Back to Maningrida

Possibly the worst plan from our excellent summer holiday was spending a couple of days back in Wamboin before heading back to Maningrida. So many beautiful old friends made time for us and made us feel so loved and welcome. The children were sooooo (I can't emphasise this enough) happy and free and entirely themselves in that nourishing environment. I couldn't help but wonder what the hell we were thinking making a life in this far flung, now rather muddy corner of nowhere?

But back we came. And though I arrived feeling rather deflated things turned around wonderfully quickly. So many lovely people welcomed me warmly back at work and I feel immediately into the busy but stimulating rhythm there. The wet season had arrived and I just love that fat rain pouring off the roof.

With the rain came frogs croaking in the yard and some new blossoms.

The kids stayed on with mum and dad in Sydney while Ed did his final teaching training in Darwin so I had time after work to go for a couple of evening walks with colleague Sarah. The coastline is stunning and we saw locals who stopped to chat with us about collecting oysters or their dogs or on one case gave me a try of their fresh cooked shark with liver.

Ed and the kids came back in time for Australia Day which up here was celebrated with one small community event a couple of days early and called "Maningrida Day". I appreciated this approach to what is now so often referred to as "Invasion Day" and I found three opportunities to ask local people how they felt about it which yielded three rather interesting responses.

1. Oh yeah Captain Cook I know that story...spears and a killing...no you're right he went back to England and lives there still. Yeah Australia Day we're fine with it.

2. I hate when people call it Invasion Day. It is like they are rubbing it in that we lost everything so badly. We're Australian too. Don't people know how many Aboriginal people faught in all the wars since the Boar war for this country?

3. Yeah Australia Day is good.

It was difficult for me to reconcile these three responses with the very strong "Change the Date" movement I have witnessed in the southern states. I think the only real take away was that like any issue affecting any group of people there are many opinions on this amongst Aboriginal people. Also a really disappointing reflection on the education many people attain here. That combined with the complexities of the local social interactions means that many people are very parochial.

Zoe and Ed had birthdays.

Ed and the kids started back at school. Ed is teaching the senior classes (years 10-12) team teaching with supervisor Dan and another Teach for Australia associate Alicia. He is really enjoying it so far though working hard. He is primarily responsible for teaching Maths and Science and the "Learning on Country" programme which I'm sure he will share as he gets more involved.

Last weekend we had another amazing experience which makes us grateful to have pursued this dream. Our friend Nancy showed up to take us out to her country again. We packed up a few snacks and headed out. We drove along the beach and saw huge croc tracks. We parked near mangroves and wanted to build a fire but found we had forgotten to bring matches so we drove back along the beach and joined another larger family group some of whom Nancy knew. We found that we also recognised some faces and the children knew some of the kids from school. The storm clouds were brewing making for spectacular light and it was impossible to prevent our children from paddling in the water when so many children were gloriously romping in it (though we kept ours very shallow!!). The kids had a spear and a fishing net to share. They found a shark egg and a sawfish. Nancy cooked a Pacific Salmon on the open fire and we shared out watermelon. Charlotte hugged the flea-ridden puppies to her heart's content. It was all rather glorious.