Don’t fall off the log - yes I am back on the Blog!

Well, where do I start, Paul and I have been throughly enjoying our retirement these past few years, travelling here there and everywhere in our cosy Coromal Caravan.

A few trips back to my Homeland of Aotearoa, and a BIG trip to France, England, Scotland and a fabulous stopovers in Hong King and Dubai... more to come on those trips.

The posts will be out of sync, but, what the heck, I hope you will enjoy them once I get stuck into posting....

In the meantime, look after yourselves, and keep smiling, Life is Good. 😀💕

My beach - Dee Why on a Autumn evening, 2018.

Revamp of the Blog

Hi Folks, long time no post....I have decided to give the Blog a Revamp, and in future I shall be uploading stories and  photographs from our travels within Australia and overseas. I hope you will enjoy what you see. Look out for the next post. Bye for now. Selma Janet

Back Home Again

Well, it has been along time between drinks - so to speak. Bucko and I arrived back in Sydney, around Easter, after spending 3 months in Adelaide. 

The reason we were in Adelaide so long, was to let my right leg heal from an accident I had in Esperance, WA.  I was walking down a gangplank from a boat to a jetty on Woddy Island. The sea was very rough that day, and suddenly the gangway started to rock, roll and buck around. Next thing I knew I was sliding through the side of the railings and the (by now), broken gangway came crashing down onto my leg. I was not able to walk, and the skipper of the boat came along with a wheel chair and pushed me up to the cafe on the island. To cut a long story short, the upshot was, I had no broken skin or bones, but, coming across the Nullabor, my leg started to turn black!! On arriving at Ceduna, we went straight to the hospital and had the leg looked at. Turns out, I had a touch of gangrene in my leg, and I woudl need to be VERY careful for the next few months to make sure the leg healed. So, we stayed in Adeliade, which was no problem for us, we love the place and would like to live there.

Anyway, this is just a short posting to say, I will be back to finish our Blog,  Too many tales an photos to share with all of you, not to finish the story of our wonderful trip Along The Wallaby track.

Darwin City Sights, NT (13 - 29 August, 2010)

The Darwin Museum and Cyclone Tracey Exhibit. A darkened room with the sound of the cyclone playing over a speaker lead us into the exhibit on Cyclone Tracey. The recording was made by a minister of religion when he was hiding under his house as the cyclone raged around him. Leaving the room there is a mock up of a house with pieces of timber, steel etc stuck in the walls, like it was on the day. Eye witness accounts made by folk who had lived through the terror of that day, could be listened to by pressing a button. The city of Darwin looked like an Atomic Bomb had hit it; there was no where to live and no-one could go about their daily life as they did before the cyclone. The government sent in the Army and Police from many of the other States, to help evacuate the city, leaving only these services people and approximately 10,000 others to clean-up and sort out the mess. Around Thirty Thousand plus people were evacuated in a matter of days. After the cleanup and rebuilding, new building regulations were introduced to try and avoid such destruction in the future. An interesting fact from the NT Government site, "Earlier in December 1974 Cyclone Selma had hovered around Darwin before changing course and disappearing." I always thought I was bit of a cyclone - at times!

Parliament House The design of the Darwin Parliament house is unusual and it has been specially designed for the tropical heat, storms and cyclones. The day we went on our tour, there was a test being conducted on the non-use of the air conditioning. Oh, no, was my first thought; however, I need not have been concerned. The building has been so well designed, even when we went into the upstairs public viewing rooms it was not hot, or even uncomfortable.

Government House is the oldest European building in the Northern Territory, surviving both World War 2 bombing raids and Cyclone Tracy in 1974. Used a residence for the NT Administrator and lucky for us, there was an open day while we were in town, these open days are not very frequent, so, Tanya, Paul and myself took ourselves off to see how the other half live; at the taxpayers expense. The house is gorgeous, high ceilings, huge wide stone paved verandas, with shutters to help reduce the heat and shelter from the tropical storms during the wet season. The gardens are crammed full of stunning tropical plants; I went crazy with my camera, so many plants so little time!

Botanic Gardens The day we visited the gardens was VERY hot, (some of you may say that is normal for Darwin), so we did not 'do' the whole grounds. Many gorgeous and colourful tropical plants are everywhere, however, the item that really took my fancy was the Cannonball Tree, which is from South Africa. The seed pods are the size of cannonballs, hence the name of the tree, and the flowers are very pretty, in shades of pale pink and cream.
Link to Darwin Botanic Garden photos:

 https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOibMbFcqxPILieMQpF8z1UvjV93NJdS4CooPbbqoHvnwzrzBoGi7-Ud3DlgUI6AQ?key=enNydGs5SUZWblZ4Tm84WDhXcWRlVzY1RHFXMHdR

Burnett House, was an historic building we both wanted to see, it has withstood the bombing of Darwin in the 2nd World War, as well as many cyclones, including the BIG one - Cyclone Tracey. An example of the older style of Darwin house, designed by B.C.G. Burnett for the tropics and to capture the breezes. Burnett House was completed in 1939 and allocated to the NT Director of Works. It is the only surviving example of a Type ‘K’ house - an unusual design which incorporated an entrance lobby and lounge/dining room at ground level, and bedrooms above. Many of the homes destroyed in the cyclone were made of Fibrolite and the wind just tore them to shreds. If I lived in the tropics I would like my bedroom to be like this one.



Enjoy.

Darwin - Litchfield Park, NT (13 - 29 August, 2010)

After leaving Jabiru we drove down the Arnhem Highway to Darwin, the main reason we were going there was to see our finds Chris and Tanya. It was terrific to see them again, and Tanya looked so good, we had dinner with them that night at the bistro in the caravan park.

Saturday, Bucko and I had a few errands to run, the main one being to have the prescription for my glasses filled. I had my eyes tested in Alice Springs and when I was told it would take 10 -14 days (because the script would go to Melbourne); I decided to have them done in Darwin. Ha, ha, not a good idea, this time the script went to Brisbane, and was going to take 10 -14 days again! In the end, it only took 7 days. Now, I can see properly, as well as having two sets for the for the price of one. Our next stop was the very popular Parap Markets, to buy fruit and veg, while there I also bought myself a cool, (in looks and comfort), tied died dress.

While in Darwin we also decide to have the Air Con for the van serviced, it had been working very well in the heat, but, as we knew there would be plenty of long hot days ahead, we wanted to make sure all would be ok.

One of our day trips was to the Litchfield NP, where the Magnetic Termite mounds are and they look nothing like the ones we saw up in Kakadu, these mounds are a greyish colour and are aligned North/South to help keep them cool. A fence surrounds the mounds and we were unable to get close to any of them. However, I am fortunate to have a good camera and I was able to zoom in for the shot below. Notice the ragged top? This is an active termite mound. If the termites have left the nest for some reason, the mound starts to deteriorate. Don't they remind you of a set of tombstones?

Wangi Falls in Litchfield National Park, is one of the few falls that have water flowing during the dry season of the Northern territory, a very popular place to go on a stinking hot day.

How about the photos of 'The Lost City', rock formations you would swear had been man-made, and the one on the right looks like a Camel.

Dingo bites Croc. Jabiru, NT

Ah ha, I bet that got your attention!

One evening I mentioned to Paul that I had not seen the Dingo that strolled through the park each evening, I was feeling deprived! Anyway, we decided to cook our steaks that night on one of the BBQs, a bit of a walk across the park, from our caravan.  While standing around the BBQ and chatting to a fellow camper, we noticed a very healthy looking Dingo amble past us.  I thought I would try communicating with the animal and let out a Dingo like howl. Well, that stopped the dog right in its tracks, it turned round and looked at me for a while, then carried on it's way. 

Later that night, I was sitting at the PC, Bucko was in bed asleep, the outer door of the van  was open, with the screen door closed.  I heard noises outside the door, so opened it up and looked out.  Did I get a fright, a Dingo was moving very calmly away from the door, he was in no hurry, obviously not afraid of humans.  My heart was going pitter, patter, then it went into overdrive, I heard a growl and looked to the left of the open door and there was another Dingo there!!....... I tell you, I closed that door quick smart, my heart was racing,  and my hands were shaking.

When I told Bucko in the morning, he said to "Maybe the dingo was coming looking for his Bitch!!!! and the howl I had let out the night before must have got the dog excited" - ha, ha,  Bucko. 
Later that morning, Bucko noticed teeth marks in his Crocs, obviously the shoe was not to the Dingos liking, so he dropped it, hence the title of this posting - Dingo bites Croc.

Jabiru, Kakadu NP, NT (6 - 12 August, 2010)

Jabiru was built by the Rio Tinto mining company, to house the staff from the Ranger Uranium Mine. The caravan park we stayed at is very pretty, with lots of gorgeous plants all around the grounds. The caravan and tent sites are is set in a circle with a wonderful resort style pool at the centre.  Most other travellers in the park were bunched in close to each other, on the opposite side of the pool to us; I don't know why they did that, as we were told by the reception staff to "find your own spot and then let us know where you are". At least it was quiet where we set up our rig.

Voting at The Border Store

While in Jabiru, Bucko did the cooking on the small hotplate we had set up outside the van; each night a Dingo would stroll through the camp and past

Bucko. I am sure the Dingo was checking out what food was on offer; more on that in a later Blog see 'Dingo bites Croc'.

The 2010 Australian Election was held while we were in Jabiru, so Bucko took the opportunity to cast his vote at the Border Store at Ubirr (the border between NT and Arnhem Land), along with locals and other travellers, in total 12 people cast their vote that morning.  I am not an Australian citizen, so I did not vote. For more photos, click on Album: Voting at The Border Store

Arnhem Land was always going to be a highlight of our trip to Kakadu, and it was. The countryside is virtually untouched by mankind (white fellas, I mean) and the areas we were privileged to see, felt like God had just finished creating the Billabong, trees, rocks etc, the beauty of it all took our breath away. Our bus driver and guide for the day was an Aboriginal man, who was born in Roper River, (not too far from Kakadu), and even though he was not a person of the Arnhem Land clan he was able to tell us of the  cultural and historic stories. Bucko (and others), took a 15 minute clamber over rocks etc, in the stifling heat, to see rock art; while I sat in the air conditioned bus, along with other ladies.  I missed out on seeing with my own eyes the following wonderful drawing, but,at least we have a picture of it.

Ubirr Rock Art, Kakadu NP, NT (12 August, 2010)

Our visit to see the rock art at Ubirr was one of the many wonderful highlights of the days we spent in Kakadu National Park.  The day was not too hot which was good because there was a fair bit of walking and rock clambering to do to see the various places where the drawings were.  I have only included a few of the many photos that we took, there are SO many paintings to see.  Why not do yourselves a favour and come out to visit them one day. 
Some of the paintings look very fresh and they are. Over the years many of the drawings have been painted over by people, long gone from this world; in fact the actual indigenous clan who were the owners of the land around Ubirr, no longer exist. To ensure the spirits are kept happy, some of the paintings have been refreshed by a member of a clan from a neighbouring tribe.  Thirty to Forty years ago this person was given permission by his elders to refresh the paintings.  Only the very important drawings have been given a 'new' coat of paint, in the traditional way of course. It is not hard at all to see the faint outlines, colours and shapes of other drawings underneath the more vibrant top paintings.  

Boys and Crocs at Cahills Crossing, NT (10 August, 2010)

Cahills Crossing is a causeway across the East Alligator River, and the way into Arnhem Land, from Kakadu National Park. The river is tidal up to the crossing and freshwater on the other side. At high tide Crocodiles mill around, waiting to cross over to the opposite side they are on. When we went to see the crossing, there were approximately 30-35 crocs, most of them huge and few younger ones. People were standing on the rocks and fishing while the crocs were cruising around, fishing was certainly not on our agenda that day!

There was a queue of vehicles on both sides of the crossing, waiting for an opportunity to cross the river; many of the 4 wheel drives which had raised suspension were able to push through the water with ease. Next thing we know, an older model sedan was coming over from Arnhem Land, it stopped about 3/4 of the way across and two young men got out! Gasps of horror filled the air! A partly submerged tree branch had blocked the way of the car, so, of course it had to be removed. Don't worry about the crocs, the driver of the car was the look-out. Don't worry the submerged crocs might jump out and grab someone!!
After much struggling, and many raised and excited voices, the log was freed. The car was moved to shallower water, the doors opened, water rushed out. Everyone on the viewing platform and rocks gave a huge cheer, along with wolf whistles and claps, we were rewarded with two beautiful bright white smiles and a bow before the young men jumped into the car and drove off.  To view more photos, just click on the Cahills Crossing album Link below.




Boys at Cahill Crossing

 Album: Cahills Crossing

Her Tribe Has Vanished - a poem

Following is a poem which is written on a wall hanging in the old Durack Homestead, at Lake Argyle, near Kununurra, in the Kimberley region of WA. I don't know who wrote it, but Paul & I feel the same about the poem; we feel it speaks volumes about the many Aboriginal people of this land, who have 'vanished'.
Her tribe has vanished' her daughters & sons
all her people are under the sand
nothing to prove that she'd ever lived
but the faint outline of a stencilled hand
in earth red ochre or charcoal line
so may caves with the same mute sign
trace the shape with a pensive finger
why do I linger?
an ancient sadness chills this place
that's why I stop & pause
dark sister without name or face
I place my hand on yours
the long unmeasured years between us
too late - too late for meeting
but in the quiet forsaken cave
hand touch in greeting.
END
"I touch my hand to yours, as well, my long departed Sister" - Selma Janet