Just another day in the office!

We continue to both experience amazing days up here. Sean arrived home last night at 2am having spent the day several hours north of here on a beach. May sound like heaven and I am sure part of it was, although the bone jarring trip in our old beast which has no aircon, no suspension and no radio, would have been challenging.

He had gone up here to do a recce with some indigenous friends from Hope Vale who run a project for the Hope Vale school kids during the Sept holidays. There will be weaving, spear making, painting and dance workshops and a lovely boat which will take the kids out on trips including visits to Lizard island to do turtle tagging and seagrass monitoring. As this is part of Sean's work we will also be attending these special few days, camping on the beach up there and sharing in the expererience with our kids. More to come when we get back from that.

He then drove back to near Cooktown and then doublebacked onto a rd north to get to Normanby Station. The next set of Secondees, from Westpac arrived on Fri evening and were invited to Normanby station, to meet the TO Ronnie Harrigan and his sons. Some of them are going to do work up there over the next month. Ron and his wife Rosie are amazing people and instilled in their young sons the importance of learning a musical instrument. The result 20 years later is a very popular local aboriginal band called Black Image who played at the closing of our Discovery Festival in June and are just fantastic.

So Sean rocks up, BBQ going, has a chat etc and suddenly two utes turn up with some of the boys - out come the speakers, sound desk and instruments and suddenly in the paddock of the house there is a full on Black Image concert. Sean hopes the secondees, fresh out of their city lives, realise how amazing it is to have that kind of session. They were ofcourse forced to get and dance with Cocky, one of the old giys that helps on the station an good fun was had by all. I wish I had been there!

But more to come from Normanby as they are holding Ronie's 60th Birthday at the station with a concert and ground oven to feed 200 people! I have a sneaking suspicion that some of their good friends, other country music talents, will also be joining in the concert. Looking forward to the 18th Sept!

A Year on...and still here!

I cannot believe that we have been here for one year and one month. It has gone so fast and we have so much still to discover. Two weeks ago I headed to Sydney for the first time since we left, to attend my School Reunion and do some business,visit the dentist and see friends. Nothing had changed which was a nice thing and it was wonderful to see everyone again. It amazed me how quickly I slotted back in to Sydney life, except for my poor feet which suffered terribly from wearing boots and other enclosed shoes, having not worn enclosed shoes for a year!!!

And thats what started me thinking about how different our life is in Cooktown and how quickly we did adapt to the huge change in our life a year ago. When I returned last week, I took off the city clothes, put on the shorts, tshirt and thongs and sat on my verandah and watched the stunning view while listening to the tropical birds flitting about. I realised how truly blessed we have been to end up here - a great town with so much beauty, history and culture.

Our week last week, for example, included Sean returning home on Tuesday with a newly made spear for Mullet fishing (see above) - the season is starting soon - made by one of the fellas that Sean works with. The next day as they were making some more spears, he had Bat for lunch - a real delicacy and favourite of the local people. Mmmmmm.......

This week I started working with the Kuku Nyungkal Rangers - an indigenous land trust who are getting themselves up and running. They hail from the wet tropics rainforest that border the dry tropics just south of Cooktown and this area features the Bennetts Tree kangaroo, Ulysses butterly and according to them some amazingly large black cats (like a Puma) that roam the land. I am helping them set up their business and get things running smoothly ad I will certainly learn a lot from them. Both Sean and I attended a 'warming' ceremony on Wed to ensure we are ok to come and go in their tribal lands without harm from the bad spirits.

Everyday is a new and interesting experience and you learn so much - I need to start blogging more so I dont forget everything we do. In the meantime the kids are well, busy learning piano and guitar, enjoying school and keeping active. Toby has been selected for an AFL team going up to Weipa to play next month so thats exciting. Today was show day here in Cooktown and both won a prize with their entries and had a great

time going on a few rides and enjoying fairy floss. Last night we put on a Bush Dance with a band called the Hillbilly Goats which was great fun - the kids danced all night long! We get it all in Cooktown! xxxx