A quick disclaimer- the following post is about our personal experiences, conversations and ongoing understandings of just one group of Aboriginals. We aren’t trying to sum up or generalize all Aboriginal culture, we are just sharing some of our learning so far this year!

The glamour! The socialites! The style! Well, if you were looking for all those things, chances are you might have walked straight by the Broome Cup. However if you were looking for some beer, shooing the boot, betting, two up and cowboys, it definitely seems that you’ve come to the right place.

The final day of the Broome Races Carnival was originally not going to be attended by us due to the fact that we were wanting to save some money. However a bit of peer pressure and the offer of a ride there and back has us quickly changing our minds. We arrived to a packed stadium and quickly found our fellow Melbournian friend, Kate, with her fellow colleagues from Derby within the crowd. The annual pull of the Broome Cup is one you obviously cannot shake off…even two and a half hours away in Derby.

The lovely Kate and Dan

Dan photobombing the lovely photo of Em and I

It didn’t take long to secure a position high above the rabble (literally) where certain individuals, who shall forever more go unnamed, undertook mingling, tom-foolery and educating the locals about the fine art form of ‘Shooing the boot’. Yep, it is true, scanning your eyes over sun-drenched turquoise waters whilst fine Broomites ‘shoo the boot’ is something quite hard to describe.

As the day progressed and sun shine burned down from above, we decided we should probably see a race. A well-read and prepared Ellen laid a bet with a local bookie…and then it was on to the race! Well, near the race. At the back of the crowd. On tippy toes. Manes were seen, fascinators were brushed out of faces and chants were started. We were very lucky to have a HUGELY successful win on that one race ($35 in the pocket,thank you very much). With a 100% winning percentage, it was onward and upward to greater things on the horizon.

How we actually saw the race

With the kindheartedness of a wonderfully, delightfully, brilliant friend (did we mention wonderful?) we were lucky enough to receive a free lift back to Bidgy…which would be much cheaper than a 2 hour taxi ride to the middle of nowhere. With a tummy full of Big Macs, McChickens, Domino pizzas and possibly an extra large sundae, we arrived in the wee hours (read, 9pm) on Saturday night. So, with all the festivities, merriment, group photos, false betting confidence and many a giggle behind us, we swiftly pulled out our pens and crossed off another item from our Bucket List. Next stop: wrestle a crocodile.

Just to start. This post is not trying to brag. Well, not explicitly. If it feels like some bragging is in there, apologies, but after witnessing some of the sights of today, you’d probably try and sneak in a bit of bragging too…and now the post can commence!

It was with a simple push that the intrepid exploring could begin.

Well, before the push there was the obligatory drive through the mud, tripping over the tinny, checking your lures, slapping/soaking yourself with suncream and making sure there is ice in the esky. And possibly a quick check of Facebook. If you were that way inclined.

But then the outdoor adventure could begin!

And so it was that some of the most brilliantly sapphiric and turquoise waters were trawled and explored for amazingly tasty mud crabs, threadfin salmon and the elusive Barramundi. Yes, it’s true, Melbourne may be the cultural, fashion and food hub of Australia, but it is safe to say it is lacking in truly awe-inspiring water and beautifully quiet and untouched beaches.

At times, surviving through the suffocating mugginess and heat during  “The Wet” almost wasn’t worth it. People at work would say, “Stay inside, enjoy the air con and just wait for Dry Season”. Then there would be this weird glint in their eye and I swear one time one of them may have shed a tear – and now I know why. The weather during this time of year is absolutely incredible. Mornings and evenings are cool and drop down to 15 degrees, with cloudless days of 30-32 degrees. During the fishing adventure today I realised that I can’t remember the last time it rained…6 weeks ago or 8?

While checking through the various crab pots we had sneakily placed amongst the mangroves, I had a pretty amazing realisation. During this morning, I had just driven 30 minutes through the middle of nowhere, loaded a tinny into a mangrove (and possibly crocodile infested) estuary and loaded and threw out crab pots…and it all felt normal, like every day activities. It’s a pretty amazing thing to consider just how different our life has become during this year, but what is even more amazing is that we’ve somehow adjusted to it…all with smiles on our sunburnt faces.

We’re not even going to give an excuse for not writing regularly on this blog, we’ll just hang our heads in shame and hope to be better bloggers in the future.

Part of the reason for the lack of blogging was that for a week and half, during our July holidays, we were out of complete technological contact. That’s right people, no facebook, no instagram, no pinterest and if you lost too many lives on candy crush….well my friends there’s no friends to give you any extra lives, it was dire!

We spent these two weeks with El’s delightful sister Amy travelling along the Gibb River Rd, an old cattle route that connects Broome to Kununurra.

The Gibb River and Northern Hwy 

www.losapos.com/gibb_ruver_rd 

The road is an old, corrugated dirt track about 664km in length. Our first stop on the trip of a lifetime was Derby to grab some brekky (sausage rolls and pies from the Derby bakery, breakfast of kings) and do some last minute food shopping. We took a tour of the Boab prison tree as well and the old Derby prison, an open, rusted, corrugated building with a concrete slab floor and metal rings on the floor to chain the prisoners too.  After this cheery visit we kit the road and and started our long drive on the Gibb.

We proceeced 140km down the road where we spent the next 2 nights, at Windjana Gorge, surrounded by man eating crocodiles who would gouge our eyes out if you merely looked at them…actually they were merely freshwater crocodiles who might get a little snappy if you decided to kick them in the head on purpose. This stop was followed by 2 more along the way including Bell Gorge (a crowd favourite), Manning Gorge and El Questro/Emma Gorge.

So what did we see on the long drive East? Gorges, gorges and more gorges. Gorges which were hard to get in to, gorges which were easier, gorges with big massive waterfalls and gorges with barely a trickle, gorges where you could jump off a cliff (Ellen demonstrated this act of foolishness) and gorges where you could relax in the thermal spring. We also had great fun with gorge puns as they were all ‘gorgeous’ and some were very ‘engorged’ (that’s pretty much where the puns stopped)

At the end of our trip luxury came in the form of a tented cabin at Emma Gorge, which had an ensuite attached and a fan (how your standards of what luxury entails drop after you’ve been camping for 4 days!)

After stopping in Kununurra for a night we then headed back on the great Northern Hwy, through Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing (completely bypassing Wolf Creek for obvious reasons) and ended up back in Broome to farewell a slightly dirtier and weatherbeaten Amy who headed back to the ‘big smoke’

We ended up with very little food left, melted ice from our esky, every piece of clothing covered in dust and dirt and a car that required a deluxe car wash. It truly is an amazing trip and one that everyone should try and do at some stage…just try not to kick too many crocodiles in the head…it’s not pretty!

Alright, yes, it’s true. We are slack. Slacker than slack…whatever that is. Incredibly flaccid? No, that’s just going down strange avenues and innuendo roads. Either way, we haven’t written any form of an update and thought we would own up to our laziness. So, with all of that behind us, we can start afresh.

Forget The Kentucky Derby, Royal Ascot or The Melbourne Cup. We are talking about THE Gantheume Races…in Broome.

Needless to say, it is on the list of greatest undiscovered racing events. Where else can you enjoy a flutter, enjoy the sun and then have your plastic trestle table cleared away for a raucous game of Two Up?

The Illustrious Two Up Ring

And so it was that two Melbournians discovered this little hidden pearl in Broome on WA’s ‘Foundation Day’ long weekend. You might not discover it in any Lonely Planet guide, but we will just accept your donation of thanks before you go. Make sure when you venture out to the merriness and frivolity of the Broome races, purchase the “Members Pin” for $30 so you can head into the main pavilion…don’t worry, you won’t have to worry about the usual dangers found in a members or marquee area. No bumping into chandeliers, falling into champagne fountains or accidentally getting locked in a man-sized bird cage in these members areas. No, no, no. Upon entering the Broome races, you will probably be forced to share a laugh with a local or three, have a cheeky “chin wag” with a bookie (and possibly help him avoid his ex-wife) and enjoy the relaxed festivities that Broome has to offer.

Some of the Wonderful Bidyadanga Teachers

Prepare the tables garçon!

The long weekend was a true success. Two Up circles were navigated, country races were celebrated and hotel upgrades were serendipitously awarded (another story in itself). Well done Broome, we will come back to sample your brilliance again!

And so the ending of the beginning has come…and we move further into the chapter book known as “The Bidgy Times”.  Oh, and the holidays. Bring on those glorious holidays. Everyone knows, if there is one thing teachers are short of, it is time away from school. So, it is during this time of thumb twiddling and drinking of Lemsip, that we have thought of something we are each proud of achieving this term.

Ellen:

Looking back over the term the one thing I’m most proud of (other than adding a few hundred freckles and catching the world’s biggest fish) is how we’ve uprooted our lives, created a new home, started a new school and settled into a new community.

I think this was really brought home to me this week when I felt comfortable enough to visit some homes to drop off work to parents. As most of the kids walk to school with siblings, cousins and friends there’s quite a few parents who I hadn’t met yet. It was so lovely to go to the houses with my AIEO (Aboriginal and Islander Education Officer) and show the parents what their kids have done over the term. I was able to go through and see the kids work from the start of the term and show parents how far they had progressed and it felt pretty good.

Dan:

When we first started up here we attended a seminar for new teachers to the Kimberley. It was focused on dealing with relocation stress, adapting to our new surroundings and giving us insight into the kids we would be working with. I remember thinking to myself, “Stress? What stress?” I’m someone who has never really suffered from any stress, anxiety or worry. I’m usually that person making light of a situation and who always looks for the silver lining in any experience, even terrible ones… and then two weeks later I had a panic attack.

Hang on… a panic WHAT?!

Since starting at Lagrange Remote Community School, I had had to adapt to the four new hats I was taking on. I was in charge of primary school art, upper primary computers, running Library and art sessions with Preps and teaching a literacy intervention group for kids aged ten to twelve who are working at a Prep to Grade One level. It was daunting as I hadn’t officially taught art before, but I was really excited and pumped for the challenge.

About half way through this term I reached an incredibly difficult point. Every night I was kept up thinking of all the things I had to teach, the “boisterous” (read naughty) kids I had to win over and how I was going to even do a mediocre job out here. It was all too hard. I remember thinking to myself,

“Surely things wouldn’t be this hard if I was back in Melbourne?”

This all culminated with my reaching a point where the anxiety, worry and stress took over and I couldn’t breathe properly…for someone who has never suffered from stress before, I was a little perplexed about what was going on. But you know what? I survived (with much assistance and support from one amazing woman called Ellen Steele). I am incredibly proud of the challenges I have taken on and faced during this year already. Yes, I have come all the way to Western Australia to realise that what doesn’t kill you (or maybe panic you to death?) will make you stronger…so bring it Bidgy, bring it.

Ah, young love.

Yes, 27 is still young, okay?

With the end of our first year marriage concluding today, it made sense to use that as our inspiration for this post. The last year has been an amazing time. Not only did it start with a perfect wedding (highly biased opinion, yes) which we wouldn’t change at all, but it has also been full of exciting and scary adventures.

We have celebrated our wedding, travelled around Hawaii (and survived a helicopter flight with no doors), bought a house, followed new teaching ambitions, successfully applied for new jobs, bought a puppy, rented out our house and moved interstate…to a remote Aboriginal community. Yep, all in 12 months.

This time has been amazing (and terrifying at times!) and we have been lucky to go through such a fantastic journey. One of the things which has made all of these experiences so brilliant has been the support and interest people have provided throughout our journey. So, to all of you AMAZINGLY AND FANTASTICALLY INGENIOUS people, we would like to thank you for all of the questions, guidance and time spend listening or discussing anything and everything during this last year.

Finally, if anyone feels the urge to provide the funds, we would be more than happy to organise and host a second wedding in Portsea. We will take all offers generously!

Thank you again for being a part of our lives and we can’t wait till our next catch up, whenever that happens to be!

Western Reflections

Bring on the long weekend! Just when we thought we couldn’t get enough of them this term, the brilliant government of WA decided to give us an Easter long weekend three weeks before holidays! Well done Department of Education, everything they say about you might not be true after all…maybe.

If your trawl your finger down the coast of WA from Broome, you may notice a tiny, tiny portion of land jutting out just north of, well, nowhere (okay Karratha…which is sort of nowhere). This area of land in the middle of nowhere holds a really beautiful and picturesque secret called Point Samson.

The road to nowhere…

After packing up the car, making sure every student was out of our rooms and then clicking our heels in anticipation, we headed south. For 7 hours. Just a skip and a hop when it comes to traveling over this way (notice the smugness after only 3 months). It was a very surreal feeling to suddenly turn into a beautiful little seaside community of Point Samson, which literally was in the middle of nowhere.

And so the camping began. Camping is a HARD gig. Tents were put up, chairs unfolded, food unpacked, bums placed in said chairs and fridges connected to electricity. Wait, that IS slumming it with camping, right? You only get one fridge with power? Yeah, it was an amazingly well setup camp site. Showers, electricity and designated spots for tents…Don’t say anything haters.

Our campsite

With out headquarters established, it was great to head off and get out into the land, especially since we hadn’t explored any of the WA countryside. Karijini National Park was our main excursion for the weekend. Natural pools were swam in, trails were crossed and 4WDs were tested along rocky terrain…probably due to overexcited driver possibly listening to silly hip hop music.

Python Pool

Overall, the weekend was a success! The tents stayed up, all the pegs made it home, sites were explored, head lamps worn and hilarity ensued. It was a strange thing to think that for a long weekend trip we drove the equivalent distance of Melbourne to Canberra. It was easily worth it for all the relaxation, exploration and fun….surely every campsite has electricity for our borrowed fridge and fan?

Well, it is now over two months since we left Melbourne, so it’s probably about time to begin to reminisce. Everyone knows the ‘2 month reminisce rule’, right? Over the last week we have been comparing how our lifestyles have changed since our move, and not just in the obvious ways (think red dirt everywhere or living in an Aboriginal community). As we spoke, it kept coming back to the little things which made us keep saying, “Remember when…” or “Remember the…”. You know, little things like having a 1 litre tub of suncream last the year, not one month, or using the ‘Off’ button on your air conditioner. You know, simple things. So, the following little list is just an insight into some of the things which made up a tiny part of our lives back home. It isn’t to say one is better than the other, it is just to say, “Remember the…”

1. Coffee

Single blend origins in Bidgy? Ah, fresh out of luck. Well, it’s an obvious one, but the thought of having a proper coffee WHENEVER you feel like it is a tricky one. While it’s lovely having our Nespresso machine there is nothing like sitting down at a café and having someone bring you a lovely fresh latte. Actually…

2. Cafes

Bloody cafes! Having a choice of where to meet your friends and eat some sort of delectable treat now seems absurd! Must look into how we the community would feel about integrating aspects of French life into everyday world.

3. Humidity Control

Ah, Summer. Beautiful. The birds and the bees are in the air (completely innocently, of course) and everyone is up for adventures. Picnics on the school oval? A stroll around our red dirt block? Stepping outside for more than 2 minutes? BRILLIANT! Ah, the dilemma of these notions is the rascally thing called humidity. Damn you concentrated moisture in the air which affects our body’s natural cooling down system, through your prevention of evaporation on our skin. Put simply, don’t even consider planning any of these lovely tourist adventures in Bidgy between 8am and 4pm as 36 degrees + 80% humidity = sweat induced coma. ***

4. Hunting and Gathering

Yes it must be said, whilst taking a walk down to Victoria Street was once seen as a horrible task, which could bring on pains in the stomachs or sudden nausea, we now see it as a real privilege! The idea of being about to head off to the supermarket whenever you forget something is quite surreal. More so, the fact that it may be open whenever you need it is quite absurd! I guess it is a little different to the 3hr round trip to pick up that lemon you forgot for dinner!

5. Networks

See friends and family. Wonderful, wonderful family and friends. Whilst we love the digital and telecommunicational (made up word, but go with it) versions of you, it just isn’t the same.

And that’s the top five. Well, not TOP as is the most important to us. More like, the FIRST 5 things we thought of. Anyway, it’s finished and it is a list. Don’t complain, just smile.  As a fair and unbiased blog (aren’t they all?) it makes sense that we follow up this post of things we miss in Melbourne with some of the finer things in Bidyadanga!

*** The Editor would like to point out that from April to October all tourist adventures are bloody amazing due to the immaculate weather experienced in the Dry Season. So there.

And in came Mac.

McNulty “Mac” Steele

That’s right, the Steele family has one new addition to it…a brilliant…well, we don’t actually know what kind of dog he is. We are going with a Staffy x Jack Russell, or else just simply a ‘Broome Special’.

Luckily for us, the initial ‘applicant for Mac (nee Caleb) found another dog…which we found out 5 minutes after our visit to Mac’s carer on Saturday. So it was a typical decision process: pine for something, find out it is impossible to get, then find out it is possible to get, immediately jump at the opportunity. That is the typical decision process, right?

Elle and Mac

Either way, it seems to work out perfectly so far! He’s settled down into the house and has done a little exploring, though is still a bit timid and is now tucked in for the night.

Ready for bed

Life here in Bidgy is feeling pretty settled and amazingly we are now in our seventh week of school. It seems that we have moved from the ‘Newcomer’ and into the ‘Accepted’ level with the kids. Whenever we walk down the street or around community, they are quick to run out, say “Hey Miss/Sir!” and follow you around on your journey. Though, it must be said that it can be a little strange to have a little crew of 20 kids (aged between 5 and 8) tailing you during an afternoon stroll!

At work things are going well! It is a full on and intense experience during each lesson, but they are an amazing way to increase our repertoire of management and engagement techniques! In the end, the kids who have made the decision to come to school really want to learn and feel a chance of success; it is just how you find a way through some of their facades! Some days are incredibly tough and can make you second guess yourself, but the big thing we are focusing on is picking out the positives and focusing on the things we will keep setting up in our rooms….besides, how much hair can you pull out?!

As our time here progresses, we are keeping all our fingers, toes, knees, arms and legs crossed that our settlement into this community continues so positively!!

Question: What’s a way to throw two Melbournians into the deep end of a remote teaching year? No, it’s not telling them there is no electricity, gas or houses. It’s tougher. Much, much tougher. So tough it has to be written as an abbreviation….4WD. Oh yeah, we are serious teachers now.

As this weekend has passed, we have spent some time in the sun and getting low down and dirty with our car. Power steering fluid? Check. Awareness of “Jelly Sand”? Damn right. Pre-cleaner. Check. Not sure as you are an amateur, that’s okay, click here to discover what a pre-cleaner is- rookie.

We have discovered the ins and outs of our cars, pretended to be superheroes as we lifted cars (with a little help from our mate ‘Jack’) and we have survived the heat of ‘Big Wave Beach’. To be honest, it was a little annoying thinking that we would have to wake up on Saturday and Sunday and traipse to our 4WD course. However, after working our way through a theoretical day on Saturday and then backing it up with the fun of beach/rock driving all Sunday, it is safe to say that the course was really fantastic and beneficial!

For all you rookies (some may say plebs, but we don’t judge) out there, we thought you might enjoy some quick pointers for typical rough terrain getting on board your 4WD.

Driving on Sand:

Firstly let the air out of your tyres…no biggie, just get your tyre gauge and change the PSI of your tyres to 20, at a minimum.

Drop into low range and get set to feel the grunt and power of your beast…your choice if you feel like doing the Tim Allen grunt/roar from Home Improvement. We learnt the hard way that high gear + sand + Ellen trying to change down into a lower gear = being stuck (or semi-swallowed by the beach).

Driving on Rocks:

This is where you can complete a very fun manoeuvre called a ‘Rock Crawl’. Yep, forget those crazy and silly things young adults partake in called ‘Pub Crawls’, we are speaking truth here. Put your 4WD into a low 4WD gear, chuck it in 1st, let the clutch slowly out and then… let your car drive itself! Yes ladies and gentlemen, on the rocks at Bidgy we have Australia’s very first self driving car…incredible. Sorry NASA or Google, you can start your next project.

During the course Ellen also finally discovered what a jack looks like, where to find it in our car and how to actually use it….10 years into her driving career.

After increasing our car IQs tenfold, the end of the day approached. We were officially covered head to toe in sand, red dust and sweat. Truth be told, we probably weren’t the best people to be standing next to. So, after completing a ‘Snatch Tow’ (no biggie) we handed in our assessment booklets and headed home exhausted. It was while we drove back we were reminded of the differences between Melbourne kids and Bidgy kids. As we drove off the beach we came across a group of kids and adults sitting under a tree. We teach some of the kids and knew a couple of the women, so we decided to sidle up and say hello. Once we stopped, one of Dan’s kids proudly held up his trophy from the weekend, no it wasn’t for his soccer or footy club, it was a dead goanna (Wangkali in Aboriginal English) which he had killed and cooked on the fire with the intention of eating for lunch/dinner. A slightly different way to spend your weekend than playing Xbox.

Anyway, it’s time to take off, there are some 4WDs out there that won’t drive themselves…hmmm…actually…

After 4 weeks living in a remote community, surviving a ‘cyclone’, meeting our students, settling into a new school and a new community we have noticed a number of problems which we’d like to have rectified as soon as possible. Yep, these hard working teachers have just discovered the biggest problems in a remote community, the dreaded first world problems.

Before we go into any of these, please consider this editor’s note: all things below are meant in jest, sarcasm and wit….whether or not that is achieved is up to the reader.

First and foremost, can we please say just how hard it is to adjust to the water here. The amount of time spent in the shower wondering, when will it stop being warm and drop some cool water on us. Honestly, how hard is it to get a break from perfectly heated ground water?

Ah, a brilliant segue here, speaking of heated water. A true dilemma is being faced…an immense shortfall in precious resources in the community. Nespresso pods. Before any drastic response occurs, just relax, things luckily got sorted. An emergency trip to Woolworths in Broome took place and pods were purchased. Thankfully for all concerned we were only without our Nespresso coffee for 2 days….Phew!

Unfortunately a side effect of the heat is that our bananas ripen too quickly. We have tried to combat this by putting our bananas in the fridge which leave them looking horrible on the outside but lovely on the inside just like…a Picnic bar? Hmm…further simile research is required. The heat is not only problematic for the bananas, lemon shortages are affecting the The Kimberley. The cause and effect stream of this is terrible… heat + no lemon = tasteless soda water. Tasteless soda water + Dan/Ellen = frowns followed by drinking formerly mentioned warm tap water.

A really significant problem, again mainly for Dan, is that all this healthy eating and exercise is annoying because we have to buy new clothes. Oh man, nothing is worse than facing the prospect of trying on clothes and facing the hardship of topical weather causing them to not fit…a crying shame for all concerned. Not only are clothes needing replacement, but hands are becoming slightly rougher as they keep grabbing onto the basketball ring for a dunk…thoughts or solutions for ‘Slam-Dunkitis’?.

A final point of contention with remote communities is the working hours. Not only are we faced with school beginning at 7:50am, but we have to finish by 2:40pm and then face incredible decisions…once we are home by 4pm, where do you go play basketball? On the undercover high school court or at the outdoor local court? It doesn’t stop there, once reaching the confines of home, what leisurely hobby do you pursue?  Reading trashy magazines or divulging in a book for two hours before dinner…problems of remote life.

Yes it is true, hardships are being faced each and every day in this remote community, but we will continue to face the problems within Bidgy 😉

With heartfelt sarcasm,

The Bidgy Times Editors