Walking on Water

The very chillaxed weekend was brought to a close yesterday afternoon by a lazy yet bumpy drive on the Tanami towards Sturt Creek, an important destination for one within our midst. Sophie had approached Father John a week ago asking to be baptised, thinking he would just do it after mass on a Saturday night. But Father John been the out there and idea full priest he is decided this was not good enough and Sophie would be baptised instead in the frigid waters of the Sturt. As Father John had hoped, it turned out to be a lovely place for one to be baptised.

There was no white christening gown for Sophie, instead this garment of tradition was replaced by bathers, boardies and a singlet, necessary items for a christening in a creek. Father John looked rather out of place standing in his full length white gown with his cassock on in the middle of the running water and I wondered how he planned on keeping the red dirt out of his clothes, especially as he was saying mass in Bililurna, just down the road two hours later. However he pulled it off. Jenny and Jim were chosen as Godparents and it was a rather small but beautiful celebration; for Sophie the standout memory was getting frostbite on her nose after getting dunked underwater three times. Sophie is still copping jokes about how she's just brimming with an aura of holiness but I'm pretty sure the most holy thing was the celebratory cake Jenny made; only angels could make something that delicious!

No Sophie's were drowned in the making of this Catholic

Jenny and Jim, chuffed Godparents

The Baptismal Font, of sorts

We chilled by the creek for a while after, capturing pictures of the massive tankers as they sped past and trying to disturb the tens of cockatoos in surrounding trees. Every time I go to Sturt Creek, I cannot comprehend where all the water from our first visit went. Now I actually understand what Brother Lou was talking about when he mentioned the bridge. This was the first time that one could make out the concrete passing over the creek, whereas the times before the water was running so high over the top that it just looked like a road with water on two sides. It's all slowly making sense!

This was one of those photo's I kind of just pointed and clicked while the truck sped past. Not a bad effort :)

Sturt Creek

Perched precariously

This sign was very much covered by water at one point

Fly!! Not towards Balgo though...

Our journey home was made slower by the fact that we were behind three massive petrol tankers which were heading past our turnoff road towards Alice Springs. The amount of dust that was flicked up by them driving was all blown into our direction making the dusk light seem eerie and driving visibility near on nothing. It reminded me of all the foggy Perth mornings bumper to bumper along the freeway; good times.

Today Cassius brought a tiny bird to school, nestled in his jumper pocket. He was quite keen on leaving it there the whole day but I was having awful premonitions of a kid accidentally bumping him into a wall and just like that, nomore birdie. So we made a little nest out of grass and paper towels in a box and the bird chilled there the whole day. It was super cute and one of the reasons I love Luurnpa so much; all the unexpected surprises the kids find and feel so compelled to bring to school. There was one moment this morning where the bird had escaped from its box and flown the tiny distance its wings could take it to just around the corner, but I found it eventually. Cassius even gave me some of his lunch to feed the bird with at Mangarri time but the bird didn't seem to accustomed to bread and I told Cassius to release it this afternoon after school. I really should go and check the bird isn't still in the classroom, considering when Chloe brought her owl to school she left it in the kindy room!

Birdy and his/her nest

So cute!

On the topic of birds, I am quite keen on never seeing a white cockatoo again. Better yet, never hearing them! They live in a tree behind our house and it was the worst thing to wake up to during the weekend, especially as they started way before I was ready to rise. The stupid things also keep dropping things onto our tin roof in such a fierce manner that I think we're under attack from Mulan or something. So annoying! Although it is quite spectacular when they all fly away together, sometimes fifty in the flock. It's quite a site.

Bruce Willis is a Ghost

I cannot believe it's already the weekend! Things are going very fast and although I am having the best time, I wish things would slow down enough for me to take a breath and aknowledge all the great things that have happened lately. Oh well, I guess that's what the blog is for!

Noah's cake turned out brilliantly, and I must say my cake decorating skills were incredible when you take into account the lack of cake decorating supplies I had. The class were very grateful for the fact that Noah celebrated a birthday in the sense that they all got cake, a win win situation by anyone's standards. Despite the fact that I haven't yet graduated from packet cakes to cakes from scratch, I'm hoping that after making a cake for every Primary B kid that has a birthday between now and December (a pretty decent job), I'll be a pretty decent baker soon!

Noah's Cake

Primary B pumped for cake

Noah :)

No matter how naughty Noah is sometimes (climbing the roof, riding the camel, etc.) he is a really good kid. Take yesterday for example. Kailas, another cheeky Primary B kid was running around the classroom away from Mindy. As he ran by Noah, Noah stood up, tackled Kailas and just looked at Mindy with a 'Don't worry, I've got it' look. It was the funniest thing and just goes to proove that every kid has an angelic and devil like side to them.

Sophie, Jenny and I de-nitted the Primary B and C girls yesterday. For Sophie, this was an exceptional challenge as she is a fully qualified hair dresser taught to walk away from the hair when lice are sighted. She was super brave and did a great job but was glad when Jenny sent her to make pancakes with Jim, a Friday afternoon treat. However she did enjoy making the girls look lovely with hairbands and clips which we all agreed was the highlight of the job.

De-nitting!

Me: 'If, I'm going to be a doctor, this is one way to harden up my stomach'.

Sophie: 'Blurgh!'

The boys went camping last night with Brother Rick and Anthony and at first I was kind of bumbed that it was an all boys trip until it got dark and the cold air set in. It was absolutley freezing last night, so much so that I finally switched my air con from cool to heat, a testament to the changing weather here in Balgo. Sophie and I took advantage of no guys been around and watched Grey's Anatomy, until the power cut out. That's right, a power failure. We were about to go outside to make sure we hadn't run out of power credit until we opened the door and realised that we couldn't see anything! The whole community had lost power and it was pitch black, the only sources of light been the stars which shone brilliantly. So we did the best thing to do in a power failure; watched The Sixth Sense on my laptop. Sophie had never seen it before and was hooked so much so that when the power came back on, we continued watching the movie over Grey's. Which proves what an awesome movie it is. For those who haven't seen it, see it!

It's proving to be a very laid back weekend which is good because it have Henry and I a chance to catch up on all the cleaning, and for me to finally get some pen to paper in my journals. I hate been a week behind, but it's better than Henry who I think would be almost 50 days behind in his. But I've gotta give him credit, he's keen to catch up!!

Happy Sorry Day!

It has been fairly casual the last few days however today was National Sorry Day, a very important day for everyone in Balgo. For those who don't know what National Sorry Day is, here is a Google definition of the event;

"The National Sorry Day is an Australian event, held each year on 26 May since 1998, in commemoration of the Bringing Them Home report being handed to the federal government on 26 May 1997. It is not an official holiday, although there have been calls by some Aboriginal leaders to make it one."

It's always awkward when a definition needs a further definition but here's what the Bringing Them Home report is;

This report is a tribute to the strength and struggles of many thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people affected by forcible removal. We acknowledge the hardships they endured and the sacrifices they made. We remember and lament all the children who will never come home.

In summary, today was about the sorrow felt by most of Australia regarding their treatment of the Aboriginal people in the past with a particular focus on the Stolen Generation, an act of controversy and much disgust that is still remembered by many in Balgo. Gracie and Imelda were telling me about their memories of Old Balgo, where they lived in dorms and were brought up by Nuns while their parents slept in tents 100m past the community site. These tales are a living reminder of past mistakes and a reason why the future generations in Balgo are so important.

We celebrated the day with a short ceremony, courtesy of Father John, Imelda, Gracie and Henry who stood there and looked pretty holding up a framed copy of the Sorry Speech. This speech, most likely remembered by many was said by Prime Minister Rudd on February 125th 2008 when he said sorry to the Stolen Generation in National Parliament. Our small ceremony was very meaningful and our new Aboriginal flag was blessed with Holy Water. The students of Luurnpa are to be commended on their lovely behaviour while I should be reprimanded for not having my phone on silent. Trust my incredibly loud Kim Possible beeper message tone to go off in the quietest and most important part of the ceremony. Awkward!!

Father John conducting the ceremony

The kids paying attention...mostly

  

The kids are loving their goggles which my lovely and amazing mother kindly donated to the school. I swear she spoils my students more than me, as she constantly posts up lollies, games and other necessities that the kids love. And in return, sometimes I worry they may love my Mum more than me, so I'll have to figure out a way to buy their love. I got some great underwater snaps of Priamry C at the pool today which they had great fun posing for.

Miss 'I've always got a cheesy grin on my face!'

Renelle

Renelle underwater, Antonio being cool

Antonio. Or should I say, 'Uncle Antonio!' His big sister had a baby girl yesterday and him, Joan and Chris were super excited all day.

Kassius, with Antonio photo bombing

Kassius

The art project Sophie and I had thought would go for one afternoon has only just finished which is great for us because we only came up with one instead of five but it has lasted for a week! Primary C coloured in four stars, stuck two back and front and then we made a 3D looking star shape and hung it between our space ships. They look really quite awesome and reflect the uniqueness of each student. We're now making planet Earth's and pinning things to orbit it, so I'll have to upload a picture of them as well.

Well I better go and bake a cake. It was Noah's birthday on Sunday and he came to school for the first time this week today, so Mindy is bribing him back tomorrow with a 'birthday suprise'. Wish me luck! Giving Primary B food poisoning is not in my job description, but knowing me, anything is possible!

Just a few announcements...

Once again, another short but rather informative blog post detailing you all the rather quirky events of the day.

Firstly, we had the dentists visit the school today which in itself isn't that exciting but the fact that they landed in a HELICOPTER was!! It's kind of random when a helicopter flies into Balgo to drop off dentists and we had a bit of a laugh about it. They seemed to enjoy the cake I made in the middle of the night, a product of both my insomnia and coffee addiction.

Secondly, it's getting harder and harder for me to explain the constant bandaids on my fingers after I prepare the Mangarri. Today was the third time I have seriously cut myself and it's now looking a bit suss, especially as no-one knows me as the epic clutz that I am. I was worried I may have needed stitches but instead gave myself an impressive looking bandage and 'toughened up'. The problem is that it's my left pointer finger making typing incredibly awkward.

Pretty dodgy bandaging, at least I have time to practice!

Lastly and most importantly, THE COOKING ROOM IS CLEAN!! After many weeks and countless hours sorting clothes I enlisted in the help of Henry, Anthony and Sophie to transport the never ending stack of boxes to the container. I was rather annoyed because there was too many boxes to fit on the shelves which meant it made all my organisation seem less impressive when I was forced to put things on the floor however I am stoked that it's finally over. It's been such a long journey to complete the task that finishing is so much more sweeter!

You can see the floor!!

Floor!!

SOOOO glad it's finally clean!

Negative for Mondayitis

Mondays always bring something new and exciting to Luurnpa. It's as if the new school week is forced to compete with the weekend and because everyone always has Mondayitis, excitement is thrown into the ring. This morning when I got to school and opened up the Mangarri room, I was greeted by half the hector clan; Cody, Carosella, Alex, Jayden and Delton who had all decided to join us at school again after a long stint at Halls Creek. They seemed just as happy to see me as I was to finally see them and I laughed as they showed me all their new and slightly wacky haircuts. Jayden was ever so excited to tell me that Brother Rick had just informed him that he was one of the lucky nine Primary D students that have been good enough to go to Melbourne. Having known that myself for quite some time, it was so good no to hold it in any longer and congratulate him for working so hard over the past few terms. It's so exciting to finally have kids coming back from everywhere!

Sister Alma is visiting us this week. She took over for Brother Rick last year when he went on long service leave and has been an important figure in Balgo for a long time. It was very nice to meet her and all the kids who remembered her cheerful face greeted her with many happy 'Sister Alma!'s. Very cute.

Ok, now for the BIGGEST and most important news EVER! Finally, after much waiting the new Primary A classroom is complete! It looks sooooo good, so much so that I'm tempted to go back to Kindy just to enjoy all the new things that they have in there. Plus it's all super cute and they already look like they're having a ball. My favourite thing there is the Calm Tent, where the kids go to calm down after a disagreement or argument. Close behind are the super teeny and cute blue couches, just big enough for five year olds. Enjoy the photos below, I sure did going through and taking them all while exploring all the new stuff! Many thanks to Donna for the pictures of the kids playing in it this morning - they all look beautiful!

The Kindy classroom :)

The Calm Tent

Cute teeny tiny little sofas

Pretty awesome table

Just cuteness, everywhere you look!

The new playground

Celia loves it!

Brianna, Benji and Bear

Sina and Delina

Just chilling

Playing shop

Cooking

Play time :)

I survived Wolfe Creek on the day the world was meant to end...WIN!

We were lucky enough to observe a pretty dandy weekend that saw me complete a variety of odd jobs, including cleaning the house (multiple times!), shopping at Mulan and more importantly, attempting to clear out the cooking room at school that is currently housing all the donated clothes. The plan is to get it cleaned out by Thursday however seven hours of solid work on Saturday afternoon barely even made a visible dent in the pile of clothes I pretty much just piled in the middle of the room, reminding me of the good old times when I'd clean my room out once every blue moon. Good times!

It was a great drive to Mulan on Saturday morning with the road having being recently graded meaning, there was no more constant induced shuddering of the car and travelling occupants. I actually felt ok about buying eggs and knowing they'd have more chance surviving the journey which is a testament to the decent road. We really do stock up when we go to Mulan because despite the smaller town, they have a lot more variety and because we come from Balgo, we get 20% off to cover the costs of petrol (which is great especially when it's the school paying for the petrol). I took the opportunity to buy a few ingredients that will come in handy when I use the cooking books my Nonna sent me the other day. I especially liked the title of one; The Commonsense Cooking Book. Exactly my type of cooking book!

Brother Rick recently had his office extended and a storeroom created out of the extra room in the sports shed that his back wall connects to. Jim did an excellent job however we helped Rick move everything from his office to his storeroom on Saturday afternoon, a job made more exciting by the multitude of hoarded stuff laden in the cupboards. This, along with some items of storage provided Henry with a large stack of cardboard which inspired him to build a bonfire. Well, it could have attributed to his inspiration but I think it's more likely that the fires constantly being lit around Balgo made him want to become apart of the Arson Club. Anyway he created a rather nifty little campfire and transported all the cardboard, plus stacks of wood into our yard where we lit it last night. Kudos to Rick for finding a hose, just in case. The result was a huge success! We went all out and made beef patties (well done Jarred and Henry) and cooked them on an open fire we have in our yard with some snaggers. For the rest of the night, we just lay on the cardboard watching the stars; a truly magical experience. The smoke kept the mozzies away but only Henry was brave enough to sleep by the campfire for the entirety of the night. We are planning a second bonfire next week and Sophie and I have already promised to sleep under the stars as long as it's not too cold! Good old Balgo with no fire restrictions.

Our fire. Kind of looks like we're burning a Guy here. Not an actual guy, those Guy Forks thingies

Anthony fuelling the fire

Beef patties! We soon realised the alfoil was a stupid idea

Snaggers

This is what about 30 massive pieces of cardboard, four palletes and endless amounts of wood is reduced to

Today we made the long two and a half journey up the Tanami to the Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater. Being there just made me want to watch the movie even more beacuse we bumped into a group of Grey Nomads who just rattled on about the horror and the gore within the film as if they were our age! It made me feel just a little bit behind my time so I'll have to borrow it off Father John and watch it at midday so I don't feel too scared. Apparently the Tanami had been graded as well but it sure didn't feel like it. Fortunately I was in the forward facing front seat of the troupie which kept any travel sickness at bay.

Being in the front had its downside. There were two gates that we had to stop and open when we entered the park and every time I got out, Jarred, Sophie, Henry and Ale goaded Warwick to drive off a bit whenever I made my way back to the car. It's always funny when we did it with Dad at home driving away from Mum but being out in the middle of no-where made it a little bit more serious so I was sure to get back to the car before they drove off, not that they had planned to go further than 20m. With the speed demon Mr. Connor proving himself to be a very capable dirt road driver, we got there at about 11.30, just in time for lunch before trecking up the narrow path to the rim of the crater.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting the rim of the crater to be above ground level; frankly I thought it would just be a big hole in the ground. This made it more impressive as the high walls made it seem a little bit secretive. We had to walk up a steep path to actually see the crater and only got a sense of how big it was when we were at the top. It's enormous, and the second biggest meteorite crater in the world that has had meteorite fragments collected from it. The second part to that title makes it seem a little bit less impressive but I thought it was pretty cool! The thing that got me was the perfectly circular ring of trees down in the very centre that made it seem almost man made, but only Sophie and Henry were brave enough to take the steep path down into the middle. Despite the hot sun the breeze was very welcome and we sat for a while just enjoying the view and the fact that we were there, at the infamous Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater!

The rim of the crater

Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater

View from the top

Sophie and Henry are somewhere down on that path

The crater from a distance

Eventually it was time to head off, but not before Sophie and I took advantage of the fact that there was a toilet there. Like, an ACTUAL toilet, not a bush, tree or large termite mound. However we both realised that those 'toilets' would have been preferable when we could only stomach entering the drop dunny with large quantities of tissue stuffed up our nose. Even this did not completely keep the smell away but did make us look like right old losers when a group of tourists drove past and laughed at us. Oh well, it did the job and reminded me of when I went camping with the family in Karijini and that was the only way you could even WALK PAST the drop loo's. Gotta love the lack of plumbing in the desert! On the way back we stopped to check out an old Homestead of sorts with a few cows grazing around. It looked kind of freaky and for those who had seen the movie said it reminded them of the more gruesome scenes so they chose to stay well away!

If I ever get an Outhouse, I want one like that. It's so cute looking!!

La Mooca :)

(cow, for all you non-wogs)

The actual Wolfe Creek

Well lovely readers, I've got to love you and leave you. Jenny has allowed Sophie and I to plan an art/craft lesson everyday this week in Primary C to coincide with our Space lessons. So far we've made rockets, suns and Alien ships but we have not yet being able to come up with five new projects and with school in less than 12 hours, I really do need to actually have something planned! For now, toodles!!

BTW Grey's Anatomy season 7 finale! Oh WOW!!! There is some great television coming up people, stay tuned! It's soooo good!  Sarah Firns if you're reading this, I HATE who got that job. And oh wow wee, isn't the new bride in trouble! And I hate Christina, good job Owen! Firnsworth, did you cry?! I choked up, so sad! Great episode. Email me for spoilers because I want people to talk to about it!

Loving you all and leaving you all.