My November Journey

My journey went well, all things considered, with no major glitches, and many things for which I give thanks. Upon arrival in Alice Springs, I found that my accommodation was at one end of the town and the conference the other. Upon investigation I discovered that this required a walk of about one hour, either way, which suited me greatly, providing me with the necessary daily exercise, and as I had the alternative to go via the town, or on a number of paths, more or less following the Todd River, felt well provided for. Over the three days spent there, it gave me the opportunity to explore much of the town and its environs.

Here you see my accomodation from which I set out each morning, and only by briskly walking arrived at the conference centre one hour later.

Much had changed since my original visit there some fifty years ago when the town consisted, or so it appeared from memory, primarily of one main street, with the local indigenous people living mostly in the Todd River, which of course was dry.

Other than the people I met, and the things I learnt, at the conference, the highlight of my visit was to experience quite substantial rain, and the subsequent flowing of the Todd River, an event which was so rare that even the local people made a pilgrimage to view the happening.

Most drove or walked to one of the bridges spanning the river to view it in all its glory.

From subsequent reports, I believe that the rains have continued in that area breaking the extremely long drought.

And as this pattern continued at each of my ports of call, it raining just after my arrival in both Sydney and Brisbane, and then upon my arrival home in Cairns I almost felt that I had brought the rains with me. In fact, at home, on the Clohesy River, we experienced the heaviest rain that I recall occurring since the late 70’s. For although we have had substantial rains since then, it had always been much lighter. In the 60’s and 70’s, which were the periods that I recall, after my arrival in 1967, the rain would chunder down, with quite massive falls over a short period of time. Yesterday was one such occurrence with 37mm(about one and a half inches) in 20 minutes or so in a massive thunderstorm. The lightning and extremely loud claps of thunder overhead, along with the chundering rain were reminiscent of those earlier days.

On my frequent walks through the town I saw many different organisations in operation which had been set up to assist the local indigenous people. The following photos are just some of these.

Whilst at the conference we were invited to attend a barbecue at the local indigenous station CAAMA, which, surprising as it was to me, and may also appear to my readers, included some very edible raw vegetable salads, far superior to anything supplied by the conference caterers.

They also had brand new TV studios witha most interesting room where they could develop ideas around play dough figures and other bits and pieces as seen here.

Alice, is of course, a very dry climate and the area, and most of the gardens I saw were suffering from a lack of water - except the one portrayed here where the householder was utilising every inch of available ground to grow food.

The design of the Council Chambers I found so attractive and harmnious that I felt I should share it with you.

From Alice I flew to Adelaide, spending time with my sister and a group of enthusiastic young raw-fooders including one couple who had, since my last visit early this year, delivered for themselves, with an uncomplicated first birth, a home birth, quite naturally, a lovely baby daughter.

And here is yours truly with his sister.

Upon my return home, I was most happy to find there two friends, Katie and Stewart, who had been a second mother and father to my two youngest boys, Benjamin and Johnathon, assisting substantially in keeping us all sane over the years, and to whom I express my heartfelt thanks. Thank you Katie and Stewart.

Katie and Stewart, are very special people outside of my immediate family also, as they share their skills of indigenous crafts and lifestyle, teaching the local indigenous people their lost arts and crafts, thus enabling them to once again, enjoy the benefits of their own culture.