4 Wheel drive course excitement, and a cancelled community visit to Finke

My secondment will be with the NPY Women’s Council, who operate on the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Lands. This Region is defined by and named after the three languages of the people who live on the Lands. Although I will be based in Alice Springs, Alice is not actually on NPY lands. The region covers a vast 350,000 square kilometres, which is about the size of Germany. Twenty-six communities and homelands, of around 6,000 people total, are located in this area, that expands across South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

For us to get an idea of the lands, and to have an opportunity to meet and speak with some of the people who live there, Fran, the Jawun Regional Director, had organised a two day trip to Aputula, or Finke. As the trip to Finke is across several hundred kilometres of unsealed road, on the edge of the Simpson Desert, Jawun requires us to be proficient and safe at driving a 4 wheel drive (4WD) vehicle, changing a tyre, and knowing some basic car first aid. So we got to do a 4WD course! We picked up some very useful life skills and lessons, and had a great day in the sand! Lessons worth sharing:

1. If a camel walks into the road, BREAK HARD. Your roof racks are more expensive than your bull bar.
2. Road rage really sucks when you’re the only one on the road.
3. 10 psi is actually not only quite acceptable, but even the preferable tyre pressure in some circumstances.

Unfortunately, during the course we received the news that we would not be able to meet with the community in Finke. They suffered a loss of one of their people, and were busy with “sorry business”, which we could not intrude on. This left us with very mixed feelings. Most importantly, we feel very sorry for the people who have lost a loved one. But, a little selfishly, we do also regret to miss this unique opportunity, and not to have this context of having been in one of the remote communities prior to starting our assignments in the next week. Most of us are city people in some way, especially in the context of remote Central Australia. Especially to me, having literally come from the opposite side of the planet, it feels like I have so much to learn.

As a backup plan, we went to camp out in Palm Valley, in Finke Gorge National Park. Confusingly, this is nowhere near the community of Finke. The drive to the campground made us put our brand new 4WD skills to the test, driving along a rocky river bed. The internet tells me that the Finke River is the oldest riverbed in the world, and if it is on the interwebz, it has to be true. The area is a geological wonderland, of bright red sandstone, eroded by wind and water, with gorges and pinnacles, wide vistas and steep cliffs. Red Cabbage Palms are unique to this area, and have given the valley its name.

 

 

We star gazed by our campfire – or should I say we gawked at the stars! – and I once again decided that it is high time to fork out the $3 for the full version of the app SkyView (I’m not being paid to say this 😊). Sleeping in warm swags under that night sky more than made up for the very cold and dry wind that pestered us a little during the night. The dingo dawn concert that one of my fellow-secondees ignited by going for a stroll into dingo territory was the cherry on the cake.

Now it’s time to change gears again, and switch on brain-mode. Week two is when the project-pressure-cookers are put on their respective fires for the Jawun Secondees. I look forward to meeting my supervisor, Melissa, and get to work!