From Nhulunbuy to Baniyala and a quick trip home

Posted on 24/11/2019 by patevans

This blog finishes off the Arnhem Land trip and gets us home.

The remainder of our time in Arnhem Land was spent in Baniyala and travelling along the Cape Arnhem Hwy.

One night in Nhulunbuy after the Bawaka weekend meant we could move back into the Lestervan and get cleaned up before the next stage of our travels. Although that loose battery in the Lestervan held us up again, we made the meeting place in time for the drive to Baniyala, another aboriginal community of 150 people, where we camped on the coast not in the village.

Another beautiful seaside camp overlooking Grindall Bay near Groote Eylandt. Dick again checked the battery and found that the bracket holding it in place had bent on the rough roads, so it was no longer held in place. Keith bent it back in shape and refitted it for us.

A quiet, relaxing afternoon with Denise and Steve, but I got bites all over my legs so not keen on more sitting outside.

We did have the ritual evening update around the fire at sunset, but I used my fancy insect repeller machine to keep them away.

Our guide Neill was never sure if the plans with the aboriginal communities would eventuate or not, but he always made the best of whatever situation we encountered and he helped out the communities when he could. In Baniyala the town were in the process of setting up a tourist camping area near the town, so some of our crew left at 8am to work on the tents. We left later, and after lots of hanging around we went with about 10 local women and kids and a couple of guys to the public site/sand sculpture.

This large sand sculpture represents their land in relation to other places plus the sea and the clouds. At these stops they talked to us about their culture and what things mean to them. They also mentioned the two moieties and were very surprised that we all knew which moiety we were.

This was the entry to the sacred stingray site, where they go before hunting stingrays. Without permission and a guide one would never see this place or know its significance. It just looks like all the other sandy places.

The woman pointing in this photo was one of the senior women and she told me that she’d been to a health conference in Wellington, NZ recently and also to conferences in Darwin. It was interesting to talk to them, and get a sense of how they can live in two very different worlds.

Here we are looking at the stingray sand sculpture. They take sand from the eye holes and name the places they plan to hunt stingrays, which helps them on the hunt.

Our aboriginal guide, Graham, took us all into his house to see the pole painting he was working on. No one had any art to sell as it had all gone to the Darwin Festival.

After a lunch break in the community, we went into the bush and divided in two groups. Our guys went off walking with the aboriginal men, saw a lagoon and got eaten by mosquitos. We women went with the local women gathering pandamus leaves for weaving baskets and finding honey. Much more interesting!

During our time in the bush with the women, I made some new friends. Note the mosquito repellent in my back pockets.

The women chopped down pandamus trees and then selected the leaves they wanted for weaving baskets. They were very handy with the axe.

The women looked for the trees with bees nests, then chopped them down and dug out the honey wth pieces of wood. Some was poured into a container to take back and share, and lots was eaten on the spot.

We did drive back to the community to see some dancing but it didn’t happen and I think that is par for the course in that not all agreed plans get carried out by the communities. Didn’t worry me as we’d had a good day and probably taken in as much as we could absorb in one day. It is still an odd kind of tourism; learning about an indigenous culture by hanging out with the locals. Much better than a packaged, sanitized experience, but it still feels a bit intrusive at times.

A long driving day (380kms) on gravel roads got us back to Mainoru Store. On the morning tea stop our battery was loose AGAIN. Neill and Keith helped to secure it with a ratchet strap. Saw buffalo, cattle and donkeys on the drive and had an ice cream and fruit stop at Bulman store. There are not many places to stop along the Central Arnhem Highway. Had a disappointing dinner at Mainoru Store and our last campfire of the trip.

This was such a common sight; and if those guys hadn’t helped us, we wouldn’t have been able to do the trip.

Our last stop in Arnhem Land was at Beswick to visit the Art Centre and Gallery. Didn’t feel inspired to buy any baskets, jewellery or textiles but did enjoy the Blanasi Collection of 38 paintings, one of the finest examples of West Arnhem Art in Australia. In 1996 senior Beswick artists and elders, led by the internationaly renowned didgeridoo player and painter, David Blanasi, conceived the idea of putting together a special collection to showcase their art and culture. Blanasi (born 1930) is recognized for popularizing the didgeridoo beyond Australia. He disappeared in 2001 when he walked into the bush and was never seen again. From there it was 100 kms on sealed road to Katherine, where we stocked up for the trip home.

Our last night with the group was at our favorite campsite in Bitter Springs. After Dick re-attached the driving lights (another victim of the rough roads), we managed a quick dip in the springs before the farewell dinner. In preparation for the dinner, Paul and Keith had bought a group present for Neill, our extraordinary guide, and his wife, Gail, keen photographer and helpful, nice person. I had got cards for both and managed to get everyone to sign them and I volunteered to put together the group email/contact list. I was also inspired to write a song -‘I’ve been to Arnhem Land’ to the tune of ‘I’ve been Everywhere’, so texted it to all and the group got up in the restaurant and sang our song to Neill and Gail. Neill seemed quite touched by it all. It was a nice ending/finale to a great trip and we were so blessed with our travelling companions. Everyone in that trip helped us with some problem and there was a nice feeling of comaraderie amongst the group. It was a great trip.

This was our route home from Bitter Springs to Sydney.

All of a sudden we were alone and it felt a bit strange. The plan was to drive straight home, so we did 563 kms and ended up in a free camp along the Barkly Hwy, with no one else around.

Sunset at our free camp under a telephone tower on the Barkly Hwy. Not a soul in sight and we could see for miles.

The next drive got us to Cammoweal where we met up with Denise and Steve, our friends from the tour, and went to the Camp Draft Festival. Not such a good concert or meal, but I was keen to visit as many festivals as we could find and we hadn’t been to one since Easter. The whip cracking with fire-lit whips was quite different!

We were keen to introduce Steve and Denise to the delights of Winton so that was our next stop.

Speaking of stops this slowed us down a bit on the drive into Winton. There were hundreds and hundreds of cows on the highway, not in a hurry to get out of the way. Photo courtesy of Denise and Steve driving behind us.

This is the view we had ahead of us, and this was after they moved over to the sides of the road so we could get through. At one stage it looked like we had to follow them to Winton and that would have been a very slow drive.

In keeping with our standard Winton routine, we had dinner in the pub, the Tattersalls Hotel. If you watched Total Control on ABC recently, this is the pub featured in the tv show.

We stayed in the Matilda Caravan Park again so we could take in Greg North’s show. It was a different show and this time he needed some volunteer helpers on stage, so Steve and I had our two minutes of fame. Couldn’t not support our favorite bush poet!

In keeping with our training on the tour we drove in convoy with Steve and Denise, which inspired me to pen our own version of the convoy song by CW McCall. Jan had played the original a few times on our tour. Words to my new songs are listed at the end of the blog, but you probably had to be there to appreciate them. When we got to Barcaldine, the four of us had lunch, visited the Tree of Knowledge and learned about the shearers strike of 1891 and the birth of The Labor Party. We bid our friends a fond farewell then as they went to Apha and we drove to Tambo (both bustling metropolis’s -NOT).

Ben’s chicken races at the Royal Hotel in Tambo. He used to be in Winton but then got the opportunity to buy his own hotel in Tambo. All proceeds from the bets on the races go to the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Ben’s way of giving back to the outback communities that support him.

More days of long drives and nights in free camps, but we managed to see a few interesting things along the way; like the giant aquarium and the Cobb & Co. stagecoach, gallery and museum in Surak, the painted silos in Thallon, the guy with his camels walking along the highway and the artesian pools in Moree.

The painted silos in Thallon. Provides a good diversion/reason to stop on the long drives.

As we drove along the highway we saw this guy, so stopped and Dick went over to say hello. With his four camels and a baby one, plus his dog, this guy was walking from Bundaberg to WA and expects to take two years. Amazing what we see along the road.

Our final stop was in a caravan park in Narrabri, who were putting on a free bbq so that was dinner. One of the other guests there gave us a bag of murcot mandarins (he’d been fruit picking near Bundaberg) and earlier a guy in Morven gave us a pumpkin. I don’t know why and almost wished they’d been given to people who needed food. On the last day at our lunch stop, we enjoyed panoramic views over the Liverpool Plains in Quirindi.

We got home by 5 pm on the 29th of August, 7 days and 3500 kms after leaving Bitter Springs. We had commitments in Sydney so we needed to drive straight home. Not our normal style and quite tiring. Our whole trip was almost 13,000 kms and took 75 days; although we had so much variety, it felt like a longer trip. This has also felt like the longest ever trip blog, mainly because on the tour of Arnhem Land we had no spare time or energy to do anything else and just keeping up was an issue. That said, it was a great way to see that part of Australia and make some new friends in the process. I’ll finish with the two songs inspired by the tour.

I’VE BEEN TO ARNHEM LAND (sung to the tune of ‘I’ve Been Everywhere’)

I’ve been to Arnhem Land, Man I’ve been to Arnhem Land.

East and West I’ve spanned, Man I’ve been to Arnhem Land

Travelling in NEILL’s convoy, I’ve been to Arnhem Land

Jabiru, Cobourg, Smiths Point and Wiligi Corroboree, Katherine, Mainoru and Nhulunbuy

Yirrkala, Bawaka and Baniyala Crocs and fishing in the land of aborigines

TRAVELLING IN NEILL’s CONVOY I’ve been to Arnhem Land!!!!!!

CONVOY (sung to the tune of ‘CONVOY’ by CW McCall)

We’ve got a little convoy, led by Great Divide Come and join our convoy, you’re sure to love the ride

Rollin thru the landscape; mountains, sea and sand Showing you all over, this great Southern Land

CONVOY………… CONVOY…………. (copy that Charlie!)

BAWAKA – what a weekend!

Posted on 15/11/2019 by patevans

The trip to Bawaka, a very small aboriginal community down the coast, turned out to be a highlight of our trip in Arnhem Land for many reasons. Certainly it was different from any of our other travels.

This map shows Bawaka down the coast, south of Nhulunbuy.

After an early start from Nhulunbuy in our rented Hilux ute (pickup truck), we began a serious 4 WD trip on very sandy tracks through private land. We had no idea we were on our way to a whole new world (actually it was a very old world!)

This was the sign that greeted us as we entered the private tracks to drive to Bawaka.

After about an hour of deep, soft, sandy, challenging driving our first little stop was along a very beautiful beach, which went on for miles…….

This was one of the beaches we stopped on and unknowingly I took photos of some land we were then told was sacred and no photos were allowed. I have since deleted all those photos.

As we were driving further along more stunning beaches we met the three aboriginal men who would be our hosts for the weekend, Timmie, Randy and Jason. All of a sudden the convoy stopped and Neill told us on the radio to watch closely.

Jason ran into the water with his spear.

And he speared a mud crab on his first throw! Then he got back in the vehicle and we all moved on.

Driving in convoy along a series of unspoilt, deserted and beautiful beaches.

The land we were on belonged to Timmie’s mother, and essentially we were going to a few holiday cottages owned by Timmie’s family. On this excursion Timmie was the boss man or chief host and we were the only people staying there. A bit further away there was another house which appeared to be the one used by the family. When we arrived Timmie spoke to our group and told us all to take off our watches as we were all on Yolgna (yule new) time. He also told us the place was ‘our place’ too and we were all Australians together, and the land we were on was female land. Randy then speared a reasonable sized fish off the beach and cooked it and the mudcrab on the fire and shared it around our group, who were all sitting around in a circle for Timmie’s welcome remarks. The official Welcome Ceremony was scheduled for later in the day.

Sitting around tasting the fish and mudcrab that was cooked on the fire.

The view from the outdoor kitchen area looking toward the beach.

The beach in front of the cabins and where most of the weekend’s activities took place.

Then Nike, the pet croc, swam up and was given the fish head to eat. He is Timmie’s pet croc, who was rescued from a fishing net when he was a baby. Now he is 3.5 m long and huge! We were aware of his presence the whole weekend.

Then we had our lunch and worked out where everyone was sleeping – options ranged from a verandah, on the beach, with a roof, to sleeping on beds and mattresses inside a cabin. The back of our ute was clean so we decided to sleep in it under a 200 year old Tamarind tree. (The seeds that grew those trees were brought by the Macassan traders.) Our sleeping mats and sleeping bags made a good base, and Keith kindly strung up a mosquito net over the back of the ute for us. He said we went from being in the Taj Mahal to the honeymoon suite!

I’ve never slept in the back of a ute before. That’s Dick in there doing his morning exercises. We had a chair at the tailgate so we could get in and out. A bit difficult crawling under the net for those manoeuvers.

We’ve said that swimming was off the agenda in Arnhem Land but that afternoon we were taken to Lonely Beach (via another testing 4WD track), and we were allowed to swim, albeit a bit nervously.

The beach, rocks and cliffs were stunning and it was a bit of a steep climb down. Again we had it all to ourselves.

I enjoyed a little dip as did a few others. It was a lovely beach but I couldn’t help wondering if it really was safe. No one went out very deep.

The climb back up the cliffs was more challenging than the run down, but Neill fixed up a rope to make it easier for us.

When we got back from the beach, our hosts had caught a large turtle but they needed help from our guys to pull it in. They drove back dragging the turtle behind the car. I thought it was dead, but it wasn’t (yet).

The turtle was left like this overnight.

As we were working on Yolgna time, there was lots of hanging around, so we played a few hands of cards with Grace before making up our bed in the ute tray in the dark. Then suddenly we were called urgently to attend the formal ‘welcome smoking ceremony’. We stood in a circle and Timmie welcomed us with lots of singing and chanting. He was playing clap sticks and then there was some clapping; so I clapped. All of a sudden Timmie stopped everything, looked at me and said “only men clap”. After that Randy and Jason went round and smeared an ochre paste on each of our foreheads. They also brushed each of us with special burning leaves on the side, front and back, as part of the ceremony. There was lots of discussion about reconciliation and sharing. Timmie was singing a song that was 50,000 years old. It was a solemn ceremony.

Then we had a break and all cooked our own dinner ((ie steak on the bbq), before reconvening on chairs in a circle on the beach around the fire. It was a time for stories including the Nike story and a buffalo story; plus Jason played the didgeridoo, Timmie played the clap sticks and Randy danced. Soon he had a number of our people up learning the ‘tractor dance’. Eventually we all went off to bed – us in our ute under the mosquito net.

Who knows what time we got up, but it was daylight. I can’t remember a time when I went without a watch before. Fortunately we were with such a great group of people and they all looked after us, as we didn’t have any camping stuff (ie eskie, stove etc) with us. Between them they carried our fridge food, boiled us water for tea and just generally helped with whatever we needed. Lots of time for sitting around chatting before we watched the killing, preparation and cooking of the turtle interspersed with visits from and feeding of Nike.

This was where we had breakfast and spent lots of time chatting.

Here I will include more detail and photos about the demise of the turtle. If you are feeling squeamish, I suggest you skip the next 8 photos.

STEP ONE was killing the turtle, with the hammer to the head.

They told us they used everything from the turtle. Here is Steve digging into the shell pulling out eggs, guts etc. Timmie is cutting up the head.

These were some of the eggs that came out of the turtle.

Here the guys are washing out the intestines as they use everything that comes from the turtle. Denise is having a close look.

After the turtle was emptied out, they put in hot rocks from the fire to start cooking it.

Timmie is stuffing special grasses into the turtle as part of the smoking process. As far as we could tell, the aboriginal men were doing what they normally do, and not putting on a show for us.

Then the turtle was put over the flames and finished off cooking. This process seemed to go all day.

The cooked turtle was cut up and we thought we’d be getting some to try, but we never saw it again. Can’t say I was disappointed. I think they were preparing lots of food for a wedding.

Randy kept giving Nike food from the turtle carcass.

Randy seemed to play with Nike after he fed him. Here he chased Nike back into the water and grabbed his tail.

Nike must have been thirsty so Randy gave him a drink from the water hose. It probably helped him digest all that turtle carcass he was eating.

In spite of watching the turtle episode all morning, we had lunch and then were summoned by Timmie bangng on his clap sticks. All sat round in a circle for a serious or solemn session where Timmie asked each of us to tell our stories about our heritage, education and contact with aboriginal people. It was quite moving and a bit emotional for a few people. We have a great group of articulate people, including 11 year old Grace, who has an aboriginal father. Timmie got us to each collect an object in nature, and then on that basis they determined which of the two Yolgna moieties we were; and our partner was the opposite. So I collected a shell and was nominated to be Dhuwa which meant Dick was Yirritja. We weren’t there long enough to really understand what that all meant.

Our guys that liked fishing had lots of opportunities to cast a line and quite a few large fish were caught. Another night and another large campfire. At one stage we heard a large “CRUNCH”, looked behind us and saw Nike crunching on some turtle bones. It was kind of disconcerting or nerve-wracking to be looking out for Nike all the time, day and night.

I woke to a big fog so took pictures of the ‘verandah sleepers’ as well as the fog which wiped our our view of the ocean.

Six of our group, including Denise and Steve in the front, slept on the verandah, which was just up from the water. This pic shows how bad the fog was.

Before we left Bawaka some of the guys went fishing and most of us just hung around. One of the young women in Timmie’s family came over and chatted to us, which was more interesting for the women in our group. She was an articulate, well-spoken university student and we enjoyed her company.

Neill, our guide, was very happy with his catch.

Our time in Bawaka seemed longer than the two days it actually was. The drive out on the sandy track was as bad as the drive in. Here’s a taste of what the driving was like.

This gives a bit of a feel for being passenger on the rough ride.

We were almost out of the sandy track area when we came upon a car bogged in the middle of the road. Just when we thought we had survived the weekend well, Dick unfortunately hit the bogged car when we tried to pass it. Both cars were driveable and no one was hurt so we exchanged details and carried on.

The phrase ‘fender-bender’ is probably appropriate here. All part of our Arnhem Land experience.

This blog has been more detailed than most because it was quite a different experience and I wanted to convey the fullness of that, especially in terms of aboriginal lifestyle and culture. We feel privileged to have shared that time with Timmie, Randy and Jason.