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

 

Dogs

Dec 03, 2015

Not such a good day in Kintore today.

A dog - one of many in the community came into the childcare yard looking for food. It was so malnourished that it squeezed through the "dog proof fence".

I asked the owner to send the dog home saying that it’s not safe for dogs to be in the childcare centre ( I witnessed 7 dogs attacking one dog in the entrance way last week).

The owner of the dog threw rocks at it to get it to go home. This is a standard practice here.

The frightened dog tried to squeeze through the dog proof fence while having rocks thrown at it. It was screaming in fear and pain.

I was reduced to tears while walking across to the store to post up some notices and I thought of how my dog Dexter would not survive a day here.

The camp dogs - mostly dingo crosses would have him for breakfast.

To all my dog lover friends, please send cyber love to the dogs out here. They are treasured family pets, treated really badly but are loyal to a fault.

I really miss my Dexter boy

 

       

 

 

 

  

 

Shopping two ways

November 30 2015

SHOPPING........the usual process for a bulk shop is to order from a wholesaler who puts your order on a pallet on a refrigerated road train. The road train comes every Wednesday fortnight via various communities on the way so leaves Alice Springs early Monday morning.

That means that my order has to be placed by the Wednesday before, to allow for sourcing, packaging and delivery to the transport company.

I have recently ordered fresh pre packed salads, avocado, asparagus, brocolini, cherry tomatoes, apples, oranges, pears and mangos - all sourced from either Perth, Adelaide or Alice.

Ordering for one and keeping it fresh is tricky so lots of thought involved.

I have also ordered some meat that is individually portioned and vac sealed frozen for freshness.

Sooooooo looking forward to a meal of tandoori lamb cutlets and green salad which those who know me well know that to be my all-time favourite meal - after Linda Mcdonald s gnocchi and cheese scones.

 

The truck takes several hours to unload and on that day I will drive to work so that I can drive my pallet home and get it into the fridge ASAP.

 SHOPPING in the local store is a whole other matter.

Timing is crucial. I usually only shop there once a week on a Friday.

I get a weekly treat of a cookies and cream magnum ice-cream to eat on my way home.

BUT even in the air-conditioned shop the magnum starts to melt very quickly.

Normally I would start to eat it while waiting in the checkout, then present the wrapper to pay for it but the shop managers prefer you don't do that because then the kids copy which creates an issue of stealing.

So I time my ice cream shop with precision.

Any junk food is not sold before 2:30PM (after school) so at exactly 2:31 I am at the ice-cream cabinet and at 2:32 I am at the checkout ready to pay and at 2:33 I am out the door eating my ice-cream.

Any earlier I cannot buy and any later I cannot enjoy because it is melting into nothingness because of the queues of kids stocking up before they go to the pool.

 I will never whinge about shopping at Coles again - unless it is the 2 days prior to Xmas at Casey central whilst still doing renovations and it takes me 45 minutes just to get out of the bottle neck car park as it did last year

Its the simple things........

Nov 25, 2015

So many great things happened to me today.
I finally got my goggles in the mail, I got a new kettle - Ive had to rely on microwaving water for morning coffee and my neighbour Ryan the pool guy bought me some home-made chocolate mousse that has no sugar and no dairy or egg but it was to die for.
It was so good that I parted with 3 treasured Lindt balls in exchange.
I forgive Ryan the pool guy for comparing me to his mother (he is only 23).

End of year clean up

Nov 24, 2015

End of year clean up.......cleaning up the storage shed and cupboard for the end of year and to make it easy access for Vacation Care contractors who will replace me while I am having a holiday.

Most people in early childhood can relate to the mess to tidy after a years’ worth of use.

Most early childhood educators will relate to the dust, to the countless Lego blocks in the wrong container, the puzzles with missing pieces........and the surprises that they find that they have been looking for all year.

Can you relate to family of geckos that have set up house in a box of craft supplies? They scared the crapper out of me when I disturbed them.

I also have these living at my house.

They are called Girty, Flirty, Twirty, Swirty Ghecko.

They eat the nasty spiders and annoying flies.

  Not sure I want to tackle the shed now after the giant red back I found outside today - not to mention the deadly snakes.
 Put simply if I was bitten by one of those, I would not survive

                 

"aaarrruugghhh"

 

 

Interactions with the locals

Nov 21, 2015

I have had only positive interactions with the Traditional Owners of this land.

Feedback this week from a Federal Government Public Servant called Bob who checks in on remote communities to ensure that the people are happy with the services they are being provided was positive.
Bob said "The people like the "new childcare boss".
I am not comfortable with that name as my role is to mentor the people who use this service so that when my contract is finished, I can walk away and leave the children's services running independently.

However on a more intimate level, the women and children; and even some men that I have daily interactions with now call me Kungka (koonga) which is a name of respect given to older women who are married with children.
Even more pleasing is that my team of women have given me a skin name which means that I am now welcome in their community. I can’t pronounce my skin name or spell it yet but when I can I will post it here.
Yesterday at the pool I had a long conversation (3 minutes) with a very handsome and animated teenage boy who "wants to be on Home and Away".
He admired my bracelet of crystals and I admired his wrist band of the aboriginal flag colors.
He told me that his dreaming animal was a green snake and that his mother gave him that dreaming animal.
He asked me what my dreaming animal was?
I said I would ask my mum and let him know.
He was pretty impressed that I knew what the colors on the Aboriginal Flag symbolised.
He said "you're good whitefella".
Im not sure what that means in the mind of a 13 year old Pintubi male who has not yet gone through men's business but I think it was his way of saying that he like me.

 After a very hot week that has challenged me in many ways (average temperature being 42 since Monday), I still feel that I am really finding my niche here in Kintore.

I am unable to post images of the locals on here but these images also add to me finding my niche here in Kintore

     Magnificent sun sets and

 

     red dust corrugations

 

Bloody hot weather

Nov 20, 2015

Today is the 3rd day in a row of between 43 and 46 degrees = bloody hot.

The wind is also very hot and strong, the type that Victorians would cringe at because of bushfires. It dries the moisture from your nose and mouth in seconds so I am drinking over 5 litre of water a day.

Here, (out of town) we have grass fires nearly every day from glass that bursts into flames in the hot sun. No one blinks an eye and many thought I was weird when I asked if there was an evacuation point in town should there be a fire.

There is an evacuation point but as it was explained to me "It’s more for floods and we will be airlifted if that happens".

Thankfully I have aircon at my home and at work.

We play outside for about an hour first thing in the morning until morning tea. Then we stay inside until we go home. I now finish at the centre at 3PM and walk over to the pool to run an OSHC program.

This involves me feeding squillions of school aged children / teens fruit and chilled water and sitting by the pool with the pool manager / life guard.

 

 It’s not fun at all. It’s stupidly hot and I can’t swim until the children have gone home (supervision). That is my welcome relief - diving into the pool - yes - I dive in, the water isn't freezing cold but it is cool enough to be refreshing.

I’m looking forward to the goggles that Linda is mailing me so I can start my proper lap training because the gym is in a corrugated iron shed aaarrrggghhhh

Shopping

Nov 18, 2015 2:43pm

This is how I now go shopping.

This three trailer truck that we all curse on the roads has bought me (and the entire Kintore Community) all the way from Alice Springs our bulk supply of food. The supply truck comes every 2 weeks and it takes him 3 days to get here via Haasts Bluff, Papunya and Mt Liebig.

On this pallet is fresh fruit and veges, long life milk, frozen meat and any other essential items I might need that the store does not stock. It has taken me all morning to unload the pallet and store items appropriately. No gym for me today

Road trip to Mt Liebig

Nov 15, 2015

Tales from Kintore - Today I depart for Mt Liebig for a staff meeting - tomorrow. It will take me about 3 (possibly 5 depending on road conditions) hours to get to Mt Liebig on red dust corrugations.

 What to take to the staff meeting?

1. My swag for sleeping in; possibly on the back of my ute that will be parked in my colleagues yard

2. A survival kit with minimum 20 litres of water, first aid kit, sat phone, emergency tracker, the whistle Molly Mum gave me for emergencies and some basic food.

3. My precious possessions (don't ask)

and .......wait for it......10 CD's that I burnt this morning because my car doesn't have I pod capabilities and people who know me will know how much I need my music while driving.

Looking forward to the road trip, to seeing some of my colleagues and to christening my swag

 

                                      The road from Kintore to Mt Liebig                                      

 

 

 

Freebies

Nov 13, 2015

 This morning I was lucky enough to be given 2 freebies.
 One was a fitness workout.
 One was an exfoliation.
 The fitness workout was because it was blowing a gale and I had to walk with strong resistance training.
 The exfoliation was from the sand that the said gale was also blowing.
 I now have sand - yet again - in the most unexpected places.

Looking out my gate, the township and mountain is obscured by dust that I was about to walk to work in