I got a new tattoo today – an anchor on the inside of my right forearm.
It was done by an old friend, Tatu Lu, who’s got a shop behind the flower shop in the main street of Mullumbimby, New South Wales. Last time she tattooed me was in 1996! She’s spent quite a few years working in Europe since then. … Read more »
I’ve spent the last few days frantically procrastinating! I’ve got a fair bit of work to do, sorting out my belongings and getting them shipped up to the Northern Territory – but i just can’t seem to make myself actually do anything! Well, not much, anyway. I’ve spent more hours in this internet place this week than i have in my storage shed, sorting stuff out!
I’m camping in the caravan park at Suffolk Park for a few days – which is nice. Going to sleep to the sounds of waves crashing on the beach, and waking up and going for a walk by the ocean. Well – i went for a walk on the beach at just after 6am yesterday, but it was really nippy, with a nasty southerly wind blowing up the coast. Today, i managed to sleep a bit later and then went to the beach at Byron Bay, which is a lot better, as that beach faces north.
I managed to get rid of quite a bit of junk yesterday, so i guess i’m not doing too badly. But i’ve got to find some decent sized boxes today, to pack stuff in properly. There’s so much sort of little bits and pieces, it’s driving me crazy!
The trouble is that i’ve still got a few more days to spare – and, no doubt, i’ll do most of it on the last day possible! Oh well…
I’m due to start work on the 25th, at Maningrida.
Well, i got the job at Maningrida. I’m due to start on the 25th – a couple of weeks – or earlier if i can make it before that. I doubt i’ll be able to get my stuff sorted out and get there much earlier than that though. I’ve got to sell my car, for a start!
I got back to Brisbane yesterday morning at about 5.30, after a brief trip to the Northern Territory to meet staff at Maningrida council – where i’ve applied for a job – and to check the place out and see if i want to live there.
I flew from Brisbane to Darwin on Monday evening, arriving in Darwin at about half past midnight. I spent that night and the next night staying with friends there and then flew to Maningrida at 2pm on Wednesday.
The flight takes about an hour in a small, maybe 30 or so seater plane. I didn’t get to see much of the scenery on the way there because my window looked out onto the engine, but what i did see looked pretty spectacular.
Maningrida was more or less what i expected, i guess. It’s a large Aboriginal community, right on the coast. The houses are mostly sort of randomly scattered, and there’s quite a lot of open space – and a beautiful beach right on the edge of town.
When we arrived, i was met by someone from the council and we went to the council offices, where i met the three people who are involved in the recruitment process. It was all a bit vague and there wasn’t really much talk about the job itself.
After an hour or two there, one of the council guys took me back to his place and cooked some food. Then we went out fishing in his boat, with another guy. It was dark by then, so i couldn’t really work out the geography of the bit of water we were on. It was big and there were mangroves all along the edge, but i couldn’t tell if it was in the river or right at the mouth of it.
Anyway, we put out some crab pots and then anchored just off a boat ramp to try and catch some jewfish. We caught a few catfish, which we chucked back, but no jewies. I did manage to hook a big one, though, and reeled it most of the way in, but it got off the hook and that was that.
While we were fishing, a ute drove up to the boat ramp and parked. Its headlights were shining straight at us, which was a pain in the arse – and certainly didn’t help with the fishing! There were half a dozen guys in it and they launched a boat and started putting out loads of crab pots. Apparently this mob caused a lot of trouble around there last year.
Anyway, when they started heading towards where our pots were, we thought we’d better go and pull them out, as these dickheads would just cut the floats off and that would be the end of that.
There were half a dozen medium size mud crabs in the pots when we pulled them out, so it wasn’t a complete waste. And then we headed back to town.
On the way, we nearly ran into an unlit boat that was anchored in the middle of the channel. This turned out to be a Vietnamese guy who does commercial crabbing in this area. We stopped and talked to him for a while and he gave us 3 big crabs.
The next day, i tried to sleep as late as possible – because i was going to spend the whole of the next night on the plane back to Brisbane – but, as usual, i woke up when it got light. I sat around and read for a while and then i went to the council office again.
This time i was shown some of the stuff related to the job i’ve applied for, by a young woman who’s been working there for a couple of months. The office i’d be working in did my head in severely – it had no windows to the outside world! I’d go completely mad, very quickly, working in that environment. But fortunately, there is a window there – it’s just covered up with a large whiteboard, for some deranged reason! So, if i get the job, that will have to come down and i’ll get the window back.
A little while later, i had a bit of a walk around and went down to the river to have a look. It was absolutely stunning! Either side of the boat ramp where the barge from Darwin comes, and where we’d launched the boat we were in last night, there’s a couple of beautiful white beaches. The water there is the mouth of the Liverpool River and it’s really wide at that point. You can look straight out across the Arafura Sea, and there’s an island right in the middle just outside the river mouth.
I flew back to Darwin at about five o’clock and spent a few hours at some friends’ place. I managed to get an hour or two’s sleep, and then it was back to the airport again. The flight was about half an hour late and by the time i got on the plane, i was feeling a bit delirious. The flight is too short to really sleep on it – just about 4 hours – but i think i managed a couple of hours sleep though.
I had to wait around at the airport in Brisbane for about 40 minutes for the first train – which was a real drag, as it was cold and i just wanted to get some sleep!
Anyway, after the trip there, i feel like i know less about what the job is about than i did before! But i’ve checked the place out and i reckon i could live there. It seemed like a nice place really – and definitely a big improvement on Kabul! But they didn’t tell me whether i’ve got the job or not – they’ll let me know on Monday probably…
It looks like i’ve got a new job – Community Housing Manager in Maningrida. It’s not 100% certain yet, as they’re flying me up there on Monday so they can check me out and i can check the place out. But it’s looking pretty likely.
For those who don’t know, Maningrida is the second largest Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory. It’s on the coast, 350km east of Darwin, in Arnhem Land. As far as i can tell, it’s a really nice place. it’s a little bit closer to the coast than Kabul, anyway! And it’s not a city, which is good!
I’m in Byron Bay at the moment, trying to sort out all my stuff, which is in a storage shed here. I’ve managed to re-register my car – which was a bit more hassle than usual, as it had been out of rego for over 3 months. But it wasn’t too much drama.
Last night, i paid $100 for a motel room – because i needed to stay near the shed, so i could take the car to get it registered this morning, and i don’t know anyone around here to stay with. It was more than i really wanted to pay, but i left it a bit late in the day and i’m still really tired from not sleeping properly because of jetlag – so i wanted to good place to stay.
Tonight, though, i’m sleeping in a tent at the Suffolk Park caravan park. That will be nice, cos i love Suffolk and i can get up and go for a walk on the beach first thing. The park is just round the corner from where i was living before i went to Kabul.
Being back around here now has reminded how much i love this area. If the employment scene here wasn’t so hopeless, i’d probably stay here. Well, maybe not – the prospect of living in Maningrida is more exciting. But maybe i’ll come back and live here again before too long.