18th June - Yirrkala - Nhulunbuy

Tuesday 18^th June

This is probably our last Nhulunbuy day…and maybe our last time in internet connection for a while – Katy, back to you on standby to be BlogMistress??  Our next stop will be Elizabeth Bay, along the way, maybe 45 nautical miles away.  We need to be there on Thursday night – a curry night on Settlement, to celebrate Andrew Holt’s birthday – yes, it’s ALL GOOD!!!  (I do so love being on holiday…so many people, places, such fun!)

We got up early and filled our visitorboys with scrambled eggs, willy nilly.  They bustled off importantly in the dinghy to check the crabpot… Pete said, To the victor the spoils!  He insisted they take their crab home…

But of course we released this little darling into the Arafura Sea.

Off they went, Andrew and Max, in the beautiful little silver and blue Cirrus Turbo plane.  And off we went, having vey much enjoyed their company, but ready for the next adventure.

We stopped along the road from the airport to take a photo of the conveyor belt which, for some reason, is enormously fascinating to both Pete and me.  WOW!!  Bauxite, going for about 15 ks, so efficient!

And I couldn’t resist yet anther power pole.  A pink one!!  I didn’t fall over at the sight of this one.  Fortunately!

On our way back to the car we stopped because Pete had seen activity in an ants’ nest, right on the side of the road.  The ants got very frantic when they sensed our presence and they rushed about madly, in and out of holes and tunnels.  We could have stayed to watch this for many hours…but no! 

Time for cake and coffee at our nice little bakery, and then time to pick up Hannah for a Yirrkala Jaunt. 

We were mightily impressed with the cultural centre/gallery. It is, apparently, the biggest gallery of Aboriginal art in the … well in the NT??  The world? Australia?  It is big anyway.  And SO beautiful!

Nothing but earthy tones, very mellow, very soothing.

(I did ask if I could take photos and the gallery manager said yes/no.  I was allowed to take photos which showed that I had “been there,” but not of specific works of art.  Fair enough.)

Pete bought, after much deliberation, a beautiful painting of…crocodiles!!  (I will take a photo of it when it is unveiled from its many layers of wrapping.)

On our way back from this little seaside settlement Hannah wanted to find the banana farm.  We asked an Aboriginal woman, who was sitting on the branch of a tree by the roadside.  She climbed into the car and said, This way.  So off we went.

And yes we did buy some bananas; how could we resist?

I did resist, so unkind I am, buying a bead necklace from Fiona, who declared a sudden need to go to Nhulunbuy.  “Please buy these necklaces. Only $50 for two,” she said, waving some strings of very tatty plastic beads towards the front seats.  I said no, thank you, that I had another supply of bead necklaces…didn’t mention that they were my five year old granddaughters, Eva and Jemima… We dropped her off at the health centre and then made our way back to Hannah and Gaz’s lovely little accommodation next to the hospital for a very welcome cup of coffee and chat.  We were very sad to say goodbye to Hannah and Gaz…but we will meet again!!

Next stop – supermarket and bottle shop!  Buying alcohol is slightly fraught, up here, in Arnhem Land.  There are THREE bottle shops, but you have to have a permit to buy alcohol.  Pete had to go to an office and fill in many forms and then we weren’t allowed to buy anything until 2pm.  Very arbitrary.  We had fortuitously met up with Andrew and Sue (Settlement) by then so we had nice company to while away the time until Pete could rush off to fill our trolley with XXXX Gold, to pile on top of our 3-weeks worth of groceries…

Back to the Yacht Club to unload our shopping bags; out to 2XS to unpack; back to Kansas Car Hire to return our very useful Toyota Camry.

We still had our bikes in the boot…only about 10ks back to the Yacht Club…and how slow was I?? I had totally lost my mojo.  Usually I am a very annoying bike riding companion for Pete.  I whisk by, uphill or down, leaving him with dust in his face.  This time I d-r-a-g-g-e-d along behind him, SO s…l…o…w…But I didn’t fall over and all was well once we go back on board and had a drink or two and a chicken curry.  (I am a very swift and speedy cook, when needs must…)

How are my bruises??  Well here is my horrid knee…

And my horrid arm is even more yucky.  But my wounds really aren’t too painful; I am VERY lucky!!

I think we are leaving early in the morning…so maybe I wont; get another chance to say…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARLING KATY!!!

Born right on time, 19/6/77

I am so very proud of my four offspring. 

And Katy is…well she is very special, to all of us.  She is: kind, funny, clever, full of love, competent, punctual, reliable, and…a shining light in the universe.  She is very much loved by her four children, her husband, her siblings, parents, grandparents; friends, everyone who has the privilege of knowing her!!!