Maningrida is good to us

We have settled nicely into Maningrida. Our house is great, the local pool is 200m down the road. The perfect weather is rather easy to get used to. We are particularly enamoured with living in a tiny town because we walk and ride everywhere, using our car only for specific trips a little further away. I do hope that our lack of petrol usage now counterbalances our unfortunate carbon footprint on the way across the continent!

the pool has fun activities regularly

The kids had 2 weeks of school before the midyear holidays and had a wonderful time making friends and getting used to our new life. They seem to particularly enjoy their "language and culture lessons" and have come home with a few words in the local languages. They initially seemed to make friends with the non-aboriginal kids, presumably in part because english is their first language. In the school holidays most of the "Balinda" (white) kids have escaped on holidays for the dry season, leaving our kids just about the only "Balinda" kids in town. The great thing about this is that the kids have been forced to socialise with the local children who are a rowdy, energetic, sweet and fun crowd. They wander in and out and Ed has been feeding a hoard of kids while I'm at work but they are good natured and easy going and quite happy to nick off home when we tell them time is up!

Playing "tip tip" with Billy

We were delighted to have mum and dad for a visit. They seemed happy to go with the flow and get a feel for our life here. We loved having them!

bedtime stories

Fireworks night was an exercise in self restraint. The firework display was second only to Wamboin's excellent display and the local kids whooped and screamed in amazing excitement. Then the personal fireworks came out. A bunch of kids followed us home with their own few crackers, wanting to share the fun with our family. The restraint was required to keep us from tackling the local kids to the ground to prevent them from blowing their hands off! While dad was carefully lighting our paltry supply, keeping the children clear with difficulty, we found crackers blasting off behind us! A small voice cried "Me light it up!" and it was apparent that the children didn't need our careful supervision - they had a lighter to share amongst them!!

Ed has had a few weeks to spend time with the kids, walk them to school and meet some locals but next week he has to start to study so our easy rhythm might feel a little less easy after that!

sunset in Maningrida

The medical post is coming...promise...