From Nhulunbuy to Baniyala and a quick trip home

Posted on 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!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 thoughts on “From Nhulunbuy to Baniyala and a quick trip home”

  1. Wowee! What a trip to a wonderful part of Australia Pat and Dick. Your adventures are inspiring and I hope to get back in my camper in 2020.
    I did watch Total Control but didn’t know if the scenes really were set in Winton… until now.
    I hope all is well with the Lestervan now and another trip is coming together in your heads!

    Reply

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