The week that was

I am truly amazed we get paid to travel like this. We have had quite an amazing time the last few weeks traveling to and forth around the Tiwi's. This week we began in Milikapati (and we were stranded at the airport without a lift). It was after that, a great visit. It began with the locals who could not decide if they'd take a public holiday or not for Anzac Day. It does not matter what the big island in the south wants to do, Tiwi islanders can make up their own rules. So Monday had a late start while we found out if we could get into our venue. Monday's are always a late start on Milikapti anyway. We can't seem to get started til 10.00 on Mondays at Milikapti.

The next trick was getting over to Pirlangimpi. We organised for the plane to come at 4pm and it came at 9am. Nevertheless, off we went having a record pack up of our 250Kg in 15 mins. We did not have a lift organised for that time of day, but thanks to the flexibility of Art Centre Chris, we were not stranded at the airport.

We love the lodge at Pirlangimpi and the incredible cooking of the team there. Fish and more fish every night, done differently every time. Paul also enjoyed crab, squid, and prawns. To say nothing of the setting. The sunsets are pretty fantastic and we loved the lure flicking practice we had most nights on the boat landing or the nearby beach. I caught a dead crab and my own lure back. I had lost one and caught it 10 minutes later. Also got a swarm of sandfly bites to keep me amused for the rest of the week.

The bird life at Pirlangimpi was prolific to say the least. Hundreds of Rainbow bee eaters. The white breasted eagle which landed every day for dinner and the swarms of red wing parrots added to our glee.

The family who live at the lodge have pet emus. We musta heard the story three times about the day they got out from the local kids who follow us everywhere we go. They were quite interesting as pets. They also had other pet parrots, two pet bats, a dog that chased hornets for fun, a cat and what seemed like several other dogs. It was hard to tell who belonged to what dog and which were strays or camp dogs.

The area in front of the lodge is deep enough for a big ship. There was an art cruise lobbed in while we were there - big excitement for the island, especially the art centres. Nearly as much excitement as the ship load of Indonesian boat people who were apprehended just off the point while we were there. Then we saw patrol boat activity looking for more.

Flying to Pirlangimpi was the usual wonderful trip. Ben came over and again helped us haul our gear in and out of the plane. We are getting pretty fond of the Barrier Boys. It will be a sad time next Friday when we have our last flight. We start trucking after that. We were again stranded at the airport but Dave the airport manager gave us a lift in return for a feed on Weds. No amount of organisation solves lift problems on the Tiwi's.



Its hard to believe but the Tiwi's are the second largest island in Australia next to Tasmania. We really believe it when you fly over parts of it.

The people we work with really make our trip. We make lots of friends and have a few wins and a few heart aches. Paul had to help a lady restore a photo of a son who had died from a stinger on the beach. We can't put his photo up, but boy Paul did a great restoration job.

On Milikapti we met Sharna who had run away from school and was languishing a bit. Not willing to go back to school and no suitable school in the village. Some locals encouraged her to come to our workshops and asked us to keep an eye on her. It took four days and two visits before we even got a smile out of her. She was so beautiful, to us, at last. She would hardly engage when we explained how to do things, cause she just did not want to be taught. Bad experience of teachers we guess. So we gave her little tasks and let her play constantly without any criticism or interference and gradually, gradually she started to blossum. She is a good learner. She was in the end teaching other kids how to do things and sneaking use of our gear and software when we were 'not' looking. Paul managed to catch her smiling and on the last day, she was sitting for a while with her arm around me. It would have been good to spend more time with her. She needs opportunity, not school! She wants to learn, not be taught. We find that a bit actually amongst the young people here.

The workshop at Pirlangimpi was surprising too. We met some wonderful young women from the art centre - leaders for the next generation; already on the Art Centre Board and the territory ANKAAA board. We helped them think about using technology for their Board business and also think about exerting pressure to improve the web site of their art centre. Donna and Josephine will certainly be forces to be reckoned with as they mature. It was great to be a little part of their technology journey.

We also met Gilberta and Lucinda. Gilberta was a very young woman with 2.3 children and also looking after her sister cousin Lucinda who had had a pretty horrible year after being ophaned when her mother died. Lucinda is almost deaf and considered to be mentally disabled. Well I don't know about that. Gilberta asked me "outside" if she could bring Lucinda in and let Lucinda just listen to music. When I spotted her, I found her using Picassa to browse photos. I gave her a camera and off she went clicking happily. In the end she made photo callages and did some digital scapbooking. By showing her one skill at a time, she accumulated knowledge and repeated multiple steps on day 2 with no trouble. We helped restore photos of her parents and she made very beautiful momentos through scrapbooking with Powerpoint. Then she made a movie. I think we found a technology hook for her. She would really blossum with her own computer. Just two/three of the stories of the week that was.

We have one more week on the Tiwi's before heading to Darwin Friday to pick up the truck off Nimmo if he will give it back. then we head deep inland again to Minyerri.

Hope everyone at home is having fun and not too cold.