Roaming Ramblings 2008 #3 July 1st.
Katherine to Daly River.
Greetings from Woolianna on The Daly. (Heaven on a Stick)
We were expecting to be leaving here today to go on to Darwin for the next 2 weeks, but late yesterday afternoon we learnt that Craig Lowndes and Jamie Winchup of the Vodaphone Race Team are visiting the local aboriginal community of Naiyu tomorrow (Wednesday) on their way to Darwin, for a meet and greet session with sausage sizzle lunch plus photo opportunities and being the dedicated Ford follower that I am I couldn’t pass up the chance to go over and join in the activities so we’ve delayed our departure for 2 days.
Naiyu, incidentally, is one of the best examples of an Indigenous Community we have ever seen, the whole village is clean & tidy, the residents seem to have a genuine pride in their community which is good to see.
They have a fully staffed medical centre, open 6 hours a day with their own air strip where the doctor lands for his weekly visit, the community is totally dry which is strictly adhered to and the Police Station is manned 24/7 by 4 aboriginal officers and they pride themselves on the low level of crime & violence in the area.
Those that want alcohol have to go to the Daly River Pub at the river crossing (about 10k’s), they can only buy takeaway between 3pm & 7pm, the same rule applies to us as well but you never see more than about 8 or 10 there whenever we go over. (Maybe the $50 a carton slows them down)
The kids all go to the local school at Woolianna on the bus each day and from the pictures on the wall at the school of those kids that attend 100% each week it seems they don’t have too much trouble getting them to attend.
It really is an eye opener compared to some communities we’ve been through in recent years, no government intervention needed here.
It’s about 20k’s from here and we go over every Thursday when the fresh food truck comes in, to stock up on the essentials at the village supermarket which is very well run and carries a wide range of food products and general goods.
We’ve learnt over the past 4 weeks that only about 20% of the residents have their “income” quarantined which I believe is the lowest in the Territory.
Anyway enough about Naiyu, will be able to report on tomorrows happenings with the FORD boys next time.
The last month we’ve spent at Woolianna has been really lovely, the owners here, Georgie & Adrian are ex Qantas staffers, he a pilot and she a hostess and they certainly know how to look after their guests, they get involved with all the park activities and organise regular events like Market Days, Dances & Singalongs.
Today being Territory Day (30 years of self government) we are having a BBQ on the lawn tonight followed by fire works.
On June 15, Georgie’s mum Anna, who is here at the moment from Sydney, turned 80, so we had a big party night to help her celebrate, again with fire works. (Any excuse)
Every Thursday the ladies have a craft day and market in the Gazebo here at Woolianna and several ladies from the other camp sites along the river come along and they all have a lovely time. On Tuesdays the same thing happens at the Banyan Farm, another resort/camp about 7 k’s away and all the ladies from here go over there for the morning. (J is there at the moment)
There are also markets at the Woolianna School every 3rd Sunday and believe me they come from everywhere for that one…. Judith has sold quite a lot of bears and jewellery she’s made at all the market days as well she’s been the Woolianna hairdresser for the past month.
I just go fishing which hasn’t been as successful as I’d hoped although I have caught 2 at 60+ cms and one at 70 (he was a nice fish) will put some pics on the blog when we get to Darwin.
Plenty of undersize which are still great fun to get in the net. These Barra know how to fight.
Last Friday night about 20 of us went over to the Banyan Farm for a charity dinner and entertainment, there was a variety club type rally passing through the area so they put on a function to help the teams raise some money for the Starlight Foundation, there were about 120 people there in total, we had a 3 course meal for $30 a head and it was a very successful night, we believe about $2000 plus was raised from various auctions and sales of goods etc. (We all came home with something)
They have a very large undercover area that holds about 200 which was built some years ago by the fishing club to cater for the entrants in the annual Barra Classic which is conducted on the river in April every year.
The entertainment was provided by a fellow we’ve seen before in Darwin, he calls himself Fat Thommo and he is well named, (HUGE would be more appropriate) he dresses up in all the costumes and does Elvis, Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson and Bee Gees impersonations.
As a grand finale he comes out in womens lingerie, including G String & suspenders etc. and does the Rocky Horror thing, hilarious.
We had one frightening experience a couple of weeks ago, John & Denise Dawe who we first met at Emerald and had seen a couple of times in between, called in for a week and one morning we went in the boats down the river about 7 k’s to fish and while we were there they got their boat caught up in an overhanging tree branch to which they were tied and subsequently tipped themselves into the river, Peter & I were only about 30 metres away and were able to get to them fairly quickly, we got John into the boat in about a minute or two and fortunately there was another couple close by and they were able to get to Denise and get her out of the water, the sad part about this is they are both fairly large people and poor swimmers and were panicking a bit so we were very lucky that the second boat came along as I think had we tried to get them both aboard my boat we might all have ended up swimming with the crocs.
Anyway all ended safely, we towed their boat home and the days adventure was the main topic of conversation at Happy Hour that night.
Unfortunately after about 3 days the story was embellished considerably each time it was told and people were treating us like heroes (very embarrassing)
Last night which was supposed to be our last night here, as well as another 4 couples, Georgie organised a farewell dinner for us all in the Gazebo, we felt we were there under false pretences as we had already decided to stay the extra days but she wanted us to be there anyway and guess what, yes ….she put another fire works display. As I said, any excuse.
That’s about all I can remember of this past month but we certainly won’t forget our time here, it’s been absolutely beautiful and we’ve already booked for the same time next year.
Till next time
Hope you are all well
Love to All
D & J.
Katherine to Daly River.
Greetings from Woolianna on The Daly. (Heaven on a Stick)
We were expecting to be leaving here today to go on to Darwin for the next 2 weeks, but late yesterday afternoon we learnt that Craig Lowndes and Jamie Winchup of the Vodaphone Race Team are visiting the local aboriginal community of Naiyu tomorrow (Wednesday) on their way to Darwin, for a meet and greet session with sausage sizzle lunch plus photo opportunities and being the dedicated Ford follower that I am I couldn’t pass up the chance to go over and join in the activities so we’ve delayed our departure for 2 days.
Naiyu, incidentally, is one of the best examples of an Indigenous Community we have ever seen, the whole village is clean & tidy, the residents seem to have a genuine pride in their community which is good to see.
They have a fully staffed medical centre, open 6 hours a day with their own air strip where the doctor lands for his weekly visit, the community is totally dry which is strictly adhered to and the Police Station is manned 24/7 by 4 aboriginal officers and they pride themselves on the low level of crime & violence in the area.
Those that want alcohol have to go to the Daly River Pub at the river crossing (about 10k’s), they can only buy takeaway between 3pm & 7pm, the same rule applies to us as well but you never see more than about 8 or 10 there whenever we go over. (Maybe the $50 a carton slows them down)
The kids all go to the local school at Woolianna on the bus each day and from the pictures on the wall at the school of those kids that attend 100% each week it seems they don’t have too much trouble getting them to attend.
It really is an eye opener compared to some communities we’ve been through in recent years, no government intervention needed here.
It’s about 20k’s from here and we go over every Thursday when the fresh food truck comes in, to stock up on the essentials at the village supermarket which is very well run and carries a wide range of food products and general goods.
We’ve learnt over the past 4 weeks that only about 20% of the residents have their “income” quarantined which I believe is the lowest in the Territory.
Anyway enough about Naiyu, will be able to report on tomorrows happenings with the FORD boys next time.
The last month we’ve spent at Woolianna has been really lovely, the owners here, Georgie & Adrian are ex Qantas staffers, he a pilot and she a hostess and they certainly know how to look after their guests, they get involved with all the park activities and organise regular events like Market Days, Dances & Singalongs.
Today being Territory Day (30 years of self government) we are having a BBQ on the lawn tonight followed by fire works.
On June 15, Georgie’s mum Anna, who is here at the moment from Sydney, turned 80, so we had a big party night to help her celebrate, again with fire works. (Any excuse)
Every Thursday the ladies have a craft day and market in the Gazebo here at Woolianna and several ladies from the other camp sites along the river come along and they all have a lovely time. On Tuesdays the same thing happens at the Banyan Farm, another resort/camp about 7 k’s away and all the ladies from here go over there for the morning. (J is there at the moment)
There are also markets at the Woolianna School every 3rd Sunday and believe me they come from everywhere for that one…. Judith has sold quite a lot of bears and jewellery she’s made at all the market days as well she’s been the Woolianna hairdresser for the past month.
I just go fishing which hasn’t been as successful as I’d hoped although I have caught 2 at 60+ cms and one at 70 (he was a nice fish) will put some pics on the blog when we get to Darwin.
Plenty of undersize which are still great fun to get in the net. These Barra know how to fight.
Last Friday night about 20 of us went over to the Banyan Farm for a charity dinner and entertainment, there was a variety club type rally passing through the area so they put on a function to help the teams raise some money for the Starlight Foundation, there were about 120 people there in total, we had a 3 course meal for $30 a head and it was a very successful night, we believe about $2000 plus was raised from various auctions and sales of goods etc. (We all came home with something)
They have a very large undercover area that holds about 200 which was built some years ago by the fishing club to cater for the entrants in the annual Barra Classic which is conducted on the river in April every year.
The entertainment was provided by a fellow we’ve seen before in Darwin, he calls himself Fat Thommo and he is well named, (HUGE would be more appropriate) he dresses up in all the costumes and does Elvis, Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson and Bee Gees impersonations.
As a grand finale he comes out in womens lingerie, including G String & suspenders etc. and does the Rocky Horror thing, hilarious.
We had one frightening experience a couple of weeks ago, John & Denise Dawe who we first met at Emerald and had seen a couple of times in between, called in for a week and one morning we went in the boats down the river about 7 k’s to fish and while we were there they got their boat caught up in an overhanging tree branch to which they were tied and subsequently tipped themselves into the river, Peter & I were only about 30 metres away and were able to get to them fairly quickly, we got John into the boat in about a minute or two and fortunately there was another couple close by and they were able to get to Denise and get her out of the water, the sad part about this is they are both fairly large people and poor swimmers and were panicking a bit so we were very lucky that the second boat came along as I think had we tried to get them both aboard my boat we might all have ended up swimming with the crocs.
Anyway all ended safely, we towed their boat home and the days adventure was the main topic of conversation at Happy Hour that night.
Unfortunately after about 3 days the story was embellished considerably each time it was told and people were treating us like heroes (very embarrassing)
Last night which was supposed to be our last night here, as well as another 4 couples, Georgie organised a farewell dinner for us all in the Gazebo, we felt we were there under false pretences as we had already decided to stay the extra days but she wanted us to be there anyway and guess what, yes ….she put another fire works display. As I said, any excuse.
That’s about all I can remember of this past month but we certainly won’t forget our time here, it’s been absolutely beautiful and we’ve already booked for the same time next year.
Till next time
Hope you are all well
Love to All
D & J.
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