Sun, Mud, Floods and Kangaroo Tails!!

So last time I was here, I was telling you all about just how cold Balgo was. Well, the next morning I awoke to the most beautiful blue sky and beautiful short and singlet worthy temperatures. It was such a stark contrast to the frigid weather of the last few days. The ironic thing is that now everyone in Perth is freezing off their lower halves we survived as we attempt to grapple with two days of temperatures above 30°C. Things change so quickly!

Another thing that has changed super quickly is my holiday plans. The plan was to stay in Balgo for the first week to see the La Salle Middle Swan crew, and more importantly my Dad who were hoping to get up here for a week next Sunday, organize activities for them and show them around. My official title, granted upon me by Brother Rick was the Balgo/Middle Swan Liaison officer. It sounds so much cooler than it is; essentially I just had to organize where they slept. BUT STILL, that’s a BIG responsibility! Anyway because the Sturt Creek is so flooded they have had to cancel their trip which really does suck. While they are planning to come up in September I was really looking forward to showing people from my old school around so they could see just how amazing this community is during the holidays. We had planned for them to essentially teach the classes for the last two days of term. However, despite this setback I’m sure things will be just as awesome in September. So now we’re thinking of camping for a while before trekking it to Broome by which stage the roads should be open. Fingers crossed!

I am constantly amazed by the resilience of the kids here. They are the toughest children I have ever met, and the most stubborn. One of the students here at Luurnpa, Noah, is a very gifted roof climber. And when I say gifted, I mean he is very talented at sneaking away from class and getting up onto the school roof before the teacher even realizes. Anyway, on Tuesday, that super cold and windy day we had here, Noah fell off!! Fortunately all that he suffered was a broken wrist but it was still serious enough to be plastered up and given a ‘no climbing’ veto for the six weeks. So you can imagine my surprise when I came from the gym the other day at 5.30pm to see about fifteen kids playing footy and Frisbee ON THE ROOF! And you can imagine that I was absolutely flabbergasted to see NOAH running on the roof as well, cast flying everywhere as if it didn’t weigh a tone. I screamed at him ‘Noah, how did you break your arm?’ He looked at me, shrugged and continued running. Absolutely crazy! Anyway, none of the kids listened to my screaming and yelling so I pretended to call Brother Rick, the Principal, and yelled at one of the kids, ‘Brother Rick’s coming!’ They scattered in an instant. As you can tell, I have a great way of dealing with these situations; lying being a valid way of dealing with it. But if I was Noah, I would never even think about climbing another roof in my life, yet alone jumping back on. Their constant lack of fear, often mixed with stupidity inspires me.

On Friday morning in Primary D maths I worked with Kingston. Most of the time, Kingston is super naughty and always runs away. But I was so proud of him when he completed three worksheets with me without even misbehaving once! And I was even more proud of him when he didn’t rely on the abacus or drawing his sums out to figure them out. I see why teachers get so excited when their students do something right after doing it wrong for so long. It really is a big achievement for the kids and something they really feel proud of it. Below is a picture of Kingston with the second sheet he did in record time. So proud!! Kingston later went on to become PATHS Kid (like Star of the Day) because his teacher, Steve was so impressed by his efforts.

Kingston

The whole school partook in the Stations of the Cross on Friday afternoon. Each class acted out two or three stations in front of the whole school, as we moved down from the Kindy area, over to the Mangarri tables, then onto the Primary B classes, Assembly area and ending at the Secondary classes. I was really proud of the effort that each class put into their acting and reading and all the staff was very impressed as to the respectful manner the children conducted themselves in. The cutest class, as always was the Pre-Primary and Grade 1 kids where the King got stage fright and had to be replaced half way through while half the other kids forgot their lines. But the best class, and I’m probably biased but it’s true, was Primary C where they reenacted Simon helping Jesus carry the cross and Veronica wiping Jesus’ face. They were so respectful and very good at telling the story of the death of Jesus, probably due to the last minute me and Jenny carried out two minutes before Stations started. We are seriously the best and most organized class around!!

Our cross used during Stations.

Antonio and Cody, our Primary C soldiers showing us some skills.

Luurnpa, with most of the Kindy kids in costume

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Thomasina

Yesterday was definitely a day to remember. I went on a bush trip with Cathy Lee and a few of the teachers; Mindy, Neus, Jenny and Jim. Stopping at Mulan on the way to the lake, we brought Kangaroo tails and planned to cook them while we were there. Neus, who is from Spain is leaving on Tuesday and we promised her we’d try it before she went. So as a promise is a promise, we stoked up and headed out. Along the way we saw plenty of brumbies and were almost stampeded by a herd of very fat and healthy looking wild cattle.  I was amazed by how quickly the scenery changed. It went from spinifex grasslands to tall trees straight back to the grasslands again. Two Trees is so named because of the Two tall trees that stand side by side at the opening of the track towards the spot by the lake. They really have some original named places around here!!

Two Trees

Casual stampeding cattle in the desert!

The lake is absolutely beautiful and reminds me of an ocean. There are small, limestone rocks dotting the surroundings and white sand at the water’s edge. The only difference is the mud. Stepping in, one can sink to their knees before stopping. Luckily though this only occurs in the shallower water and the deeper areas are very stable and great for swimming. However, before swimming in the lake, one must mud up. This involves rubbing mud onto all exposed areas of skin and especially on your hair so you do not disturb the Rainbow Serpent. The Aboriginal people believe that the Rainbow Serpent lives in the middle of the lake and sleeps. If you do not put mud on yourself before swimming the Rainbow Serpent can come and take you away however if you wear mud, the snake can smell you and stays away. I love the Dreaming stories!!

Lake Gregory

The kids had great fun dousing me in mud and especially as I taught a few, probably took their revenge in being able to do it. I’m pretty sure I got a bit too much mud in my hair than necessary but it all washed out in the water, especially with Francis, Theo, Lyn and Alex splashing me constantly! I was like a human jetty, with all the kids coming to me for a breather while swimming; I was always holding onto at least two kids in neck deep water, something that was a bit challenging especially considering they swim better than me! We all dried off while we were waiting for the Kangaroo tails to cook however the hot sun drew us back to the cool water not long before the roo was cooked so we were pretty wet the whole hour and a half back to Balgo. But wow, Kangaroo tail! What a treat!! It’s a bit tough getting the skin off, but the meat tastes exactly like Lamb Shank. It really is a delicacy and something I’m very keen on having more of in the next few months. Cathy is an amazing cook!!

Alex mudding me up

Me, Alex, Callum and Francis

Danica, me, Theo, Francis, Mindy, Callum, Alex, Delwyn, Nus, Kalis, Lyn and Jenny

Francis being the cool kid he is

Cooking Kangaroo tail. Try and pick it out!

Callum!

I got my skin name today. A skin name is like a family name, however includes those who aren’t technically related to you by blood. The kids kept asking me what mine was and when I responded with ‘I don’t yet have one’ Cathy was quick to tell me that my skin name was Napaljarri (I keep forgetting so have it written down in a million places) and that I was a sister to Theo and Sherelle, along with many other people in Balgo. The way it works, I probably have grandparents, aunties, uncles, brothers, sisters and even children scattered all over the community. It’s really cool and I’m honored to have being included in Balgo enough to be given a skin name. It’s really special.

This last photo is for William and Miranda (Mandy) Farrer at boarding in Perth. It is a picture of their younger siblings, Joan, Antonio and Chris, along with their friend Anthony. I hope they like it! J