An early day, we got to watch the sunrise as we headed down the last stretch of the Stuart Highway (Bridget has now been driven down the full length) and into the Darwin CBD and to the Cullen Bay Marina. We caught the Sealink ferry to the Tiwi Islands, which is a 2 1/2 hour journey. The engines were loud, and Matt being bored used his noise level testing app to see how loud the drone of the motors were, and it turns out it’s 83dB! At one point as we neared the islands, we assumed they were trying to wake up the passengers as the boat was gently veering from left to right repeatedly. But when we commented to the boat crew that afternoon, we found out that the auto pilot was playing up, but the guy was amused that we had picked up on it, as they had commented that the passengers would get woken up, when it had occurred.
We were welcomed at the wharf by a friendly Tiwi guy named Phelan, who was our guide for the day. We were taken to an area for a welcoming smoking ceremony with a few older Tiwi ladies and men hosting it. They also showed us some dance moves that represent various animals. We both observed and felt like this was something they had probably done too many times, as their enthusiasm and effort was pretty poor (but who can blame them with all the tourists like us coming over so often). From there we had tea and damper. We split up into 2 groups and our group had a workshop in screenprinting. Tiwi arts is a big thing over there, and had been set up with assistance from the Catholic mission over 60 years ago. We got to choose either a tea towel or t-shirt to print on, then chose a screen print design, and were assisted with the paint and doing the print itself. We both chose the t-shirt option, and mine is of a turtle with rainbow colours, and Matt’s one is a pattern with various shades of green. Lunch was packs of sandwiches and fruit that were provided for the group. Our group then headed out to see the museum. The museum was full of information and history and had a pretty fancy AV presentation complete with a working smoke machine. Phelan was very passionate about telling us about the Dreamtime story and about the clans and the story about the Catholic mission there and how they have integrated faith and Tiwi culture well. The Tiwi islands were only really affected by white man since 1911, but the decline in their health and well being was quite swift, compared to the longer time frame it took for mainland Indigenous peoples. Phelan took us to the historic Catholic Church, made famous in the movie ‘Top End Wedding’ written by and starring Miranda Tapsell. She also happens to be Phelan’s niece. Sadly the church needs a lot of work, and is waiting to be heritage listed before it can be restored. So we were unable to go inside and see the amazing artwork painted in it. He told us a few stories of how the first Catholic priest on the mission connected with and helped the community, especially saving underaged brides from being forced to marry older men. They seem to love and appreciate what the mission did, and although it’s been closed for a long time, it has many current services and support available for the islanders run by the Catholics. This includes the school of 200 or so kids from years K-13. The island is also a no alcohol zone.
AFL is also very big on the island and a few stars have emerged from the community. We were also shown the coastline and how beautiful and inviting the water is, but swimmers beware in the Top End, including on Tiwi, crocs, stingers and jellyfish are in the water. We didn’t get to see much of the island, but I did get to talk to one of the non Indigenous residents, and she said that unfortunately technology is one of the big problems for the kids, and the loss of language as they prefer not to speak the full Tiwi languages but rather a mixture of the Tiwi language with English. This is something the older folk are saddened by. Although the healthcare is available or they have visiting specialists, in an emergency, it’s a matter of if Careflight or RFDS are available and can make it over in time, and people have died as a result of waiting too long for emergency care.
Soon it was time to leave, and we had to board the very full ferry, as many islanders were heading to Darwin for the funeral of Phelan’s brother. We shared a seat with an NDIS worker, who had spent the day with a client on the island. Matt had to sit under the air conditioning unit which was dripping condensation, especially every time the boat lilted, and poor Matt got dripped on. Im pretty sure it was wetter on my part of the boat than under it, we've sat under waterfalls with less water coming out of them. It was a bit of a rough ride home, and there must have been a fault in the boat, as we happened to be sitting right in front of the floor access to the hull, and the boat engineer made a few trips down into the hull and we could see the fuel tanks and pipework right below us as our feet dangled, while the access panel was off. Well it made the trip home more interesting.
We returned back to Darwin in time for Matt to do my IV care, and eat dinner and then we headed out to enjoy the sunset out to sea. We also found an open ice cream shop and enjoyed some; a perfect evening to enjoy it. i learnt that you cant get ice cream in a waffle cone in Darwin, as the cones suffer too much from the humidity, and go floppy. Weary from the day, we headed back to our caravan park.
