Day 18 Bremer Island on our 'taking the scenic route to the beach!'

 This morning Matt and I had a very early and unexpected start to the day, and so bear with me as I recount the tale. Not long after we had turned the lights out last night to go to bed, I had heard some rustling noises of the outer bag of a few small bags of chips for snacks, that were sitting on top of the bar fridge. Matt discounted it, and said it was just the wind blowing the curtains against them. However, I had read on the information sheet about the eco retreat, that it was advised to put  any food in the fridge, as there were occasionally rodents. So, when the scrunching noise came and went a few times, and I expressed my concerns, Matt got up and put the bag on the floor, and away from the curtains that admittedly, had been blowing in the wind against the fridge. We both nodded off to sleep, but I did keep getting woken up hearing the chip packet scrunching noise. go to sleep i said , nothings in here i said.

As the night wore on, my phone started to bleep as it sat on charge near the fridge, and so I got up to put it on silent, and I figured I would turn the torch on and just look for what might be causing the noise. Upon turning the torch on, I noticed that were some wet patches on the floor, where I had placed my backpack that contained my TPN. I realized that my IV tubing was leaking at the filter and surrounding line. My first thought was that the filter was at fault, as I have previously had IV lines with faulty filters. So Matt woke up at that point and helped me clean up the puddles of sticky and smelly fluid beside the bed and in the bathroom and wherever else I had placed the backpack during the night. Fortunately it was not on the bedding. Matt scrubbed the floor, while I cleaned the backpack and myself up and disconnected the line and locked the Hickmans catheter connected to me. When its 3.50am in the morning, this was not fun. We went to bed after putting the chips back up on top of the fridge again, and turned the light out, and as we began to nod off, the scrunching noise started  up again, on and off evey few minutes. But this time there wasn't much breeze. I then went to reach for my phone, which was now beside my bed, and as I glanced over my shoulder, I saw a shadow slip behind the bed, away from my open zip-lock bag of medications.  Now entirely convinced that Matt and I were not alone, I got up and turned the light on and Matt went over to the fridge and there was a big fat Mr Rat, chip in hand!! Of course the cheeky bugger disappeared very quickly after being caught in the act. So then Matt tried to find where he disappeared to, and suspected it was in the motor section at the back of the bar fridge. Eventually he decided it was best to put the fridge outside. it was the easiest way to go back to bed. I also, in the clean up of the TPN fluid, had wondered why a medication wrapping had gotten onto the floor, well now I know. So I then went and looked at the IV line more closely and yes the filter and line had evidence that it had been chewed by our unwelcome visitor and was the cause of the leak.

Eventually we sorted things out and hid the remaining chips and tub of biscuits (with the plastic lid chewed) and my medications in a drawer. Sigh! We then endeavoured to try and get more sleep, before the sun woke us up. Before we knew it, the sun was up and we had to get up and venture up to the resort and have a delicious breakfast, and Matt enjoyed a  well deserved strong coffee. 

We took a stroll along the other end of the beach and rocks for a bit, before we headed into the rather lovely water, not too cold, and really was quite tolerable and almost warm. Brenda and David joined us. We watched a couple of tour boats arrive with some day visitors to the resort and another couple that will stay here overnight. So alas, we won't have the place to our own little group anymore. Eventually I got out and went and read a book for a bit before we opted to connect me up to today's TPN bag early, and will disconnect at bedtime, so there is no risk for any night visitor to repeat what happened overnight. We enjoyed a lovely lunch of a prawn and salad roll, with smashed roast potatoes. I enjoyed some afternoon shut eye, and Matt later joined me. But as I write this little tale, Matt has gone for an afternoon swim with the others, the sun is shining over the clear turquoise waters, and I will finish this blog after dinner!

a bit later... 

We went for an afternoon stroll with Brenda and David, along the East Beach and found a possible site where a turtle laid eggs last night. It was lovely to chill together and chat as we walked along this beautiful beach. We headed back and got ready for dinner, and watching the sunset on the balcony, and others had drinks. We enjoyed another meal, with Matt trying a lobster ravioli and then we had a floating eggwhite on caramel custard for dessert.  To finish our time on the island we had a fire on the beach, before heading to bed, and hoping we have a less disturbed night and get some sleep without any surprise visitors. The moon is full but hiding behind clouds at the moment.

 

Day 17 Nhulunbuy to Bremer Island in our 'Taking the scenic route to the beach!'

 This morning we were up early to pack up the Clippers and our bags to head off shore. We were collected out the front of the lodge and taken to the wharf and taken on a boat for an hour's to Bremer Island, just north of Nhulunbuy. We are staying at the Banu Banu Eco Resort, which has limited and exclusive accommodation on the island. After being welcomed to the island by the hosts, we sat and enjoyed the view from the resort balcony, while we waited for the rooms to be ready. We had a short stroll along the beach below, until we could go to our rooms. The rooms are a canvas like glamping unit, with an ensuite attached. We have a king size bed and views to die for. They are just back from the sand of the beach, and we can lie and listen to the waves, or sit and watch them. Unfortunately, cyclone Narelle did damage the accommodation earlier in the year, and they have had trouble getting the tradies and new equipment across to the island to repair it. So our room has the top over-awning canvas missing. 

I had a nano nap before lunch, and we headed up to the resort for a lunch, and Matt enjoyed a slow cooked roo in red wine and smashed potatoes for lunch. I just sampled the potatoes. Yum! We returned to our rooms for a lie down, until we were taken out in the all-terrain vehicle (ATV)  for a bumpy and speedy tour around the island. Meredith has nicknamed Fulvio the ATV driver / host 'Fangio' as is was not a relaxed tour - one speed, obviously not to get bogged in the sand but it took us by surprise a bit! There is an Indigenous community on the other side, and they own the rest of the island beyond the resort. we were able to spy some Brolgas, who danced for us, which was awesome to watch. 

After we returned, we headed to the beach and went for a paddle on the kayaks. I didn't want to go out too far, but as much as I enjoyed the gentle waves, I did develop motion sickness, and had to return to the beach. Matt had joined me, but then he went and had a try at snorkelling. But there was too much coral and waves, that affected his vision and safety. it went from 2 metres deep to half a metre very quickly and you didnt see the coral until it was right infront of you. so a bit dangerous with the swell being up today and the overcast conditions this arvo. try again tomorrow when the suns out

We had the most awesome sunset from the resort deck, with drinks before we enjoyed a yummy dinner. I had a potato foam  with bacon, while Matt had a roo lasagne, and hazelnut and fresh mint icecreams for dessert.Our hosts Fulvio and Eileen have been fantastic and so accommodating. The 8 of us are the only guests on the island and we feel like we are getting the royal treatment. Looking forward to another day here tomorrow.

Day 16 Nhulunbuy experiences in 'Taking the scenic route to the beach!'

 This morning we were up all bright and in our Sunday best, and headed for Yirrkala and the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander church in 'Bridget', where we had been invited to attend a few days earlier for the ordination of a new minister. We sat around waiting, and were soon informed that time in this area is approximate... so the 9am start we had been told about, really was optimistic! So we sat on the grass and watched the goings on around us, and this random dog that was very friendly, came and sat next to Matt. first thing i knew it had its large head over my shoulder sniffing my face, While we were waiting, an Indigenous fellow carrying a ukulele and guitar walked over and started talking to us. He mentioned something about tuning the guitar, so I nudged Matt to help, which he did, as we started walking to the church with him. Matt then went with this fellow and was roped into playing for the service, and the rest of us chose a pew and sat and waited to see what would happen. The church had been decorated with local flowers and palm fronds, and Christian messages on fabric posters. The sides were all open mesh, to allow for breezes. We watched Matt being taken up the hill to practice and then he seemed to disappear from view, and we joked that they had abducted him. Some time later, we noticed that a group of Indigenous men and women, the kin of the Indigenous woman being ordained at the church service today, had gathered. They had white face point across their foreheads and through the centre of the top of their heads, and amongst the men was Matt, all painted up too!

The group then walked to the church door singing and with clap sticks beating, they then walked up the aisle and surrounded the woman to be ordained, and  then sat down in the church and the service began. Lots of ministers from Darwin and the Moderator for Northern Territory and many women from other areas across the NT participated in the service, with dancing and bible readings and prayers. It was a privilege to attend this service and be witness to this first, as this new Reverend is also an elder of the Yirrkala community. Being able to share in faith with these first peoples, and sharing God's word together was awesome and so encouraging and inspiring to see God work in these peoples lives. The service went on for a couple of hours, and the locals came and went often, so did the local dogs ... but the church was full. At the end, Matt got his chance to play guitar as they sang 'Bind Us together' but sang a very slow version, as they have twice the amount of words to fit in when they sang in language. The celebrations were to continue after the service, but we were tired and keen to head back, and as we left, we met the support worker that Matt and I had met a few days ago, and she was showing her visiting parents 'Bridget'. So we got talking with them, and then were all glad to finally get into 'Bridget' and enjoy a chocolate ice block to refresh us.

a bit of background on the fella that roped me into it, he was an elder in the community, lived there since 1960. he is related to the founder of the band Yothu Yindi who came from this community of Yirrkala. his mother was previously a minister there, and his father Gary Waninya (Wanyubi) Marika is a highly respected Yolngu elder from the Rirratjiŋu clan in East Arnhem Land, recognized for his services to Indigenous health and cultural preservation. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his long-standing work as a cultural liaison, interpreter, and educator at the Yirrkala Health Centre. 

so it was a bit of an honor i felt to be taken away up to the house on the hill the practice the slowest version of bind us together that i have ever played whilst strumming fast.... more and more family turned up under the house we were practising under, adding to the singers, and making me feel whiter by the minute, yet no one questioned who's the white fella playing with Waninya and his sister inlaw that i later found out was the Lady being ordained , they just painted me up, put me in the precession, and marched on into the church. that entire sequence took an hour and a half i think . was a privilege to be there, and it seems i have to play in church wherever i go to church.

We had a planning afternoon to work out the best way home, as we knew there had been some rain and road closures in Queensland, and the roads are better in NT and SA. Matt's new mates the Cockatoos, came and visited again and were wanting more nuts to eat, so Matt obliged. We had an early dinner, then headed out again, but this time Simon and Elise joined us in 'Bridget' and we went to the 'Hogs Shed', a blues music society music venue in the industrial area. Here locals can jam and perform and they have a BYO alcohol if you have a permit. They also had instruments for people to use to play and a good PA. It wasn't long perform Matt was back up on stage and performing with a drummer and singer/guitarist, and neither had played with each other before, and they pulled off some great music and Matt was in his element. He was given a free shirt, sticker and drink cooler for his efforts. There was about 70 people sitting around listening and chatting and having a nice evening. We got requests for daytime photos to be taken before we leave of the Clippers for the guy running the show. It was another great experience and topped off another wonderful day.

yes i was in my element. the drummer invited me up with him and a guitarist and said we'll just get up and see what happens... he told me later that he knew i'd be fine as soon as he spoke to me and anyone who drives that bus must be able to play bass . as a band our first public rehearsal was pretty good i reckon, the other guys were wrapped with how we played together, and got me up another time to play come together by the beatles, but in a different key. i didnt know it in any particular key anyway, so it was fine! had a blast.  would do it again next week if i was here. 

David sent a video of me playing to my boss saying id been integrated into nhulunbuy society and i wasnt coming back and he had lost me. to which he replied that i would be back for my fretless bass, which is why he didnt let me take it with me... nice to be wanted 

We headed back to the lodge, and we have another early start, as tomorrow we head to Bremer Island. 

heres a mix of todays varying music... 

 

Day 15 More Nhulunubuy exploring in 'Taking the scenic route to the beach!'

We are starting to get used to these lazy morning starts, but after the nearby tavern, had boring doof, doof music going until the early hours of the morning, we deserved it.  5 of us headed out to find Crocodile Creek, and after a few missed turns, as google maps was wrong, we found the beach and creek, and spent time exploring it. David went off to find good fishing spots, while the rest of us strolled beside the creek and found the wildlife. At one spot, the plethora of little crab footprints left on the sand, looked awesome, and very much like an Indigenous artwork. 

mud crab got away from me

The next stop was the public wharf, where we watched a couple of barges unloading, munching on morning tea. One of the barges had the Woolworths food delivery on it, with the much needed milk on board, as the supermarket had run out and Brenda and David had run out too! It takes 3-4 days for these barges to travel to and from Darwin with the fresh food. But this supermarket is sadly being withdrawn next year, so not sure where that leaves the community of a couple of thousand people for fresh food, when Katherine is 675km of dirt road away.

We returned back to the Clippers for lunch and a quiet afternoon, and Matt had that cheeky cockatoo return for more nuts, (ive turned into this cocky's personal take away. and it prefers peanuts to almonds.)before we headed out to Woody beach for fishing, afternoon strolls and explorations. I found a washed up but still alive sea anemone, and Matt threw it back in the water, and it disappeared, so presumed resuscitated. Matt went off to try and get more crab photos, but found some pretty lace like coral to photograph instead, as the crabs were too elusive. Simon and Brenda had started a fire to get some coals ready to be able to cook Brenda's beer and bacon damper in the iron camp oven,(yum)  and she also cooked up sausages in another camp oven.(yum) Both were a great success, and my coleslaw paired nicely.(yum)  Just as dinner was cooked, the sunset was on centre stage, and we sat munching dinner, while the sun's last rays for the day lit up the clouds, before slipping away at the horizon. It doesn't get much better than that folks! We packed up as the last of the light disappeared, and the mozzies came out to play. After we returned to the Clippers, and unpacked the ute, most of the others headed back out to the local speedway to watch some racing, while I did chores and wrote this up for the day. I can faintly hear the racing cars in the distance. the speedway was packed but definitely a white fella sport, hundreds of kids as well. one of them being a driver . i'm pretty sure he was in a high chair in his race car and looked about 8 years old! Another great day.

 

Day 14 Nhulunbuy sights in 'Taking the scenic route to the beach!'

 As I write today's events, a Nightjar is tweeting in the evening sky, the 3/4 moon lighting up the sky, so the stars are more dim. The waves are crashing in the distance and the evening is pleasant apart from mozzies, midges and the odd cane toad hopping on the grass.

We went out in the hired Hilux, with Simon and Elise and headed to the Gove Yacht Club, to sample their coffee. this was 12 km in the wrong direction mind you, to get a coffee. When we arrived, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that the local Police were offering to shout coffees to the patrons, ("Coffee with the Cops") and so we got free coffee, (chai for me), which wasn't too bad, especially being free. We had a chat with the Police officer, who had originally worked in the Police force in Tassie for many years. He was telling us how hard it is to transfer between states and work within the Police force, and that you pretty much start again with your training. He also told us how great the community is here in Nhulunbuy and this is something we have observed.  every person we have spoken to that lives here says they came for 3 months and are still here 5-10 years later. everyone loves the place... The town is looked after and there are lots of facilities and the spirit is friendly and welcoming. There are lots of Indigenous owned and run business and initiatives too. Having said that, the Police officer said that this is partly due to the alcohol restrictions and when the alcohol isn't restricted it can be very different.

 

From there we headed down a dirt road to the Rainbow Cliffs, which were red, yellow and white coloured cliffs, but due to respect to the First Peoples, as this area is sacred, we are unable to share photos of them. But we enjoyed the rockpools that were again filled with life if you looked long enough. All the shells were alive, and the little mudskippers were darting about. Matt found a couple of hermit crabs chasing each other along the sand as well. There were beautiful beaches stretching along this coastline.

                                    these two had a bit of a punch-up then went their seperate ways

                                                                                  hi i'm hermy

 

From there we drove to Goanna Lagoon, down another dirt road, (there are lots of dirt roads that just head randomly off into the bush) and found this beautiful freshwater lagoon, with crystal clear waters. Between the pools of water, a passageway of rocks had formed and the gentle flow of water down some of these rocks like a little waterfall,  and into this passage, took you with the flow to the next pool. It wasn't a warm enough day for me to want to get in the water, but I watched the others enjoy the not too cold waters.

We headed back to the Clippers for lunch and a restful afternoon and evening together planning tomorrow's sightseeing. Apart from one of my TPN bags exploding everywhere, and making a sticky and smelly mess in 'Bridget', it was another enjoyable day. I also had a very large Cockatoo come and visit me cause i was eating some nuts, (unsalted) and he muscled in on them so i didnt argue cause he bites harder than i do, 

 

Day 13 Nhulunbuy rest day in 'Takingthe scenic route to the beach!'

 Today we opted to catch up on chores like washing, and Matt tried his hardest to troubleshoot and fix the failing hot water system, sadly to no avail. There is no parts readily available, yet alone nearby, (nearest parts are in melbourne )so we will have to just use kettle boiled water for washing up and the camp ground showers until we get home. We checked out the local Woolies and got some groceries. Wow exciting day for blogging, readers are overwhelmed, actually no, just whelmed. not quite underwhelmed. heres a picture of a cane toad.

heres a picture of something prettier

lots of coral washed up on the beach. 

 

i spent 4 hours today between internet searches, troubleshooting and general hatred toward an electrical device today. not to mention the two hours i spent on it last night. manufacturers have put so many processes and safety lockouts in place in gas water heater appliances, so that idiots dont get blown up, and then put a computer in charge of how it works. a box full of water, heat and electrics. what could possibly go wrong. i wish i had the old mechanical gas heater with the pilot light back. at least that worked even when the humidity was a bit high.and if you were stupid with it, you blew up and natural selection took its course.  our current unit has a fault code for every day of the week and ive seen all of them this trip. i think its going in the bin at 2 years old. dont buy camec. and their customer support has 0% technical knowledge. rant over.

us in our hire limousine about to discover where all the broken cars end up. 

We went for a short drive with Ian to check out the industrial area and local neighbourhood. (preferable to working on the water heater ) we went to look at the lookout at the highest point in town, only to find that the trees are higher, so they built a three story tower so you could get above the trees and actually see the view, except that they seem to have deemed it too risky to climb, so the put a fence around it to stop you going up. so we turned around and went elsewhere. should've gone to the bakery. 

  Tonight we went and watched Brenda, David, Elise and Simon play Pickleball at the local tennis courts. Kind of looks like giant ping pong! Another perfect weather day, and despite the disappointment of the hot water system failure, it was a relaxing day. however the balls did not resemble pickles at all. confusing sport. did you know that you can play 4 times as many games of pickleball than tennis in the same space? makes singles tennis look like an extravagant use of real estate. 

night view of the town centre - pool and tennis courts 
 

 

Day 12 Nhulunbuy area in our 'Taking the scenic route to the beach!'

 Another cruisy start to the day, as we waited for the drop off, of the hire 4WD we were using for the next couple of days, to enable us to sightsee the harder to reach beaches. The Azure kookaburra, which sounds quite different to the normal Kookaburra calls, were out singing this morning. The night before, it was a Nightjar that was calling. I have been loving hearing these bird calls, that are so different to what we hear at home. Anyway, 5 out of the 6 of us climbed into the ex mining spec dualcab Hilux ute, that due to the blistered window tint needed the windows wound down so you could see out, but then the air con didn't work, so you needed the windows down anyway! It was in our price range to hire, so we were happy to just be not using the Clippers, as there was no way they would have got down the roads we went on today.  Its only got 200000km on it but it looks like it's driven to hell & back. on red dirt the whole way. basically a registered farm ute. actually i need to check the rego... We headed out of town and down the dirt road turnoff, and this dirt road started out wide and well maintained as we drove past the mines, and eventually became a narrow and washed out bumpy road, with blind corners and sections of sand. But it's all part of the adventure as David likes to keep reminding us!! Our first stop was at Macassan Bay, as Elise and Simon had been camping here the night before. It is a beach and area where historically, the Macassan people would trade with the Indigenous locals, for hundreds of years when they would come to fish for sea cucumber. It was a peaceful relationship that benefitted both peoples, but once eventually stopped by red tape from the South Australian government in the early 1900's. We explored the rocks and area, and had morning tea, before we jumped back into the ute and headed for Turtle Bay, another pristine beach with fine white sand and amazing rock pools. If you sit and look long enough into the rock pools, it is amazing what you discover. I spotted what initially I had though were little fish, but i looked hard and noticed that they used side fins a bit like feet,and kind of looked like a gecko in their face and it was decided that they were tiny mudskippers. I had never seen them before. Meanwhile, Matt was spying crabs and taking photos of them. We have loved seeing all these new wildlife local to our diverse nation.

From Turtle Bay, we next stopped at Little Bondi Beach, and enjoyed our lunch under the she-oaks there. It had been a sandy and steep road to get there, and definitely not a road for the Clippers. (Well not a return trip anyway) We took a stroll after lunch and dared to dip our feet in the warm shallow waters, despite being croc territory. We didn't spot any. nothing but my little crabby critters.  After our stroll, we headed back down the sand and dirt road, and back onto the main road. We opted to check out the Mulka/ Yirrkala art and cultural centre in the local Indigenous Yirrkala community. The building was very unassuming on the outside, (this means it looked derelict and closed ) but inside was filled with the most amazing Indigenous art work, historical art and stories inside.(it was much better inside) It was fascinating to read the stories and history and see some artists at work. lots of great indigenous art but really really expensive. 4-5 figures before the decimal point expensive. and some of it was engraved on council road signs that im pretty sure no one paid for, as a base to create art from. heaps of the local trees are ring barked and dead as they have cut slabs of bark off them for the painting bases.i couldnt take any photos in there as there was a ban on photography so youll have to go there yourself. i didnt take any photos of the building cause it was uninspiring. the crabs were better . 

 As we left the building, I noticed a man wearing a Uniting church t-shirt and called out to him and asked if he was the minister of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander church across the road from the art centre. Although he wasn't the local minister, he worked for the Uniting Church in Darwin, as a support worker for the Northern Regional Council of Congress he told us that there would be an ordination this coming Sunday and it will be an awesome experience to hear the service both in language and English, and to be part of it. So we are aiming to attend. 

We headed back to the Clippers, and enjoyed a read and snack before dinner. There has been one bird call that I heard last year and again this year, and the bird has been elusive to both sight and name. But as I got my medical care ready for tonight, I heard it really close to 'Bridget' and looked out the window, and lo and behold, this tiny grey dove was on the ground. Thanks to google, I was then able to work out it was the 'Peaceful Dove!' so now I can stop wondering. Another happy day and amazing beauty around us, feeling blessed.

the video show maccasins  beach (the rocky bits), little bondi beach and coming back into the township of Nhulunbuy where we are staying.