Old Ladies

Each morning we leave Wallaby Beach for work with a troopy full of old ladies ... three of the great Yunipingu Sisters .. Barrupu, Nyapanyapa and Randjupi ... (they have a fourth sister Galumbu but she has been away) These sister are all great artists and so we take them to the arts centre to paint in the courtyard. Sometimes Barrupu doesn't make it and sometimes Randjupi is absent but always, always is Nyapanyapa. (she's my favourite)
These sisters are the funniest old ladies I've met. They have the greatest cackle and when all three of them start cackling you can't help but join in even if you've no idea what the joke is - and more than often you don't...
Nyapanyapa is the smallest of the ladies with a slow awkward gait that I think must came from her  being gored by a buffalo as a child. She reminds me of ET when she walks ... she is cute somehow which maybe comes from her being so small.  Her english is terrible and her yolngu is terrible - no-one really has any idea what she is talking about but that doesn't seem to matter...she just rattles on and then starts cackling. She carries a pair of thongs with her which I have never seen her wear except once and then they were on the wrong feet. Randjupi is always teasing her about that.
Randjupi has a great joy about her and always has a smile. she has five dogs (down from a previous eight) She is gorgeous and all dogs love her. She spends her nights on patrol, looking after the people in her community, bringing them home from town. Her totem is the quail, which is the same as mine now.
Barrupu is called the Boss of the Courtyard. She is a bossy mean old lady who everyone adores...strange. She yells at Kade to slow down and then laughs her head off when he does. She loves Iggy.

So thats our morning ride - sometimes we get another two or three relations to take too - and the cackles increase.

 iggy with barrupu and nyapanyapa on the steps of the arts centre (with her thongs)

 kade with nyapanyapa and barrupu

we leave wallaby on sunday - finally we move into our actual real proper house - which is good, great actually, i am so keen to unpack .. but i will miss the morning ride with the old ladies