Gold Coast, AustraliaCrazeyness t-1 until journey to IndiaDarwin CrewSingapore Airport: The epic waitChennai - TouchdownDelhi Crowds & ColorsRumbles in the night, Delhiat the foot of the himalayasTaking it easy in McLoed GanjThe Zen of wildlife watching and photography.Corbett Tiger Reserve (t-9 days to b-day)Meeting the Locals in RamnagarAgra, IndiaRajasthan!Pushkar, IndiaJaisalmer, IndiaUdaipur, India"arse of india" excuse my frenchCaves caves and more cavesHyderabad, India
 | Nathan&Ellie |  | India Adventure Bliss |  | Darwin Crew |
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Nov 22 2007, 08:11 PM
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Darwin, Australia
There were 2 guys and 4 women. The eldest guy, was a Lieutenant of the HMS Melbourne & formally a well decorated sniper. He is the last elder who can speak all the languages of the various mobs. (I'm think he meant within Northern Queensland & NT). Ezra was saying that he could tell which mobs a person was from just from looking at their face. He also knew the histories of each mob. His son in law is from Cairns and has had a rough life, having fathered 9 children, but was in good spirits, we currently works on Australian customs boats and was able to tell me about what happens when they meet a refugee boat. (They lock them up and bring them in to shore). They shared some interesting stories about how Steve Irwin could have survived a sting ray sting, including using sap from some type of seaweed found commonly on beaches all over Oz, pissing on it, and letting a dog lick the wound. Interesting hu.
The woman were a little more reserved, or rather were more cautious of a stranger, but the eldest lady, now my adopted nanna, quickly warmed to me. She sung quite a few songs, as the all did. They were kind enough to translate the words for me. Quite a special couple of hours.
Some of the songs that were sung were about: how you can look at the stars when you are far from home and the people you love are up there looking down on you; a guy who broke his vows and migrated from the NT around the point to North QLD to work and promised he would return but he never did; Blue mountain song about where Ezra was born. Interesting each person seems to have their own songs and stories, relating to parts of their lives, almost seemed like a form of therapy when they all sang together each other’s songs.
Asker about how I would go about learning an indigenous language and straight up he started to teach me words. While I would probably be more comfortable with a formal learning environment, learning an indigenous language might just be one of those things you have to get out in the real world and do. Now I’ll just have to find some time to fit it in.
I actually headed down to the spot with my new camera hoping to get a couple of nice photos. Once they spotted my camera there all quickly wanted to have their photos taken. I've got their addresses and plan on sending them copies when I get a chance. As I was leaving I got this eerie feeling that Aunty Kathy could see right into the core of who I am.
Otherwise, its very warm up here. I'm about to escape to the library that has a wicked air conditioning system. Had a good nights sleep in a very creaky bed, located in a 4bed mixed dorm, which made sneaking in at 2am (when my plane arrived) very difficult.
In the evening, while the stormes where rolling over, I met a couple of guys from the mines. They work maintaining 20km stretches of conveyer belts that carry rock from borqusite mines. One guy was telling me that he made 110k a year, then I asked how many hours he walked and he said 80-90 hours a week! While now he has taken an office job with more regular hours, he prefers the ‘real work’.
O the stories I’ve heard today, so colorful, topics include: strippers, guy falling in a vat of acid in a smelter, how to turn a sting ray spike into a fighting implement, 3100km in 34 hours with one roo splattered all over the bull bar and one ‘root’, etc.
Intense day. But feeling very relaxed today. Very relaxed. Enjoy the photos. Xoxo
Some snippets of articles from the local paper, The Darwin Sun:
-A 126.6 million gas turbine power station that could power 20,000 homes is almost complete.
-An urgent study into extending the Archer waste site has been launched after Catalina Drive was rejected for a new transfer station.
-Your relatives might love NT mangoes but you might not make any friends by taking some of the Top End's favorite fruit home his Christmas.
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