An Insider’s View of a Perfect Desert Storm

We’re on the road, going home after a long day of Sorry Business in our neighbouring community. To my left a wall of rain gushes from a huge red and gold cotton-budding mushroom cloud bursts with an ambition to drown out the setting sun. The massive orange orb is winning. It stretches its fiery tentacles

The Law Must Go On, No Matter What!

Today there have been planes flying in and out of Balgo every two hours. They are bringing food to Balgo and to our neighbouring community of Mulan. There’s been no fresh fruit or vegetables for over a week and our local Store is looking very empty. The Big Wet that we’ve been having over the

Big Wind Blowing … In Balgo

We’re in the Eye of the Storm. While the south of Australia is sweltering we’re “freezing” in Balgo. (Well, it’s all relative!) Only 27 degrees here. And raining – pelting. And the wind!!!! It’s ONLY a Tropical Low (not a cyclone). It’s been like this for 5 days and gonna be like this for at

Following a Road Noone Can See Does Your Head In!

Following a road noone can see does your head in! There’s nothing quite like it for squeezing one out from under the mass of brain-cells that rule our lives as we strain to force some sort of control upon the unfathomable universe. All it takes is a Pop! Barely discernable. One finds oneself in the

Floating in a Smooth Brown Lake of Creamy Mud-Cake

Floating in a smooth brown lake of warm creamy mud-cake. Well, that’s what it felt like. We went swimming today at Nyarna (Lake Stretch) near Kururrungku. It was only a 263 kilometre drive on a not-so-hot day to get there and back. I ducked my head under the brown ocean and resurfaced so that my

Lingka: A Meeting with a Wild Mythical Snake

I saw her. Today I saw her for the first time. Standing tall and straight, reaching forever into the sky. Black. Twirling. Swirling. Dancing, powerfully. I stood still looking back at it in awe. I wondered if it had noticed my small human body far below its soaring, sailing head. I stepped closer in, towards

The Sky is Spittin’ !!!

Hey, folks, it’s raining out here. I just heard the pitter-patter of rain drops on our tin roof. Then I made a mad dash outside to stand in it. The sky was spittin’. Leaving enticing patterns of little droplet splashes all over the concrete of our accessible ramp. The sky is a maze of grey

How To Call Back a Wandering Spirit

(Part One of “A Sacred Journey to Keep a Soul Alive”) We set out one morning, two intrepid and resolute drivers on a mission to unite Mungkina with her younger sister. We had two days to do it in. And 650 kilometres to go each day. Return journey was 1,300km. In two days! Dreading the

Heading Home: Dreaming Track Trip Final Day

It was the final day of the Dreaming Track Trip. As we headed away from Nakarra Nakarra and our camp at Kunakurlu we passed by Ngantalarra and returned by necessity to Yakka Yakka. For that is where the only road goes. We were bound for home: Balgo and the Women’s Law Ground. Within two hours

UPTURNED TABLES: A Comment: Day Two of the Dreaming Track Trip

Ha! Wrong! It was a wild and windy night…. I ended yesterday’s post by writing “That night we slept soundly, and the full moon kept us company”. Actually, that second night out on the Track was completely the opposite. There was no moon. And there was certainly no sleep. The entire night was a remarkable

Will the Weather be Kind?

We sent our intrepid adventurers Rachael and Lisa to Broome yesterday with a gigantic shopping list. I wager that the list was almost as long as the “Great Northern Highway” between Halls Creek and Broome. They flew out on the Friday Nurses’ Plane and hit the ground running. They achieved heaps of shopping before the

Rotten Weather Promises a Spectacular Women’s Law Camp

The Kapululangu Women’s Law and Culture Centre is pulsating with energy with 15 of us living here now. There is so much cheer in the air. There are six Women Elders and eight Marlpa (Companions), and myself. And when the Women’s Law Camp 2013 starts in only two days the numbers are expected to swell

The Small Joys of a “Look Around”

Stop Press: Kapululangu is inviting four (4) women to join us on our Dreaming Track Trip to Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay) starting on June 17 through 23rd. If you want to be one of those women please take a look at this film of Kapululangu’s Nakarra Nakarra Dreaming Track Trip in 2010. Ali Buckley brought to

Mercy Dash Turns into Celebration of Life

Today’s morning outing to the Store extended from 10.30am through to 5pm. A bit longer than intended. We went to the Store easily enough. Did what we always do at the Store. And left and went home. And that’s where the day took on a shape all of its own! Okay… so I pottered around

How to Leave Balgo, and When to go Picnicking

The first thing I saw this morning when I exited my bedroom to enter into the day was Tammi’s face. It was a look of absolute shock and horror. One look told it all. The Mail Plane had been cancelled. Tammi had been so keen to come out to Balgo to visit Kapululangu before she

Food Security Hits a Hiccup in Balgo

Finally, finally, finally! The Women Elders have mattresses! I mean REAL mattresses. Well, okay they are foam mattresses. But it means that the Bosses no longer have to spend their nights balancing on top of two thin camping mats, unsuccessfully trying not to fall off. How incredibly patient they have been. I’ve been trying to

When the World Turned Upside Down and the Mail Plane Couldn’t Land

We woke this morning to a world that had turned upside down. The endless hot-blue sky had been exchanged for a thick broth of red desert sands. It seemed that the Earth had taken up residence where the Heavens should have been. The world was red. Even the trees in our own Women’s Law Ground

Where Traditional and Alien Social Security Systems Don’t Meet

Shopping. Have I told you about my shopping experience? I think not. So I will begin…. It’s morning and I’ve finally finished my morning chores – emptying warri-warri (“private”) buckets from the night ablutions, making breakfast, washing dishes, handing out wads of ngunytju (tobacco), dispensing medicines, feeding and watering dogs, playing with dogs, mopping or

“No Matter You are Kartiya, You are Still Law Woman”

Well, it all started at 6am Sunday morning. The phone woke me up … and I made a mad dash for it hoping that it wouldn’t wake up the Women Elders. It was Yintji (a Law Woman in her own right, and the wife of Balgo’s Number One Law Man). “How much petrol do you

Wait Until You Hear What We’ve Been Up To….

Well, it’s been another day when circumstance has silenced me. It is now 11pm and I have only just managed to sit down at the computer to write… I got woken this morning at 6am and asked to drive the Kururrungku (aka Billiluna), 128 km away, to participate in Law there. We only just got