I got to Kintore
late on Tuesday 6th October 2015.
I was very excited to finally see my new home and
community for the next two years. I was also nervous because this was becoming so very real. There was no backing out now. I was in Kintore - 6-8 hours 4WD drive from Alice Springs.
The Kintore Mountain Range.
A goanna sculpture that adorns the Kintore Roundabout.
When I unlocked the door I took a deep breath
and walked in.
My little donga was lovely. It had a distinct smell – not unpleasant
but probably best described as an earthy desert smell. It faced north south
with a large bedroom on both the east and west end. I chose the east end
bedroom and later I became so thankful for that because the west wing bedroom
was soon to become unbearable hot in the evenings.
The south facing verandah where I was to witness some amazing light and thunderstorms.
I still had no boxes
– they were to arrive tomorrow on the fortnightly truck run.
I was thankful to
have separately packed my camping coffee plunger, coffee, sugar, long life milk
and a small container of breakfast cereal. At least I would get breakfast in
the morning.
One thing this experience was fast teaching me was to think ahead, make do with what you've got and expect the unexpected.
Way out of my comfort zone in so many ways but I also believed that all my camping experiences helped me prepare for this.
I went to bed,
sleeping on my trusty towel and I used the tee shirt I wore as a pillow case. I
slept in my clothes but I didn’t really need anything for warmth.
Initially I had no
internet so phone calls became essential.
Linda rang me every night for a long
chat and I rang Linda in the morning when I woke up so she knew I was still
alive.
My family kept in constant contact and that truly saved my sanity in the
early days. One highlight was receiving a phone call from my nephews aged 5 and
3 years old at the time. They were just about to have their 6 and 4 year old
birthday so they called Aunty Kristin who could not be there for that.
The long phone calls
to Linda in the evening became a commentary of my daily experiences and that
evolved into her posting on Facebook my “Tales from Kintore”.
Finally my boxes
arrived and I spent the next few days after work and my weekend unpacking and arranging
all of my treasures and essentials.
My long awaited boxes - in the background some weird QLD TV channel that I had on in the desperate attempt to get some familiar Victorian news.
