Nhulunbuy and Wandawuy!

What a "small world" we live in! The pilot who flew me to Nhulunbuy used to be a drug rep, and he remembered visiting us in Leongatha! It was fun to chat about his journey: giving up a career that he wasn't really enjoying, and following his childhood dream of becoming a pilot.  He has young children, so it works for him to be based on Elcho Island, while getting his flying hours up, to move into a larger airline job.

I have the use of a car at Elcho, so drove myself to the "domestic" part of the airstrip. "Just leave it there with the key in the glove box and we'll come and get it, don't worry, it'll be quite safe."  Comparisons are odious....  but, it's great to feel relaxed in this way.
How exciting to begin the descent, and to land! Taxiing in to the "domestic" bit of the Nhulunbuy airport, I could see Cathy, Georgi and Isabel waiting (Andy was on the phones to my mum, telling her that they're expecting another baby!).  Then the pilot opened the window and I could put my hand out and wave!
Isabel has been talking ever since about how "gramma came little pane".  So very dear. It's just so special to spend this time with the family. Tim came "big pane" on Saturday night: Andy, Georgi and I went to meet him.
 Nhulunbuy feels like the big smoke compared to Galiwin'ku (keeping in mind that comparisons are odious..) - great to have other options for exercise (pool, bike), and shops. It's a great place for young families.  Andy and Cathy have some good friends here.

We had a day trip to Wandawuy (pronounced waa-ndaa-woy).  It took about 2 hours to drive there.  It's a homeland, and is the home of the family who adopted Andy and Cathy.  There was a funeral going on! So it felt a bit strange to be showing up for a social visit.  But Andy had checked it out, by saying that his parents were visiting, and everyone said, "you must come."  We took food for a BBQ, which we had by the creek during a lull in the dancing.  The funeral was going on for days, and what was happening was dancing, which tells the stories of the land, animals, people etc, teaching children the culture.  It was so good to watch, and to talk about it with the family.
We met lots of the family, learning the relationship name we call them.  The mother of the family (my sister) gave us names in addition. I'm ngurula (seagull) and Tim is meriel (pied imperial pigeon). Not sure about the seagull idea! At the creek the children caught yabbies and we cooked them on the fire. At one point, a plane flew over, and my "sister" talked about how it was taking a patient to Nhulunbuy.  After coming back from hospital the previous time, my sister had told her how they were praying for her, and she said, "I know, I could hear you."   What a great day - so hard to put it into words!  Better, some pictures perhaps.  Many were taken by the "grandchildren".

                 

 yabbie pots

  just twist the pincers off, then put them straight on the fire - when they turn orange, they're done!

Andy with brother Peter and 2 of his girls

My sister  ("yapa") said to me, "Yapa, sit here"

so it seemed the right thing to do!  Cathy did a lot of the food preparation

Tim with my "brother-in-law", whom I call dhuway, and Tim calls wawa (brother)

We had an overnight camp at Rainbow Cliffs, which was fun. Just 20 mins from town, and a lovely bush spot, with a beautiful beach - bit of the shine off it due to the fear of unseen crocodiles.

we didn't catch any fish...

Comparisons

"Comparisons are odious" my Nan used to say. How wise! Making a comparison implies a judgement, something is better, or more favorable, or desirable. It may justify the person making the comparison, or release them from understanding the full, complex story. And comparisons are made through our grid, with our own biased or rose-coloured glasses.
Hence, I must be careful in comparing Elcho Island with Wadeye, or with mainstream Australia.
There are statistics about Indigenous health, rates of illnesses, social factors, lots of things. But they don't tell the full story! But they are important facts. Going a level deeper though, the "why" question  is impossible to answer glibly.  I strongly believe that a big part of it is Our Fault.  Invasion; introducing infections, alcohol, smoking, white flour, sugar; destroying culture; misguided (well-intentioned) missions and governments making policies without listening (governments are still doing this) - on it goes. So I don't think "they should ... they shouldn't ... " (eg, they shouldn't smoke, they should exercise...)
The onus is on us as health care workers to explain appropriately, and work with people. I saw someone today who had some thyroid problems. He started over active, had radio-iodine and became under active - quite a common scenario, but difficult to explain. I think I could do a better job if I have another chance!  He came with an Aboriginal Health Practitioner, so I might try to explain it to her a bit better.
Back to comparisons. Certainly there are positives about things here, compared to Wadeye.  It feels much safer - no high fences, locked gates, stealing.  More community harmony, and stronger culture. Similar follow-up challenges (following up results, check ups etc)
Comparing the physical environment - well, there is special beauty everywhere, and I like to be open to seeing it. But, it only goes so far in making a comparison.

House bits

The house I'm in is upstairs. Downstairs is mostly open to the weather. The laundry is there - open to the the red dirt...  (I cleaned it after this. Probably need to use it sometime!)

Top of the stairs

Out walking after work:

Just growing by the path;

Planes come & go all the time

  

Galiwin'ku!

Well. Here I am in Galiwin'ku. It's a community on Elcho Island, and I'm here filling in for a GP who left today. There's so much in my mind to talk about! Perhaps some background to it all, then some snippets of impressions.
Tim and I will be in Nhulunbuy next week, visiting Andy, Cathy and the girls. I was asked to come a week early and fill in, because the GP leaving was a bit sudden.  I'll be back after the week in Nhulunbuy, and I'm hoping that Tim will be able to come too, for a week - then he goes to Katherine Hospital for a 2 week obstetrics locum, and I finish 3 weeks here.  We meet up in Darwin, then off to Wadeye for 5 weeks!
Travelling here went well and I had an afternoon and overnight in Darwin - time for a swim in the sea, in safe waters, no crocs - and I didn't meet the 3 foot (harmless) queen fish either, which was good, but I had to overcome the fear of meeting it, and keep swimming...

• Fun to meet a dentist and dental nurse, at Darwin airport - on the same plane, but they got off at Maningrida. Coming to Elcho Island next week. 
• What a beautiful place this is! Here's the sunset view from the veranda

And a visiting boat in the bay - friends of Andy & Cathy working in Nhulunbuy, sailing to Darwin for holidays

(That's the mainland in the distance)

• There are many Aboriginal Health Practitioners working at the clinic. This makes a huge difference to how things happen. It's great to work with them. 
• The clinic buildings are old, and a bit higgeldy-piggeldy, but seem appropriate for the context
• There's talk of a new clinic to be built. I sincerely hope it's right for the community - I mean, a place where they feel comfortable
• Lovely to see a patient with diabetes who had a heart attack this year, and has since started to turn things around - going to the gym, has lost a lot of weight
• Everyone talks about taking a stick to be prepared for the "cheeky dogs" but I haven't encountered any. However I'll be careful
• I was driven around the community today, a bit of orientation. That included the barge landing 

• A new patient record software to learn! It has strengths and weaknesses, compared to the one at Wadeye. It's a challenge! 
• The clinic here is run by Miwatj, which is an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service.  This makes a big difference to the relationship with the community, and also to staff pride in it
• No grog permits here at all! Not for anyone! The police searched all the luggage off the plane, and were at the barge landing. Apparently each community sets up the rules around this. 
• It's great to walk after work - there's about an hour before it's dark

I'm missing Tim! Will be good to be together in Nhulunbuy next week. 

Yesterday's map!

A few things

Someone in the coffee queue yesterday said that she 'd had such a good time this week that she'd forgotten her PIN number!

The coffee people were great - have I written already about how cheerful they are? They chat while making the coffee, then you pay & go. It appears to be a number of family members working together. They have whiteboards on the inside side walls. One side collects the best quotes - I like this one: "same as yesterday thanks!"

On the other side they had written, "Thanks to all our lovely customers. See you next year."

We 'll see!

We met our Warrnambool friends for lunch afterwards, and another couple - that was great fun, & Tim was pleased to see them. 

Home to lots of sorting of gear. I'm sure you can imagine it, so I won't go into it, except to say that it's very hot today! Glad we're not riding, but it's good for getting washing & camping fear dry. 

The Finish

Torquay morning

We all had b'fast at camp, then packed up Rikky's tent & stuff- we put it in the car, very easy. 

We've finished! It was fun riding with Tim. I was trying to imagine what it's like for him to join an event like this. Rikky & I are in the groove and we know how to manage passing, traffic etc. Tim did fine and really enjoyed the ride. But that's for him to blog about (don't hold your breath!)

Yesterday at breakfast we met a man with his 9yo son - it's a family tradition, when the kids turn 9. How nice is that! The boy was on his own bike. 

Lovely ride today

Rest stop at Barwon Heads. School groups were all wearing the same outfits, and rode together, in order to finish together.

New foot/ bike bridge at Barwon Heads

Ahead, there's a mum riding, pulling a baby in a cart - long way to go, much harder work for her. 

The finish was very festive - aing line of people to ride through, with clappers, and the same eccentric, fun music group who've been there at various stops since Lavers Hill. 

A good feeling!

So, on the way back to Torquay in Rikky's car (feels so strange sitting in a car!) and sort stuff.

Ride is done!

The map