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Well me and 'wild potato' (katie's new aboriginal name) have had a right adventure since moving to thisbes!
It started with some weeding which was surprisingly fun as we were discovering new wildlife all the time. (mainly huntman spiders the size if your palm!)
Weeding has turned to pimping out a caravan for us to stay in after we have finished. I thought it would entail a bit of paint and a few screws but I was massively wrong. I was first asked to cut the steel for the new roof shelter thing we had to build with an angle grinder. Then I had to put the beams in to hold it. Then put the steel in place for the tin roof I then had to bolt In place. Basically I had to build the whole roof, which I have now completed by the way and done a decent job too. Just call me bob!
The best part of our stay here though came on our day off.
The day started with a check tht we had everything we needed for an aboriginal stingray fishing trip. The aboriginies bring their own spears apparently so we brought the usual s***, knife, water, pots, torch. Why would we need a torch I hear you ask? I thought that too as we left at 11am and were due back at 6. Oh well, off we go. I drove the smaller 4x4 Subaru and Thisbe drove the monster truck. We pulled into the bus depot to meet the abo's and eventually there were about 15 of them wanting to come! We only had room for 3 in our car so obviously 5 got in and away we went. We thought we were going 40mins away to a place called gun point but the abo's knew better and directed us only 2 and 1/2 hours away to Dundee beach as it was better fishing there. This is where is all went a bit wry.
For a start the roads were infact gravel tracks for the first 100km and driving behind a monster truck all I could see was dust. Then they turned to real off road tracks with pot holes the size of people and near canyon like formations! I managed it all ok and a coulpe of the abo ladies got out to go digging for yams and we took of to the fishing spot. Only 10km down a beach which if apparently if I stopped I would get bogged on so I took no chances and floored it. Proper good fun like! Swerving all over. The black fellas in the back turned White as I just about made it to the fishin spot.
So we got out the spears and lines, lit a fire in 2 seconds flat and cracked on.
Plenty of crabs and catfish (they swore it was good but tasted like sand to me) later we'd had our fill and enjoyed the surounding wildlife, thankfully it was eagles, pelicans and jabaroos and not salties, and decided it was time to beat the tides.....or not. The tide actually beat us. It was ok though we were with the great aboriginal people, famous for their bish tucker and great navigational skills......or not. They directed us to a short cut straight through a field from the beach where the grass was taller than both cars and we soon had to turn back (5km in) as it was cut of by a creek! If anyones interested or bored, type dundee beach northern territory into google earth and see if you can see the non-existant track to the mainroad from the north side. I couldnt. Back at the beach they lit numerous fires as the night drew in and we sat waiting for the tide to piss off. I was starving after pretending to eat so much catfish but soon enough ( 4hrs later) the tide started to turn and we laid out a track with stones to avoid the soft sand an chugged onwards. Made it off the beach only to find I had a flat tyre. Another 30mins later we set off again and the 3 hrs driving found us at home. Never again would I trust these abo folk with the navigation.......untill the next weekend anyway.
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