Jacinta and Tom in the Tiwi's

Here we are in Nguiu on Melville Island, one of the Tiwi Island group. The community is quite small, but being close to Darwin, it feels a bit different to other communities. Maybe the tourists twice a day help to create that feeling. It also does not feel as isolated, being only 15 mins in a plane from Darwin and we only went to a supermarket 48 hours ago.

The big news is that Jacinta and Tom (our sister and nephew) came over for a visit. They were holidaying in Darwin and thought they come and join us. It was all a last minute surprise but we loved it and so it would seem, did they.



They volunteered to come to work with us. Silly people because work they did. The ladies loved Tom who helped them edit and print their pictures and write stories. They also helped pack and unpack every day and helped with the running about we do to get catering and other things to happen. It was pretty nice for us to have an extra pair of teachers in the team. The Tiwi ladies certainly got value for money. The ladies loved Tom so much they gave him a Bima Wear scarf for his birthday tomorrow. It was very cool.

Jacinta did not escape either. She helped out various groups - many at once and got to meet some fantastic people in return.


Jacinta and Tom got to visit all the art galleries. We didn't. Maren certainly took them under their wing and made sure they had a Tiwi Experience. Tom was also taken on a tour of the community and school by some of the artsists from Tiwi design.
This is Alan that Tom spent a lot of time with. Tom has a great painting of Alan's to remember the trip with.

We also had a nice afternoon on Wednesday down the whalf. We didn't see the big croc we were warned about. It was a nice afternoon catching the famous Tiwi cloud formations and afternoon light.
The boys went fishing - well Tom did and Paul talked to Nimmo - again!! Jacinta and I went to look at the local church and other historic buildings.


So tonight they headed back to Darwin before the flight home. We were left to cook our own dinner which was a bit of a shock.

Happy birthday for tomorrow Tom.