total of $650,000 to provide painting services and the purchase of civil construction machinery.

On 11 June 2009, in another joint press release, Snowdon and Macklin announced that TDC would receive a total of $1.422 million to purchase a mobile concrete batching plant and to provide accommodation for “key staff” at Wadeye.

As the ABC reported last month, the Thamarrurr Association, (also based at Wadeye but a separate entity to the TDC) following representations from then NT Indigenous Policy Minister Alison Anderson, received a $250,000 grant from the NT government in circumstances yet to be fully explained:

“Ms Anderson secured $250,000 of taxpayer funds for a corporation run by the powerful Yunupingu family in Arnhem Land, including Galarrwuy Yunupingu. The only other organisation to get $250,000 for community consultation is the Thamarrur Association at Wadeye, which has never declared an income before. The Government has not announced the payments and is yet to explain how the companies were selected. It says the money will pay for consultation on the Working Futures policy to help the Government get its service delivery right.”

I’ve not yet been able establish any direct connection between the TDC and the Thamarrurr Association – other than that they both do the same kind of business in the same small town.

On my back-of the-envelope reckoning the TDC has received control over $760,000 worth of assets for the bargain basement price of a single dollar from their local Council and, including the grant to the Thamarrurr Association, close enough to $3.5 million from the NT and Federal governments.

Not bad for a group that Rothwell says, “…don’t like the deal on offer from mainstream Australia.”

And what of the assertions in Rothwell’s article by TDC’s John Berto of the Northern Land Council’s “…complete lack of service, and its standing in the way of progress” at Wadeye?

John Berto should know all about the NLC and service delivery at Wadeye. After all, he had been a long-term employee of the NLC and for a period up to late 2006 he was the NLC’s Deputy CEO.

But Rothwell and Berto would also be aware of the benefits to the Traditional Owners of the Wadeye region (and beyond) resulting from the NLC’s negotiations on their behalf over the Blacktip gas plant and pipeline.

The deal negotiated by the NLC has given, and will provide into the future, significant economic and social benefits to the traditional owners and residents of the Wadeye region.

Indeed, there is every appearance that Rothwell consciously excluded these well-known and readily available facts from his piece because they did not support his oft-repeated spurious claims about the NLC. I found all of the material noted above after about ten minutes of searching on the web and a bit of scurrying about in the backblocks of various websites.

Rothwell ends his piece with a dubious comparison between Longreach in far-western Queensland and Wadeye, implying that Wadeye should be accorded the same services, government support and facilities as Longreach.

Longreach is a service centre in a region with a long history of extensive & highly productive mining, pastoral and agricultural activity. It is also has roads that lead from somewhere to somewhere else.

Wadeye services only itself and a few small homelands. It is at the wrong end of a long and rough road in a region with no history of pastoral, agricultural or any other significant development – apart from the above-mentioned Blacktip gas project.

Pity about those annoying facts getting in the way of a fantastic story.

Declaration: Bob Gosford has worked for the Northern Land Council as a legal advisor, most recently in 2008. He had no involvement in matters at Wadeye apart from a single meeting with an early version of the Thamarrurr council in about 2000.

Attif. Warmun, WA September 2009

This is Attif, who I ran into at the roadhouse in the small township of Warmun in the wonderful Kimberley region of WA a week or two ago.

Attif is riding his pushie from Darwin to Broome.

At night.

Attif is of German nationality and Tunisian descent and has spent the last year or so in Australia and one each of a wet and dry season in Darwin.

He escaped southwestward before the full effects of the notorious build-up descended upon the Top End.

We had a chat later in the day on the verandah of the Warmun Arts Centre – which I’ve written about here when I was there earlier in the year.

The Northern Myth: Here we are in Warmun in the heart of the Kimberley. It is hot and it is humid – what are you doing here?

Attif: I’m having a rest and waiting for the night to come – I started in Darwin and last night I came from the Dunham River north of Warmun. I’m going to Broome – I hope I make it to Broome and I’ll decide when I get there where I go next.

TNM: Are you religious? Do you observe Ramadan?

A: No. I’m not religious. My parents are Muslim but I’m not a religious person. Ramadan just ended two days ago – the crescent moon is up.

I like to enjoy myself, I think everybody does. I was working up in Darwin. I was traveling, left Germany – got to Darwin and didn’t plan to stay that long and got stuck in a good way…you either love it or you leave.

For the last two years I went to Garma Festival in north-eastern Arnhem Land.

TNM: Did you enjoy that?

A: Yes, absolutely. I was pretty new in Australian in 2008 and I had no certain idea about indigenous people and their culture. I had the opportunity to get out there, to the Garma Festival, and I met really traditional Aboriginal people – not the “westernised” Australian Aboriginal people that are totally involved in western culture.

There were some kids that I met at Garma who didn’t know what a cookie was, and had no concept of money and didn’t speak English – that was pretty interesting. At the same time I met young kids that listen to 2-Pac and all the stuff that other kids do as well. But just to see the range that…from the really traditional people to what I’d call the bi-cultural people was really interesting.

And no, I didn’t try to learn the didgeridoo! We had some dancing lessons from a family that was staying on-site at Garma. That was pretty funny. It started up with random moves and just jumping around on the sand. I looked pretty funny I believe, the Mum in the family had a good laugh.

But later when they explained to me what the dances meant and why they are having these dances and celebrating these dances it was really interesting. They told me that their dances and songs and ceremonies are always connected to hunting and their land, the animals, the country and their culture. For me it was a really good experience.

I think that is really special up here…or down here. It is interesting to realise and understand what it means.

You can read or hear about how people are really connected to their land and all that sort of story but you don’t understand it unless you interact and see what people mean and see how people live and that is just great.

TNM: You’ve ridden across from Darwin – how long did it take you to get here?

A: Is it Wednesday today? Yes? I think it is three weeks – exactly to the day. If I find somewhere nice to stay, I’ll stay a while. Sometimes I just ride. I spent two days in Katherine at the Gorge and two days at Victoria River.

I only wanted to fill up my water bottles but it was so beautiful that I stayed for two days just by the River. And I went to Kununurra and got a lift in a comfortable 4-wheeldrive vehicle and went along the Gibb River road- and now I’m back on the pushie!

TNM: You like to ride at night? But there is only a crescent moon right now – what is it like to ride at night?

A: First thing it is much cooler than during the day, there is less traffic.

People ask me about road trains and whether I get scared, but actually they usually give me enough space. There have been one or two so far that were a bit close but they don’t really worry me.

You can feel the first part of the truck push you and like at the end you have to be careful as they could suck you in. If you feel a strong push it means that the road train is really close and then you just pull over – but if it is not strong you don’t have to worry.

TNM: Is it scary – having 50 tonnes plus that is 50 metres length of truck right there, next to you on the road, and at night? How do you get used to that?

A: Absolutely! What choice do I have?

TNM: What do you see at night? How do you ride in the dark? Do your eyes get used to the dark?

A: Generally I try not to rely on electric light. Just on the the moon and starlight. Most of the time it is enough to see what you are doing. And it depends how you organise yourself at night…you get used to it.

TNM: What about on cloudy nights?

A: Like yesterday? It is very hard then – I really appreciate the lines on the road so that you can get your orientation.

Particularly when there are cars coming in the other direction – you are blinded. Last night I had to pull over twice.

I didn’t know if I was in the middle of the road – or on their side or on my side.

TNM: It takes a while to get your night vision back after a car goes past.

A: That is alright. I just keep looking down so I don’t have to look into the light from the cars. Andno, none of the cars stop- they just go past me.

TNM: What about animals?

A: Yes! I have had some very interesting encounters with animals! That is actually my biggest fear, that is the only thing that really scares me.

The headlight on my bike is just so that others can see me, rather than to actually see things on the road. I’m totally aware of wildife moving at night.

One time I nearly hit a cow, it was like really close and think I was looking up at the sky to see shooting stars or something, the things you do when you cycle along by yourself – a little bit bored.

All of a sudden I saw this something standing in the middle of the highway and just had the chance to brake to stop. I think I scared the cow.

And then there were cows on the road all of sudden they started running and I could see two more on the side of the road but I couldn’t tell if there was a bull or not and you you don’t want to get charged by a one tonne bull with horns!

Especially if I’m in the middle, with the bull on one side and cows and calves on the other!

You don’t always know how they will react. They wouldn’t normally harm you but in that situation you wouldn’t know how they would react.

TNM: What about horses?

A: I saw some some running along side the road one time. They started to run along as I passed them and they kept going for a while. I don’t know if they were scared or excited. No wild camels so far. I saw one guy walking along with two camels – that was interesting. And one time a wallaby ran into my back pannier…you get pretty pumped up with adrenalin and pretty excited.

TNM: Tell me about dead cows on the side of the road? There are a lot in this part of the country

A: It depends on the wind direction – if I have a headwind I can smell them much earlier. If it is a tailwind you might not notice it you do but it is not really annoying.

And I think by now I can distinguish dead cow, dead kangaroo, dead bird – by the smell (laughs). That is interesting.

It is not a very pleasant smell – but you get used to it. I went past some dead cows that were really smelly and the wind might make it worse…it get’s stuck in your nose. I see a lot of birds on the road – not many at night but in the morning they always wake me up.

TNM: Thanks for your time and stories about your travels.

A: Thanks to you and I’m looking forward to Broome.