Ayr and Airlie

Saturday 8 December (Ayr)

 

It sure felt good to be back! Up at 6am, just like my old routine, and out for a walk through the streets of Ayr, while all was still and quiet - apart from the magpies in Queen Street who sang delightfully for me as I marched past, on my way down to Plantation Park.

At 8am I jumped in the car and headed down to Airlie Beach to join the board members for a meeting with WWF about turtle tagging and gearing up to train their own rangers and a few other items. We ran through the WWF strategic plan and identified a number of initiatives that Gudjuda was interested in collaborating on. There are so many opportunities ahead for these people - it's a very exciting time!

And for any of you worried about me working on a Saturday, here's some pics of me with the Uncles and Aunties 'working' ...



L to R: Eddie (Chairperson), me, John (Business Manager)

 

With the turquoise of the Whitsundays behind us, you can imagine it was hard to concentrate so we had to have quite a few breaks!

L to R: Renarta (language/culture), me, Dorothy (Board Member)
My original 'deadly Aunties'!

 

 

 

And of course once everyone knoew we were in Airlie for the day, we had extra visitors so I got to meet yet another of Dorrie and Eddie's brothers - Greg. We rounded out the meeting with a drink at the tavern down the road, so we could catch up for a couple more hours. I was simply procrastinating as I didn't want to leave.

So, just as I was settling in to the lifestyle I loved so much and picking up conversations where they were left off only seven months ago, it was time to head back to Ayr. I hugged and kissed everyone at least twice and finally jumped back into the car for the 2-hour drive home. Note to self - don't ever, ever, ever pass up a chance to stay in the Whitsunday's overnight again!!

The drive home was fabulous - the sun was seting a brilliant peachy-red and then the brightest of stars came out to replace him and guide me home. I drove alongside a freight train for a while which was oddly comforting and then I turned off the air con and stuck my arm out the window to feel the warm night air pushing my hand back. I only put the window up about 10 minutes later, when a great, big bug slammed on the front window and I began thinking about what I might have been inadvertently letting in - gulp! I spent the trip changing channels on the radio - from jazz, to interviews with talented people including an indigenous musician who explained the difference between an aborginal and a non-indigenous sense of being in sync with the earth as that white man might write a song called 'sunset dreaming' but he would write a song called 'sunset feeling'. Then I heard a review of a theatre production called 'Beautiful One Day' which turned out to be a documentary style production, with one of three stories based on Auntie Renarta's father and the story of his life and the terrifying events he was subjected to on Palm Island - how amazing was that for a small world?!

OK, so once back in familiar Ayr, I took a quick detour to check out a few more Christmas lights and then drove home to Ray for  warm welcome and a quick cuppa before bed. Aaaah - so nice to have been surrounded by people who just love to be happy because it feels good! I really am one of the luckiest people, ever! 

Return to Ayr

Friday 7 December (Ayr)

How lucky am I that these wonderful people keep inviting me back!

 

Friday was the official launch of the yet-to-be named cafe and while I couldn't get a flight in early enough to attend the event, I arrived in the early afternoon to catch up with most of the board members and to find out just how well it all went.

 

Funnily enough, the launch was about launching the Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and to introduce the cafe to all the people who had participated in its creation, but the cafe doesn't actually 'open to the public' until February! Not exactly what I was expecting, but might be another excuse to get up here early next year!

 

Anyway, the kitchen of the cafe is now fully kitted out and looks fantastic. The walls alone cost $6k as they needed to be stainless steel. The hand washing sink comes with a kickboard, or should I say 'hipboard' because it's at hip height, which just needs a tap and the water rushes out, avoiding the need to turn on a tap. Everything is sparkly and new and I can imagine the local chefs will be enviously watching on as it starts operating!

 

Apparently the food and event went really well and the RAP was a hit (well, it helped them to get a $500k grant to set up their next venture, so was something useful out of my time there!) and only a handful of spelling errors noted, so version 2 will be produced sometime in the new year!

 

Spent the late afternoon with my mate Ray and a cuppa and caught up on the goings on of the motel, staff and guests.

 

Ended the evening with a wander down the road to check out the most amazing Christmas Lights ever - they change in time to the music!! Of course, Steve will want a set of these amazing American lights for himself when I show him the clips on my phone!! Please don't tell him anyone?! :)

Home Ayrt last …

Day 36: Saturday 28 April (8pm, Baulkham Hills)

Yesterday and last night, my last evening in Ayr, was surprise after surprise!

You already know about the didgeridoo. I’m embarrassed to admit that I was also undeservedly showered with gifts from many of the beautiful people I’ve met in what feels like a lifetime, in Ayr. Lynette’s family is especially generous, so I’ve brought home some very treasured items including a mug, bowl and plate decorated with the traditional Torres Strait Islander headdress and a travel pillow in the Torres Strait colours – they really are special people to be giving so much.

So we finished the farewell celebrations by dining at the Ayr Anzac Memorial Club. It was a perfect finish to the weeks of working in the Gudjuda office. The whole team had managed to make it for dinner so I was surrounded by the people who’d spent more time than anyone, either in or on that building - Eddie and Diane, John and Lynne, Jardine and Tracey, Michaela, and of course, Lynette. Next surprise was that the girls had made up a certificate of appreciation for me and if you knew how highly regarded certificates are in FNQ, you’d really appreciate the care they’d taken with the words they’d chosen and how it was printed on a gorgeous piece of parchment too – another beautiful treasure of my time in Ayr.

We ate our meals but didn’t need to order dessert as the girls had one final surprise – a birthday cake! And not just any cake! How gorgeous is this?! How many cakes have you ever seen that celebrate exactly how old you are?! I laughed so hard about that number being on there, because it just perfectly typifies the way that place was – no point in getting too big for your boots, because for every piece of accomplishment, there was always a bring-me-back-to-earth moment - I loved it and it really was a perfect finish to the evening and the trip!

In a funny twist, maybe I should actually count the final surprise as being from Mother Nature, who gave me the only rainy evening of the whole five weeks so that I couldn’t walk home from the club. Probably for the best, but I put it down to even the Burdekin feeling sad about my leaving!

All packed by 7.30am this morning and picked up by Shelley and her boss from Bowen, Michelle, just after 8am. I couldn’t get the words out to Ray that I wanted to say to thank him for all the care that he took of me, but it didn’t matter – he knew.

Arriving in Townsville about three hours before the flight actually worked out really well for us. It gave us some space to reflect on the program, our input and achievements, the people, our learning and all the various aspects of our time here that I haven’t mentioned. I’ll work on refining the notes to a simple summary, so the posts don’t end today – there’ll be at least one more, attempting to summarise an amazing experience into a few lines.

I don’t know how I’m going to tell people about my time in Ayr without feeling like I need to catch my breath, as there is definitely a little piece of my heart up there now. I’ll be back again one day to see how that kitchen got kitted out and how the chairs and tables look on the deck and who they hired and what’s on the menu and whether they could use it to celebrate the launch of the RAP and a million other questions that are swimming around my head and it hasn’t even been 24 hours since I was there! Gosh, I miss them all already. But it’s time for another adventure now – this one is a bit closer to home, and won’t need a blog, which will be a relief!

OK, just one more amusing moment (well, to me at least) - here's my final mention of 'smoko', found in the local church bulletin last Sunday! Thank you Ayr for some fantastic moments!!

FAyrwells …

Day 35: Friday 27 April (5.30pm, Ayr)

Oh dear. Very few people understand the stress I go through in saying goodbye. I don’t know why I find it so traumatic to even think about. I don’t remember a time in my childhood when I felt abandoned so don’t think it’s a subconscious reaction, but I don’t even take Steve to the airport for one of his frequent interstate trips because if I have to say goodbye there, I’ll inevitably shed a tear – it’s pathetic, but involuntary, so you can imagine how today went.

So first, let me give you some slightly amusing anecdotes that I’ve been saving for such a time. I was temporarily concerned that I might be acclimatising to Ayr or Queensland and the way of life up here …

After all the warm nights we had over Easter where it was too hot to sleep without the air conditioning on, at least intermittently, I’ve started to wake up in the mornings feeling a bit cool and had to pull the sheets in close to warm up. Apart from today, it has still been 30 degrees in the daytime here, so I’m a bit worried about returning to cold old Sydney after this - never thought I'd say that!

I don’t usually buy magazines, but I’ve recently found myself picking up copies of New Idea in the supermarket and sliding it in between the groceries so the person behind can’t see the trash I’m occupying my mind with. I justify to myself that I’m buying it for the puzzle section, but I have a suspicion that my subconscious is after the latest Brad and Ange goss. Pathetic!

Blurry action shot of Lynette and two
'hardheads' walking with us this morning :)

It’s just a little weird, but I love it when I hear Lynette calls her kids ‘hardheads’. It’s a funny little phrase that’s uniquely hers or maybe it isn’t but she’s the only one I hear use it anyway. I don’t really know why I laugh at it so much, but it’s just the way she says it with frustration and affection all at once, “the little hardheads” that makes me smile.

Another funny word – ‘true’. Despite all the warnings, I’ve hardly heard anyone here add an ‘eh’ on to the end of a conversation, but I’ve heard a lot of ‘true’. It’s tacked on as an acknowledgement, as a question, an exclamation, a surprise, a confirmation, a sigh – just about anything and all the time. Now I’ve started noticing when I say it too! True!!

And finally, I’m getting very used to my easy start to the day of getting up at 6am and heading out for a walk. Then getting home by 5pm so I can stop at the shops to pick up groceries or have a cuppa with the ‘neighbours’, so when I got caught up chatting beyond 5.30pm one night last week in the office, I could feel myself starting to get some of that old stress back, looking at the clock, then at other people’s watches to check the time! Oh, next week is going to be really tough getting back into the routine!

So back to today and my last day with my Gudjuda peeps –

Jean (ABV), Michaela, me, Eddie, Lynette, AnneMarie (ICC)

Started off well enough with Jean from ABV and the ladies from ICC (Townsville’s Indigenous Coordination Centre) joining us for a review of the program. All good as you can imagine. Even though I’m not about to talk out of school on a blog post, I think you can tell what a fab time I’ve had here and if you can believe me, the feeling has been mutual. Jean expressed surprise and relief that it had all gone so well and while everyone was feeling good about what we’d achieved (still not quite finished work on the plans though!) we went out to the Munda to take some photos of all of us together.

Next was Eddie and my visit to the local state member, Rosemary Menkens, to talk about the RAP and see if she would be interested in adding her support to the final document via a few paragraphs in the colour copy. She was interested, curious, accommodating and such a pleasure to deal with. Of course she agreed and we left her with a draft and a promise to send her the final version in a few weeks. We’d brought Jean along with us and it was a great opportunity to promote ABV and the success of our relationship. More interest and conversation and we headed back to the office.

We walked back into a discussion at Gudjuda with an Indigenous Skills Development Officer with the Queensland Government and that was yet another opportunity to promote the great relationship and achievements of the past five weeks, so Jean jumped in and it might just turn out to be another link we’ve made for the future for ABV and the Indigenous people of FNQ!

Aunties - Ranita, Glen and Alva
with one of their 'grannies' (grandkids)

Finally, it was just us usual Gudjuda people left, so Eddie decided to tell me that he was going to give me one of the didgeridoo’s I’ve been covertly admiring. Of course, you can guess the reaction that brought out in me, so I spent the afternoon trying not to cry and it’s extremely difficult to concentrate on a business plan when you are also trying very hard to control uncontrollable emotions! Anyway, we made it through the afternoon and packed up in a big rush and on the way home we drove past Curves - you can see from the photo that Lynette's sister and another couple of Aunties were enjoying the passing crowd. I love their smiles! I warned them when I met them a few weeks ago that next time I drove past them with their big smiles I would take a photo, so I did and isn't it the best?! They brought me farewell gifts today too - so unexpected. Just beautiful people here.

Dinner tonight is at the Ayr Anzac Memorial Club – a very fitting finish to my time here! No doubt, a few more tears to come, but I have fallen in love with these people after five very close weeks, so I think I can be forgiven a little!

HAyrppy Birthday …

Day 34: Thursday 26 April (10pm, Ayr)

What an amazing day today was! I’m just going to give you a blow by blow description as no other way to describe it …

First up, Shelley and I went for a walk along Queens Beach in Bowen. The sunrise wasn’t spectacular but it gave everything a silvery glow so was still pretty magical in my mind. The earth was wishing me a happy birthday for sure!

Next was breakfast – a quick stop at the local bakery with Jean, our program co-ordinator from Australian Business Volunteers, who has come up to review the program. We grabbed a very light brekkie as we were not sure how good our sea legs were at this early stage. Turns out we had nothing to worry about, but while waiting for the coffees, we admired some of the many murals that Bowen is famous for – 19 of them in total. Here’s a couple to admire and if you want to know more about them, check out the link which will tell you the artist, the story and the year they were each painted.



http://www.whitsunday.qld.gov.au/web/guest/bowen-murals   

Start of the trip
Back: AnneMarie, Jean, Gayle,
Leigh, Shelley, Me, Jim, Eddie
Front: Coen, Lynette





Then on to the harbour and all 11 of our motley group met at the boat ramp, donned our sexy wetsuits (mine was camouflage so you may not be able to see me in any photos!), got 'smoked' by Jim who ensured we were all protected with a smoking ceremony and words with the spirits and then jumped in to the two boats.

Out in the harbour, we began our search for turtles in the shallow water. This entailed one or two of us sitting on the front of the boat scanning the water and giving a yell when we spotted one. I was in the boat with Eddie driving, so we’d then point to the turtle until Eddie could get close enough to tail him and we’d attempt to tire the turtle out a little so we could bellyflop in and catch them in our (gloved) hands.

Well, first in was Jim to give a demo. Unfortunately, the demo was on the other boat so we missed the lesson, but we’d had a bit of a briefing session at the hotel the night before, over dinner (or drinks but what does it matter?), so we figured we would be fine. In the meantime, Jim took the turtle up into the boat for measuring, tagging, etc and a few photos with us girls, of course.

Not happy, but turtle 1 tagged and looked after!

  

Me, Lynette, Jean, Jim,
Gayle, Leigh, Coen with turtle 2



Good thing we took some photos as our many, many attempts to catch a turtle in the water were unrewarded, but it was a lot of fun trying and it was a lot of fun getting back into the boat – I made a meal of it as nearly ended up doing a forward roll into the boat until Eddie unceremoniously lifted one leg over for me and I managed the other one, in between fits of laughter. After four dives (and four unladylike returns to the boat) I had twice managed to grab or touch the shell with one hand but not the other, so pretty pointless unfortunately as you need to get a good grip with both hands. Those turtles weigh an awful lot and their powerful flippers can scoot their body away very quickly, but that's a poor excuse for my lack of hand-eye coordination.

Lynette abandoned -
she let the turtle go!

Lynette had come along with us and she at least managed to catch a turtle, but when one of his flippers scraped along her shin bone, she yelped and let him go, so we ended up three/nil in the final tally of Jim vs Eddie's boat x turtles tagged for the day.

Showered, changed, and quite weary, we thought we should have lunch before heading back to Ayr, so we stopped off at one of the seafood shops along the marina and bought some prawns – red spot prawns actually and they were delicious freshly peeled on bread as a sandwich. Can you see their spot in the photo? It was a meal fit for a king. Or me. 

Next stop was back home to Ayr where I had a proper shower, with soap and shampoo and felt semi-human again. Was going to do a load of washing but just didn’t have the energy to swap some notes for coins for the washing machine, so it will have to wait for tomorrow now, or Saturday night perhaps. Hmmm, probably Saturday night. Anyway, Jean arrived around 6pm and just as I was greeting her, I saw that Colleen had arrived as well so it was a really good feeling to see those big, warm smiles again – like old friends!

Jean and I finished the day by heading off for dinner at the tavern in town (in other words, we walked to the next block) and then back home for a relatively early night.

I know I should be finishing the plans for tomorrow, but I don’t think I’d make any sense now. I can barely scratch this out so it’s time for bed.

Awesome birthday? Tick! I won’t be forgetting this one in a hurry!! J

Ayrnzacs …

Day 33: Wednesday 25 April (1pm, Ayr)

Anzac Day is always an emotional morning. Watching the march on TV is enough to send me for tissues, so I thought I would be really brave this morning and attend the march. It was brilliant!

I almost missed it as I had the wrong start time so wasn’t quite dressed when I heard the pipers and determined it was a little bit more in tune than a practice would sound, so quickly threw on my clothes and raced out the door without any makeup on – thank goodness for sunglasses! Got to the street outside my window and I took the short cut between the shops to the main street. Made it just in time to see the first cars roll through, followed by the diggers and then all the supporters and schools. Ray (motel manager) was all dressed up and very proud of his ‘Skippy’ badge so gave me a salute as he walked past. He later told me it was proper for an officer to salute a woman as she would always be of higher standing than a male – I think deep down all the husbands of the world know this, but it’s nice to hear it!

Once he was past me, I cut through the march and ran down to Anzac Park for a better photo and stayed for the ceremony. We had the Mayor, the State Member for the area and the Federal Member all present! RAAF guarded the memorial. We had a fly over (might have been a straggler from Townsville?). Apparently it was the biggest turnout they’ve ever had, so little ol’ Ayr did good today!

Remember I mentioned this was to be a short week as I had some exciting news? Well, I’m about to head down to meet Shelley in Bowen for an overnight stay as we’re going to be out in the beautiful blue waters around there early tomorrow morning – we’re turtle tagging!

This could easily be the highlight of the trip as we will be out in the water, jumping in to catch turtles and then tagging them for research purposes before dropping them back in the water. It’s up there in the amazing stakes with swimming with dolphins and whale watching, and almost didn’t happen, but Eddie has done some shuffling of his responsibilities to wrangle a day off on Thursday to take us out with Jim and their wives. Perfect timing as our Australian Business Volunteers co-ordinator, Jean, has arrived to review how we’ve gone, so she’ll be joining us too.

Expect some stellar photo’s from this event!! (ooooh, expectations – silly girl!)

ShipwrAyrcked …

Day 32: Tuesday 24 April (11pm, Ayr)

Today was another day of working through business plans and planning for the next couple of days. Not much to tell you, as I spent most of the morning taking Eddie through all the documents I’ve been working on and adding in some of his additional feedback. However, he’s given me a copy of a booklet to read, about a seaman, James Morrill, who was shipwrecked at Cape Cleveland, between here and Townsville in 1846.

The interesting thing is that this man ended up living with the Aborigines for 17 years before being found by settlers. Shelley, Steve and I learnt about him while driving around over Easter as our curiosity about how the towns around here were named led us to discover him. I missed an opportunity to buy a book about him, but now Eddie has given me a copy of his story, so I thought I would read the first page to see what it was like. I was immediately hooked – it’s fascinating! James made it to land after 42 days on a raft with three others. The story of how the aborigines found him and treated the four of them is just full of the fear and nervousness you might expect. The aborigines could see that the white people were ill and so they fed them and talked in signs to let them know they would take them back to their camp. When they got close to camp and began to fear they would be eaten alive, the aborigines warmed their own hands and placed them on the survivors to stop them shaking in fear and reassure John and his colleagues that they were OK.

The three others ended up dying in the first couple of years as they’d been through a lot, but John made it through and learnt quite a lot of their language, living as an aborigine, tracking wallabies for food, scrounging for roots, honey and breadfruit and even became a better trapper of birds than the aborigines, as he applied some skill to their ideas. He explains towards the end of the story about how the aborigines lived and he really shares a vivid picture of what life was like for them back then. Now that I know these are likely to be the ancestors of my colleagues, it feels almost a little personal now. Especially as Eddie explained to me only today how his Dad was born on the banks of the river that passes through Plantation Park. And having seen quite a bit of the bush around the region myself, I can almost imagine wandering through these lands, looking out for tracks, or stopping at a river to set a fish trap, or being rightly afraid of crocs and snakes! Though, I might have become a vegetarian! 

James eventually came across a sheep property, so after washing himself as clean as possible so they would see he wasn’t black, he revealed himself to a couple of station hands, telling them not to shoot because he was a British ‘object’. I love that he admits in the story “Of course I meant subject, but in the excitement of the moment I did not know what I said.” – just priceless for a man that had barely spoken English for 17 years! So, returned to civilisation, James asked on behalf of the aborigines that they be allowed to keep the land north of the Burdekin as it was no good to the white men anyway. Seems that no-one else thought this was a good idea, as the land was settled soon thereafter and he died only a couple of years later at the young age of 41.

I really haven’t done James’ story an ounce of justice here, because the way he tells it is so full and rich and vivid, so if you are interested, let me know as I’ve made a copy to take home. You won’t be able to put it down so lucky it’s only brief!