first impressions: north east arnhem land

After a mere 10 hours driving from Katherine, 700 kms of the drive on red dirt avoiding pot holes, sandy bogs and jagged rock we arrived in Arnhem Land.

For 11 years I've been hearing about Arnhem Land and Peter's Yolgnu family who live here.

Finally we are here together with our own children.

Pete is working with a Yolngu Grandmother here who takes care of her community through a healing program, taking young at-risk Yolngu out to homelands for support and healing.

We are based in Nhulunbuy the mining town set up here on the Gove Peninsula in the late 60's when Rio Tinto started mining bauxite for aluminium.

From Nhulunbuy we go out bush with Pete for him to do his work.

The coastline and landscape is postcard perfect except when the mine and refinery come into view, the mined red earth and the imposing refinery buildings and silos look like something out of a sci fi film dropped from the sky.

It is hard to fathom what it must have been like here in the 60's before the mine arrived and even harder to imagine what it must have been like when Rio Tinto made their mining 'deal' with the Traditional Owners of this land.

I don't even feel like I am in Australia anymore. It is a place of its own here.

We are remote in many senses.

Food comes in on a barge from Darwin once a week. Once the supermarket runs out of something for the week that's it. I was told on one of my first visits to the shops "Sorry, no bananas until next week".

But then there's Nature's 'supermarket' where real food is plentiful if you know where to look and how to catch it.

On our first trip out bush we ate the most spectacular mud crab, speared in the mangroves by a Yolgnu friend and cooked on the beach by his mother. "From the mangrove, to the fire, to your mouth," she said laughing as she handed Sol and I a crab claw to share.

There was no sense of time that day on the beach until the sun started to set, "We need to get back to camp before its dark, so they can collect gapu (water) from the creek" our Grandmother friend said looking up the beach for her son and husband who had gone fishing with River and Pete.

As dusk settled around us on the beach I began to worry about baru (crocodile). I looked up the beach nervously hoping to see the hunters walking back. I noticed Grandmother and her daughter-in-law did not take their eyes off the sandy point in the distance where the men had gone hunting, they too seemed to be willing them to walk back into view soon.

Within minutes we could see them walking back towards us. No fish today. We were happy and grateful for the crab. Grandmother gave the other crab claw to Peter and River to share and divided the body of the crab up for her and her husband, her son and daughter-in-law.

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I shared this story on my facebook page, it has been one of my favorite moments of the trip so far...

We went to meet Nandi Beth, Pete's Yolgnu mum. Nandi is the Yolgnu word for mother. Nandi Beth was spending a few days in hospital, nothing serious so we went to the hospital to meet her. Her delight and joy at seeing River and Sol for the first time was so lovely. She hugged them to her and smiled from her heart, then stood back and looked at the boys, "I get depressed when I come to hospital. Now you've made me happy". In the car when we left Sol said, "We look different but we have the same feelings. Grandmothers love to see grandchildren." They sure do. It was such an experience of universal love.

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There are challenges here. Divisions. Politics. Corruption.

There are wonders here. Songlines. Dreaming. Artistry. Family. Ceremony.

I hope you'll stick around to hear more.

love a puppy? read this first

Meet Jedda.

In January this year a lady named Kel drove into our driveway in a pick-up truck with two red heeler x dingo pups on board.

Kel was like a movie character.

Long red hair down her back, cowgirl boots and belt to match, dressed in jeans and check shirt she was fit for a rodeo. Kel is an animal whisperer no doubt about it.

I'm still not sure exactly how Pete found Kel but he had heard that Kel found puppies for people. So for a good few months Kel was on the lookout for us for a red heeler pup.

Late December Kel phoned to say that she had found a breeder in Queensland with a litter of pups but that we needed to wait a few more weeks before the pups could leave their mum.

I was out of the house when Kel arrived. When I came home River came running out the front door, "Mum this is the best day of my life!!!!"

I knew Sol was going to be excited that we FINALLY had a puppy but River's excitement surprised me I didn't think he would be as taken with the little bundle of fur that arrived.

Once the first rush of puppy love wore off and the toilet training challenges set in we all began to realise we had absolutely no idea what we had signed up for.

It was Pete's idea to choose a working dog breed. The idea and the reality are quite different things.

We knew that puppies and working dogs especially had a lot of energy and would be quite nippy around the heels as their sharp little baby teeth were tested out but wow it was all so constant!!

So much so that within two weeks of Jedda joining our family Pete declared to me one evening, "I've made a mistake. I've chosen the wrong breed, I think we should send Jedda to live on a farm, now while she's young before she gets too attached to us".

"Whaaaaaat??!" was my civilised response. "I think we need to give it some more time", I suggested. "She'll settle down."

But no, in my darling husband's get-things-done-now approach he decided it would be a good idea to tell River and Sol of his plans the next morning before school.

"Can't you at least wait until after school? They're going to be devastated," I said bracing myself for the inevitable tears.

And tears there were.

I took the boys to school that morning with tear stained faces and tried to re-assure them that Dad would change his mind. I hoped quietly to myself.

That night after school River in his mature beyond his years way announced to Pete that he had an offer for him, "Dad if I spend time training Jedda, we take her to puppy school and we keep her for another month, if she hasn't settled down by the end of the month we can find a farm to take her, but if she does settle down we can keep her." How could anyone argue with that?

I'm very pleased to say that six months later Jedda is firmly part of our family.

It's been an interesting ride falling in love with a puppy and carrying out all the responsibilities that come with having a pet. Sol and River do really love Jedda and I might add that Pete is besotted with her. Pete is the one that walks her on the beach each morning and has made a whole new group of friends as a result.

Jedda's made friends too, we don't only have children over to play now we have dogs! Jedda's friend Del has even had a sleepover!

Within a day of Jedda arriving I tried to talk a friend into taking Jedda's sister. I'm so glad that my friend decided not to. With the benefit of hindsight it wasn't the right time in my friend and her family's life to take on a puppy.

If you're dreaming of owning a puppy or have children trying to talk you into getting a puppy my advice would be if you've never owned a pet before do your research before getting a puppy.

Here are my tips:

- research the breed, do they lose hair? how active are they? what are their temperaments? do you have enough space in your backyard for the breed you are considering?
- find out all the costs involved - registration, vet fees, pet food, flea treatments, grooming
- if you travel a lot - who would look after the dog? could the dog travel with you?
- spend time at the local dog walking park or beach and get to know some dog owners and different breeds. Keep talking to dog owners and ask lots of questions

Having a pet IS a wonderful thing. It is a big responsibility too, one that will demand of your time, energy and money but will of course offer emotional rewards and physical too with all the walking you'll be doing!

Even though in my heart of hearts I'm not really a pet person (sorry for all of those who are! but I have to be honest!) I can't imagine our little family without Jedda now, she is such a sweet old soul and she has brought new friends into our life too.

Are you thinking of getting a pet? If you have a pet what are your tips for becoming a pet owner?