Alone Again in the Desert

Just a quick post to get you up to speed, not that I am miles behind; Thursday seems quite some time ago really!

The Balgo crew is leaving in approximately an hour – 5am to be exact. Now that fact may make you wonder what I’m doing up at such an awful time, but basically I’m leaving for the Northern Territory in two hours and had a lot to do in a very short time, so gave up on sleeping. It’s ok, because I’m hoping that I’ll be tired enough to sleep on the Tanami. Moving on from that segue and back to the topic, things have been exceptional with such a fine group of young people around. They have worked in mass numbers to entertain the kids of Balgo, clean the school, build relationships with elders and as a team have appreciated Balgo as a beautiful place, physically and culturally.

Ms. Sayce, the La Salle College principal arrived this morning on the mail plane to spend some time with the crew and enjoy Balgo herself. She has been here a number of times before in her previous role at the CEO but this time around was able to appreciate and admire the children just that extra bit more. For all those on the tour, this was made easier by a Blue Light Disco held in their honor at the shop where they were able to party away and forget that in less than twelve hours they would be crammed in a troupie heading back to Broome and then on to Perth. The Balgo kids enjoyed having so many older people to have dancing with them, giving them all piggy back rides and really took advantage of one to one contact, something that us STM volunteers can never achieve no matter how hard we try. 

Back at the basketball courts, tearful farewells occurred between students from both Luurnpa and La Salle as those who have touched the hearts of others were seen for the last time. The La Salle students came up hoping to touch the hearts of the Balgo kids but never expected footprints to be walked across their own. I guarantee most of the Middle Swan students will be back some time in the future, finishing what they started and making even stronger relationships. 

It has been a lot of fun having so many people around and I have appreciated the company of every La Sallian individual that took the mammoth journey to get here. They have proven to be excellent company and I have enjoyed chilling out with the girls especially, often by the pool as we forgot we’re in the middle of the desert. So many memories have come from this trip on all sides and it has been a pleasure and an honor to see through, basically from pumping up the mattresses to soon deflating them. They certainly have reignited my Balgo spirit and have put me in an excellent mood for term four. If this week is anything to go by, it will all be over quite soon!

I’m off on an adventure of my own. Brother Rick is taking us to the NT, namely to Alice Springs and Uluru! I’m so excited. It’s on my bucket list to not only see Uluru at sunrise but also to visit every state and territory in Australia and having never been to the central top before, I’m one step closer to ticking that one off. That just leaves QLD, ACT, Victoria and Tassie. Anyway with the one and a half time difference and with very little sleep, I’m going to be appreciating the 22 and a half hour day in about twelve hours time for sure! Expect some great pictures and hopefully funny stories to be blogged on my return!

 

La Salle Mobs Stick Together

This week certainly has flown by but has been absolutely epic. Looking at all the things I have to write about and the immense numbers of videos and photos I’m sure you’ll appreciate, this post is looking to be rather mammoth! The La Sallian volunteers have done an excellent job entertaining the children and cleaning up the school in a way that us three STM volunteers would have serious trouble with. The sheer number of them means that almost every child has one on one attention with an older person, jobs that would take us weeks are been completed in an afternoon and the community is responding very well to them all. Half of the La Salle mob got their skin names the other night, only two days into their trip! This, combined with a plethora of positive feedback is really well received and I know that this immersion of sorts will go a long way in strengthening the relationship between the two La Sallian schools.

I’m having a blast with dear old Dad, who is enjoying seeing the place where I live, work and have an absolute ball. I’m less than impressed with his eagerness to get out of bed in the morning. On Monday morning he woke me up at 6.50am so we could go for a walk out to The Pound. I have trouble getting up before 7.30am on days where I’m meant to be at school ten minutes later than that, and with it been the holidays I thought getting up before midday would be a struggle. However we had a lovely walk and seeing the area lit up by the morning sun is quite spectacular. The best part was the pancakes afterwards, however silly Papa decided to leave his phone on the edge of the cliff and had to race back to retrieve it. I now understand where I get my scatterbrained mind from!

A view of the area around the oval.

Dad enjoys the view.

The rest of the day included activities on the basketball court, run by the La Sallians. I headed out to see how they were going and to catch up with my students, and found a very impressive scene. Bountiful entertaining objects had been brought out to keep the kids from getting bored, including drawing, chatterbox making, skipping, basketball, other ball games and even scoobie making! It was so good to see the kids responding so well to people they had only known for a few days, while their day was made a little bit more interesting (hopefully keeping them out of trouble!) All the La Sallian students are proving to not only be excellent role models but very good at devising new ways to entertain.

Sarah and Camille.

The students looking after the kids.

Callum.

Julian and Jay Jay.

Sharelle with scoobies in her hair!

La Salle/Balgo mob!

After lunch, the group went off to Old Balgo while I stayed behind to make a cake for David, who turned 16 and spent his birthday volunteering in Balgo instead of partying down in Perth (rather impressive). Dad took some great photos of the place (and I will include just a few) and said everyone enjoyed seeing the setting sun over the ruins. For people who had only ever looked over The Pound, actually going down into it was an experience for them all and many of them were shocked by the bumpiness of the road. However this shock was mixed with awe as they were overcome by the sheer number of horses that were present in the area, many running alongside and in front of the cars as the destination was reached. I love the horses out there; they are all so healthy looking and plentiful!

On the way to Old Balgo.

Panorama.

(Unfortunatley I can't make them bigger...but click on it to get the full effect.)

My creation.

The volunteers have spent every night out at the basketball court running activities, hanging with the children and even playing basketball with a few of the older boys. It’s been hilarious watching the boys running around the entire perimeter of the court with kids hanging onto their heads and sitting on their shoulders, although it does freak me out a little bit! I’m so scared to do things like that with the kids, fearing I’ll come a cropper bringing a little tyke down with me. Knowing I can’t have hurting a young innocent on my conscience (even though of course it would be accidental) makes me happy to be turning over the responsibility to much stronger and able bodied young men. The only problem is I know the kids will keep asking me from now until I leave to sit on my shoulders as I run around. Not happening!

Chelsea, Mikaela, Trish, Delilah, Heather, Fatima, Delton, Jordy and Camille.

Trish and Chelsea.

Nayla.

 

Jordy, Mikaela, Delilah and Trish.

Tuesday was spent cleaning the school and tidying up the yard. While the boys worked outside painting, mowing and whipper-snipping, the girls had to epic jobs; one was to clean out the storeroom in the cooking room, the other to clean the cooking room. I once spent two hours trying to neaten that room up once and barely scratched the surface, but with six times the manpower the room was made clean enough to do surgery in! With Ms. Panetta, the cooking teacher leading the way each cupboard was cleared out, dishes washed, surfaces wiped, fans scrubbed, floors vacuumed and mopped and the place made just that little bit better. With that room very rarely been used, the dust had just accumulated, the dirt tarnishing every dish and plate and making it quite gross. Now it looks 100% awesome! The storeroom was also turned from ankle breaking disaster as soon as you stepped in to organised and clear. They even went far enough to label each shelf with what should go there! Brother Rick was super impressed when he received a call saying we’d found a brand new camera in amongst the chaos, brought by him in July but misplaced between then and now. Apparently the scream on the other end of the line could be heard a mile away and we’ll take that as one of sheer excitement and happiness!

I took Dad over to see the Trade Training Centre and was met by the camel at the entrance. We watched her for a while open the bins that were sitting by the side of the road and begin rummaging through them. It was quite funny until one of the builders drove past, pulled up and told her off. However this did not deter her mood and the often aggressive camel was turned placid and playful! She enjoyed a scratch under the chin and a nice neck rub however got confident enough to give me a hug with her neck! It was quite an experience. One minute I’m just standing by the camel, the next I’m in between her body and her neck and she’s nuzzling on my shoulder! I must say, having camel saliva in one’s hair and over one’s clothes is not the best of experiences but with getting anywhere near the camel a risky experience, I took it for what it was and enjoyed the playfulness of the animal. She really is quite a character!

The volunteers all trekked out to the Jesus Cave later that afternoon while I attempted to prepare dinner (more on that later). The sunset was epic and Dad got some epic photos (all below), while the students enjoyed the experience of climbing down a rickety ladder into a spider infested cave! The view is always epic and with very little cloud cover and a clear blue sky, the pink rays of the dying sun lit up the area like you would not believe. It made me quite sad that I had missed it!

Loving the Panorama setting on Dad's camera!

Dad and I made dinner on Tuesday night in a less than orthodox manner but it still tasted good. We had Kangaroo tail stroganoff but had a lot of trouble skinning the tail and getting the meat off the bone, ending up sitting there for a good hour trying to hack of as much as we could to make a decent meal. If any of the locals had of walked in and seen what we were doing I know for sure they would have been absolutely offended by our callous manner of cooking but despite the sheer time and effort it took to produce enough meat, it was very worth it. Served with shitake mushrooms and rice, the meal was to die for! I love Kangaroo tail, however the smell is very off putting and three days later the stench of it is still lingering in my house, despite a lot of spray and wipe disinfecting each surface. We should certainly stick to our own way of cooking!

That night at the basketball court our presence was graced by that of an echidna! That’s right, a spiky, small thing with a long nose and a tendency to eat termites. Dad was just talking to someone when he said he wanted to show him a small animal. Ten minutes later he returned with the echidna and everyone flocked to see it. We all carefully patted it and I was amazed at the texture of the spikes. They aren’t really that sharp but I suppose rub an echidna the wrong way and it’s going to hurt. Only in Balgo does an echidna get brought over to the basketball court and shown off to everyone and anyone! Photo to come; can't find it at the moment on Dad's camera!

Wednesday saw us pile a million children and ourselves into five troupies and driven to Lake Gregory, more specifically my favourite place in that area; Two Trees. The drive was just as fun as getting there, especially as I sat up the front with Noah who pointed out every single white horse that we saw. Apparently the white horses are special, and definitely a favourite of Noah’s. For the La Salle students, the trip was made all the more interesting by the kids in the back with them, telling them dreaming stories along the way, making everyone laugh and really by just been kids! It’s very special to be able to share a bush trip with the Balgo children becase they really do make it very interesting.

As soon as we got to the Lake, everyone flocked towards the water and the Balgo kids wasted no time in mudding up the ‘tourists’ so the Rainbow Snake wouldn’t eat them. They took so much time and effort into ensuring every bit of their body was covered in the grey mud, enjoyed as a lovely exfoliator by many! The cool water really made the warm day a little bit more tolerable and I spent a long time in the water mucking around with the kids, especially Delton who enjoyed throwing mud at me, pulling me under water and generally just playing around while I had fun putting more mud than necessary in his hair. The lake is really our beach and it was funny to see a lot of people lazing by the side of the water as if we were back at Cottosloe in Perth, or Scarborough. Sure, we lack beaches but our lake is pretty rad! With bush trips always taking it out of everyone, the rest of the afternoon was pretty chilled and we enjoyed a bit of a siesta.

The Lake

Everyone got really mudded up!

Getting Delton back.

Chilling by the wannabee beach! 

I woke up today by my phone ringing. It was Dad saying he was outside and wanted a coffee. I walked out in my dressing gown to discover not just him but my old Religion teacher Mr. Martino! Awkward! I was less than impressed with dear old Dad but with Martino been the type of person I just sarcastically insult for the fun of it (which he loves) my grumpy morning mood was just perfect for the visitor. Still, I could have killed Dad!

Today the students are wasting no time and have already been to the art centre (a few paintings were brought, and I have my eye on an almost finished one that I love already) and have started cleaning the school, despite the heat been a little off putting. I love it when people don’t complain about hard work and I know they all realise how much the school will appreciate everything they have done.

Here are just a few photos that I have managed to score from Dad that relate to the last post. Enjoy :)

This is how you watch the AFL Grand final in Balgo...

 Papa and me at The Lookout

You Lose Two Volunteers; Gain 19!

I had a mini freak-out today when I realised that not only is it October (where did the year go?!) but I’ve been here for SEVEN MONTHS! That’s kind of crazy, especially as it feels like I only landed in Balgo yesterday. While the end of the term brought relief and thanks that it’s finally the holidays, I can’t get over the fact that in two weeks, I’ll be starting my last term at Luurnpa Catholic School. That’s quite sad. But if the last two and a half terms were anything to go by, I’m very excited to see what the last one has in store!

On Thursday we had a skipping showcase. The students have been partaking in the Jump Rope for Heart competition and have skipped every Tuesday and Thursday during sports with Henry. Now many of us don’t have a problem with skipping but for most students, it was a difficult practice to perfect. All that hand/eye/feet coordination proved tricky and a lot of kids were depleted to learn they weren’t the greatest of skippers. However, a term of skipping has seen some epic improvement and it’s great to see everyone giving it their best shot and trying super hard on the skipping field. Some students even learnt to jump backwards and do other kinds of tricks which were very impressive when demonstrated in front of the school. The Jump Rope for Heart organisers gave an abundance of prizes to be handed out to students who weren’t just good at skipping but tried their hardest and didn’t give up. The best prizes were three scooters that I enjoyed riding around on for a good quarter of an hour before the skipping began; the first time I’ve gotten back on a scooter since I broke my arm riding one in 2003! Congratulations goes to Delwyn, Robyn and Frena for winning the scooters, although since then I’ve seen every other kid riding them around the community. They’re quite a novelty!

Noah skipping away.

Fatima showing her skills.

The kids try to beat Brother Rick in a skipping competition.

Later that afternoon I headed over to the shop to buy something you wouldn’t really expect to stash away in your freezer. I brought a kangaroo tail! Still with the fur on, frozen and shoved in a plastic bag ready for cooking I was organising the ingredients for a Kangaroo Stroganoff, something Dad is keen to make while he’s here. I brought a freezer bag hoping to do some shopping as well but forgot the house card, so ended up going to the checkout and paying for the roo tail before heading home and coming back. I got a weird look from the lady at the till and wondered why until she stated the obvious; ‘I thought I’d seen it all, but watching a white girl walking up to the checkout with a Kangaroo tail sticking out of a freezer bag is something I never expected’. Yeah, she’s probably right, it would have been an odd look!

The last day of the term brought more kids to school than we usually get the day before the holidays begin. I spent the morning working with Primary C and completing some artwork they had started during the week, ensuring it was ready for them to take home at the end of the day. The kids finished painting their photo frames, varnished the sandy side and made Farewell cards for Camille, who was leaving Balgo and heading back to Perth. It was a nice easy morning made even better by a sausage sizzle at Mangarri time; a real treat for all the well behaved kids.

After lunch the real work began. I had about five hours to prepare everything before the La Salle crew arrived later that afternoon. They were expected at four, but I was hoping for a later arrival so it gave me a bit more time to prepare. In that time, I vacuumed the massive school hall, cleaned the kitchen and uniform store room, cleaned the bathrooms, changed a light bulb, organised the mattresses, organised tables and chairs, cleaned, vacuumed and mopped the cooking room, arranged for cutlery and crockery, washed the cutlery and crockery, stocked up the room with enough chairs, cleaned the fridge and freezer (later discovered they were both freezers, awkward!), washed the sheets in House 5, cleaned House 5, made the beds, made the beds in House 10 and organised the room for six very crammed girls. I literally was running around like a headless chicken and was so glad that I finished everything by four and was able to have a very long shower and some down time to hide the stress of the day before everyone arrived.

So I waited, and waited, and waited. Dad had texted me when they reached Halls Creek at 2pm, and as I had heard the road was good I was anticipating only three and a half hours on the Tanami. Not to be. They arrived at 6.45pm, with some interesting stories to tell! One of the troupies was towing a trailer and there were a few dicey moments where Tanami unleashed it’s fury on the trailer, causing it to be a rough drive for them all. But they arrived safe and sound and despite a bit of tiredness, everyone was eager to get started.

I was most excited to see my Dad, who had come up on the trip to assess what could be done to ensure a strong link between Balgo and Middle Swan La Salle, especially through the boarding program. However I was more keen on been able to share the awesomeness of this place with other people, who will hopefully be as appreciative of its natural beauty as I am.

After unloading the trailer and troupie and having a quick bite to eat, the students (19 in total) all went over to the basketball courts where the Balgo kids had been waiting ever since their arrival in anticipation. It was great to see how eager the students were to familiarise themselves with the community and the kids. You wouldn’t believe that they’d spent the entire day crammed into a troupie, bouncing along the road, hitting their heads on the roof and crashing into each other along the way. The enthusiasm and determination they demonstrated to get to know as many children as possible was admirable and I’m looking forward to seeing how they do for the rest of the week. If Friday night was anything to go by, they’ll be great!

I quickly discovered that new people are novelties for the kids. I generally look forward to the kids flocking to me wherever I am, but now they’re flocking to everyone else!! I’m looking at it like all the new people are the cool relative that visits for a week, during which you spend every waking moment hanging around with while you sideline your parents. That’s ok; I’ll be their favourite again…hopefully!

I took Dad to the shop yesterday to show him around and meet a few people. He was absolutely stoked when Noah walked in the door. Dad has absolutely adored Noah ever since I rang him up and told him that he climbs the roof, jumps on camels and is essentially the bravest daredevil around. I’ve told Noah almost every day this week that Dad is coming and wants to meet him and he had the biggest smile on his face when hands were shaken. It was so cute!

I also spotted Kingston at the shop wearing socks exactly like those I used to make sock puppets with Primary C. Then I spotted initials on each sock, the things I used to identify the creation with the creator and I realised that Kingston was wearing sock puppets as socks! If he’d taken his shoes off, one would have seen googly eyes, whiskers, noses and ears glued on to the foot part of the sock. I couldn’t believe it! Even though I found it slightly funny, time and energy went into making those works of art!

Kingston and his sock puppet socks.

Been Grand Final day, the football had to be watched. Everyone took time out to cram themselves into the tiny living area of House 10 and watch the miracle of Geelong beating Collingwood unfold on a blurry and small screen. I don’t think anyone in the room was really going for Collingwood and with every mark, tackle and goal that went Geelong’s way, an almighty cheer erupted in the room. I never really got into sitting and watching the football but with an atmosphere like that; it was made not just bearable but very enjoyable.

The La Sallians have began cleaning the school already, starting with a rather awful job; cleaning the student toilets and showers. No-one really ever has the stomach to go in and give it a good scrub but armed with a high pressure hose, tons of disinfective, rubber gloves and shirts over noses to hide the smell the toilets were turned from a potential bio hazard disaster to something that I’d be reasonable happy eating off. That’s how good they were! Not one person complained about the disgusting job; they just went and did it proving to be an absolute credit to themselves and their school. While this was happening, others swept the basketball court, the walkways and did a massive emu stalk clearing up as much rubbish as they possibly could. I can’t wait until the holidays are over and everyone returns to admire their amazing handiwork!

With clouds in the sky last night an epic sunset was on the cards so we all climbed into the troupies and set out to the Lookout. Being the first time they had seen the amazing views, the responses were of absolute awe and admiration for the landscape. Even for me, who has been out there dozens of times, I never get over the view and it will never become mediocre. I always feel somewhat insignificant standing on the edge of the cliff looking out at the world and I guarantee that’s how most of them felt like. The sunset was absolutely stunning, fit with beams of sunshine through the clouds and a perfectly round and pink sun. Of course, this beautiful light eclipsed the surroundings and bathed them in amazing colours. It was a very magical sunset, one of the best ones I’ve seen in a while; a great way to welcome the students to Balgo.

'Sherrif's Troupie

The staff.

After a bit of bead making with the Balgo kids out on the basketball courts, the La Sallian students are out enjoying the Rock Art on the Yagga Yagga road. It’s great for them to intertwine culture, hard work and play all in this one trip and I know they’ll get a lot out of it all.

Henry, Anthony, Rick and Ale have gone to the Bungle Bungles and Kununurra until Thursday and I am enjoying having the house to myself for a little while! It’s kind of weird been the only one here; most of the other teachers have gone and there are only two Brothers left but in the same way relaxing having a bit more time to myself than I usually would, and more time to spent with Dad and the La Salle mop. It’s going to be an awesome week!

Bush Trips, Football, 'Doof Doof' sounds, Air Matresses and La Sallians!

You know how I said I wasn’t feeling like it was the end of the term? Totally feeling it now. This week, despite that the fact that we haven’t had very many kids has actually been rather intense and today was no exception. Another contributing factor to this sudden exhaustion is definitely the heat. We have been averaging 37°C everyday or above and on Monday claimed the title of having the highest temperature in WA (we’re quite proud of that!) Luckily by the time school ends and I feel the need to exercise a cool wind blows in making the dry hear somewhat bearable. We’re lucky it’s not that humid. During the middle of the wet season when we first arrived it felt like 45°C every day, despite the fact that it was fifteen degrees lower. I think the 98% humidity made it feel ten times worse than it was. But at least the rain and terrific thunderstorms made up for the extreme stickiness. 

I think it was the warmer nights that saw the need for another disco/concert on Sunday night that didn’t finish until well after 1.30am. Living just across the road from the basketball courts meant that every doof doof the speakers blared vibrated my windows and went straight through me, so I blame that for getting only four hours sleep that night. I was so tired that the next morning I slept through my alarm (my phone alarm beeps constantly until I turn it off, and was beeping for two hours before I woke up; that’s how tired I was), slept through my Mangarri duty (oops) and raced to school at 8.50am before realizing that collectively, there were only ten students around. Frena, Antonio, Tegan and Cody, despite been rather tired as well were the only students in Primary C and got to do quite a lot of really fun stuff. Camille, Jenny and I did a lot of cool art activities that can really only be done with a few kids at school and everyone had a ball. We began with what can only be described as a ‘scratching’ activity. Some of you may remember doing this the long way in Primary school, when we would colour a page in with rainbow stripes, cover it in black paint and then scratch out shapes revealing funky colours underneath. Jenny actually found these made up sheets where all you had to do was scratch out an image and everyone had a great time creating their own funky picture, all below.

(Sorry for the dodgy shots, I didn't realise there was a massive fingerprint on my lens. Awkward!)

I must say, it was quite a surprise walking into the staff room at Mangarri time on Monday and seeing the fabulous spread laid out for the teachers. Every time we have visitors at school, they generally bring morning tea from Broome or Kununurra, knowing how rarely we get treats and delicious eats for break time. We hit the jackpot as Sister Nola had SIX visitors working with her with Reading Recovery, all flown in from Broome that day and all with something smuggled in their handbags. It may sound weird that I’m going on about food, but when you’ve gone ten weeks without baked goods it’s quite amazing to finally break the drought. I’m learning to appreciate the small things!

Monday afternoon brought more activities for the four students we had. Camille made plaster photo frames with them and although quite a mess, they had a lot of fun doing it. With more kids coming in on Tuesday, we made more and painted them. Camille brought in some paintings she had brought from the Art Centre and the kids studied them, learning the stories and painting their own culture onto their pieces of work. I can tell some of my students are going to be amazing artists in the future, and I’ve made sure they’ve all promised to remember me when they’re rich and famous!

Antonio.

Tegan.

Julian.

Danielle and Rachel.

I’m also super artistic, as you can see. We are still working with the tessellating blocks and usually I give the kids worksheets to use the blocks with but on Tuesday during Numeracy time allowed them to make their own shape, as long as it tessellated. Of course, I had to do demonstrations, for each of the groups. And they had to be extravagant. I honestly am way too amused by those things!

Artwork, plus Danielle.

The Balgo Sports is still continuing. The Eagles (the Balgo team) worked their way into the Grand Final, held this afternoon. Playing a Northern Territory team (bred harder and tougher over the border) the Eagles were down when I went out to check them out. However football here is played until the majority of the crowd is happy with the winner so I’m expecting the game to be played over and over again until Balgo are declared victors. It’s a bit odd the way they play, and how into the game they get but I can’t argue with the Kimberley way. As one man said when Yagga Yagga sports was on as he ran out to join in a massive brawl on the oval, ‘It’s football!’ There’s no way you can dispute that!

Now to the main news of the day; Primary C went on a Bush Trip! Having done numerous Community Walks to learn about the Balgo culture, Jenny wished to end the term with a trip out to the bush to look at an important place and picked Old Balgo due to its cultural significance and the fact that so many kids no people who used to live there. I’ve been numerous times before but honestly saw so much more than I have before just because the kids pointed out things I’ve either walked past or assumed was nothing. We managed seven kids today; Quornetta, Corryanne, Julian, Sharelle, Danielle, Frena and Tegan and after driving around the community chasing up parents to put their mark on unsigned permission slips we were off. We were super lucky that Brother MJ decided to come at the last minute because we couldn’t find our guide! MJ proved to not only be an excellent navigator but knew so much about the place and even recreated a few old photos with student relatives of those in old shots!

The kids were really good at showing us all the ruins and explaining what they used to be. They found a massive well, the oven of the bakery and a generator, all things I’ve missed before (awkward). Considering it was incredibly hot, they did very well and enjoyed the day as much as the teachers did. Each student took a turn taking the group to another site, explaining what it was and showing us all the neat stuff around it. With so many nooks and crannies around we were fearful of snakes and I almost freaked when Julian climbed into the tiny hole that used to be the bakery oven until he came out unscathed and every other kid wanted to try it. I blame Brother MJ for this irrational fear, telling Jenny and I he’d seen two massive King Browns out here the last time he came. Thanks MJ, thanks!

Corryanne, pondering life.

The kids in the old school.

Brother MJ, Tegan, Danielle, Julian, Quornetta, Corryanne and Frena

Julian and Danille on top of the old oven.

The girls show me the old generator.

Primary C, on top of the Church ruins.

Sharelle, recreating an old photo.

Sharelle and Danielle poke their heads out through the windows.

With the heat rather suffocating and our stomachs growling, we headed to the Old Dam for lunch, chasing shade. I felt for Frena who heard the word ‘Dam’ and expected a rather lush swimming hole. Not to be. The dam was completely dry and it broke my heart hearing Frena asking where the water was. But only a few kilometers away from Old Mission, it was a lot cooler in the shade and therefore an adequate spot for a delicious picnic (beetroot, cheese and lettuce sandwiches, oranges and cordial). We enjoyed chilling for a while before heading back to school just before the bell. I was most hurt when I was part of a ‘troupie trade’. I was ‘given’ to the troupie Brother Michael was driving while Tegan was taken to the one Jenny and Jim were in. Obviously; I’m no-where near as cool as Tegan!

Sorry Frena :(

Corryanne, Frena, Julian and Quornetta

Corryanne!

Julian and Danielle, the only students in the back with me started falling asleep as we got off the bumpy track and onto the main but still bumpy road. Even sighting Balgo over the hill wasn’t enough to get them to shake off their tiredness and I was worried I’d have to carry them into school until they piped up when we stopped. I think the movement of the car lulled them into submission!

It was an epic day finished with some staff soccer in the school hall. Luckily with all four air conditioners and fans blasting in the indoor room, it was bearable to run around without overheating too much! My team was the epic losers, but we’ve made note of the others weaknesses and are keen for a rematch. If there’s one thing I didn’t expect at Luurnpa, it’s the epic competitiveness of everyone. But it’s good and makes for friendly banter the next day. Bring on the next contest! Now I’m heading off to bed soon. I have eighteen mattresses to pump up by Friday and have only done seven so far. Hopefully I can get them done during school, but we’ll see. Otherwise it could be a loooong night!

Safe travels to all the La Sallians in Middle Swan trekking it up to Broome tomorrow. Have fun and see you in 48 hours!