ain't nothing quite like celebrating on your own private island looking out over the clear blue 

water at your new B O A T  ...

 yep ... we gots a boat and its good

 Kade went to Yilpara , a homeland about 31/2 hours drive away with his yapa Watjumi and spent the weekend hunting stingray in the mangroves, collecting bark for the artists and eating tea and damper, ya know .. the usual

 the livers get cut out and keep aside -

 the rest of the fish is boiled, skin removed and then mashed.

sandy livers ... 

! ! ! !

 liver holes ...

 making tea and damper in the shade

 mashing up the cooked stingray

mashing up the liver

kade with a ball of stingray du jour

                           

smoko

 cutting bark from top of the troopy ...

BUFFALO! 

S T A N D    F O R   F R E E D O M

OK, so i am not one much for causes ...  and there are like a million on facebook everyday ... but this website and cause is all about where we live .. and so if for no other reason - watch it to see the video of the community we live in (its a bit from all around the NT but some yirrkala) OR watch it to see Dhalulu - who is Will's wife - she is speaking and she is a smart cool lady OR watch it and sign the petition because it is in actual fact a REALLY IMPORTANT PETITION and really is time for Indigenous people in Australia to have a voice that is listened to ... this morning a man up the hill hung himself .. a few weeks back I did a project with young kids who are petrol sniffing at 12 years old ( and the youngest caught was 8 years old )   It ain't pretty and from most accounts the intervention really did not help  ... I don't want to get all political so I  won't but have a look ... at least for the scenery!

C L I C K   T O   W A T C H    M  E   H E R E 

C L I C K   T O   S I G N   M E   H E R E




merci

G R O U P    P H O T O

B A W A K A

we got to go to Bawaka - a homeland about 2 hours drive away - the land of the Bayini Women and Nike the Crocodile. Will turned 50 so he got permission to bring us down to help celebrate. We had been told it is paradise at Bawaka and that was no exaggeration... it is a beautiful place with a gentle bay and a resident crocodile - Nike who sadly/luckily didn't make an appearance for us - and dolphins swimming by ... the kids played all day on the shore and in the rocks ...

The traditional landowners at Bawaka (Dhalulu's family) run a cultural tourism program where people pay thousands of dollars for a chance to experience yolngu culture and the homeland life. The set up for the tourists is great - a whole lot of recycled wood and metal reconstructed into high tables and seats or swings from tree branches.. a fire pit, coconut trees - really user friendly - bit like a beachside hotel - but yolngu style, very cool

the kids collected oysters

watch out for the crocs

Will went spear fishing in the mangroves with some deadly hunters and came back with 5 stingrays - their livers get cut out and mashed raw back into the cooked flesh - so delicious, like foie gras ... sounds gross but really, it is super good

we drank french champagne in the evening .. which led to dancing

billly, siena and iggy make eggs for breakfast

we walked around to the point on the sunday and swam off the rocks - the water is so warm, so clear... too much to resist really ... we didn't

In the afternoon the ladies took me and sally collecting pandanus for basket weaving. This involves wading through the bush looking for a clump of pandanus. A special hook is then used to pull the middle of the clump down and only the centre flax is pulled out. The pandanus is covered in sharp tiny prickles that run down the edges so it is a little...scratchy. Once you collect enough (alot) you get the roots to dye yellow and red - both from different trees from different places around in the bush - this is done whilst keeping a look out for buffulo at all times

Dhalulu and her sister LakLak took me down to the beach near Yalangbara and showed me how to look for turtle eggs - a delicacy among yolngu, and a privilege for me to be involved in the hunt - although to my slight dismay we actually found a nest and dug out about 50 eggs. I tried not to feel too sad ... luckily it is still sustainable and out of the 6 nests on the beach only one was ransacked... 

The eggs get boiled in saltwater and look exactly like ping pong balls - a tiny hole is made and the egg sucked out.  I was very brave and tried one. I can't really even eat regular eggs - especially hard boiled ones so this a big step for me. I took my time and had a cup of tea as I went .. not too bad ... texturally a little disturbing but Kade loved them and sucked down a few ...

kids asleep in the troopy on the way home