How I came to be in Kintore (Part1)

 

When I met my wife, in 2009, we had many things in common but the main thing was our love of camping and being in nature, country, outback, bush, beach – not the city life. We were both originally country girls after all.

We soon set a 5 year plan that would be a stepping stone to our ultimate goal which is to work and travel / camp our way around our beautiful country, Australia.

We camped as much as possible and built up our gear so that our 4WD (Lizzie) and camper trailer (Crusher) were set up the way we need and want for basic comfort, practicality and for off road, free camping wherever we could. We would be completely self-sufficient and would only need enough money for food, fuel and the occasional camping fees.

 

Our first trip together was to outback NSW, Broken Hill Via Mildura and Lake Mungo

 

 

Then it was to the Victorian High Country - Corryong and Omeo

 

 

Then we upgraded to Lizzie and Crusher and explored Murrindindi and Sheepyard Flat in Victoria's NE.

 

 

 

 

 

Touring around Alice Springs, NT for two weeks with the "My Swag" group in July 2014

 Last year (2015) a tragedy in our family and some professional issues for me made us re assess our 5 year plan. We had already reached 5 years and our projections were tracking steadily so it was now time to take another leap towards our goal.

The universe always tells us things…….what to do and when to do it.

By June 2015, I had had enough of my workplace so I began putting feelers out to other jobs, including Governess Australia (an employment website for people to work with children in remote locations).

We had dreams of me being a Governess on a remote cattle station and Linda being a general handyman; maybe creating and maintaining an amazing vege garden, orchard and flower garden as is one of her many expertise. In our spare time, we would take Lizzie and Crusher camping and explore the region that we were living in. Linda would take photos of the region and sell them to tourist, cattle station, camping, websites and magazines.

Anyway, the stars were not perfectly aligned yet……..

BUT one Friday night, I saw a job advertised in a Facebook Group I was in and it ticked all the boxes. It was a job working for the MacDonnell Regional Council, based in Alice Springs, Northern Territory and my actual job would be as a children’s services team leader in a remote Aboriginal community. Everything about it would be new to me – the job, the location and the state.

I showed Linda, saying “what do you reckon?”; never once believing that I would even get an interview. Linda fully supported me applying for the job so I went ahead. However I didn’t push the “submit” button until the Sunday night. We talked about it all weekend, the “what ifs”, “pros and cons’ and the logistics. The biggest issue would be that Linda couldn’t join me because her daughters needed to finish their schooling and be settled in employment, accommodation and life.

Issues at work and life itself made me forget about the application until I received a phone call inviting me for an interview – I was excited but still not there yet. A week later, I had a phone interview and continued to wait. Work, life, work, life, work, life continued…….still no word.

One day while still at work, I took a phone call from the MacDonnell Regional Council offering me a job – in Kintore. I accepted the position and then texted Linda at work the word “KINTORE”.

Long story short and in my next blog entry my life turned upside down but in all the good ways we wanted.

 

 

Some observations about living in Kintore

November 3, 2015 ·

Weather: In Kintore it is either hot or bloody hot! Yesterday it was 45C, the only respite from the heat comes from air conditioning and when the sun goes down....but even then its only a few degrees cooler.. most nights it gets down to a balmy 30C! The locals say that it only rains at Christmas time.

Last night I noticed flashing lights out from the window, so I went to investigate and realized that in the distance was a magnificent light show of lightning (no thunder to be heard), soon after I heard a few drops on the tin roof! But it's so hot that the small amount of moisture does nothing. The endless heat is very draining and everyone does their tasks at the beginning or end of each day. The locals sit outside in the heat of the day, under a tree, or bring the kids to child care where it is air conditioned. The locals bring their beds outside to sleep under the stars. There are no mozzies or flies at night, I understand why people in the outback like to sleep under the stars.

 Some of the older members of the community now know me and call out to greet me when I walk to work, often asking "is there child care today?" Soon after their younger family members arrive with the kids... (who needs a mobile phone!)

 When I first arrived at Kintore, I found it quite bizarre to hear the yelling that would go on, however I soon noticed that the yelling was occurring between small groups of people located in the shade in different areas, it seems that they avoid walking around in the heat of the sun and so yell to communicate instead.

After all it is stupidly hot!

I offered to dog sit my neighbours 2yld kelpie dingo cross, this week while they are away, however she dug out under my fence and took off to visit all the other dogs of the community. So then my other neighbour, who also has a bitsa puppy, is now dog sitting, as his fence is secure. Sandy and Kinda, the dogs, come to visit aunty Kristin. I think Sandy may have taught Kinda how to dig under the fence....

Sandy

 My neighbour is the new pool guy, possibly the most popular man in town! The pool had been closed for 5 months up until now! He opens the pool for adults only for lap training, and also after school each week day for the kids, and again for female indigenous women, and again for the males. The pool is open to general public on the weekends. I might start some lap training on the weekends soon in the early morning.

Thunderstorm brewing

November 8, 2015 ·

Yesterday was bloody hot, nothing new, suddenly today I noticed it had gotten darker, so I went outside to find myself surrounded by thunderous clouds!
I could hear rumbling thunder in the distance coming from the west.
Nothing much happened for awhile but later when it got dark, I sat out on my verandah and watched the most spectacular light show I have ever seen!
All varieties of lightning from sheet lightning that lit up the clouds in a rainbow of colours, to ground strikes, and sometimes the lightning seemed to loop from cloud to cloud as though the gods were sewing the clouds together. The lightning seemed to travel across country from west to south east, over the mens mountain and then the rumbling thunder would follow, but it would echo on and it never seemed to stop.
Then I smelt a strange smell, almost immediately I heard a gentle roaring sound that quickly became rain on my tin roof! The gentle roaring sound and the smell was that of the rain approaching. The rain was not heavy but just enough to be heard through out the night and to settle the dust. Today has been quite humid and about 34C with a slight breeze coming from the south east. So I am finally able to open up my house for the day to let the cooler breeze in, a refreshing change. I look forward to sleeping under a sheet tonight!

 

Happy New Year in Kintore

January 11 2016

Yes I’m back. I said goodbye to Linda and Mum at Tullamarine airport on Friday. Flying into Alice Springs, I was blown away by how green it was from the air and on the ground - it was greener than Victoria!

                       

 

I was also blown away by the heat. How quickly had I forgotten how to drink heaps of water - not just 2 litres per day. Two nights at the Chifley resort in Alice Springs was lovely. I will certainly stay there again.

 

Yesterday morning I got up very early to hit the shops to stock up on food. I started shopping at 7 AM. I filled my eskie with fruit ($150) worth for the vacation care program. The supply truck didn't get through last trip due to the rain closing the road and they had run out of fresh fruit. I also stocked up for me on non-perishable goods like pasta, rice, coffee, sugar, bread mix - the essentials including square crumpets. I will wait for the next truck run for fresh veges and I still have plenty of frozen meat. My colleague Kate drove us to Mt Liebigg and I debated whether to continue on as we didn't get away from Alice Springs till nearly 10 AM by the time we finished shopping - it takes a lot of thought to shop for possibly 3 months’ supply, then pack it safely onto the back of the ute. Then we had to collect the Sat phone and personal tracker from the office, fuel up and air down before hitting the road. Anyway when I got to Mt Liebigg I decided to continue on to Kintore. I’m so glad I did because got to sleep in my own bed and also it rained all night last night and I’m pretty sure the road will now be closed again today or at least be quite treacherous.

 As I got closer to Kintore the clouds got darker and more ominous with lots of lightning strikes. Not one speck of rain though. I finally reached a rise (sand dune) and got my first glimpse of the Kintore Mountain Range. Another hours drive before I reached the turnoff into Kintore and then finally home. As I was unloading my car there were loud rumblings of thunder coming from "women's mountain". I’m pretty sure they were saying welcome home to Kintore. I really enjoyed my holiday in Victoria and miss my family and friends very much. (Throat lump forming right now) But as I fell asleep listening to rain on my tin roof and rumbling thunder in the distance, smelling the desert rain smell and watching the distant light show that doesn't cost millions of tax payers dollars, I am glad to be back in Kintore. Now to tackle all that red dust that has gathered over the past 3 weeks.............

Christmas in Kintore

December 15, 2015

Today is the MacDonnell Regional Council Staff Xmas party.

We are allocated $20 per head and the wife of the community manager shops and organises a menu. We all knock off work today at 12 noon and have lunch together in the main office. There will be roast lamb chicken and pork, roast veges with all the trimmings, trifle, pudding, ice-cream, bon bons etc, lollies and cordial......(this community is alcohol free).

My contribution was to make jelly....I haven't made jelly for years so that was interesting yesterday.

So at 12 noon today I will be xmas lunching with all my MRC co-workers - from Jess and Ritchie the youth team, to Brownie and Johnno the depot managers to the garbos, the gardeners, the maintenances crews and early learning staff (my team and I). I am soooo looking forward to a bowl of ice-cream

 

 

December 17, 2015

Had a lovely Xmas party with the children and parents / sisters / aunties / grandmothers today. We had a feast of strawberries, cherries, kiwi fruit, red & green grapes, rock melon, honey dew melon, watermelon and for savoury some cabana cheese and crackers. This menu was designed by my team. The children were soooooo happy to receive a gift, the mums were happy to receive a yearbook, showcasing the children's learning from Oct - Dec 2015 and my team happy to receive a small gift.

I've had such a busy week so now I am relaxing, the car is packed and Im going to have an early night to prepare for a long drive tomorrow. Purply orange sunset to the west and black thundery clouds to the east. Perfect last night in Kintore before my holidays

 

 

   

 

People of Kintore

December 13, 2015

People of Kintore - Inkajilly and Mayana......best friends aged 9 or 10, it changes every time I ask them to remind me - sometimes they are even 14! They often check in with me at childcare and are always at the pool. Inkajilly is cheeky, with a wild mop of short curly hair. Mayana is shy with short straight hair that is nearly to her shoulders. Inkajilly is fascinated with the crystal bracelet I wear that has amethyst, rose quartz, citrine and a green stone (I'm not sure what it is). She also loves to chat about nothing in particular while she is hanging with me at the pool. Mayana is a good swimmer - maybe a future Olympic champion? Mayana often swims up to me under water and grabs my leg thinking that it is hilarious to scare me. Then she hangs off my shoulders until i throw her into the air to make a big splash. When the girls check in with me at childcare, they usually ask me for a piece of fruit so they always do a job for me (hanging towels out to dry, wiping table for breakfast, taking the bikes outside or putting the books and puzzles out) then they choose a piece of fruit and go off for the day until I see them again at the pool. These strong girls show huge potential as future Elders of the Kintore community but ultimately it is the job of current Elders to choose future Elders, not mine. Look out for the names Inkajilly and Mayana as successful Indigenous Women.

More weather

 

Dec 4th and 5th , 2015

I have just been informed that due to severe weather in the area where the satellite thingy is, in far north Western Australia AND SE Asia, my internet might go down for up to a week.
It is also going to be very wet Sun, Mon and Tues therefore we might be isolated by road for a while.
I am stocked up, the childcare centre is stocked up and the store has a 6 week supply.
Interesting days......It is good practice for a zombie apocalypse

Dec 05, 2015

Massive dust storm from the North West, now a thunderstorm and it’s raining, smells so good, a different rain smell to the city……… "Out on the patio" – GangaJang