A MERry life

Return to Mer??

2010-06-04T21:37:00.001-07:00

20 years on we have been discovering Meriam families living in Brisbane and celebrated Mabo Day with them.

See here.

The Book of the Blog

2010-04-07T19:14:00.001-07:00

A MERry Life by Ruth Wickham | BOOK INFO

If you like the look of it, go ahead and click on the "buy" button to see the price. (It's not very expensive.)

Bad Smells

2007-11-29T12:13:00.001-08:00

You can look at photos of a place like Mer and say, "Wow! That is so beautiful!"

And it is. I think it must be one of the most beautiful places on the planet.

But you can't smell the smells with a photo! (Well, actually, if you pick up one of our actual photos that has been on the island and sniff it closely you will detect the faint odor of mould ... but only slightly.)

It's a very alive place. It's crawling and swimming with all kinds of creatures. And it's hot, and moist. Getting into bed - imagine sliding into a bowl of warm porridge ... and being too tired to care. So you turn you face into the pillow and gulp the familiar mildew odour as you drift off into fitful sleep despite the sound of drums and feasting down the village aways.

After we got fly screens put into our windows there were less flies in the house, and the little brown beetles stopped trying to live in the back of the cassette player, and the big grasshoppers no longer flung themselves from wall-to-wall (and into the custard) in the narrow kitchen.

In that climate we did most of our living outside. We had a table under one of our huge mango trees and that was where we greeted guests, and had meals, and did our translating and studying mostly.

At one time we noticed that we had a fly problem at our outside table. It was quite obvious why - there was a strong odour of something that had died, and the flies were in search of the body.

We went looking for it too.

This is what we found. Like something from another planet. We appreciated that this chap had the best of intentions - it was attracting the flies so it could eat them, and rid us all of flies. But not in our backyard, mate! It had to go.

It was only shortly after that that a botanist wandered through the village - happens from time to time - asking if we'd seen anything unusual. Naturally he was a little upset to learn of the demise of our alien friend.

It's okay for him, he didn't have to live with it. Ugh!

The Church Bell

2007-11-29T11:45:00.000-08:00

You could hear the bell ringing from almost anywhere in the island. For most people it was an indistinct distant sound.

But the bell tower was only a few metres from our house.

You might notice that the bell-ringer, Kenny Day, here is standing well back from the tower with the bell-rope at full stretch. Also, the bell is not in the top of the tower, but strung on a beam about halfway down. There is, of course, a story behind that.

The bell would normally be rung every day at specific times - 9am, noon, 5pm - and each time it was the same sequence of rings: 3, 3, 3, 9. It was supposed to be the voice of Jesus calling us to prayer. For most people it saved the bother of wearing a watch.

But when it was time to call everyone to a church service, the priest would ring maybe 70, or 100, or more times, depending on how desperate he was to get everyone there.

At Christmas there was a midnight service on Christmas Eve. In years gone by when people were more enthusiastic about their religion, everyone would come to this service. And then the whole congregation would have a procession around the village going from clan to clan wishing well and exchanging gifts. This would last until dawn, when everyone would return quietly to bed, or just sleep wherever they were at the time.

It was our first Christmas, and we were well aware that people were not as enthusiastic about the midnight procession - although Wilfred and Margaret and the kids were keen as they were with anything that might involve free food along the way. We lay in bed listening to the service one hour warning bell, counting the rings - well over 300. I sighed and turned over. Life in the tropics was so tiring and I was heavily pregnant.

The we heard Father Tabo start ringing the second lot of bells. He was ringing as loudly as he could, puling hard on the rope. He used to come out and stand right in front of that pink painted bell tower with its slightly lopsided look and yank hard on that piece of rope.

After only a few rings this time the bell made a strange noise, a kind of da-aa-aaa-aang ... followed by a heavy 'thud!' Then silence. I wondered if the bell had landed on Fr Tabo, but there were no cries of pain, only an eerie silence, so we went to sleep.

We were woken by the morning bell, as usual, but it seemed rather faint and distant for a change. Looking out the window we could see that someone had put a wooden beam across the very lowest strut of the tower, and hung the bell from that, barely above the ground. Fr Tabo had to bend right down to pull on the rope and get the clapper to ring against the side of the bell.

For a while very few people came to church. Partly because they couldn't really her the bell from the other end of the village. But also because of the bad luck and bad magic - obviously the priest must have lost his power for the bell to have nearly fallen on him.

Flying in over Mer and Dawar

2007-07-27T04:58:00.002-07:00

The big white building with the point is the Anglican church. Our house is the tiny bit of white showing to the left of it, slightly up the hill.

The tide is out and the reef is exposed. The air strip is on the top of the hill, the opposite edge of the volcano's ridge, which is not visible on the left of this picture.

The airstrip was, of course, grass, and (although the photo above is obviously the 'dry' season) if it had been raining a lot and the grass was too long the plane would return to TI and wait for the men to get out there with scythes and cut it short enough. The 'strip was about 500metres long, formed by flattening out a section of the hill, and there was a sharp drop-off at both ends.

The trip from the airstrip down the steep hill to the village was by tractor trailer.

And what is it like inside those little planes?

Beach Family

2007-07-27T04:58:00.001-07:00

The whole crew: Ruth, Beatrice, James, Jo, Ali, and Peter.

Playing School

2007-07-27T04:55:00.000-07:00

Our new verandah proved a great place to be. Our kids loved to play there, and sometimes the local kids joined them.

Our kids loved to play school. Some might say that's weird - but my sister, brothers and I always played school too .. and my parents were both teachers.

The island children were not generally allowed to play "role-play" type games, their parents would yell, beat them, or throw a fish-spear at them if they were caught ... obviously they didn't like to see the kids copying their behaviour!

Letters from Mer

2007-05-11T01:19:00.000-07:00

The Letters

I wrote endless letters to my folks while we were on Mer, or "Murray Island" was the anglicized name. My mother kept all my letters, and I have just been browsing through them. So I am going to type them out - I find they make an interesting story for me and I am sure "the kids" will enjoy reading what I wrote about those times. I have italicized references to the kids so they (you: James, Ali, Jo, Bea) can find it easily.

Letter: Just Before Furlough

1985-08-15T04:50:00.000-07:00

Letter 15 / 8 / 85

We are enjoying our rest! So much space here - wish we could transport this big old house up to the island. The weather in Townsville this time of year is delightful - cool, clear and sunny. The kids are enjoying the two little boys who live next door (they are about 6 and 8). Their dad (no mum) gave us a huge colour TV (in working order). He's a bit of an electronics wizz - fixes TVs and gets landed with spare ones occasionally - he has three right now. So we are learning to sit back from it instead of pressing our noses against it like we have to do with our 5"screen TV!

The blood test results show that Alison, James and Peter all have/had hepatitis, not Jo and I. Peter's doing well now. Even manages long walks - but he's learning his limitations. There suddenly comes a point where he gets deeply tired. The only food he can't stand to think of now is crayfish mornay - that was the last thing he had before getting sick.

We've had a roo-bar put on the car - we are not very impressed though, bit of a shoddy job. Peter's fixing on a 'spottie' - we plan to do a bit of night-driving (when the kids will be asleep).

Alison went to the dentist yesterday. She was sooo good. She just lay there perfectly still and didn't complain at all. The dentist was really impressed. I was having such a lot of pain myself, I actually made an appointment to have a tooth pulled. But a couple of hours before my appointment I got the bright idea to see a doctor first - I persuaded a doctor to fit me into his busy schedule. Sure enough - retracted ear drum. So I cancelled the appointment at the dentist's with great relief. Things are slowly improving now.

Kids are getting rather obstreperous, time to give them a bit of full attention. James usually ends up having some private time with me after the others are in bed at night. Peter just sleeps ...

Letter: Half-Way House

1985-08-01T04:48:00.000-07:00

Letter 1 / 8 / 85

A whole week in Townsville and this is my first chance to sit down and write.

Peter is actually up and about on his own today - he and James have gone to the hospital for more blood tests and I'm 'home' with the girls.

No place for us to live in Cairns - hotels and motels wouldn't have us with my yellow husband! The Baptist Church here in Townsville let us use this "1/2 - way - house" for ex-cons, people on the run / in trouble etc. Its a huge old place with built-in verandahs all around, masses of doors (our bedroom has 5 doors, three to verandahs and two to the main room!) Big and airy, ideal for Peter to convalesce and kids to run around.

Peter's much better now - couldn't even keep water down ust before we left the island. He's still very weak, tires easily, and has to be very careful what he eats. But at least he's not quite as yellow as he was. His eyes especially were a very vivid, startling yellow. So far the only test results we've had show that Peter and James both have/had hepatitis, but no mention of type or intensity, and tests for the girls are not back yet.

I'm making another desperate attempt to get Alison off the bottle - she has developed a hole in her front tooth. She has a very 'crowded' little mouth. We are seeing a dentist on Monday.

Jo has cut her eighth tooth at last. She's standing up a lot these days, without holding on, but no steps yet. She has a terrible temper. And this week here in Townsville she has developed a 2am play-time - as if I'm not tired enough already with a sick husband and three small kids and doing all the cooking, cleaning, shopping and driving around ...

I've just been filling in forms for James to do some pre-school by correspondance. So far all we have are some vague ideas and stuff about "everyday play' (sand, mud, water etc). We are looking forward to the arrival of the "equipment pack" (paints etc). Hopefully there will be things to do now and when we start travelling south for furlough - he's so ready for school. He is so confident these days. We go to the park and suddenly he's the "big kid" who can make the merry-go-round work and jump on and off again without falling.

I'm sitting on the front doorstep - not like on Murray where I always sit in the shade. The nights are very cold here (9degrees) but the days are really pleasant, like spring in Perth.

Letter: In Papua New Guinea

1985-05-07T04:47:00.000-07:00

Letter 7 / 5 / 85

Despite heaps of sickness since we've been here (coughs, colds, fevers, ear infection, upset stomachs ... all in just two weeks!) our time so far has been really encouraging. So much so that the powers that be are discussing the possibility of us changing branches. Of course this sort of thing has never been done before - we want them to go a little bit over the international border, that's all. Then we would have access to all the trained consultants in this branch, and the computer dept, and even a travel subsidy. In turn we may be asked to act as consultants or whatever ourselves.

When it comes to computers our branch in Australia will only allow us to use certain ones (a choice of 2), neither of which is any use without mains power. We are the only ones without mains power, of course, and in such a small branch they have to make restrictions according to what sort of backup facilities they have. But up here in PNG every man and his dog has a computer, and the "in thing" is the little "Radio Shack 100" which runs on batteries, and is driven by a cassette player, and the accumulated data can then be "dumped" onto the big branch computers.

The lady who was babysitting Jo and Alison found it too hard to continue after her 2 year old came down with chloroquin-resistant malaria. We brought the girls with us to the lectures for a few days - trying to remind the administration that we have a problem! (They were very well-behaved, though). Now we leave them with the mother of three boys - Jacob (4), Caleb (3) and Abram (1). Jacob goes to pre-school with James. Young Abram is a little rascal, and is quite taken with Jo. Its been interesting for Sue, their mum, to have little girls around the place.

Emotional traumas for James

James is going through emotional traumas, again. He seems to like pre-school, though he doesn't talk about it. He's been sick, like the rest of us, and has only now developed asthma - first time in ages. He's very run-down, very weepy, won't eat. I have been trying to give him extra attention in case that's what he needs - things like housework are put aside - and he's been learning to trace his name ... but he gets so frustrated and cries if he doesn't get it perfect.

Emotional Upset for Alison

Alison has regressed too. I keep her in nappies all the time here - can't afford puddles etc on other people's carpets, and she has stopped trying to use the toilet. All our efforts to throw away the daytime bottle have gone to pot since she was sick and we let her have it to keep her fluids up. And for some reason she seems to have almost forgotten how to talk except to grunt and "yeah" and "nah". Maybe she's not hearing too well after having ear trouble - she still has a lovely smile!

Jo's missing smile

And little Jo - such a delightful child! We had a few days when we missed her smile, then we found she had an inner and an outer ear infection. Now her smile has returned. The other day she actually began to crawl a little, but she hasn't continued much. After all, she can usually find something close at hand to amuse her. Apart from her dark brown eyes she looks just like the others did at 9 months.

Sleepy kids

There's a market here (7 am Mon, Weds, and Fri) where the locals sell produce to the missios. We've been gobbling up avocados at 10-20t each. Last night at tea we had a fish (frozen, from the store) and corn, potato, sweet potato, and chokoes and choko greens (from the back yard). Unfortunately Jo had a disturbed nap during the day and fell asleep before tea, and James had a prolonged asthma attack just before tea too and fell asleep and slept all night.

Missing teenage mk

The day after we got here one of the teenage boys (16 year old, missionary kid) went missing while camping with a group of kids over the river. They presumed he'd gone to the toilet as he disappeared from his tent without even taking his shoes, but as time passed and he didn't return the search started - and kept going til 2am. They started again at first light using the helicopter and most of the personnel here - we heard the helicopters and stuff but weren't able to help. They gave up about mid-morning. Six days later there was supposed to be a "positive sighting" of him (alive) in nearby Kainantu town, about 7 miles away, and so they mobilised the senior high school boys and many others - thinking that for some reason he must be "running away". He was recently converted at a camp near where they had been camping. But they found his body in the river near Kainantu "looking like it had been there six days".

Letter: Out of Australia

1985-04-23T04:46:00.000-08:00

Letter from PNG 23 / 4 / 85

Here we are in PNG! Had a rough time getting here. The plane from Murray Island was delayed several hours after it took a nose-dive as it landed on Yorke Island - without casualties - and we had to sit around first on Murray airstrip and then on Yorke airstrip while they checked it carefully. Then we had to board said doubtful plane!

The flight to Cairns was very cold - James turned blue, and then soaked his seat, Jo threw up all over me so I was cold and wet too, Alison developed a fever as we left MI and so was the only one who didn't suffer from the cold.

Getting to Port Moresby

We had a day in Cairns, with Alison really sick and vomitting everywhere, then off to Cairns Airport for 8pm flight. More delays, mechanical problems, we had to wait in the International Lounge ‘til about 10.30pm. We got to Port Moresby about midnight and were very relieved that an SIL bod picked us up and let us in to "Mapang" (mission hostel - we had been warned the proprietor locks the doors at 9pm and opens to no one because of recent civil unrest) for a few hours sleep. Then on Thursday morning we went out to the JAARS (SIL mission) plane, only to sit around in the hangar there for hours waiting for mechanical checks.

Kids in care

Alison is improving at last - eating today, first time in 6 days. We have a lovely house to stay in here. James loves pre-school. Alison and Jo are cared for in the morning by a very busy lady who has a 2 year old and 6 month old of her own. The first morning was a bit hairy - Alison was still quite unwell - but today was more encouraging.

Good workshop

The workshop looks like being very worthwhile too. We feel like we are in the right place, people actually know what we are talking about, and our consultant works in a closely-related language on the PNG coast.

Cold weather

Its very cold here (21 degrees!) and we have a fire roaring in the hearth. This house has a huge stone fireplace the house is built right around. It heats up and stays warm, even right around the back side of the chimney where our bedroom is.

Letter: Going to PNG

1985-03-18T04:45:00.000-08:00

Letter 18 / 3 / 85

Well it looks like we will be going to PNG after all. Its going to be very expensive (about $2000+) to get there and back, but from the blurb about the workshop it sounds like just what we need. Also it will be good to see Ukarumpa (again, for me - though it was about 1971 when I saw it last), to meet up with a few old Jungle Camp friends, and make the PNG branch aware that we are here ( - stuck in the Australian Aborigines Branch with a PNG-type language) and that we would be glad of occasional help. Also, we have been up here on the island for quite a stretch now, and it will be a nice change rather than another trip to Cairns.

We are trusting we won't get malaria - Ukarumpa is a 6 000' and above the malaria zone - there should be no anopheles mosquitoes. We will take the pills as well, though.

Ducky eggs

Our muscovy ducks are finally (!) beginning to lay - we are getting 3 duck eggs and 3 chicken eggs a day. We have 8 (I think) Muscovy ducks (and one drake) so I guess we'll soon have more eggs than we can gobble. Alison and Jo love eggs, James isn't so keen. Also Kathy (the gardening lady in Cairns) found us some Khaki Cambells. They lay about 300 eggs a year. She sent 6 ducks and 3 drakes (fully grown) and we have kept 2 ducks and 1 drake. They are funny old things! They quack loudly, and they stand up much straighter than the Muscovies, and they run around in a tight little group all the time. We really enjoy them. And we are looking forward to them laying soon when they settle down. They're terrible mothers, apparently, to breed them you need a muscovy or a broody hen to care for the eggs.

Work

Peter is trying to have a men's Bible Study this evening. I have plans to try the ladies again on Wednesday afternoon. It really is an uphill battle - it makes it seem that it would all be so easy if we were living in a suburb 'down south' ... just a different set of problems really. I have put aside all my other normal activities to tramp up and down the village trying to get something started.

School Sores

Alison's birthday party, and we still have sores.

The girls and I have all been suffering from some kind of skin sores - looks a bit like school sores. Jayne F took their youngest, Adam, to a doctor in Townsville and he found his sores are caused by some sort of "staph" infection which is being perpetrated by the local clinic where they don't sterilize their implements. So, we battle on, bathing in Savlon and avoiding the clinic where possible. A local woman has just died from a boil on her bot ... again, inefficiency in the local medical system, bunglings, slip-ups, carelessness.

Weaning time

I'm trying to wean Jo and Alison at the same time. Alison is only allowed bottles at bed-time now - we've had a few tears! But she is also not allowed to just sit down or lie down and cry – i.e. have a tantrum. And Jo has to do without her mid-morning pre-nap feed. Three days now and still battling. I put on a non-feeding dress so I can't weaken, and she bites me on the chin and nose! In PNG I'll have to have someone care for her each morning. I'd rather not put her on the bottle, but in fact I have weakened once or twice and she refuses to suck it, just bites it - which she enjoys.

Bath time

Peter says he has left me half a bucket of warm water in the shower, so I'd better go and use it.

Letter: Alison's Maternal Instincts

1985-03-08T04:43:00.000-08:00

Letter 8 / 3 / 85

Its Alison's birthday soon - what would she like? She has strong maternal instincts in a 2-year-old way. She has lots of soft toys ... we're up to our necks in soft toys. But bathing babies is one of her favourite activities. We often have teddies, bunnies etc hanging by their ears from the washing line. Also she and James love playing picnics and parties - it would be nice if the kids had their own tea set instead of using mine! Peter's mum gave Alison a set of her own cutlery (with special shaped plastic handles) - Ali's is red, James' is yellow. Alison is not very handy with it yet. She is not short of clothes for the next few months ... although she has grown 2 inches in the last 3 months and is wearing a bigger size in everything.

Kids

The school principal and his family are down south for two weeks, so James has a chance to recover from playing with Terri all the time, and he and Alison are really close these days. But he (James) is going through a patch of not hearing - "what did you say?" he constantly asks - and rapid blinking (but no stuttering this time). A community health team is here for a week, "screening" all of the local kids, and they reckon his sight in one eye is much weaker than the other, so I guess we'll have to get him checked before he starts school.

You wouldn't believe how long it has taken for me to write this much so far - all three kids find it necessary to try to sit on me, and then fight each other for the best position. James just dropped a pot plant ...

Bishop's permission

The church has reached an all-time low as far as teaching is concerned. A couple of weeks ago with the text, "Why did you not have faith" as proof (when Peter walked on the water) we were all berated for not having faith in (for instance) the church bell as this was Jesus' voice calling us. Last week I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when the village men were the target because this is "marbles season" and every man has a pocketful of them - and they play in the dirt outside the store. But this is also Lent ... "Have you special permission from the Bishop or someone to play marbles in Lent??" Today, I tried not to listen, but couldn't help hearing, that we still have a "chance" before the Bible will close just as the store closes at closing time. Three more weeks of Lent is our last chance, apparently.

Pity the priest

Its very sad because we appreciate Fr Tabo as a person, and we know how he labours, but he is so confused. To add to his misery (and these things are taken into account when you consider whether to listen to a preacher) two weeks ago he bought a new 2 000 gallon fibre-glass rainwater tank (ours is only 1 000 gallons) which cost him $1100. He's paid some of it, at $30 per week, and still has $640 to go. They hurriedly erected it on a very old stand, Peter helped them to link it to the gutter and it filled in a few days with this recent wet weather. Yesterday the priest and his family were all out, and with a terrific sloshing, crunching noise (we heard it from our house) the whole thing fell over and smashed completely.

Bible studies

The planned ladies' Bible study class was a complete washout - it rained and rained and blew! So, I'll try again next week. I don't know for sure if anyone had planned to come anyway.

Peter tried for a men's study on Friday night. Noel has been on a drinking binge lately - especially with his wife away on TI having their 5th (the women have to go in 6 weeks ahead of their due date!) - but he wanted to break out of it. So we had him around to tea straight after work, then he an Peter studied until 1am, even though no one else came.

PNG trip planning

We are having difficulty getting our passports - Peter only has a "birth extract" (not an actual certificate) and the signature of the local JP wasn't acceptable for proof of identity. Then we have to work on visas - if we are going to get to PNG for this workshop. But unless one of our mission planes in PNG can come and get us for a lot less than the local airline - who insist that we go via Cairns - it seems that it will be financially out of the question anyway. It would be an interesting break, though, if we can make it - especially with the kids being cared for each morning while we are there.

Gorgeous Jo

Jo is still a gorgeous baby. Like James was, she seems to have no particular desire to crawl. Doesn't even try to pull herself up if she falls over from sitting. But she gets around a fair bit by rolling.

She is off Farex and onto the hard stuff now - out of the "Mouli Baby". I have the blender here and occasionally do a whole batch of food for her when the generator is running.

She is quite a blondie now, though her hair has a slight reddish look (the other two went through a 'red' stage too). She's a lot like the other two to look at - one of the ladies at Berrimah said, "That's not fair, you make them all the same!"

Except for her beautiful olive skin.

Letter: Brown Girl

1985-02-27T04:42:00.000-08:00

Letter 27 / 2 / 85

Looking back at old photo's - like the ones we have of James when we were in Melbourne and he was a baby only a few months old - well, Jo is just like that. Her hair is light now, and what there is of it looks quite red at this stage. Her eyes are dark brown. And her skin is tanned and hair-less - James and Alison are quite hairy, blond hairs.

Healthy outdoor life

We have all been suffering with some virus, as have so many people here. Alison has been sick for so long, I was beginning to think it was all just a reaction to Jo - she demands so much cuddling and carrying around when she is sick - but she has been having some genuine fevers. Jo, too, has a high fever, and a very noisy chest and horrid cough.

James is pale and tired looking, very weepy, though his fevers seem to have eased up now, and although his chest is "tight" he's had no asthma so far this time.

I'm very tired - from getting up so much at night. And I have a weird itchy rash under one arm, similar to a lot of other people here at the moment. Peter's had blocked ears for a couple of weeks, but seems to be improving ...

Happy lot, aren't we! One O.D. ("Old Dear") wrote to us and said,

"Do you get viruses and things up there? I guess not, with that nice outdoors life you lead you are probably all healthy" ...

Going overseas

We would like to attend a translation workshop in PNG (Papua New Guinea) but I doubt whether we will be able to. Our passports (which didn't have the kids on anyway) run out next month, so we've sent them off ... Its all very well telling people to "Go to your nearest GPO"! We had to do a statutory declaration (which involved finding a JP or magistrate!) to say that we are more than 100km away from any P.O. When we finally get our passports, then we'll have to start working on visas ... and start taking anti-malarial medications.

Mango plague

We are having a plague of mangoes. I have never seen the trees so loaded. Some branches normally beyond Peter's reach are hanging so low they are now within Alison's reach. The first million or so didn't even taste good, but they are getting sweeter now. At night they fall about every 2-5 minutes, and the lawn and roof of the shed and translation house are littered with them. Its a daily chore to pick them up and, when possible, give them away.

One bunch was hanging down and touching the translation house roof, and Peter picked 60 mangoes from the one bunch!

Village Life

Ron Day, standing for Chairman of the Island

Its very busy around the village these days. Election for a new chairman is around the end of March, and with new laws we are obliged to vote. I guess we are so much more involved these days.

I'm carrying the camera everywhere I go, it is my constant companion - along with Jo and Alison! - in preparation for furlough soon, as well as an "in".

Kids n books

James has rediscovered his books lately, he's constantly asking to have stories read to him, and its hard to find the time. The younger two are somehow more demanding, their needs usually seem more urgent. Alison loves books too, though she is not so patient with stories yet. Jo loves the taste of books...

A couple of days ago Jo was getting up on her hands and knees looking like she would crawl, but now she seems to have lost interest.

Tired now, must sleep.

Letter: Hermit Crabbing

1985-02-09T04:40:00.000-08:00

Letter 9 / 2 / 85

Our fish tank is going better these days. We've had a little hermit crab for some time now - fascinating little chap. He was living in a little cone shell, and we put an old "egg-shell cowrie" in the tank as part of the decor - and we felt very honoured when he popped his bot out of the cone and into the cowrie. Then we felt shunned when he returned to his old shell ... and now he has chosen the cowrie once more. It probably has a more spacious interior, but it would be heavier to carry about.

Then yesterday the tide was low and Peter collected a couple more hermits - big ones in trocchus shells - and a spidery star fish which drapes itself here and there in the aquarium. When Peter was changing the water this morning it hung on a piece of coral and switched one leg like a cat switching its tail.

Pram transport

I have been very busy these days, now that James is back at kindy. I ply up and down the village with my pram-load of babies. Jo sits at the back (? closest to me as I push it) with her feet on the foot-rest, chewing on the rail, and Alison sits up behind her at the front (?) lounging back on a pillow, grinning at people and singing in her husky little voice: "How does cat'pilla go? dear me anybody know". Very cute! Jo turns on her sweet gummy smile for all and sundry too, much to everyone's delight.

I'm now having a weekly Bible Study time with Gracie Tapim - very lovely lady, belongs to "Revelation" church so feels a bit lonely on the island. She doesn't speak Meriam, unfortunately. I've been talking to other ladies about having Bible Studies - they smile and nod in that special condescending way that we are learning means they don't mean it at all. I take my own biscuits and suggest that they might provide a cuppa to go with it. They are often a bit shy of offering a cuppa to a "kole" (white person).

Letter: Water Retention

1985-02-05T04:38:00.000-08:00

Letter 5 / 2 / 85

Its very wet here, I guess the "wet" season is properly here now. We ordered some of taht super-absorbent stuff for the garden - if its claims are true then its going to be wonderful! We will have to do a lot of proving before the Islanders will believe us about it though. Its like wallpaper paste - powder that goes jelly-like - only more so.

Minor interruption ...

Oh-oh! Alison just wee-d on Jo's play-mat and a pillow. She just refuses to be trained. I've tried rewards, I've tried ignoring it, its smacks today - I can't handle washing pillows and mats all of the time. She does know - she must know - I can only guess that she needs to get the attention any way she can.

New cot for Jo

I re-made Jo's cot the other day. It was a terrible struggle when I did it for Alison - being highly pregnant at that time -it took days of hard work. this one I whipped up in a few hours, and I made it with snappers (the kind you put on with a hammer) so I can take it off to wash it without dismantling the whole cot.

Another baby?

James wants a brother - no I'm not expecting again. He said yesterday, "I haven't got a brother, but Nathan (red-head in Darwin) is my brother." He may never even see him again. He is full of heavy questions lately, like: "When God made the sea, was it high tide or low tide?"

World Safari

Do go and see World Safari (2) if you get a chance. I gather Murray Island features quite prominently, seeing as this is where their boat sank. Wilfred (who now likes to call himself "the tourist guide for the Torres Strait") has just been with them for their opening of the film in Adelaide, he and Margaret (and 7 kids) just got back this weekend. This seventh child (which was actually a twin but one died) is called Peter, after a certain white "Uncle" the child has.

Letter: Healing the Ducks

1985-01-21T04:37:00.000-08:00

Letter 21 / 1 / 85

The ducks have stopped dying - the last sick one did recover after James faithfully prayed for it every night and Peter washed her eyes and squirted aspro down her throat.

Bye-bye baby turtles

Our turtles were pining for the ocean and we had to let them go. They would just float around in the tank, barely eat at all, and were just not interested in anything. But once we got them onto the beach they sure livened up - down the sandy slope and into the water, and off ... little heads bobbing up every few metres.

New School Principal

The new school teacher arrived - rather unexpectedly - about a week ago. He came on his own initiative, realising that if he waited for instructions it could be April before anyone realised that MI school had no principal.

He is the first of a new breed, being under the Education Department which is presently in the process of taking over the schools around here, and plans to stay for about four years.

Gary and his wife, Jane, have three kids: Belinda is 11, quite a pretty little miss. Terry (Theresa) is 6, chubby, bossy, noisy, tom-boy ... and friends with James, unfortunately. Adam has just turned 1 - roly-poly, a bit spoilt. very much your average countrified Australian family, quite easy to get along with.

They brought with them a friend for their first couple of weeks while its school holidays. But their boat (14' with 40hp motor) hasn't arrived yet, so Peter's been taking Gary and friend John out a few times - our fish stocks needed replenishing anyway. Today the tide is low so they are diving for crayfish - which will be a nice change if they get some. Gary is a non-swimmer (!) so he intends to be the shark-watch in the boat. I've got the "citizen's band transceiver" (walkie-talkie) switched on in front of me waiting for Peter to call and say how he's going.

Mr and Mrs Fixit

This morning we took our washing machine apart - not completely. The spinner wasn't emptying. We found two tiny twigs, that's all - and its going again. We wasted a whole morning working on it, but we've forgiven it because it does such a good job washing all our clothes.

Tadpole tally

Our tadpole population has reduced itself to two (which have apparently eaten the rest) in my clear pyrex bowl on our outside table. Today I drained the green sludge out and found them, both with back legs at last. We have been waiting so long that I think James had stopped believing us that it would happen.

Bread problem solved

I discovered why my bread wasn't good. I knew that the (white) flour had some weevils - all flour here does - but then i seived some and discovered more weevils than flour. Things have improved since I opened a fresh drum of flour.

Letter: Keeping on top of it all

1985-01-11T04:35:00.000-08:00

Letter 11 / 1 / 85

I am battling with the usual heap of correspondence to keep up with, and I am just about keeping on top of it as long as I ignore the call of my sewing machine and my eagerness to actually get some language work done.

Seawater fish tank

Jo is on the floor behind me - getting quite mobile these days, but also more demanding. James and Alison are "helping" Peter change the water in our (saltwater) fish tank. We've tried sea slugs (or "swea swugs" as James says!) and crabs, and sardines ... but everything dies. Some of the local kids caught us some beautiful little angel fish and they delighted us for about 4 days - but they wouldn't eat anything we offered them, and they died. (The ducks were happy to eat them though!) Then I saw some kids with a batch of newly-hatched turtles, and persuaded them to give us a couple. They are so perfect, like little clockwork toys! Of course, they can grow rather huge - we will let them go when they get bigger.

Dying ducks

Our ducks are dying off one by one - presumably its one of these respiratory diseases that we hear ducks are prone to. Its a shame for them to die so close to the age when thy'll produce eggs. Two black ones have died - we only have one black duck (female) left - and one of the two remaining original oldies died after a prolonged illness while we lovingly nursed her. Now one young white duck has been sick for a couple of days - we are very hopeful of her recovering. And this morning we noticed our young drake is staggery.

The first wheat-germ bread I made was really good - stayed fresh and extra tasty. But every loaf since has been horrible ... so I just don't know why. This last time I forgot the 'lecimax' - to my regret, as it seems to help considerably.

When I was a little boy ...

Alison's talking continues to increase. James chatters on ad nauseum. One of his favourite phrases which refers to any time in the past (even last week) is: "when I was a little boy ..." And our little mimic (Alison) came to me the other day with, "when I was a little boy ..." She speaks so clearly and copies all of James' mistakes very accurately!

All night dances

So I can see today's language helper arriving - I'd better finish this and concentrate on keeping the kids away from Peter. The night before last they danced all night, from 6pm to 6:15am - we live right next to the dance ground! Its a kind of competition (or battle) and both the dance itself and the practices leading up to it have made our language helpers rather irregular lately.

Letter: End of Cheap Phone Calls

1984-12-03T04:32:00.000-08:00

Letter 3 / 12 / 84

The wet is here, or almost. Today it thundered and rained - and I couldn't do the washing. I would do it now but the last lot is still on the line and of course its soaked. Now its so steamy.

Our 20c phone calls have at last come to an end. Not that the phone can't do it, but there is a sign saying that we mustn't. Actually, the phone is a private phone, you see, belonging to the council, and they receive a bill regardless of how much money is actually in the box. So the council has the right to ban people from using the phone (on Yorke Island the council insists that you ask permission every time you use the phone!) and Telecom promises to remove the phone if the bills are not paid. It was suggested that people might make a donation to help the council pay for the $1000 that was due over what was in the box, so we went down to make a contribution, as people are aware that we have been using the phone ... but they said it has all been taken care of. We could still phone you on the 20c system (so as not to have the operator butting in) and time ourselves and put in the extra money I guess. But for the time being I had better try to catch tomorrow's plane with a few letters.

Getting on with translation

We feel we have finally 'hit our straps' and started work. Only two of our four men have been coming to do translation, but they have been working well and seem to be learning what its all about now. I guess translating "Nowa" (Noah) was good practice for them - we've nearly finished getting it checked now. They are pretty keen on the new "Sower" (parable) booklet, so hopefully it will go a bit faster.

Even I am getting into the action at last. The priest's wife, Adiana, has made herself available to help me. She seems to have a fairly keen mind and is willing to do her best. Also a lady freshly up from Mackay, after being away from the island for 20 years, is keen to help. She has all the marks of a mainlander - they stick out like a sore thumb with their fancy clothes. She belongs to the "Body-Felt Salvation" group, though she has some quarrel with them over whether the local culture should be preserved and/or taught. She still uses the language, and has taught classes (down south) on island cooking. She is very concerned about the local women, their health problems and those who spend all day "doing nothing". So she will be a good place to start with this cookery book I want to do (to aid literacy in their language among the women especially). I'm also being a bit ambitious and wanting to do a Christmas drama - simple as possible, and in the local language, to be performed maybe at the Christmas service or outside afterwards. These people love to watch any kind of drama, but they don't seem to do much.

Baby Jo likes to eat

Thanks for the Farex, it only took six days to get here. Jo gets quite upset if she doesn't get to eat with the rest of us at tea time. She doesn't eat much of course, but likes to taste different things. She remains such a pleasant little tike. Peter often accuses me when he catches me just cuddling her - "Sometimes I think you enjoy that baby!" - I sure do! She seems to take a special interest in Alison (despite some of the treatment she gets from her!) and often chuckles when Alison dances about. She has a smile for everyone, but has already learnt who Mum is and is not keen to be taken away.

James is unwell

Poor James! His big boil in the corner of his mouth came up and burst and then healed incredibly quickly. But then he developed little ones on his nose, eyebrow, chin, and a row on his top lip. They are all still there, like very large pimples, and he has a huge boil on his shoulder which seems to be taking for ever to either come up or go down. He is on antibiotics, but they don't seem to be doing much good. He still has at least one bad asthma attack each night, but is learning to cope by himself and we've kept him off the wretched medication because it makes him so restless and naughty. He has taught himself when he wakes up choking and coughing to get up on his knees and stick his elbows out. Even if it doesn't really make it better, having something specific to do helps him to cope with the panic of feeling like he can't breathe.

Tues am 11.00

I've got the kids perched in front of the radio ready for Kindy of the Air. Jo is in her "Fraser Chair" - got it in Darwin for $2 and its been good value! I've done the washing and pegged it all out on our little rotary clothes hoist. Peter is working with Fr Tabo - began "The Sower" today, though we still need to check "Nowa” with some 'independent readers'.

Aquarium window

Did we tell you be brought a fish tank up this time? Or, at least, we got our friends Rod and Hazel to carry it up here. It was in pieces, and we have finally got it siliconed together without any leaks (took about three goes). And we have been experimenting with fish and reef creatures - so far everything has died, but we are working on it. Peter knocked a hole in the wall and made another window in the living room especially for it to sit next to, and even just with big shells in it now it looks very pretty.

Well, radio kindy will finish soon, and I guess it will be time for the plane soon so I'd better close.

Letter: Making Bread

1984-11-19T04:30:00.000-08:00

Letter 19 / 11 / 84

We are all getting over a virus, even Jo, and the freezer, generator, and washing machine are doing their various jobs saving us so much time and energy while we are so tired. I even put together a few of my 'rest' moments to do some sewing. If I try to sleep I usually get disturbed as soon as I drop off, which makes me feel lousy for hours, so I try to do something relaxing for an hour or so after lunch rather than let myself sleep. I put together some material scraps in rather hurried, rough-and-ready form and came up with a nice bright patchwork bedspread for our bed. I do enjoy using that treadle machine, I find it most relaxing.

The kibble wheat is lovely, but most of it just seems to melt away in the bread, only occasionally do we get a crunchy bit. Even though we now have a freezer I can't seem to keep my bread fresh - its only really nice for the first few hours. In the freezer (which is the absorption type and therefore very slow to actually freeze anything) it just goes dry very quickly. Is there something one can put into bread to stop it going stale so quickly? Would wheat germ keep it moist? - not that we have any.

Our garden plot

'Uncle' Kakam in the hilltop garden

The doldrums are trying to come, we keep getting really calm patches, the turtle season is well under way, and we can often see whales splashing about and spouting water out in front of our place out in the deeper water. We are longing for rain to grow a bit of greenery, fill our tank with non-scummy water, and try out Peter's new rock-wall on the drain!

We've taken possession of our piece of family garden land up on the hill. Its about half an hour's walk away, only the first bit is very steep. Its a fairly barren looking patch, with just scrubby lantana-type bushes - hard to tell what they are as its all been recently burnt. And there is one tree which will have some leaves later. The soil is red, but our section which has not been previously cleaned islander-style is covered with lovely brown humus - dry now, but will be beautiful when its wet. Peter got up there early the other morning and poked a few seeds in ... and now we wait for the rain and hope we don't get a big rain followed by a big dry so that the seeds don't germinate then just die. We live in hope.

Kids

We've got James going to kindy again after some weeks away sick. He even takes himself there on his bike. Its still a constant struggle to keep him on an even keel, he's so emotional and over-sensitive. Next year's school principal (as far as we know) has a six year old boy and a baby about six months old. That information may not be correct, but it would be nice for James to have a real boy to play with!

Alison, today, had half a dozen successes in her potty. I've been sitting her on there every hour - it seems to be taking a lot of my time, but I'm trying to think of it as an investment. Her chatter goes on and on, she's game to try repeating anything she hears.

She misses James when he's at kindy, but when he is away and Jo is asleep she rather enjoys being the only one for a while. Her hair is looking fairly respectable at last and I've been clipping it back or tying a little bunch rather than cutting a fringe - makes her look very cute! Her hair is quite blond, but not white like James.

Jo's hair is still brown (such that there is) and looks like staying that way. James's eyes have remained the same dark grey, but Alison's are a much lighter grey/blue. Jo's eyes are very dark, grey but tending towards brown. Her skin is slightly more sallow than the other two too. James and Alison both look very fair, but neither of them seems to burn easily.

Birthdays

We are celebrating James's birthday sometime next week, just so his little friends will still be here. Nerissa had her birthday this week and Danielle's birthday is a few weeks away so I think they are bringing hers forward after James's so she can also have all her little friends (James and Alison) for a little party.

Anthropologists

A big mob (about 6) of white chaps turned up on a plane today. Heard on the bamboo line that they are from England and have come to up-date the Haddon report - done by the Cambridge expedition around the turn of the century, a six volume work and about the only real study ever done about these parts. Don't know how long they plan to stay - or where they'll stay - but I guess we'll catch up with them in due course. Just now another plane arrived with two more white people (a man and a woman), don't know who they are.

Work

We still haven't managed to get the whole translation team together at one time. We had two meetings and only two out of four came ... reckon they'll all make it on Sunday maybe. Peter wants them to work in pairs for the initial part of a translation. We think we'll do the Parable of the Seed in story book form, and also dramatised for video. To get the women thinking in terms of literacy and realising that books do have something for them too, I'm working on a cookery / health book - haven't got very far yet, the women are so scared, or shy, or just busy.

Chooks and Ducks

Our two chickens are still laying, one each most days, but the two big ducks have gone broody - they don't do anything, hardly even eat, but sit on their nests and hiss at anyone who comes near ... and if we are not quick enough to collect the chickens' eggs they roll them out of the drum where the chickens lay and into their duck's nest and sit on them too.

The ten little ducks are doing well. One has a black spot on her forehead, one has two spots, and one has three. There seems to be only one drake, which we may keep this time. The three black ones are supposed to be magpie muscovies, but we are suspicious that they may not be muscovies at all - maybe that's why the big duck kept rejecting them. The black feathers they have grown now have a greeny sheen.

Uncle Kakam over the road has one black duck - strange looking bird, though - and he keeps it outside the run presumably because the others pick on it all the time.

Garden

We went up to the garden early this morning, managed to leave about 6:30am - not bad with that many kids to get ready! - and we planted a few more rows of corn. James managed to walk all the way up and back by himself - though a lot of the way down was on his bottom. Alison walked most of the flat bits by herself, and for the rest of the way Peter had to struggle with her on one arm, back-pack on his back, and mattock and cane knife in the other hand.

Letter: All Mod Cons

1984-11-04T04:29:00.000-08:00

Letter 4 / 11 / 84

The time has come, the time is now! I think I might get a letter written ... allowing for an interruption about every two words. Things are improving, I'm gradually catching up on what has to be done.

We now have a little freezer, which frees me from making bread so often. It doesn't freeze brilliantly (takes at least twelve hours to freeze most things, even small) because its an 'absorption' one and runs on gas. But its still a great help, with storing fish too. Also, we have our little generator AND WASHING MACHINE! What a difference that makes! What used to take hours is done in half an hour, and I can even do it with a baby on my hip!

Doing the washing with the new machine

Visitors left

Our visitors have finally all gone - it was nice to have them here, but it is a relief to be just us again. We enjoyed having Rod and Hazel staying with us, but our house (even with the translation house in full use as well) couldn't really cope with four adults and six kids. Meal-times were a special kind of nightmare, with our picnic table that only seats four - seats are attached to the table and can't be moved - and an extra chair at each end of it - that makes six. Our attempts to put James, Linda and Alison at a separate table failed, and we ended up having two sittings (in which case the kids all hung around for the second sitting anyway ... ) or we all had kids on our knees while we ate.

Nevertheless it was a nice break - a change from our usual routine. We managed to all climb the hill, and I minded the littlies while the others all went right around the island, and we had a trip over to Dawar Island. Poor little Philip had a rough time with fevers, and Linda was under stress because she is very much an 'indoorsy' city girl - so Rod and Hazel got to discover some of the joys of 'mission life'. But they sent Kay to school here, and she loved it.

More visitors

The day they left we were supposed to have two more people coming, so we were most relieved when they delayed their visit for four days. Peter H came from Cairns (he's the 'extension officer' for TAFE college) bringing a lady who is to run a gardening course up here. They only stayed for four days, and it was a relaxing time because they didn't bring any kids and ours really took to them. Kathy rather shocked the locals (and us, for a moment there, as we may have been up here too long ...) with her extremely short shorts - I trust she will adjust her clothing before she returns for the main part of the course.

Jo

Jo continues to develop in her own sweet way. She's so placid and content. She doesn't generally cry when she wakes up, I often go in and find her playing happily. Sometimes at four or five in the morning I'll hear a little voice and find her on her back, wedged across the cot, all tangled up in her mosquito net, playing in the dark. She's full of smiles and little chuckles, especially for things like mobiles, and her 'crib exerciser'. She turns over with ease, and is getting fairly accurate with her hands.

Ali

Alison is as Alison as she ever was. Chatters all day - puts quite a few words together into little sentences now. And copies everything James says. She's getting gentler with Jo, though every now and then she'll suddenly claw at her face, or come running from a distance and jump on her! She has one or two dolls of her own now who get frequent baths and cuddles etc. She's quite the little girl, though she still acts as a magnet to dirt. Her hair is getting thicker, and I'm trying to get her used to having clips and things in it without pulling them straight out again. I have her in pants all day, but we are having no success at all with her training. If I could have just a few successes in the pot to reward we might get somewhere. She knows what she's doing, and rather enjoys the sensation of a puddle around her feet.

James

As for our James James ... he's a long skinny creature these days. He's been very sick - again. His asthma attacks get worse. Last night he had a really bad attack - rather distressing for all of us. Ventolin is a fairly standard treatment - he has it in liquid form. But he coughs and coughs and vomits, and its very difficult to get anything into him while his stomach is in spasms. I think you can get a Ventolin inhaler, which he may be old enough to learn to handle.

Anyway, his new bike arrived 2-3 weeks ago, and he hasn't been willing to ride it. Even with the trainer wheels he was sure he would fall off. We realised after a while that the real reason is because he's feeling so weak and tired he just doesn't have the strength to push it. But he's been getting better as he always does when we give him a course of Incremin tonic, and today he was suddenly willing to try. Once he got going he gained confidence and didn't want to stop. He got faster and faster and went further and further each time. Peter says he remembers his dad said his (dad's) chest troubles started to get better once he got a bike, and Peter had the same experience. I guess exercising with your hands out (and therefore chest expanded) would be good for these problems, and hopefully we'll see James improving fast. I think he'll be up early tomorrow morning wanting to ride. His speech is good these days, still a smattering of Creole language mixed in, but mostly English. He chatters non-stop, louder and louder ...

Ducks and Chooks

Of our three large ducks, two recovered from their broodiness and started laying, but the third took over all the yellow ducklings as her brood and turned nasty towards the three black and yellow ones, and us, and everything else. She was quite a nuisance, so in the end we just gave her away. Now one of the other two who were laying has stopped laying and is looking after the (not-so-little) ducklings ... it seems we can't win. At least the chickens are still laying, about 5 eggs every 3 days between them.

Garden

The citrus trees are still growing well. And we have corn and tomato and bean seedlings on their way. In the kitchen I have parsley and coriander and dill and tarragon growing in teacups on my windowsill! Its the parsley I'm most keen on. They are still very small, but I was very tempted to pick a little leaf to put on a dish today.

Letter: Baby number 3

1984-08-08T04:27:00.000-07:00

Letter from Darwin 8 / 8 / 84

Just a quick letter - time is pretty short these days. I tried to write from hospital ... but all the little things become so big and important when you're lying in a hospital bed. Its the strangest thing: this time in hospital, and when I had Alison, and when I was recently in the antenatal ward, I found myself to be the only married woman in the ward. Babies are 'in', families, apparently, are 'out'.

Anyway, Jo Anna is a beautiful little girl. She has dark hair, and that typical 'Wickham' look - just like James and Alison really. But she is so placid - a real "sleepy Jo". When she does wake up, she grunts and rummages - takes ages before she cries. In hospital she had trouble with low blood sugar, then she went yellow (the other two never did) and she still has "sticky eyes", but otherwise she fared pretty well despite a difficult birth.

I guess Peter didn't have time to tell much on the phone. I suddenly felt very unwell on the Thursday (26th) with fever, headache, and pains all over, and I had a sneaking suspicion I could be in labour. I'd been warned not to go into labour. So we rang the hospital and they rustled up an anaesthetist who could do epidurals. We went in about 2pm Friday expecting just a check-up, only to find ourselves ushered hurriedly into labour ward. We passed a miserable 2 hours or so while they put the epidural in ... then waited (in the operating theatre) as my back went numb but my tummy stayed very sensitive! It was quite a relief when they finally insisted on a general anaesthetic. They let Peter be in the room to see Jo born - not that he had really wanted to, he simply wanted to sit with me (with his back to proceedings) during the planned birth by epidural. As it turned out, they had great difficulty getting Jo out - had to do a lot of pounding, pushing, and using forceps - but she was born face first and gave a good yell right from the start. And then after they turfed Peter out they had a hard time stopping me bleeding. Apparently the doctor very nearly had to do a hysterectomy ... I'm so glad I slept through it all!!

Despite all the drama, I got over it all much quicker than I did with Ali. I didn't even need a blood transfusion, and by lunch time Saturday I was walking around with surprisingly little pain. And this Saturday I came home, after 8 days.

Jo's been asleep a long time, I'll have to wake her up soon or she won't sleep tonight ... yes, I know it never works that way for babies. But if I don't feed her soon I'll burst.

The other two really love little Jo - but my time away caused some upset. James has developed a stutter. "I can't talk very well ..." he explains after struggling with a word for several minutes. And he blinks a lot. "My eyes won't work ..." he complains. Alison has been quite sick - fevers, diarrhea etc - poor Peter had to carry her around all day while I was away. But we are all improving now we are back together. Peter's parents are due here on Sunday to help for a while.

Letter: Meeting old friends

1984-07-10T04:26:00.000-07:00

Letter from Darwin 10 / 7 /84

What a rushed morning I've had, and only a few minutes of peace left now before the kids come home from crèche - its such a precious three hours! I never know quite where to start with the things I want to get done.

Thanks so much for the lovely birthday presents - and the kids are delighted with the cloth picture too which arrived safely with Mary's present. The liquid soap and the lotion are really lovely, and James spent many hours of fun using the two boxes they came in as boats ... and then Alison got them for a bit of brrrm brrrm on the floor ... until they finally fell apart under her careful little fingers.

We nearly sent you a computer portrait of us - have you seen those? They print a computer portrait of a photo onto a tea-towel or t-shirt or whatever. Looks very nice, and they do it on the spot. So we had one done with all four of us on it ... but when we got home we realised that the reason it didn't really look like us was not because of the slightly blobby effect from the computer picture, but because it was all back-to-front - a mirror image. Unfortunately, people are not symmetrical, and it really looked like someone nice (especially the kids) but not US. So we went and got our money back.

I've just had a couple of days on the inside, courtesy of the government. Hospital, I mean ...

.......... [interruptions] ..........

Thursday afternoon

This morning I was so fed up of being pregnant that I thoroughly cleaned the house - gave Peter a bit of a shock, but all it did for me was give me a back ache.

Anyway, the doctors were talking about putting me in hospital for four weeks - and we had made it quite clear that we were not keen! In the end they came down to just two days for tests. So I went in and they pricked my finger four times a day - I pointed out that I'm quite good at pricking my own finger, I don't need to lie in a hospital bed for that.

And then friends here whose son is a diabetic lent me their 'glucometer' ($200 machine that gives you a digital readout of your blood sugar instead of just looking at colours and guessing) so they let me come home. The doctor insisted I see the eye specialist - but eye damage from diabetes only occurs in bad cases after about ten years, a waste of time (and government money), and a nuisance because I had to walk around for a day with my pupils all dilated. And I went in and had an ultrasound - for no particular reason. Its all been a bit of a nuisance and a lot of fuss about nothing. Apart from my present backache from washing floors, I feel fine.

Did I tell you about Alison getting really sick? We went through a really bad patch for a while. I waited for two weeks for my turn to start at the hospital clinic - then got the days all mixed up and missed the day ... Alison got sick ... and I lost my purse (or it was stolen, I really don't know) with about $120 in it.

Alison got sick so quickly, all of a sudden she was just a limp doll lying there with her eyes half closed. The doctor found she had a middle ear infection so treated her for that. But she kept vomiting at first, and then just constant diarrhea ... she got so thin. After about a week she finally 'turned the corner' and started improving - and now she has put on a kilo more than when she first got sick. The first couple of days when she was feeling better she was constantly banging on the fridge saying "door! door!" and she was eating cheese, meat, celery ...

All the field teams are coming in with a rush now. James is so excited with meeting old friends and making new ones he can hardly contain himself. There's quite a little gang of 3-4year olds, and they all get on very well together. The 'TQs' (temporary quarters) where we are living this time are four units joined together, with a shared back verandah ... bit of a madhouse! We are in one end one (with 2 1/2 kids), then there's two single ladies (one with two dogs), then the Eckerts with their two (Christy is 3, and Katy is a month older than Ali), and at the other end the Swartzes with their three (aged 7 years, 4 years and 6 months) and their dog Tigger - who has just as much 'bounce' as his namesake in Winnie-the-Pooh.

Yesterday the three dads got their heads together and brought an old cubby-house from the other side of the campus - the kids who originally owned it are teenagers now. They put it under the trees in front of all four units where it is in sight but almost out of sound. The kids love it - James and Ali had their lunch out there today. James gets on well with Christy, she's a rather over-sensitive sort like him, so they do a lot of talking and play-acting together (something the island kids don't seem to do) and they like to compare babies (Alison and Katy) - "this is my baby and that's your one" etc.

But James isn't really well. I guess the problem is just emotional. Waiting for our new baby, having all these new friends, and a head full of memories of Murray Island that he doesn't really know what to do with. He goes from moments of great glee to sudden gloom and tears for no apparent reason. He won't eat properly, he tires easily but often doesn't sleep well ... looks rather pale and thin too. At crèche the other day he had his first bad asthma attack - up till now its just been night time coughs, but he came home at lunch time really gasping and choking, and flushed and hot. After a while we worked out that one of the ladies had been cleaning out one of the cupboards and the dust would have got to him. We'll have to get him a little "puffer" if he's going to start having attacks like that.

Gotta go, visitors for tea.

Letter: Darwin Door

1984-06-19T04:25:00.000-07:00

Letter from Darwin 19 / 6 / 84

Its the most amazing thing - Alison has been banging on the back door (inside) since about 7:30 this morning saying "Door! Door!" ... but when I opened the door she just ran in and out crying. Until finally I opened the door and said, "OK, time to go to crèche!" and she ran out happily saying "play!" After being so unsettled in Cairns, both kids are really happy here, and Alison lets people pick her up too.

James's "little" friend, Nathan, has continued to grow like a weed - at least they can talk to each other now - and is a good six inches taller than James (although he is 8 days younger) so James has inherited Nathan's tiny 2-wheeler (with trainer wheels) bike - Nathan now has a bigger one. Alison has been lent a little plastic horse on wheels, a nice stable one - some of those things can be rather deadly! - so she's very pleased too.

We've actually been getting a few things done with the kids off at crèche all morning, and also being able to amuse themselves for short periods of time when they are back at home.

Work

Peter is getting stuck into our "phonology statement", and I'm trying to catch up with some of the letters we didn't get done in Cairns.

Hair

I am still enjoying my new frizzy hair cut. The hairdresser gave Peter a demo of how to cut my hair - later when the perm grows out. She even gave us a little lesson in how to do the kids' hair. With mine she started off by doing a 'one snip cut' - brushed it all straight up above my head and then cut it off, that way is comes out in graded lengths.

The kids are quite agreeable to my new hair ... for the first few days I kept finding James having a good long stare, then he'd say, "I like your fuzzy hair, Mummy." Alison just kept looking with a funny little Mona Lisa smile ... at least she doesn't grab hold and say "Dong!" like she used to. (Funny how she related my plaits to the church bell-rope!)

Baby no. 3

The baby is officially due August 6th ... if I don't burst before then. It is such a lively baby - they say that means it must be healthy, don't they? Awfully uncomfortable though. My first visit to the hospital clinic is tomorrow - I have a head full of questions I want to ask if I get a chance, but usually these clinics are so busy they just sort of rush you through - that's why it was so late in the day before they realised I was going to have problems with Alison. At least they have my records here.

James and Ali

Talking of Alison, we really have no idea of how she is going to react to the new baby. She and James are very close, though, they really look out for each other. If they have been separated for an hour or two they make up for it with a big cuddle and lots of kisses - they just like kissing and cuddling! And when they play together we still hear the screams and cries that are normal with kids playing, but we also hear an awful lot of apparently meaningless giggles.

Our car

We have been lent a car for a few days - a Toyota lite-ace van, bright yellow thing. Peter is not keen on spending tomorrow afternoon hanging around the hospital with two kids to mind while I queue at the clinic, so I had better learn to drive the thing. I much prefer the little Coronas etc that we can hire out of the car pool here, though its nice not to have to return it by a stated time. At least it should be easier to fit behind the wheel of the van.

Teething troubles

Well, the morning has gone. They rang me from crèche to say that Alison was crying, so I went over there and put her down for a sleep in one of the cots there. She's a bit 'sooky' right now with teething, so I'm surprised she goes to crèche at all. Her teeth have come through in all the wrong order. She had 'fangs' first before the middle ones, now she looks like she has eight teeth but actually there's a gap between the front ones and quite a few back ones have come through already. Teething has really given her a rough time with fever, runny nose etc ... and soon its time for her to have her measles injection.

Washing kids' clothes

So I must (again) get the washing into the machine - aren't automatic machines wonderful! With this cool weather (down to 17 degrees last night, and cool, dry and windy all day) the kids go through so many clothes - I fill the washing line every day. We've made good use of the local Pope shop and Savvy Army too. Alison has quite a pile of nice little dresses now, and I can afford to keep changing her when she gets dirty.

Letter: Carpentaria House, Cairns

1984-06-05T04:24:00.000-07:00

Letter from Cairns 5 / 6 / 84

A couple more days in Cairns - and the pace continues as hectic as ever.

After two weeks in the caravan we were really worn to a frazzle, the kids were sick, and it looked like the rain was here to stay. It was pretty grim!

We went to the Anglican Church - St John's - and there we were found by a couple we had met in the little Anglican church we went to in Darwin - we would never have recognised them, but they remembered us. So we were invited out to lunch, introduced to others, and invited out by them too! Well, somebody suddenly remembered "Carpentaria House", which belongs to the diocese of Carpentaria (which includes Murray Island) and is available to people passing through, missionaries etc.

Its actually two houses - it used to be a doctor's house and surgery. So we've had the surgery part to ourselves these last two weeks. There's a slightly eccentric caretaker lady who lives in the big house and likes to burst in at all odd times, but her heart's in the right place and we've just about got used to her.

The wonder of doors

It took Alison a whole week to stop getting lost inside the house. She trailed around hanging onto my skirt, and screamed if I went out of sight or if anyone closed a door. Doors are a totally new experience to her - we have none inside the house on Murray Island where she has spent her whole short life thus far. So ... I don't know how she'll take our next move ...

New 'do'

Pity I don't have a photo of me to include - I went and had my hair "frizzed". Never having been permed before, and after years of being pulled into plaits and buns, it didn't come out in a tight frizz like I wanted - like the Island women! - but I do have a nice curly mop. Its a great improvement, makes me feel a lot better. And its one of those "wash-and-wear" easy-care perms.

Big bub - or 2?

The baby continues to grow at quite an alarming rate. With 9 weeks to go I look like I'm a week or two overdue! At least I haven't put on weight all over this time, its all out in front. I feel quite well - and look healthy - most of the time, just patches when I feel thoroughly rotten. The baby is very alive and lively. I'm looking forward to an ultra-sound as soon as I get to Darwin to be reassured that its not twins.

New fangled gear

We have our new video camera, it all arrived yesterday, and we sat up late last night trying to work out how it all works. It's incredibly complicated. We did a little practice film, but couldn't seem to play it back through our monitor (a 5" screen TV). We went back to the shop today and discovered there was a secret panel (more knobs!) we hadn't found on the TV.

This has all been written under great duress - with Alison "helping". James is watching Play School on our tiny TV. Must think about cooking tea before Peter gets home.

Letter: from Cairns

1984-05-15T04:22:00.000-07:00

Letter 15 / 5 / 84

What a luxury. I'd almost forgotten that such things as peace and quiet existed. Young Alison H is home from Uni in Brisbane, and delighted to look after our two for a few hours. James thinks she's wonderful, and our Alison seems to accept it as long as James is there ... so I have been having a (much needed) little rest while Peter tries to get a "rust job" done on the car.

But let me tell you about our trip ...

Best-laid plans ...

We rang Ron Kuch about the Wednesday before we were due to come, and he told us to be at the airstrip about 1.30pm, and we could bring 50kg luggage. The trip would take only 3 1/2 hours by Aztec. On the Friday there were two funerals on the island, the bodies were flown in from Cairns by (we were told by people around us) "Outback Air". We saved ourselves a few jobs to do on Saturday morning - I got up early and put sheets etc in the laundry sink, they would be dry by lunch time, and we turned the fridge off and waited for the ice to melt a bit. We just sat down to a leisurely breakfast when there was a knock at the door - it was the Kuch pilot!

"Coming?" he asked. He had brought the bodies the day before, slept overnight in the village, but didn't bother to walk down or send someone to tell us about it.

"OK, 10 minutes ..." he said, - otherwise we would end up having to wait a couple of hours or more when we got to Lockhart River because the chap who does the re-fuelling of the planes was planning a fishing trip ...

Rushed exit

Well, we rushed. There are a lot of things you have to do before you go away for several months! You can't really just walk away ... I dragged the washing out of the sink and hung it (still soapy) on the line in bunches, rather than let it just rot in the sink. We put towels around the fridge on the floor, and slammed all the house windows closed, threw our freshly-made toast into my carry basket, locked the door ... and went. No time for any "good-bye"s.

At the airstrip they backed the tractor under the wing of the Cessna and he refuelled using a couple of jerry cans - standing on the tractor trailer to reach. One of the six seats in the plane was missing - they had to make space to carry coffins - so we had a little floor-space for Alison to play on. (And I was glad of it, she was restless and needed room to move.)

Slow flight

They had brought the Cessna instead of the Aztec because coffins fit better - but it meant the trip was now 5 hours long because it's a slower plane. Alison had a tummy-full of something that was making her uncomfortable (or maybe her ears were hurting too), and wriggled the whole time - after two dirty nappies she seemed quite a bit relieved. We were glad to have traveled early - but just wished we had known in advance! It would have been worse waiting on the airstrip for a late plane ...

Cold in Cairns

Our friends in Cairns were rather over-loaded with guests and family at this time, so they moved their caravan out to a caravan park to relieve the congestion - so here we are. It was pretty nightmarish the first couple of days (and nights), but a little better now that the kids are less excited and know the way around its a lot better. Its "so cold" (down to 21 degrees) at night, we all put on winter pajamas and we have made the kids a little nest in the bottom bunk - one at each end - with sleeping bags tucked all around to keep them away from the cold walls. They both developed colds after just one night here.

Our friends wondered what we would "do" for 5 weeks in Cairns ... this is the first time I have even paused. I've been feeling a bit crook - just achy and sort of sick - for a couple of days, so I'm very glad of this little rest. There's heaps of shopping to catch up on after our year away on the island - we only brought two overnight bags with us to get us through the long weekend when we first arrived.

Yesterday we went for our Queensland drivers licenses - we still had our South Australia (Bible College address) ones. We went down to Townsville for a day to visit friends there and to see the Marous - our islander "parents". She has been very ill, and is so thin now.

We found St Vincent de Paul's yesterday and picked up a stack of kids' clothes, especially little dresses for Alison, at 20c - 80c each!

Losing James

Last week we were shopping in a Big W complex, and were just paying for our groceries at the supermarket checkouts, when we realised James had "gone"!

Whenever we get out of the car, as his feet touch the ground, they just seem to gain a will of their own.

This particular shopping centre is marked by a huge concrete marlin (fish!) with its nose pointed skyward, so fearing the worst (he's hopeless in car parks) thought he may have gone back out to look at it. No sign of him.

We put an announcement over the supermarket p.a. but he wasn't there either. Every now and then we heard a kid crying and descended on it from opposite directions - wrong kid.

After about 20 minutes (a long time under these conditions!) Peter made his way to the Big W department store, and there was James, up on the service desk, looking VERY solemn! He'd found his way to the wrong checkouts!

Our Ali and our James

We had some photos done the other day - we'll have to get some copies made. There are some gorgeous pictures of the kids ... I find it difficult to describe Alison - she's a real little grub, loves playing in the dirt (likes to put her tummy in it) - but she has a beautiful smile! Big tummy, sway back, wobbly tumbling kind of walk - typical one-year-old, I guess. She looks sweet in a dress - otherwise people think she's a boy with her little round face and straggly hair. She still has tantrums, but I have a feeling we are winning these days. She puts on a "coy" act with "new" people, but it doesn't last long - she's too inquisitive for that. She goes more readily to a man, and is getting used to white faces.

James needs and enjoys contact with people other than us. He was thrilled to have "big Alison" babysitting. We went to an Anglican church on Sunday and he trotted off happily to Sunday School to the delight of the girls who had charge of him there. "He's so cute! He has such a cute little accent!" they kept saying.

Alison discovered the stairs to the gallery at church, so for me the whole service was a battle of wills. And once again, her constant wriggling finally resulted in a dirty nappy and some relief.

We were invited out to lunch after the church service - that was a nice change being in someone's sumptuous home rather than our tiny caravan. Alison was delighted with the carpet, totally new experience for her ... and fell asleep happily on their water bed!

Letter: Island Style Easter

1984-04-23T04:21:00.000-08:00

Letter 23 / 4 / 84

Easter Monday, and everyone is at a bit of a loose end. At least its better than Good Friday when no one did anything, not even food preparation, just sat quietly and ate dry damper and had a 3-hour church service - until 3pm when Jesus was buried. They treated it with all the superstition of a normal funeral. I hope no one smelt our bread cooking! It was a beautiful day after weeks of foul weather and Peter was itching to get the boat into the water!

Rough Seas and scary moment

On Saturday we finally did go out in the boat. Our screen tent was still pitched over on Waier Island so we thought we had better go and get it. We left it there after our little overnight - we left in a big hurry because there was a storm approaching. We had been over there several times since we put it there and no harm had come to it, but these recent storms were too much and the screen part had rotted and was all torn.

It was really calm just out in front of the village here, but we found as soon as we got out of the lee of the island that the SE monsoon is definitely here - it was ROUGH! Its one thing to sit in a dinghy holding on with both hands while it hits the waves with a "bang! bang! bang!" ... Its quite another to perch on a metal seat clutching a wriggling child and trying to "grip with your legs"!

Coming back was much worse. With the direction the waves were moving we had to point into them (they were much bigger than us!) which would take us around the back of the island. Then at precisely the right psychological (or geological) moment Peter swung the boat and we whizzed along with the waves - "Unorthodox, but effective! ..." Peter was saying with a grim smile, and then ... "OH, NO!" Suddenly we were over the reef and the tide was lower than it should have been. With split second timing he spun the boat again - we were glad that we bought a reasonably powerful motor!

I think if this baby is to be born at the right time and place I'll leave boating until we return in the "doldrums" season!

"Nowa" and "God"

The "Nowa" (Noah) book is about ready to print. There was supposed to be a meeting Friday afternoon to make a decision about which name for "God" would be used, but not many people knew about the meeting. The Anglican church has been using the word "Ad" - an old language word meaning anchor or rock, also some reference to "outside" or "other". But when it came down to it, only the priest himself was in favour of it - much to his surprise. There is an older word, "Agud" meaning "the true god" - and not refering to their old gods Bomai or Malo or Waiat. It seems they always knew there was a true God but were unsure how to find him. The professing Christians here believe that is the Christian God. The Western Islanders (Saibai Island etc) use a similar word, "Awgad".

Going to Darwin

Less than two weeks to go - its time I started cleaning and packing. Not a great deal to actually pack, but an awful lot of sorting and planning to do. The S family will look after our fowls - we've been keeping them (the fowls) in their run a bit longer each day to get used to it ... still no eggs. The S family are not looking forward to 5 months without us, especially without James to play with their girls.

Alison has finally drifted off to sleep so I have a precious hour or so to rush wildly from room to room ...

Letter: Nowa Book

1984-04-22T04:20:00.000-08:00

Letter 22 / 4 / 84

I'm sitting up in bed writing - Peter is out working again tonight and I always try to wait up for him but no matter what I do I can't seem to last longer than about 9pm.

The "Nowa" book in Meriam Mir is finished, it seems, and he is trying to get it done in Torres Strait Creole too. So he's been working most mornings and nights - in the afternoon he (and James) go and try to catch us some protein off the beach.

Dry dock

The boat is in dry dock - Peter's got the motor on a special stand he built for it (he's getting quite handy at carpentry) and he's just serviced it - book in one hand, grease gun in the other. It took a bit of moving - it weighs 45kg - so he's not keen on moving it again ... but he's not sure if he can last another week without going out in the boat.

The dry season - or SE monsoon - is definitely with us. Not good boating weather. After last week when we nearly came a cropper on the reef, I'm not keen on going out again for a while.

Alison's little limp

School holidays (including Easter) are finished - James was glad to get back to kindy today. He and Ali play so well these days that she does really miss him when he goes to kindy - but she does get a good nap when he is out.

She stepped on a bitie ant or something today. Didn't cry, just grizzled and acted like she had ants in her nappy. It took me quite a while to find the source of her annoyance ... then all of a sudden she came out in hives. Her little foot swelled up tight - it was rock hard! (These ants also make me swell up when they bite me, though it hardly hurts at the time, just itches.)

Anti-histimine and a bicarb paste dealt with the hives but then she was miserable because she wanted to run around and couldn't without her foot hurting. She eventually developed an effective little limp and was much happier.

Mail planes

I don't know whether last week's letter went. Four planes - or the same one four times - came and went, and they completely forgot to bring any mail.

The wretched "Islander" (10-seater) plane has broken down - again - so they were running around in a 5-seater.

As well as the usual passenger quota, it was a doctor's clinic day, and they always bring extras like the bug-catchers from the DPI or whatever, and the S family of 4 plus their 4 visitors were meant to go (at short notice) to TI for a seminar ... it was a busy chaotic day on the airstrip!

Sleepies ...

I can feel 9pm creeping up on me. Bed is not a good place for letter writing when you have an achy back either. Haven't got much packing or anything done yet - I can't seem to get ahead of today's needs, know what I mean?

Once small corner of the kitchen has been sorted through and cleaned. And I've oiled my dear old sewing machine and popped it down into its special hidey hole - I suppose it likes being upside-down. I really do enjoy using it, its somehow more fun than electric.

Going down your leg

Only seven more days to go now - James can hold up his fingers to show how many. He talks about when we go to Cairns, and when we go to Darwin, and when the baby comes out - and seems happy about all of it. He says, "I got two babies now, one inside your tummy and one here."

Sometimes he pokes me and says, "Lookout, the baby's going down your leg now!"

He's very proud of being able to take his own shirt (and pants) off - though buttons are still a problem - and he can put his own pants on!

"Look, this big bottom here!" he says, implying that he has the big bit at the back, though he is often wrong.

"I a big boy now!" he says in his funny Islander accent.

We have little patches of defiance, but he's much more settled these days.

Alison is open and friendly with islanders - especially the men (she's a bit of a "Daddy's girl" these days), but has been very obviously ill-at-ease with any whites we've had recent contact with. I guess its to do with voice tones, and general movements rather than actual skin colour. Peter tends to move and talk more like an islander these days - they have a slow, gentle way about them.

The first duck egg!

On Sunday morning I found an EGG - ducky egg, sort of greeny-brown in colour. We saved it till Monday, but there wasn't another so we ate it - shared 4 ways! Then we found another one after breakfast! Then today there was number three, so there were 2 eggs for breakie - really tasty too.

Creole Translation

The "Nowa" translation in Creole caused some excitement among school kids - they found they could read it straight off. So I guess we'll get some of those printed off too ...

Butterfly man

A naturalist guy, doing some vague study of flora and fauna here, is making a real nuisance of himself - availing himself of our hospitality. Hanging around at tea-time ... then after dark he says he has no torch and asks if he can sleep in our translation house. The fact that he is so unspecific about what he is doing (the fact that he carries a huge butterfly net proves nothing as far as I am concerned) and like talking endlessly about controversial issues makes us a bit nervous ... We hope he's just a social misfit and not up to something more sinister. He is supposed to be camping up on the airstrip or somewhere.

Letter: Snake Tale

1984-04-16T04:12:00.000-08:00

Letter 16 / 4 / 84

Friday morning I wandered out to the duck-run, bleary-eyed. They are generally pretty eager to come out once it gets light. My cheery "hello, Duckies ..." was met with stony silence instead of the usual clatter of them flapping and rushing to the door to be the first out to greet the day.

I scraped the piece of tin (the door) noisily out of its slot ...

and there were the chickens all huddled in the back corner with the ducks, all staring at me wide-eyed. (have you even seen a chicken look at you that way - ?!)

In the space near the door where the chickens usually rest was an enormous snake with an unblinking stare fixed on me.

I looked at the fowls again: 4 ducks, 3 chickens. Oh no!

I counted them again several times just to be sure and the answer kept coming back the same: 4 ducks, 3 chickens, 1 snake.

I ran inside and woke Peter, and he stumbled out bleary and confused, grabbing the pitchfork, mattock and chopper (the one we use for cutlet-ing fish) on his way past the shed.

It was hard for him to know just how to attack the snake as he had to duck into the duck-house to do so. He reckoned he had just one chance, the snake would not sit still for a second strike, so he chose the pitch-fork because it had a long handle.

He couldn't persuade the ducks to come out of the run, so he had to leave them there in the back corner.

He jabbed the pitch-fork into the curled-up snake ...

At first the snake didn't react, just looked up sleepily - obviously it had a meal to digest.

Then it tried to head for the back corner where the ducks were huddled ... so Peter set to with the chopper. He figured he might be able to shorten it a bit. (And he had heard that you should go for a python's tail.)

Then it turned and stuck it's head out of the doorway hissing at Peter ... which was when it discovered the mattock, and we all breathed again.

Not wanting to upset James too much - with possible comparisons to his mum's condition (!) - we waited till he went to kindy, then we opened the snake and found the chicken. There it was, feathers and all, swallowed feet first - quite amazing. The snake had viscious-looking poison fangs, so I guess it stuns its victims first.

Peter spent the day carefully patching every single hole in the duck-house so no more snakes can get in.

As it started to get dark the fowls started to get really edgy - food wasn't enough to entice them back into their little house! The chickens were the worst. They seemed to think that our toilet outhouse looked like an inviting place to roost for the night - but at least once they got in there I had a chance to catch them!

School Hols

Today is the first day of the school holidays - we discovered after taking James to kindy and finding it deserted!

Its bird season and a plague of small boys with handfuls of stones like to hang around outside our house (looking up into the huge, ancient almond tree out the front) and they try to hit birds with their stones. Unfortunately, besides the noise they make with their piping voices (while Ali is asleep), they give no thought to where the stone comes back down again.

Then there are the "big boys" or young men with air rifles, and handfuls of little dead birds - and they also give no consideration as to where their rifle pellets end up. But I'm not so game when it comes to sending them packing as I do with the little boys. They seem to have the idea that the (usually very strict) property boundaries don't apply if you are chasing a (real or imaginary) bird.

Translation Work and Weather

Last week Peter had language sessions with three important men - Henry Kabere (chairman), Jack Wailu (councillor) and Fr Nagai Tabo (Anglican priest). Ken Passi was to have come too, but he was drunk. Each gave a version (on tape, then transcribed) of the Noah story to be printed on to a "pre-run" book - a book with the pictures already printed and space to put the words.

On Sunday afternoon they were to have met to discuss the final text ... But it started to rain. And it rained, and rained, and RAINED, all day and all night. Not Sydney drizzle but tropical crashing rain.Today it has gradually eased up at last.

It would have been a good setting for the Noah story, but no one goes out in the rain here. So we don't know what happens next. Will these characters turn up for sessions the same time as last week, or has everything just ground to a halt all over again?

Women's business

This is a very different society from ours. The men and women have very different roles. No way will the women be persuaded to take on language work the same as the men with our SIL methods using tape recorders, practising "drills" etc etc. So I have to work on some new strategies.

They are friendly and nice enough, but its hard to get really close to them. One doesn't just go visiting, apparently. I'm thinking about working on a book about food - bread recipes, recipes using local foods, nutrition advice (!) etc in Meriam to get them into the literacy habit. Books just aren't generally for women. It will give me an excuse to go visiting and call on them, researching the book.

Food and weather

The weather has been too rough for much boat fishing these days. Peter just went and bought us some pork sausages for tea - such things are not usually available, but these came in on a plane on Saturday. (7 sausages for $3 sounds reasonable to us, but maybe we have been here too long.)

We've had no potatoes for weeks - and we are getting sick of spaghetti and rice. I've even cooked damper or pancakes for a change a few times. My sweet potatoes grew nothing but leaves, but we found some cassava growing in our back yard so we tried a piece of that - took a lot of boiling, but I'm not too sure I was using the right method.

Letter: New Ribbon

1984-02-26T04:01:00.000-08:00

Letter 26 / 2 / 84

Kids permitting, I thought I'd type my letter this week, and try out our new ribbon. We had to type a report for our administration in Darwin, and they wanted to then be able to photo-copy it ... so they sent us a new ribbon! (no doubt we'll get the bill!) But, this is amazing, you can actually see it. The other one was faint right from the time we bought it. Now all I need to do is work out how to stop the 'a' from jumping ...

Talking of 'jumping', number 3 is busy jumping these days, all very encouraging. A young lady doctor came out this week for a holiday plus clinic (to make up for the missed clinic last week) and she insists that I'm 18 weeks or more. But I feel well. My weight is beginning to creep up, and she has promised to get me a spring-loaded finger-pricker so I can test my blood sugar without doing major surgery on my fingers.

Peter is well, though rather tired these days, its very hard for him to get going.

Alison is full of bounce. Still prefers to crawl (its faster and safer than walking) - but gets around a fair bit with the little wooden trolley.

James has his usual round of problems - a runny nose and cough again. He is going through a little rebellious patch too, feeling insecure again, I guess. Its 'in the wind' that we are going again sometime and he also hears talk of a new baby - we are pretty careful, but he's always quick to pick these things up, and its always hard to discuss things with him and get him all excited when its such a long time away yet. He's got his English talking and Creole all mixed up. We try to insist on good English at home to help him keep it straight. He's just so over-sensitive to everything. He still enjoys kindy, and after kindy likes to go and play with Marissa and Danielle. I don't mind him going, but it means unless I go with him for a chat with Sue, Alison really misses him, and we hardly see him either.

I have a feeling that last week's mail didn't go, so you may not have received our last letter. I may even ring you before you get this, but I'll write it anyway. Our May 5 flight is not definite, but we have to leave it partly up to Ron Kusch (who will be flying us down to Cairns). He usually flies on a Saturday, and he will be influenced by any possibility of other passengers and/or cargo.

We have just discovered (quite by accident) that we can now dial direct to Cairns and its a local call - 20c, talk as long as you like, instead of "3 minutes, are you extending?" every 30seconds - 20minutes (depending on how busy they are at the exchange)! The change was not announced, we are not even sure if it was supposed to happen, but it means we can talk to our friends in Cairns quite readily, as long as it lasts. Unfortunately we have not had any success with dialling direct any further south than Cairns, the phone chokes as soon as you mention an area code. So I will have to reverse charges for now - trying to get hold of enough 20c coins otherwise is nearly impossible, this island always has a cash flow problem.

Its been a good week for fishing, after all the bad weather. The other day Peter caught a 26lb travally! He said his hands and arms were a bit numb and shaky after pulling that one in by himself. That wasn't to mention the three 6lb coral trout he caught as well. And there have been a few sizeable ones since then.

We picnicked over at Dawar Island yesterday, came back all sunburnt. Peter saw some large trevally in a feeding frenzy, several of them being left high and dry flapping on the reef every time the wave went out ... but he couldn't get to his fish spear in time. He threw a line in and caught a nice one for our tea.

I was talking informally to the young lady doctor this morning and she says the head doctor wants to have me in hospital for the last few weeks on insulin - not keen on that! It won't be up to him in the end because we'll be in Darwin, and we hope they can be persuaded to let me come in for a daily test and/or injection rather than languish in hospital for weeks while the family goes up the wall.

Alison is in James's room, up to I don't know what. Soon it'll be time to get James from kindy. Its very sticky today, the ocean has that 'doldrums' look about it. We have reasoned that maybe the best way to catch some language is to spend most of the day sitting in or near the store ... but when Peter got there this morning everyone seemed to get up and gradually dribbled off home. We have some spare mangoes which he offered to someone and they said they would come and get them, but of course they didn't. We keep getting these bright ideas - "Right, today I'll try this..." and we head off all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and come home all disappointed again. And after a few days we don't feel like getting up in the mornings (but we always do, with a little help from the kids!)

Oh dear. Alison has found the box of tissues. They make such a lovely "phut! phut!" noise as you pull them out of the box ...

Letter: Wet Season

1984-02-19T03:59:00.000-08:00

Letter 19 / 2 / 84

Sunday afternoon on wet, windy Mer. It started raining on Tuesday, and didn't even pause for breath until Thursday afternoon. Then this NW wind came in. At night there is a full moon, so the extra high tides combined with this wind are chaotic.

Suddenly we are relieved to be on the side of the road away from the beach. Everyone on the beach front builds bamboo fences and buries all their rubbish behind them to protect against these tides - but it didn't do any good yesterday.

We decided to spend part of our 'day off' shell collecting ... until we found the water was right up in some peoples' shade houses and there was no beach to walk on. The ocean is pounding and roaring - its usually so quiet!

We are missing the fish in our diet too - its not exactly good fishing weather.

Our Ali

Alison has found her feet - but she still needs a little more confidence. She charges around with James' trolley. Sometimes when she thinks no one is looking she'll quietly walk half a dozen steps ... but as soon as we look she sits down.

She is so "talkative", we'll be wanting to put a cork in it when she learns the words.

And climb! She almost climbed out of her cot this morning, her foot was right up on the edge.

Our James

As for our little James ... Peter constantly checks his language, tries to make him speak English at home. He has so many quaint little sayings.

He's constantly asking when "our plane" is coming and when he'll see all his cousins - but he especially wants to see Uncle Mark. He's really taken a shine to Mark, just from photos. (I think its mostly the one of him holding a fish.)

Exocet chickens

I got tired of chasing our chickens with James' grasshopper net every time they flew away.

They love to fly about head height, straight at me like a missile, and then I would reach out with the net and phht!

So Peter clipped their wings, and we put them in with the ducks.

At first the ducks hissed at them, but in no time the chickens had taken over, running between the legs and under the bills of the ducks and stealing their food.

When things had settled down a bit, we opened the gate once more, and in no time the chickens were pecking around outside with the ducks following. (The ducks wouldn't even come out before.)

At night the chicks pop into their flour drum inside the duck hut, and the ducks huddle in their favourite corner.

Its all very pleasing ... except for the present lack of eggs.

Baby news

The doctor didn't come for his monthly visit this week due to the inclement weather.

Our baby is moving about already, and that along with size would indicate I'm about 18 weeks, but I think I'm about 15 weeks. It would be nice if I'm wrong about the date, but its probably just another jumbo, or two.

Anyway, I feel really well, sickness cleared up a couple of weeks ago. James commented this morning, "Big tummy, Mummy", so I guess he could start asking about it soon when it occurs to him.

No fish

No fish for tea tonight. Peter and Peter S braved the wind for a quick outing yesterday, but although they claimed a number of "good bites", they all got away.

Friends on TI sent us a packet of dried prawns, I guess I'll try and create some sort of a meal with those.

Never on Sunday

A plane came in a few minutes ago loaded with all kinds of fresh fruit - pity it's Sunday and they won't open the store!

I hope the rats will leave some for us to buy tomorrow.

Letter: Hot Weather

1984-02-04T03:57:00.000-08:00

Letter 4 / 2 / 84

Hot, sticky Sunday - today must be the first day in a couple of weeks that it hasn't rained.

They say the wet doesn't last very long - I hope it hasn't gone already. Oh, well, when it does, the SE season can actually be quite pleasant.

Language work

We are very busy these days - that's good.

We asked Fr Tabo for some advice about people not coming when they promise to. He thought about it and decided it was laziness, so he gave everyone a sound telling off.

Since that we've had some good informal sessions with Sam Passi, George Passi, and Jack Wailu.

Jack looks like developing into quite a good language helper. Unfortunately, as soon as the season changes he is moving around to Las, around the back of the island. It's not that far away, but compared to anywhere else on the island it seems so.

He has a sizable piece of land at Las, and he has said he would be happy for us to build a little holiday shack there for a break every few weeks ... lovely place Las, really rugged and "free"!

Babysitters

I still can't find anyone suitable to help care for Alison. She's a delight, and people enjoy her, but no one wants to be responsible for her.

Island babies aren't allowed to crawl etc, they sit quietly between mum's crossed legs ... this one is hopeless! I guess I may have to offer decent wages - we get a subsidy for language helper wages, but not for babysitters - even then I may get no offers.

Our "big Aunty Kathleen" would take her but she is employed in the clinic 9-12 each day, which is when I'd like to do language work rather than afternoons. Besides, I'd like to use Kathleen as a language helper somehow.

Climbing baby

Our Alison is very much a climbing baby.

We had an old foam rubber mattress and we cut it into four, and made bright covers for these scatter cushions which we arrange and rearrange around the room. Often we make a little sofa, two cushions high with another one for a back rest.

Ali loves climbing on and off that. But she took me by surprise yesterday when I found her sitting up on top of the upturned play cubes (you know, those plastic crates) which we were using as a baby gate. So much for that idea.

Later I found her up on top of the potty chair with her little pink feet firmly wedged in the potty.

Dumb ducks

Still no eggs from our ducks - all we need now is for someone to tell us that ducks won't lay when they live in the tropics.

But we are enjoying them. The drakes were so aggressive, but the ducks are so timid.

We've been leaving their gate propped open all week. It took about three days before they would even venture out after food. (And ducks are such greedy critters, worse than chooks).

Then they finally discovered that in the afternoon the long grass of our back "lawn" is cool and shady ... but then we went and cut the grass.

Damp chicks

Our four chicks are doing well - we found two of our six were roosters (you can tell by the wings!) and got rid of them.

But they have no sense in the rain. They will not shelter, would rather stand and "cheep" insults at the rain as it hits them.

The other day they got so wet and cold we wrapped them in tissues and put them in a little esky until they warmed up a bit.

Dinner time

Well, its time I started cooking some tea. The evenings go so much better for us if we can manage an early tea.

The Islanders don't generally eat until 7 or 8 pm, and some of their kids just don't make the distance.

Alison eats - or at least tries to - just about everything these days, un-mushed. She loves fish.

Trouble

Did I tell you about Margaret getting beaten up? She's coming back on Tuesday ... she took 8 yr old daughter, Bai, and 9mth old baby, Helen, with her to the hospital, leaving Wilfred to cope with Kakam (3), Melpal (4) Dadaboy (5) and Lenwat (2). Its been a good experience for him, I guess. But he has palmed them off onto us a few times - what a nightmare! The "story" is that Margaret will return accompanied by two white police - but that's probably not true. They will tell something as if it's true if they really want it to be so.

Beer

The Melbidir is due Tuesday.

Everyone thinks it will be carrying 400 cartons of beer, and I guess some of the men will have their tongues hanging out ... but we have heard via the white grapevine (the Islanders don't know yet) that there won't be any beer on board at all.

It may be to do with the recent trouble with Margaret, though we don't know if drink was actually involved there.

"Progress"

There is a chap here to build a new clinic, complete with living quarters so doctor's visits needn't be a rushed 10am-4pm job but they could actually stay overnight. And its rumoured to be going to have a new super-duper bed with everything that goes up and down - even TI hospital isn't equipped thus. Crazy isn't it. (You should see the present bed - talk about ex war-time!)

Peter just picked our first 2 corn cobs. Very skinny cobs, but the kernels are full.

Letter: Parcels

1984-01-27T03:56:00.000-08:00

Letter 27 / 1 / 84

The PO is gradually getting sorted out after Christmas. The January parcel from Sydney posted January 15th got here on 24th.

Last week our parcels which we posted in Cairns in August finally arrived on the boat.

James loves his new shirts and they are a good fit.

Alison's spoon

Alison loves her new spoon (though right at this moment I can't find out where she's hidden it).

I opened the parcel when we were sitting on the school oval, and Alison immediately started crawling around happily with her spoon in her hand.

Then we came home and sat her in her seat and put her bowl and spoon in front of her ... after a few minutes the light suddenly dawned - its a spoon - and she started digging into her bowl with it.

I've given up trying to feed her - she spits out anything that she hasn't put into her mouth by herself. (She's like the little girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead ... when she's good she's very very good, but when she's bad she's horrid.)

So its mostly "finger foods" - but she loves using a spoon, so every now and then I make some gluey custard (which sticks to the spoon easily and won't fall out of the bowl even if its tipped upside down!) and she has a go. I'm never sure how much actually gets eaten though.

Tombstone Opening

The Tombstone Opening ceremony is a strange religious mixture. They have an Anglican-type service that is mumbled through (all wearing proper Anglican robes).

Don't know where this particular service came from, who made it up specially, and how much the Anglican powers-that-be know about it.

The real purpose seems to be final appeasement of the ghost, the Anglican service is more along the lines of getting them out of Purgatory (which of course is a totally Roman Catholic concept and not generally accepted in the Anglican Church).

The non-religious excuse for the ceremony is "out of respect" for the deceased.

Fruits, and everything dies

Sorry to hear about your fruit flops.

Our corn looks like its doing well. The tomatoes look hopeful. And the three citrus trees are growing despite their holey leaves. I think there may be some pumpkins on the way.

Everything else ... well it all dies one way or another. James has had death explained from "Daddy's corn dead" to "sick man is dead" when George B died.

Sacks and clothes with holes

I'm still wearing my cotton "sacks" from my last pregnancy - I never really got out of them after Alison was born except for a few months in skirts to make feeding her easier. They are rather dull and faded-looking, I keep wondering if they will last the distance. What with the sweat, scrubbing, and sunlight, nothing lasts long here. Peter's shirts suddenly have big holes in them.

At first we thought James had got hold of some scissors, then we thought battery acid must have got onto them, ... and despite great care they just keep producing holes.

So we are guessing its body acid / scrubbing / deodorant etc. - they are pure cotton. His older shirts which are a synthetic mix have survived ... except that in recent years he has continued to develop around the shoulder area and of course the sleeves keep tearing off - I've given up trying to sew them back.

Neurotic Ducks

Our ducks are neurotic.

The day we got them, there were ten of them crammed into a tiny box. But as soon as we tried to separate some of them off, they made so much noise and fuss that we put them back.

Since then we have had many consignments of ducks arrive for other people, and we have had no trouble separating these ones.

Then after one duck got sick (and well again) they wouldn't go into their house at night. Now with the six drakes gone, they won't come out in the morning.

And ... still no eggs.

Cute chicks

Our tiny chicks are a lot of fun though.

We didn't mean to get them. We over-ordered ... and although we could get rid of them by merely whispering that there are some chicks available ... we decided they would be fun to keep to replace the drakes.

They are so independent right from the start. They scratch the ground and peck and everything - just like big ones, but they are so tiny, and light. When you pick them up you barely know they are on your hand. Then they flutter their tiny wings and leap off into mid-air.

Kids

After three days of kindy James came down with a nasty "cold-sick" so he's home today. He sounded like he had asthma this morning.

Alison has a runny nose too, but otherwise (apart from heat-rash) seems fine. She is certainly full of "bounce" as always.

Right now Peter has gone fishing and taken James with him - he hasn't had to go fishing for nearly a week because other people have given us fish to eat.

Friends

We are looking forward to Peter S (white principal) and his family returning any day now - I wonder how they feel about returning.

James likes having Narissa around because she plays his kind of games (like teddies and tea-sets) and she has white hair like him. He does feel very conspicuous among the island kids sometimes.

Little Danielle is another "girl with a curl", so cute and sweet but with a terrible temper - she should be getting on well with Alison before the year is out.

Then the family will leave and we will have to break in another teacher family .... although, change is in the air. The Education Department is scheduled to take over the school about mid-year, and that should mean bringing in some more white teachers - somehow.

Work

Having stopped formal language sessions for the Christmas break, Peter's been trying to build up a supply of tapes of different ones talking or telling stories fairly informally.

But we are up against the old brick wall again.

Even James Rice and Barnie Day say : "Yes, I'll come at 9am. No, don't come to my place, I'll come to yours." And then, two days later, with a smile, "Oh, I didn't come because I went to my garden."

Sometimes we have seen them buy a drum of flour in the store and then walk past our house with it on their shoulder hiding their head, hoping (apparently) that we can't see them or recognise them.

We are missing something here. Our heads are full of bright new creative ideas, but creativity is not the "in" thing up here, and we don't know where to start next.

George S is on a drinking binge, can't even walk straight. Balaga is teaching in the school now to replace the habitually drunk Saibo whom Peter S sacked last year. (These school teachers - Balaga and Saibo -are straight off the street, no training whatsoever.)

Sewing Machine

My little old treadle sewing machine - given to me by an old lady who is moving into a home - is in Cairns and all crated up ready to come. There are so many odd jobs I've been putting off for when it arrives. I'll be able to make a lava-lava for Peter in an hour instead of two days.

Letter: The Walking Wounded

1984-01-24T03:54:00.000-08:00

Letter 24 / 1 / 84

Just a quick note to let you know that we are still okay.

The little one seems to be doing okay at about 12 weeks.

Alison has a slight cold, she is teething, I think.

James started kindy today - rather tearfully and apprehensively. He is recovering from a nasty boil on his shoulder.

Peter did his back in last week - he just happened to be closing the fridge door at the time. So in between giving him painkillers and rubbing liniment on his back, I suddenly find myself doing some of the heavier jobs around the place.

We are surviving.

Flying ducks

Yesterday one of our ducks suddenly flew. She did look surprised!

They always have a good flap when we let them out of their house into their run in the mornings, and this one just took off, honking and squawking with alarm ... and then found herself on the wrong side of the fence and tried to sieve herself back through.

So, yesterday, Peter trimmed their wings.

A lot of people here have been buying ducks and chicks through us - we now have six chicklings too, to James' delight.

Some of the ducks have got sick. One family put Aspro Clear in their water and they got well. Another family used a Vitamin C tablet with the same results.

We have now sold all of our drakes, only four ducks left - but still no eggs yet.

The all-important bung

On Saturday Peter took James fishing, and came back when the tide was really low.

Because of his bad back, he decided to anchor the boat and wait for the tide to bring it in a bit.

He woke up at 4am, suddenly remembering that not only would the tide have been in and out again by then, but he'd left the bung out of the boat.

Someone at church the next day told us they had found our boat with only the head of the motor above the water, and they had pulled it up for us.

The manual said if your motor gets submerged it must be serviced within three hours or else its had it. But we weren't sure how much it had been under water, and being Sunday we couldn't even try starting it. So we had to wait until Monday before we could find out that it still starts ok.

Hills Hoist

We have a new rotary clothes hoist!

Very commonplace to some people, but quite exciting to us!

The lines we had tied between the house and shed and shower/toilet were such a nuisance. They pulled the wall off the shed once, and several times broke resulting in all my carefully (hand-) scrubbed clothes landing in the dirt. And you always had to duck through rows of wet nappies and other washing to get to the toilet, shower, or duck pen.

We still can't help ducking when we go outside! But its great to have a rotary hoist now.

Police presence

Last week we had a visit from a couple of white policemen. There had been some 'trouble', breaking and entering to steal metho, and so the police had come to sort things out.

The detective from Cairns is a Presbyterian chap who goes to the same church as our friends the Hs in Cairns. He also went to Queensland Bible Institute, so it was fun to sit around and exchange Bible College Stories. With a 9 month old boy at home, he was rather taken with Alison. Peter was glad of a bit of white company on his fishing trips too. James was thrilled to have some 'uncles' around the place.

Late delivery

Last August (5 months ago) when we decided we might be up here for more than six months at a go we asked our friends in Cairns to buy a whole lot of things, including some cartons of skim milk powder. Since then boats have come and gone - some with mail and some without - and finally last week our last three parcels from that lot arrived.

Washing Day

With me having been sick, and Peter struggling with a bad back, we have quite a build-up of dirty washing ... and we have promised ourselves that today is THE DAY.

So, better get on with it.

Letter: Taking a Little Holiday

1984-01-12T03:52:00.000-08:00

Letter 12 / 1 / 84

I'm sitting up in bed in our living room - we're in a shambles again. We ran out of floor paint before and didn't do our bedroom, and now at last the paint is here, and the turp's too, and we have the time and energy to get on with it.

We've been taking a bit of a break from actual work, though of course we are still well and truly in touch with the people - unlike people in some locations the people here do leave us alone if it seems that we want to keep to ourselves for a while. In fact, that has been largely our problem working here, persuading them to 'bother' us even a little bit.

Camping on Waier

We decided it was about time we took a camping holiday. The wet season has disappeared for the time being, the 'doldrums' are back, and I felt that with the mirror-smooth water maybe I could venture out in the boat at last.

So we went for a day-trip, half prepared to stay the night if we found somewhere we liked ...

As we approached Waier Island we saw turtle tracks on the beach and, feeling very intrepid, went ashore to poke for eggs.

Well, that turtle went for a long walk looking for somewhere to lay, but eventually we were sure we had the right spot. I poked with Peter's crayfish spear - until I broke the spear.

Peter dug a bit, but we weren't aware of how deep these turtles dig their nests.

Late that afternoon James Rice and some of his family came looking for eggs, having dug up three other lots elsewhere, and they poked really deep where we had been looking and found the eggs.

Unlike these people, we couldn't eat a couple of dozen each, so we just took a few and he had the rest.

Anyway, we had our screen tent with us, and we set that up right under a shady wongai tree on a lovely little beach on Waier, and decided to spend the night. Peter did some fishing and we had lovely barbecued snapper for lunch.

Inside the crater

Then we went exploring inside the crater of Waier.

You may remember from "Drums of Mer" the evil cult associated with "Waiat" on Waier - its no wonder superstition grew up around that place, its really creepy.

The whole island is just three steep sides of a rocky crater, in places it's worn away so it looks like statues glaring down at you.

There are all sorts of holes and caves, but they mostly take a bit of scrambling up to. We were camped on a little beach outside the crater, and the water (as it is around all of these islands) is crystal clear, the sand is fine and white.

But when you get inside the crater the water is murky and yellow.

On the beach the sand looks white, but just beneath the surface its black. The heat is intense from all the surrounding rocks.

Stepping into the rays

As Peter stepped out of the boat - he leapt right back - he had just missed stepping onto a stingray in the murky water.

He splashed with an oar and found there were three stingrays around the boat.

We ventured a few metres up the beach towards an interesting looking cave, but we found ourselves getting cooked so fast in the intense heat that we hurried back to the boat, deciding we would find a cooler time to explore in there, maybe when the wind is blowing into the crater.

We headed back to our little camp, and spent the afternoon feeling hot and sunburnt.

Sleeping with the Sand Man

When the sun finally gave in and went down, and we headed for our beds ... we discovered the problems associated with sleeping on/in exceptionally fine sand. There was just no getting rid of it, and when you are as sunburnt as we were, sand is not a welcome bed companion!

Alison had been restless all day - hated being carried around, wanted to explore on her own - and hadn't eaten her tea. So she woke up about every hour.

Peter would put a bottle in her mouth and then go out to check for turtles (as he had promised James he would turn one over for him if he saw one) and I would go out to the 'toilet', refill Alison's other bottle for the next shift, and try to get some of the sand out of the bed.

By the early hours both James and Alison had saturated themselves and the sleeping bag they were on, and of course both of them were (sunburnt and) covered in sand - and miserable!

By 5am we couldn't stand it any more, so we 'got up'.

Quick storm

We decided to go across in the boat and look at the other side of Dauar Island (which we'd never seen) and then head for home.

But we just got around Dauar and back to our camp in time to batten down before an approaching storm ... we suddenly wished we had our tent instead of the screen tent.

As it turned out there wasn't much rain, just a lot of wind directly into our faces, it was hard keeping the boat safely anchored.

After about an hour cooped up in our little screen tent we were released at last and came scurrying home. What a holiday!

We've left the screen tent there and intend to return to continue our holiday when we can iron out a few of the problems.

Fish at home

We have a couple of small fish for tea tonight. This is one kind that you have to fry, really hard, until the skin goes black. Then you pick the outside off and it's beautiful inside.

Funny how we have actually got used to some of these things.

Ducks and Drakes

We finally admitted to ourselves that we had six drakes and four ducks - pretty poor show when the guy who sold them to us said he was pretty sure they were all females.

We wanted to swap with anyone who had more ducks than drakes, but in the end we decided to sell off all six of the drakes ... and of course they were snapped up within a few minutes of that fact being known.

Really, you could sell anything in this place, just name the price.

Ron Day's Wedding

Last month there was a wedding - pretty rare in these parts.

The couple had both attended 'School of Australian Linguistics' (SAL) in Darwin, rather a doubtful organisation with government funding, and she became pregnant.

He is fairly religious (Anglican) and so decided that although they had made a mistake they would at least try to get things right now.

So last year we were among those invited to their engagement here, and now the baby is Alison's age and it was time for their marriage.

He is actually Ron Day, Barnie Day's son. In the meantime she has been 'restored' into the Anglican church, and confirmed by the bishop when he visited here.

With feasts here, its generally true that if you know it's on, then you are 'invited' to attend, but with this one we actually had an official invitation from Barnie. At the wedding feast we found (to our slight embarrassment because it gave us real problems with looking after the kids) that we were actually seated at the bridal table with the select rather than on the mats with the masses - we are not used to any sort of recognition here.

The Wedding Cake Debacle

The wedding was to have been on Friday, but when Barnie came to invite us on Thursday he told us it had been postponed until Saturday.

Then one of the ladies came to see me asking if I'd do the cake!

In the time between supply boats, and without warning, its very hard to come up with eggs and icing sugar. What a time of it we had! I didn't know what kind of cake was expected, but decided a (boiled) fruit cake would mean it would keep a day or two if there was another delay in proceedings. So I made a big (thin) rectangle and a little square to mount on top ... using egg powder, and most of my secret supply of dried fruit - I had to put in 'fruit medley' which has dried apples etc.

Then a plane came loaded with fresh 'goodies' (plums, apricots, cherries, lettuce ...) including eggs. This happens from time to time, but not on any regular basis. So I hurried over and bought some eggs. But when I got them home and tried to separate them and make royal icing, they were all slightly off and wouldn't separate. I dredged up three that I had before and had to make do with thin icing with no almond paste under it.

Well we managed to make a fairly presentable cake (all things considered) with four foil-covered cotton reels to rest the top tier on - and left it to set, to put it together at the last minute.

Overnight it did set a bit, while I had nightmares about rats and mice eating it, or ants getting into it, or finding the icing had all run off onto the floor ...

Saturday was hot, and the icing started to melt.

We emptied our tiny caravan (gas-powered) fridge and put it in there during the wedding service. Then we carried it carefully down to the Day's place and set up the tiers on the table. We sat at the wedding feast watching it gradually droop and drip - the top layer slowly sank down to join the bottom layer as the cotton reels sunk into the bottom cake.

Not even a taste

We didn't see them take it away and cut it up. We saw a plate of cake being passed around, but it was empty before it got to us, we never even got to taste it!

Time to dance

Of course, the festivities ended in dancing. James just had to be dressed up in his gear, so were Wilfred and his boys.

Wilfred was planning to do a dance with his boys, but they all fell asleep before the dancing started, so he went on with James instead. It took a bit of gumption on James' part, once or twice he hesitated and his lip quivered, but he saw it through to the end and went to bed a very proud boy.

Ali baby

Alison looks like she could walk in the next few weeks - but then she did take quite a few weeks to get her crawling act together. She often forgets what she is doing and lets go with both hands for a few seconds.

She is so tiring to look after. I wish I could get someone to take her from time to time.

James

And James is in full voice these days - wish we had someone to spend more time talking to him and listening to him, and reading his books to him.

He will spend as long as we will let him with his headphones on or in front of the radio/cassette player listening to his kindy tapes over and over. At least there he hears English, though his speech is still mostly Creole. "Yumi go now? Yu laiki dis pla?" - and all with that special Islander lilt to it.

Kids together

Together they are such a funny pair. They often just put their heads together and giggle for no obvious reason. Alison get very animated if she hears him coming, especially if we say "Here comes James!"

He still tends to try to copy her rather than just being himself, wants a bottle if she has one (and when they slept close together on Waier he kept pinching her bottles, which didn't help!) but we don't fuss about it and she's growing up so fast she'll soon be up with him anyway.

He has lots of special times too, with books or blocks, when she can't join in, and of course 'his' music on the tapes.

As for number three, things seem to be developing well despite early set-backs. The doctor's monthly visit is next week, so I guess I'll have another check-up then. According to my calculations I'm only 10 weeks yet, but according to finger measurements I'm at least 12 weeks, so it could be another baby elephant despite all our best efforts.

Clam guts

Last week Peter went out diving a few times with the chaps. I think we told you about the shark incident? The last time they went they came back without crayfish but loaded with clams and trocchus. We've really come to enjoy these delicacies, though Peter still won't try the (nice) soft part of the clam, only the tough muscle bit.

Letter: New Year

1984-01-12T03:51:00.000-08:00

Letter 2 / 1 / 84

Plenty going on today - New Year celebrations, dancing and feasting - but it's all at the other end of the village (a good mile or more away), too far for us tired bodies in this heat.

Peter is supposed to be in the Komet Clan dancing team tonight - I spent the last couple of days making him a new lava-lava (by hand) - but the practice for it was supposed to be last night and after being up most of the night before (New Year's Eve) poor Peter was fast asleep long before the drumming started at 9.30pm.

Peter doesn't know any of the dances, so he really could have used the practice.

Dance Competition

Tonight is like a competition between the various teams - it will go well into the night.

James has caused quite a stir - he's a good little dancer. I think because people were pleased with him they invited Peter to dance too.

Then came a big discussion over which clan we are in - its all been very helpful in our learning more about the culture.

These people have little or no art and crafts, but their dances are very expressive. They tell stories about fishing, catching turtle, things like that - the actions are very obvious. (All the old head-hunting and spirit dances seem to have been put aside, we never see or hear them.) So we find them actually quite enjoyable to watch.

Its customary for the women to go among the men as they dance and sprinkle them with talcum powder or squirt perfume on them, or if they are especially pleased with their dancing they put money at their feet (or in their mouths) and maybe mimic a bit for a laugh (by showing how badly they do it they make the man look good) - but I'm not quite up to all that ... I might when Peter dances.

Housework

Housework has been a bit of a nightmare for me lately. The house is in such a mess - Peter's done most of the washing, washing-up and child-minding. Every day I wake up with determination to clean the place out and catch up on everything ... but by 10am I'm worn out and flopping. I get up for a bit, carry Alison around, then flop some more.

Tuesday morning - after the dance

Last night's dance went until 4.30am - it was due to start at 8pm but didn't get underway until 10.30pm. By then all the little dancers (like James) had fallen asleep, all dressed up ready in their "su" (palm leaf skirts) and everything.

Fishing

Peter went out in the boat twice on Saturday. He took James out in the morning and came back with two big beautiful coral trout. And then he went out diving with 3 men. They brought back six beautiful big crayfish, a barrel of clam meat, and a bucket of turtle eggs.

Shark

While they were out (walking in the water towing the boat), Wifred 'mentioned' there was a shark nearby, and laughed to see Peter scrambling into the boat.

He called to the others to come and look, he said it was a one metre shark, and they all peered under the boat at it - Peter said it was more like a metre wide, about 8 foot long, just the other side of the boat - kind of lying on the bottom with a bevy of brightly coloured fish buzzing around its head.

Suddenly it lifted its head, opened its mouth and came straight for them (slowly!).

Peter was first back into the boat, landing on the clam shells and getting lots of little cuts. Wilfred (all 120kg of him) landed on top of him so heavily he broke Peter's crayfish spear. And the other two also tried to get into the same side of the boat, all but tipped it right over - there was an awful moment with three pairs of legs dangling in the water before the boat righted itself and they all fell in a mess on the top of the clams in the bottom of the boat.

They didn't see where the shark went!

Airstrip Jab

The Doctors on TI have finally got their act together and they have decided that if I won't come in to TI hospital and let them observe me for 'x' number of months (they must be bored) they would at least give me the 'anti-d' injection.

Peter was all fired up to do it, but then a boy here got an infected finger, and they sent out a plane for him - complete with a syringe-brandishing nurse for me. To save time I met her at the air-strip ... where I had quite a job persuading her that under the circumstances I'd rather have the jab in my pudgy little arm than elsewhere!

Sick Ali

Alison has finally recovered from a miserable 4 days and 3 nights of high fever - still don't know what caused it. She came out in a brief rash after the fever left, and her eyes were slightly puffy - she was really wrung out and floppy for a while. Maybe it was German Measles or something - but she is also teething.

Sick Duck

We also have a lame duck. She seems to be improving after a few days of special care, but still can't walk. No eggs yet. It does appear that about 6 of the ducks are going to be considerably bigger than the other 4 - who seem to have stopped growing. Maybe we will have 6 drakes and 4 ducks. I guess we will soon be eating some duck meat - or give some away if so.

Letter: Who can do the jab?

1983-12-27T03:50:00.000-08:00

Letter 27 / 12 / 83

We've had three different doctors ring us from TI, trying to work out what to do.

My being "Rhesus negative" is the big problem. I should be having blood tests and 'anti-D' injections.

There should be some anti-D on today's plane (it should have been here by last Friday at the latest) but there is no one here who can administer it. Peter's going to give it a try, provided we can get a syringe from the clinic. Well, he's practised injections into grapefruit before when we were at "Jungle Camp"...

Alison is not well either - she's had a fever for the last couple of days and nights. She is having trouble with her top teeth, four seem to want to come through at the same time, 2 are already cut, so we hope that's the reason for the fever.

Its still very wet here, and so nice and cool most of the time. Nights go down to 25 degrees sometimes, and days are never over 30 degrees.

Happy Ducks

No eggs from our duckies yet, but they are very big!

And hungry - boy can they eat!

Some of them still have fluffy down between their wings and tail, but otherwise they have all their adult feathers. Some have a black patch on the top of their heads.

They love the rain - you should see them, bills up facing the onslaught, chests thrust out and (it looks like) hands behind their backs. When it is finished they all busily preen themselves, and then they look beautiful.

Energetic kids and tired mother

James is a restless body these days, he's 'a mess'. Roll on kindy! But he does go eagerly in the boat with Peter (I don't go any more, I get so sea sick) - and promptly falls asleep in the bows for the duration of the trip!

Must hurry on while Peter has Alison for a few minutes. She is such a vigorous child and I find it very hard to look after her while I feel so weak and sick and tired.

Island Dances

Lots of feasts these days with island dances late into the night. Its fascinating, but somehow we never make it past the first couple of dances. Our kids won't sleep at feasts like everyone else's. James loves the dances and, being a really good mimic, really pleases everyone by his attempts to join in.

Must dash now.

Letter: Losing the Baby

1983-12-16T03:49:00.000-08:00

Letter 16 / 12 / 83

It’s only Friday yet, but I get so little done these days I need to get started early.

On Tuesday I saw the Doctor for a check up and he gave me finger prickers and test strips to test my blood sugar - its not as bad to do as I thought.

Then on Wednesday it looked as if I would lose the baby. After cramps and a few hours of loss things settled down again - I think I'm still pregnant.

Now we just have to wait and hope, while I try to take it easy.

That is a bit difficult, but Peter's been great - doing the washing, and carrying Alison around a fair bit. James is worried and frightened because he knows "Mummy sick" - he keeps trying to kiss me better! He's going through an insecure patch anyway with school holidays, island feasts, the new boat ... all too much newness and excitement for him.

Its the King

"The King" stayed with us last night! It was so funny.

When James saw the Bishop (of Carpentaria) in all his regalia leading the procession to "bless" the translation house ... in the middle of a quiet moment in a prayer he called out, "Look, Mummy! Big King!"

The Bishop's wife is not an islander as I said previously - I was getting her confused with the wife of Fr Michael Martin on TI. She's very nice, and James was very impressed when she used our shower facilities - "lady bath in there" he still keeps saying!

We haven't had much to do with this bishop, he hasn't been much help. But we are quite hopeful about the new bishop. Amongst other things, he has his own plane.

Tuesday

Last minute rush again. Peter's gone fishing with a very reluctant James. Peter's had such a hard time lately that he tends to get impatient with James, who responds by getting all of a dither when he's supposed to be hurrying and then dirties his pants because he retreats into his own little dream world and forgets about these things. Poor little chap, he's not "slow", but he's got the sort of mentality that doesn't cope well with a school set-up. So like his father - which I guess is why Peter gets so exasperated with him.

I caught up with the doctor yesterday - just as he was about to return to TI after his campling holiday out here on the smaller islands. He wanted to call a "Med-evac" plane/helicopter for me, but I managed to convince him that I'm okay. He checked me out and we've promised to call him if anything else happens. TI is a hole, not a place to spend Christmas - or any other time if we can help it! The Med-Evac is free, I think, but, as we understand it, I/we would have to pay for the return trip.

The Big Rain

The kipau gobgob came the other day - the annual "big rain". Mud and rocks came pouring down the hill, filled and overflowed our drain that winds around the back of the translation house and our house, and flowed right through the translation house and back shed. So glad our house is up on stumps! No permanent damage done, just lots of cleaning up to do.

Parcels

Thanks for the KLB6. I tried one dose - the night before I had the threatened mis. I know there isn't a connection, but I haven't taken any since. Anyway, I have no appetite. I'm living on four slices of bread a day - and I don't always keep that down. I can't stand anything sweet or fatty. But I'm not losing weight at all - it must be the sea air sustaining me.

We got the two parcels. The information about ducks was much appreciated - we learned a bit more. But it says "Muscovies are more like geese than ducks and will be dealt with in the next chapter ..." Ours are Muscovies of course.

Letter: Rain Rain Rain

1983-12-11T03:48:00.000-08:00

Letter 11 / 12 / 83

What a wettie for James' birthday! Its been raining so long and hard this morning that they have cancelled the normal communion service - those that turn up will just mumble through "Matins" - then swim home.

We've had to leave the bung out of our boat to stop it filling up - actually the bung got pinched on the way here, so we are leaving the piece of cloth out.

The translation centre is far from waterproof - the chaps did a terrible job of putting the roof on, it doesn't slope enough (the water runs back underneath), there's not enough overhang, and the nail holes are so rugged it drips everywhere. The mattresses are soaked and the bishop and his wife are coming on Thursday. Its been raining every night all week, and yesterday it continued with light rain into the morning - just when we wanted to try out our new boat. (There's no wind, no swell, the ocean is dead calm.)

Anyway, the news is that we have our boat! When the rain eased yesterday we went for a little ride ... it was very exciting for all of us except Alison, who went to sleep. We anchored for about 15 minutes and caught five small (by local standards) fish - some kind of cod, not unlike coral trout, brilliant red with vivid blue spots. We gobbled them up for tea.

p.m.

Well its still sloshing down. The reason church is "off" is because the church is flooded.

James is having fun. He loves his new red handled cutlery - handles it really well. (Alison is jealous - she's on finger-foods these days, hates being fed. I have to rack my brains for what she can handle with those clumsy little chubby hands and only two teeth.)

We gave James a plastic spade - a big one, he lost his little old one on the beach. To go with it he has a little wheelbarrow and bucket (just like daddy). He's been itching to go out and try it all morning, but he can't in this rain.

So it's just as well that we also gave him a little blackboard (on an easel) and chalks - hours of peaceful fun. The problem is to keep Alison out of the chalk. So we have installed him and his blackboard out in the translation centre.

He loves his new Leggo's bricks - that sure made his eyes light up. We have to wait until Alison's asleep, or else put one of the kids in the playpen to stop her getting hold of those tiny pieces. But he sits there for ages, so quiet, pursed lips and furrowed brows, creating!

He'd love some extra packs and then he can make something "leally big" (as he says).

Christmas Tree

On the last day of school George Sallee (who is on the school board) organised a Christmas tree for the kids. Parents were to provide presents and Father Christmas would appear and dole them out.

But it looked like the show would be a flop, so he felt shamed and went home and got drunk. It was supposed to start at 6pm, at which time there were only about two dozen assorted kids and one or two parents.

We waited two hours, and more and more parents gathered - there were already stacks of presents under the poinciana tree.

Finally someone found George and got the costume from him. Wilfred dressed up - even his own kids didn't realise it was him. A lot of kids, even big ones, were too scared to go up to him.

James's present was near the end of the line, so I had time to talk to him gently and explain that it was just Uncle Wilfred dressed up, and all he had to do was accept his present and a kiss. When his turn came he twinkled up there, tall and straight - we were very proud of him.

Ducks and Garden growing

The ducks are still growing. They are developing their big feathers now. We gave them a box in case any of them felt like laying but they tore it up!

Since the rain started a few days ago we've been popping seeds in all over the place. Our dust patch between the house and the toilet/shower took only a few hours after the first drops of rain before the grass started sprouting. Our little plants are all shooting up - and hardly any grasshoppers around.

The mango trees are in blossom ready for the second season - but its been raining before the blossoms set again so maybe we won't get too many this time either ... well, Peter can't eat them, James won't (he's experienced the burn you get on your skin if the juice sits there for more than a few minutes), Alison can't hold much, and they make me feel sick (as do most things except tomatoes - which we don't have any of.)

Letter: Bun in the Oven

1983-12-04T03:46:00.000-08:00

Letter 4 / 12 / 83

Church is on - evening service. James has wandered over there on his own - he just loves being with people. Peter is going over soon. I have bread in the oven, and a pizza for tea. Alison is wandering around near my feet. Two services a day are a bit hard on her - and me looking after her.

Morning sickness has set in with a vengeance, and the tiredness. But I am using my skipping rope every day for exercise, and there are a few hours every day when I feel really good. My mind boggles at the thought of a 16 month old and a new baby - and of course a three-and-a-half year old - but we'll face that when it comes!

Kids growing

Thanks for sending us back the photos from the film we sent. I've promised myself to shoot off most of our next colour film on the kids - James is so tall and slim these days, and Alison is a funny little person.

Its funny seeing her face "frozen" in a photo because she's such a lively character and rarely holds the same expression for long enough to get used to it. She's not a real 'girlie' looking baby (I would have to let her hair grow and keep her in ribbons and frilly dresses ...) but she's well-proportioned, not fat (despite the food she stacks away!) and strong.

Strong-willed too. We had a play-pen sent up from down south - as we have shelves rather than cupboards in the kitchen she gets into all sorts of trouble in there. She likes the play pen - stands up and goes round and round - as long as there is someone nearby.

Pre-wet

Big storm brewing tonight - first rain, we hope. Lightning and gusty wind - James is a bit un-nerved by it.

Its been pretty warm lately. Last night Peter was up at 12.30am (killing rats in the translation house) and checked the thermometer: 28 degrees. It was rather humid and sticky too. But other nights we've commented "Isn't it cool this evening" only to discover its 27 degrees.

The kids both sleep in just nappies. They are like peas in a pod when you see them like that. I put a bottle in Ali's cot and she helps herself 2 or 3 times - I replenish it when I get up to go to the toilet (3 or 4 times most nights).

Holiday and Conference

We like to spend some of our free time camping over on Dawar, one of the two uninhabited islands. We've announced an official holiday for this month (when the boat arrives) to make up for not going to Cairns - it will help keep the administration off our backs about spending too long here at one go.

I guess we'll have to go south about May, under the circumstances to give ourselves time for a holiday in Cairns or somewhere before we travel to Darwin and come under the microscope. I won't be allowed to fly after mid-June.

Branch Conference is the last week of July and first week of August - so everyone will be there (we'll have voting rights this time too) and there'll be friends for James, and Alison, and helpers for us.

All is well

We are all remarkably well. Its "cold-sick" time now as the weather changes, so we are getting stuck into the vitamin C.

The ducks are healthy too - and big! They are now covered in white down, no adult feathers yet. We are expecting the first eggs about Christmas time. We ordered another 12 ducks for friends, and they bought them eagerly. Now there are another 80 fowls (ducks and chooks) on order from Cairns.

At least people will stop coming to stare at ours. Fr Tabo said, "I think I saw a duck once ... when I was a boy."

Letter: Friends leaving soon

1983-11-28T03:45:00.000-08:00

Letter 28 / 11 / 83

There have been so many interruptions today. We had to help write out documents for a land ownership business - that was very time-consuming. And just as we finished the S family turned up. (He is the white school principal).

They have just one week to go, and they are really ready to leave! We see a fair bit of them lately, I think they need to let go of a few of their tensions. Funny, we hardly ever saw them at the start of their year here.

James and their two girls play really well together, which keeps all the adults happy too ... but makes Alison get very animated in her desire to join in.

Peter S is in a spot of "trouble" at the moment. Saibo (you might remember he was the chap who took us for a ride in his boat around the back of the island, and left us there) has come to school drunk umpteen times. (He's a teacher). Peter S has given him several warnings, and the other day he sacked him ... and so now of course Saibo has been making all sorts of violent threats against him. Fortunately Saibo is not a popular fellow at the moment and no one is on his side.

New window

Peter made me another window in the kitchen today (the third window). I remember when we first moved in, it was dark, hot, dusty, with boxes of old louvre blades and roofing nails, and then there were wasps nests, rats nests.... bleh!

Now its so bright and airy, with rows of kitchen tools hanging, and neat lines of spice bottles, a sink, a Formica bench top, and a fridge. Not your conventional kitchen, but very "us"!

We've pulled out of a recent low patch - we are all well and happy and thoroughly enjoying ourselves at present. The ducks are growing fast, the tank is full of water, our dinghy should be here next week ... what more could we want? Not a lot of 'formal' language work going on, but plenty of valuable informal contacts.

More ducks

We ordered some more ducks, and they arrived safely and have been sold to island friends, who are delighted with them. James Rice bought three. Peter delivered them to him late in the evening, and James R said he was enjoying them so much he wanted to sit up all night watching them.

Letter: Boisterous Baby

1983-11-22T03:43:00.000-08:00

Letter 22 / 11 / 83

Its early Tuesday - the kids are up but Peter lingers in bed under the effects of an antihistamine (his old mango allergy - not that he has eaten any!) A certain boisterous baby has just crawled to me and is standing, swiping at my paper (which I am holding in the vicinity of my left shoulder as I write). She's so much livelier than James was at this age, and full of little clevernesses. Some of these we appreciate - like we can leave a bottle in her cot and she'll find it and use it without calling for me. She has her first tooth at last, and now she is thoroughly good at sitting, crawling, standing - and even makes a fair go at pulling herself along things.

As for her big brother - he speaks Torres Strait Creole quite well for his age. We'll have to spend the summer holidays teaching him English too. Alison thinks he's wonderful, even though he frequently hits her or knocks her over. They are so funny together - they look so alike and they have so many private giggles.

Later

I've just taken James to kindy - he was very reluctant today. I haven't made him go the last couple of weeks because it seemed something there was frightening him. We're not sure if it was stories he was being told, or whether something was happening when all the kids are sent to the toilet. Anyway, with only 1 1/2 weeks left this year I thought we'd give it another try - see whether he sleeps well tonight or starts screaming again. Next year there will be 16 grade one kids - most classes are only 6-10 - so I guess there's presently rather a lot of 'big' kids in kindy, it will be a lot nicer for him next year when they move on.

We didn't get our boat on the last ship after all. We had been told it was on TI, but when Peter rang around no one had seen it. Finally they admitted we had been "short-shipped" - it was off-loaded and left on the wharf in Cairns! They tried to console us by saying there wouldn't have been room on the Melbidir from TI anyway. There's supposed to be another Melbidir about Dec 5, so we wait eagerly.

The ducks continue to grow rapidly. Whereas 4 could swim around in their crisper of water, now there's only room for one to "duck" in, but no room to actually swim as such. We've searched the island dump, but can't find anything bigger, and don't feel they're big enough for the ocean yet. We have to admit to not knowing a great deal about ducks. We are wondering how soon they will lay. And how can we tell male from female? And how much should they eat?

We now have water on tap! Its really hard to get used to, I still reach for a jug to dip into the barrel. Peter has put a pipe from our tank to the laundry sink, the kitchen sink, and a tap by the back steps - isn't he clever?

Letter: Black Magic at Work

1983-11-12T03:41:00.000-08:00

Letter 12 / 11 / 83

Its supposed to be our "day off", but we are all too tired and sick to walk anywhere ... James, Ali and I have colds, Peter has swollen, infected feet. Peter S. made Peter an offer he couldn't refuse (ie a fishing trip in his boat) ... so here I am in the "Mir Meta" with a glass of Diet Coke and a handful of peanuts and a mozzie coil smoking by my ankles. Alison is asleep, and James has gone off to the S's place to play with their two little girls (and harass Sue, I guess). Its a perfectly beautiful day - rather hot, but lovely sitting in this little house.

I am sitting staring at the incredibly beautiful blue ocean, I can see the dark patches of sardines, and some weed, and the sandy patches on the reef. Its very hard to imagine scenery like misty mountains! The church women are all jabbering away, doing 'mission work' - ie sitting in the shade or raking leaves from around the church.

This crazy place. Sam Passi is an elderly deacon in the church, yet announced at a public meeting yesterday that he is scared to go to his garden alone since George B died and he wants to hold a ceremony to find who worked 'pourri pourri' on George. Wilfred (of all people) stood up and pointed out that this is now a Christian island and we don't do that stuff any more ... then a fight broke out and we don't know whether in the end they decided to go ahead or not.

After George died Sam was burning little bonfires around his house at night - he lives right next to George's (now empty) house. These days any mishap gets blamed on George's ghost. Amongst other things talked about at yesterday's meeting, it was pointed out (by one non-churchgoer) that it is against the law on this island to go fishing on a Sunday. These people are so mixed up!

Yes, we have a boat! So far its got as far as TI - so we are told. Its only a 13' aluminium dinghy with a 25hp outboard. We hope it will arrive on the Melbidir this week. The S's will only be here for another 3 weeks, so it would be nice to have it before they leave. We've bought a drum of petrol in anticipation!

Sunday pm

Things are really beginning to move again after some months of considerable apathy in the church. There were all kinds of people in church this morning ... maybe it will return to the days (like when we first came here) of having to sit outside because of no seats left. I didn't entirely understand the sermon, but I have an idea it was fairly fiery. Actually it was a repeat (in a longer form) of one Fr Tabo gave about two weeks ago when there was hardly anyone to hear it. George's death is beginning to have all sorts of effects. People are scared - some of the ghost, and some of the possibility of going back to the old ways of looking for the 'killer' by divination.

James seems to have musical ability - he can hold a tune really well for a 3 year old, even when he's not sure of the words! I don't think there is a piano anywhere on the island, even in the school. I guess these people wouldn't know what one is - can you imagine bringing one in in a dinghy and dragging it up the beach? Guitars and drums are all they know about, and cassette players.

The ducks are growing fast - they are so funny, even more than chooks! We have finally persuaded them that the mash we dish up to them is actually for eating, not just walking on. Soon we will have to make different arrangements for their daily swims as they are getting too big for their crisper. I gather swimming isn't actually essential to them, but they certainly enjoy it and I gather they do it to keep cool. We keep talking about taking them to the ocean when they are "bigger", but haven't fully worked out the practical side of it yet. They love fish - I can just imagine them getting into a school of sardines.

Letter: Ghost at Large

1983-11-11T03:40:00.000-08:00

Letter 11 / 11 / 83

Just a quick note to accompany your Christmas presies.

People are still scared after the death of George B. When Saibo's boat was caught in the tide the other day they blame it on his ghost, and various other things have happened. There was a big meeting today because Sam Passi wants to look into a glass (not sure what that means) to find out who killed George.

Letter: Mir Meta Ready to Use

1983-10-15T03:38:00.000-07:00

Letter 15 / 10 / 83

On Tuesday Peter D left. That was a relief - a month was a long time for him and us. Although he worked very hard and got a lot done, and we really appreciate him and his labours more than I can express ... he had the worst case of clumsiness I've even seen. And he was so careless with Peter's tools - not only did we spend over $500 on them (ie they were very expensive) but in this place they are irreplaceable inside several months at any price. P.D. did things like using Peter's best big screwdriver from his Stanley set for stirring paint. And the special (old but reconditioned) DC power drill that was sent to us from Darwin ... in an impatient moment he was hitting a nail with it instead of the hammer. Our precious not-very-strong-but-very-useful metal shelving units ... twice he stood on a shelf (with Peter standing there saying "No! No!") and crunked them right out of shape. Many times we just wanted to cry over the way he treated the precious little things that are meaningless down south but take so much money and effort to get up here. Ah well, enough complaining, its lovely being just us again!

On Tuesday and Wednesday the people at last came and made palm thatch for our little translation house. Its a lovely little house with three big lift-up windows. The front window is covered with corrugated pale green fibreglass, and the side two are like thatch shutters. The bishop is likely to be our first guest - in Nov or Dec making his last visit up here before he takes up his new post at Bunbury (WA). His wife is an islander, so I wonder how she'll like the change?

Our language helpers are also looking forward to doing language work in there instead of the house. We're going to call it "Mir Meta" (language house) and it may be worth getting Father Tabo to "bless" it or whatever - mainly to draw attention to it and make sure everyone understands about what it is and who we are and why we are here. I guess that will be our first attempt at throwing some kind of a feast - I hope we can get some help.

A death on the island

Yesterday was a sad day here. George and Peter were busy doing the windows on our 'mir meta', and Norm the plumber, Roger the mechanic, Sammy Semmy the islander plumber and George Blanco the tractor driver were at the top of the hill working on the pump. George B was standing in the shade cutting out gaskets, when he suddenly just dropped dead. He's a BIG guy, very tall and very well built too, but a gentle giant and well-loved, only 34 years old. Roger resuscitated him, and when he was breathing again came down on the tractor for help. Etta (the very fat nursing sister) wouldn't call the doctor until she'd seen George, and Peter grabbed our '"Where there is no doctor" medical book and went up on the tractor to help. Then he sprinted down the hillside to the phone and spoke to the doctor on TI. That was 4.30pm, more than an hour after George's attack, and the helicopter finally got here at 6.30pm. By then poor George was well and truly dead. In the meantime, Peter and Peter Stoneham (the principal) took the oxygen cylinder (from the clinic) up on a motorbike but not even Etta knew how to use it. Then Peter ran down the hill and back up again, and finally walked down the hill with the doctor (who 'wanted some exercise') - what a day!

Election promises

On Thursday we were surprised to hear a plane come, then the tractor came down the hill loaded with goodies - frozen chickens, sausages, pizzas, ice cream, lettuce, health bars ..! The Melbidir was supposed to be here next week (to bring cargo and take children and parents to the school sports day on Yorke Island) but its still in Cairns. They reckon these plane-loads of goodies will be coming out every week now "between boats" - I'd say it obviously has something to do with next Saturday's election and the government is trying to make a last-minute statement that they are the good guys in spite of the lack of water, electricity, education, health facilities.

We're all quite - well, very - very tired. Alison is still not crawling, but she does get around by rolling, humping, pushing etc. James still goes happily to kindy. His talk is going ahead so fast now, he chatters away! When no one has time for him he talks to himself - questions and answers" "See heligaga?" "Yess!" "Wind?" "No." "Gaga gone now". He's so cute!

We're getting a boat, as soon as possible. Peter's beside me here writing to the credit society to pull the rest of our money out. Peter Houghton, in Cairns, is buying it for us.

Sunday pm

All my babies are asleep, lucky lot! Peter's feeling ill (looks ghastly too.) The village is quiet with most people mourning. There are rumours going around about knife-marks on George's neck, I guess some people are bound to suspect "black magic" or something with such a sudden death, even the findings of the autopsy won't prove anything to them once they have decided it was magic. Just hope there's no "trouble" as a result.

Pre-wet is here already, and I'm covered in itchy heat-rash again. James is spotty too.

Letter: Bananas and Bell Fruit

1983-10-08T03:37:00.000-07:00

Letter 8 / 10 / 83

What a day! I'm red-raw (sun-burnt) - a problem I've rarely had since we've been here because I'm usually so careful. I'm dying to just fall into bed. But Peter's showering, so I may as well use up this time by chain-eating some bananas while I'm waiting for a turn. (Someone gave us two ripe bunches today.) There's a bowl of those brilliant red bell-fruit in front of me, but I'm not tempted by them at all. Barnie Day brought them to us. He has been so kind to us.

I think he would make an excellent language helper for Peter - poor George has been on a rather extended drunken bout lately, getting over the recent death of his wife who had cancer. Balaga has been helping me, but Meriam really is a second language to her, she's not much good at it, and very nervous too. But she's excellent with kids and I may be able to work out some babysitting for Alison. Big (really big) Gracie is going to try out as a language helper this week.

People are taking quite some interest in our half-built "translation centre / guest room". They really don't like coming into our house but would be willing to work with us in there where they can see out and be seen.

Dawar and Waier Islands

Today we went over to Dawar Island with Peter and Sue Stoneham, (the school teacher and his wife) in their boat. It was a perfect day for it, which worked out well for Peter Dunstan to see Dawar and Waier before he leaves on Tuesday. Then the kids and I (and Sue and their two girls) stayed home while the three Peters went fishing. They brought back (among other things) an 8-foot shark. Peter S wanted to keep the jaws. So it was fish for tea again - not shark. The Stonehams only have another 8 weeks here this year - Sue is counting down, she's fed up with the place - and they've a freezer full of fish because Peter (S) loves going fishing in his boat more than he loves eating fish (or at least more than he can manage to eat.) So they have been giving us frozen fish all week. Its a bit of a trap, though, having a big freezer ... If we catch more than we need (and the idea is that you stop when you have enough to eat!) we give it away and build relationships. Then when we are in need, others will give to us.

Water tank

Our water situation is desperate again. Went to the well for some muddy water for my first shower in 6 days (bleh! saltwater makes you sticky!) and found some charming youngster had thrown our bucket down, rope and all. Fortunately it fell open side down, trapped a pocket of air and floated. Peter was able to get it back up with his fishing line.

But we have a (1000gallon) water tank at last! It came on the boat this week. We saw the boat in the distance with our tank on the deck. Everyone knew it was ours (we've waited six months since we ordered it) even though it didn't have our name on it. They threw it into the water and towed it in to land behind a dinghy. Then P and P (and James) walked it in the shallows along to our part of the beach. They (P and P) have made a concrete stand for it and Monday should see it on its stand. Now all we need is some water in it! We don't have any guttering to link it up if it rains ...

Rats

We caught our 21st rat this evening (that's since we came back in June). The grasshoppers (indoors) are less tonight with the kitchen screened, but we haven't worked out what we will do about a screen door (its going to need to be an odd size). Rod Kennedy (translator on Saibai Island) sent us an old water heater from Saibai recently. When P and P catch a grasshopper they twist its head off and throw it out the door ... and to tie all those facts together (!) : The other day we caught a rat inside the water heater with a heap of grasshoppers, each with its head twisted around.

The "Parasol"

Did we tell you the funny story about the parasol? There's a big shade-house hear us, belongs to the church, and Father Tabo told Peter it was called the "Para Sol". Peter was impressed, thinking the white priest, Rechnitz - a few years back now - had given it that name. He took the trouble to explain to Tabo the origins of "para" (against) and "sol" (sun) - but only got blank stares in return. Peter S also had heard that it was called parasol, and recently asked someone to go there to collect something for him. It was when he wrote down the word PARASOL for them that he started to have problems - no one even raises an eyebrow when we say "parasol". So my Peter came home and said, "If you had no 'h' in your language, how would you say this word?" and he wrote down: PARISH HALL. We laughed and laughed. We had forgotten that every Anglican Church always has a parish hall next to it.

Sunday

Almost time for the first lot of bells. It rained a bit last night so we have a few more litres of water in our 44 gallon drum. But I'll have to phone someone on TI and get them to send us some disposable nappies because none came on this last boat and I just can't manage cloth nappies without water! Ooh, its raining again now ...

Yesterday we ate our first home-grown tomato. They cost about $1 each up here so we feel its worthwhile to have grown at least one. There would be about a couple of dozen coming on, but no sign of any further crop. The plants are pretty scabby-looking! We had a crop of snake beans. Cabbages are a waste of time. Our three precious citrus seedlings are doing well. My sweet potatoes have beautiful foliage!

Monday

Peter D goes tomorrow, and today we have fly-screens on all the windows, and the tank stand is ready for its load. Tomorrow the village people are "definitely" coming to do (weave out of coconut palms) the walls of the translation house - Peter D never did get to sleep in it!

Alison still can't get her crawling act together in spite of demonstrations by James. And her first tooth still isn't through, despite chewing on endless rusks. But she sits up really well. And if you kiss her repeatedly on the cheek she closes her eyes and often falls asleep, even when she's been really wriggly a minute before.

Time for a shower. It rained heavily this morning so there's some water in our drum!

Letter: More Bananas

1983-10-03T03:35:00.000-07:00

Letter 3 / 10 / 83

Peter's offering me a banana - or two - you know how it is when you have a bunch of bananas (a whole bunch, not a hand) and they all go ripe at once.

James started back at kindy today - at last. Its been a long 2 weeks. I've asked Balaga to come help me with language. She can hold Alison (she's good with kids) while we talk and I write. George has started coming to help Peter again now his kids are back at school - he has six kids, a small family in these parts.

James loves his shirt. He says "Ganma" quite well now. You should hear him say the days of the week, its so cute. And singing "row, row, row your boat"! He's coming ahead so fast now. And the hat is just great for Alison. We climbed (the hill) Gelam again last Saturday for Peter (D)'s sake and she fared quite well in her new hat.

No ducks yet. Did I say we got some citrus trees at last? They cost $10 each, but then they were quite expensive to transport up here, our three trees are worth about $60. They are well settled in and growing well already.

Alison still isn't quite crawling. We ought to get a move on and build some door-gates for when she does. She can do all the right things, but doesn't quite balance or coordinate them right. She gets up on hands and knees, one knee moves, the other starts to ... then whoops! over she rolls (followed by waa! waaa!)

We had an exciting time listening to the America's Cup. Dave Everest (the previous headmaster was here) had his little radio on all night for the last race, and we were all up about 6am to listen to the end of it. I guess you saw it all on TV. Would have been nice in colour!

It's late Monday night. The plane is due early tomorrow because the doctors are coming for their monthly visit. Alison's due for her third injection. Pat Killoran (politician) is supposed to also be coming to deliver his policy speech or whatever. And its village work day, a group is supposed to be going to plait palm leaves for the walls of our study/guest room. Its also the day scheduled for the burning off of the island (grass) but I hear they've cancelled that until after school sports for some reason ...

I've had conjunctivitis for a couple of weeks now, and this is all very blurry. I guess I'll get a chance to see the doc tomorrow. I'm also very tired ...

New Ceiling

The ceiling wasn't in last week, was it? Its really lovely. Took 3 days to do, beautiful to look at. I find it hard to believe when I lie in bed staring at it. No more tin roof with "Jerry" painted in big letters. The roof is painted (on the outside) too, should protect it for a few years. I have a new window in the kitchen, and two of our windows have fly-screens (the rest are waiting for materials to arrive "when the boat comes" maybe this Friday.) In the evenings our biggest hassle these days is (big) grasshoppers. Can you imagine trying to cook and eat with these things flying around and hopping into your food and in your face? Later in the year I guess it will be little brown beetle season again too ... be nice to have the screens up before they start, and then the flies get extra thick during the doldrums and pre-wet season.

Letter: Full House

1983-09-25T03:34:00.000-07:00

Letter 25 / 9 / 83

We have a full house these days. Not only is Peter D here, but last year's school principal, Dave E, is spending a week with us. Our outside study/guest room has a cement floor now (2-3 days very hard manual labour by Peter and Peter) but no walls, so we are chock-a-block inside here. Peter and Dave are occupying the study/living room, and our little fold-away camping table in the dining room end of the kitchen is rather over-taxed. At least the guys all help with the washing-up. Evenings get a bit hectic trying to care for James and Alison and cook a proper meal (with dessert "because we have visitors") while the men are usually battling it out trying to use up every last skerick of daylight.

The painting's done, the roof is trimmed and ready for the ceiling to be fitted this week, and my kitchen sink is installed - on bamboo legs and complete with a drain facility, but no taps. Peter D even made James a little bed out of packing crate wood (the crate the sink came in) and I painted it green (that being the only colour in the store) to match his fluffy green mat on the lovely yellow floor! The bed is only 4'10" long and 2'6" wide, and quite low, which makes a lot more space in his room.

Kids antics

Alison is a tin of worms these days. Changing her nappy is a real nightmare. She's almost crawling ... any day now, we keep saying. She keeps getting up on her hands and knees and swaying like a praying mantis.

James has his ups and downs these days. I try to make time for him, with school holidays and all, and he manages to take up most of my day other than cooking, cleaning, and changing Alison's nappies. But he craves Peter, Peter D or Dave's attention - and invariably gets into trouble when he tries to 'help' them. Poor little chap, we've had endless dirty pants and puddles on the floor since Peter D came. Dave has more time for him than Peter and Peter, so he often shadows him, but he can't work out what is going on when Dave smokes!

New phone

Murray Island got a new phone the other day. From Dec 4 we'll be able to dial (at present we just pick up and listen for the operator) - but only "local" TI numbers. In "a couple of years" they've promised STD! Anyway, the helicopters brought the technicians in, and the pilot let James sit in the cockpit - but he was frightened that it might take him away or something. Meanwhile, Peter D went and scrounged the old phone! We use the crate the fridge came is as a change table, and underneath/inside is James' cubby. So Peter D installed the old phone in there.

James enjoys the tape - don't know if I mentioned it before. He won't prance around, he sits up tall and still, for half an hour at a time. We can even put the head-phones on him and he'll sit or lie still for at least an hour!

Ali has changed a lot - neat little cheeks (hardly chubby at all, though she eats almost as much as James) and blond hair. Her eyes are grey, but lighter than James'. They're a funny pair - J and A - seem to march to the same drumbeat ... dirty pants seem to always come in two's in this household, for instance! Yesterday James went to sleep about 2pm and didn't wake until 4am today. Of course Ali had to be up at 4am too.

This week they plan to burn off the hill - we need to clear well around our place. Its been raining hard yesterday and today, so it might be a bit green by Tuesday when they try to burn.

Well, there goes the bell for Evensong, time for the evening onslaught ... bath Ali, and start cooking tea for these men.

Letter: Men at Work

1983-09-20T03:31:00.000-07:00

Letter 20 / 9 / 83

We are so busy these days with Peter D here to help with the house. The walls are all done now - beautiful! And all the floors except our bedroom, but we've run out of paint. The guys are working on the outside guest room / study now. Next the ceiling - we're looking forward to that. My kitchen sink has arrived, but I need someone to make me a stand for it.

Thanks for the parcel. James loves his paint, and Nathan's shirts. He's recently put on a growth spurt though and they only just fit him. Alison's sun bonnet is great. She's very cute and wriggly these days. (Changing her nappies is a nightmare!) Her hair is quite blonde now. and she sits for a few seconds at a time. She's almost completely weaned too.

Must rush and get breakfast for the men, and me too I guess. James is home from kindy on mid-term "yellow-day" (as he says). He's been going to kindy a full half-semester now, hasn't lost interest, and he's learning so much. You should hear him sing "Twinkle Twinkle" - with actions. His words are "bumboo bumboo didi gar ... "

Letter: The Boat Cometh

1983-08-15T01:48:00.000-07:00

Letter 15 / 8 / 83

There's a boat due this week but its the smallest one, the "TSI" (Torres Strait Islander) - so I guess our rainwater tank won't be coming this time.

Duck hut

Our ducks are due to arrive on Kuch's next flight from Cairns. There's a rusty old rainwater tank out the back of our place, and we managed to turn it into something like a nissan hut - not as easily as we expected. When we cut it in half - against the direction of the corrugations - the silly thing unraveled and whipped around like a snake. Anyway, its 'dug in' now and reasonably under control. There are a lot of dogs around these days (although periodically the health department thinks of a reason to come and kill a few) so we'll have to completely enclose the ducks with wire. We are using birdcage mesh to try to limit the rats a bit too.

We've more or less decided not to go south in December or January, we'll stay here until next June or July. We are feeling comfortable and settled, its not worth $800 for a few hassling weeks in Cairns.

Lnguage helpers

Now we have a paid language helper - just an hour a week for starters ($5 an hour, but the government subsidy pays $4 of that) - lets hope he turns up for his first session tomorrow. His name is George Sallee, and he's not a church-goer, bit of a wayward sort in fact, but we see him as having heaps of potential.

I wasn't intending to get a language helper too until Alison is quite a bit older. I had my eye on Bal Gee - young friendly girl with a big smile. She's done some courses at the School of Australian Linguistics so has a basic understanding of grammar and phonemics. She's offered to come and show me some of the verb charts she's worked out.

Water supply

The water situation is still desperate, but we have had the most surprising help. Barnie Day has been living at TI hospital caring for his sick wife, but he came out here for a week's holiday. He knocked on our door and said he couldn't sleep at night for thinking about our baby having to drink well-water. (Although she's a sturdy 4 month old, her exceptionally white skin does make her look very delicate). He has a full, hardly used, rainwater tank, so would we please fill our 44 gal drum from his tank. Peter has made himself a little 'dolly' trolley from some old pram wheels off the dump, so he trundled back and forth carrying water to fill our drum.

Yesterday we spent most of the day at a feast. We really enjoy feasts these days, find we can really just sit and relax with the people. James can hold his own with the other kids so we are not 'on edge' watching him all the time either. And we love the food - never thought I'd enjoy some of that stuff!

. . .

Well, Peter's fishing, the kids are both on a sleeping bag at my feet. They've both got wet nappies on from last night, and I haven't finished preparing James' kindy lunch. Its village work day and the men are supposed to be coming up to work on our outside guest room / study, so I need to put some jugs of water in the fridge for them ...

...oh and Peter's just got home with a good-sized trevally for today's meals!

Letter: Dirty Washing Train

1983-08-08T01:46:00.000-07:00

Letter 8 / 8 / 83

Our water situation is desperate. Somehow we just keep managing. Its really discouraging to climb the hill and see the pump sitting there all in pieces and no one working on it. Those in positions of leadership have their own full rainwater tanks and a good well down the other end of the village. Our well is dry. If we get there at dawn we can just jiggle the milk tin between the rocks at the bottom for a bit of muddy water. We use that for washing dishes and nappies, and every second or third day ourselves. About every ten days we spare a bit of water to rinse out a few clothes. Sheets and towels just have to go and go for now. In our bedroom is a "dirty washing train" - seven cardboard boxes full of clothes, sheets, tablecloths etc etc. I guess some will be hopelessly stained by the time they get washed. Every now and then we get a light sprinkle of rain which just keeps us in drinking water.

Floor paint

We've been painting the floors of the two long rooms. Jet Dry is okay, you can walk on it in two hours. But after using 1/2 a tin on the first little section we realised it needed undercoat (the chap in the shop told us it wouldn't) and that takes four hours to be touch dry, and 16 hours before we can paint over it. But after we tried the next bit and it still wasn't very good we decided to try primer under the undercoat. That takes 24 hours to dry. We've been trying to do the kitchen in patches - but what a nightmare with 24 hours + 16 hours + 2 hours of no walking - and keeping James off too. Still, it is lovely and bright and clean when its done. Its going to be so nice with all the walls and floors painted and the ceiling in. With no more government travel subsidy - they were paying 70% of our travel - we wonder if we will ever go back to Cairns once the house is nice. We could do a lot of other things with that $800! Maybe we'll stay here till July 84 when we are required back in Darwin for the conference.

James at dindy

James continues to enjoy kindy. We find we get to missing him (always in the way when he's around!) by the end of the morning. All the other kids have their lunch and a sleep session at kindy, but we feel he may as well come home for that - he's only such a little kid to be off at "school" 9am to 2pm, so we bring him home at 12.

I've started Alison on solids - a bit of "mixed cereal". She's certainly keen on the idea - James never was. I guess I'll soon start using the "Mouli-baby" and doing her a few of our non-existent veges. Our beans look hopeful, so do the cabbages. The corn is dying. The lettuces and strawberries and citrus cuttings have all dies. Tomatoes are doing well. Don't know what's happened to our ducks on order from Cairns.

New flights

Things are 'hotting up' with the two new rival companies now flying small planes out from Cairns direct to here.We hope one of them will be able to get us some citrus seedlings and bring the ducks too. One chap, Ron Kuch (Kuch Aviation) is willing to do shopping for people in Cairns and charges $200 fare, or $2 a kilo for freight. "Outback Air" have now lowered their price to equal his. Avdev, the regular mob who fly from TI are working out how to get these guys thrown out - reckon they don't have licence to land on these islands. Hope they don't succeed.

Letter: Pump Problems

1983-07-31T01:44:00.000-07:00

Letter 31 / 7 / 83

The day has a gloomy, clammy feel to it - if only it would rain. The water situation is little short of desperate. We have 25 litres of slightly murky drinking water left, and about 40 litres of murkier washing water. The well is dry, at least for the next few hours. The pump has been broken for weeks ... now they've fixed it but apparently the rods that go down the well are broken. The Melbidir came the other day with replacement parts - the wrong size! They can't be carried by plane, we have to wait for the next ship. Its going to be "soon" - only another 10 days or so.

We've heard that there are plans afoot to update all of the islands' water systems. Last year they installed a solar-powered desalination plant on Coconut Island - maybe all the islands will get one. Or maybe just a newer, bigger pump.

Church is on, but James is sick so I'm home and Peter has gone along to the AOG this week. James has his usual chest complaint by the sound of it - we all had a rough night.

The last of our mailed boxes arrived on the Melbidir the other day, and our floor paint and ceiling parts. We've painted a little bit of the floor - it looks lovely, but we realise we don't have enough paint, we'll have to try to get some more.

James has been going to kindy every day and loves it - Saturdays and Sundays are disappointing for him!

Communal living

We've had lots of 'people contact' lately. A lady died in Cairns a week ago Thursday and it took until Thursday for the body to arrive here. So its been quiet communal eating (not really feasts) every day, and its still continuing in less quiet fashion since the burial on Friday until the big feast tomorrow. We've been going along for the evening meal (about 7.30pm). James loves it, Alison is not so sure. We find we are liking island food more and more. There was turtle meat there yesterday - turtles are mating three months early this year (?) . And mackerel are running already. Mango trees are in flower too. Does this mean that we'll have an early wet season, or just that the seasons are all mixed up these days - ?

later

The kids are asleep. I've just been down for a swim/wash. I haven't had a freshwater shower in 2 or 3 days. It still hasn't rained, its still threatening to. The water is "freezing" (relatively!) but its so muggy out of the water. The temperature is actually 27deg C - its been up to 29 - 30 deg the last few days. Before that it was 26 deg by day and 23 - 4 deg by night. We put winter pajamas on the kids.

Alison is a lovely little button these days. Still smiles a whole lot. She blows raspberries and spits a lot because her gums are sore. When she wants "up" she lies there going "brrr" and splatting her arms hard against her sides - I'm sure one day she'll fly! We let her try some cereal, thought she might enjoy a new texture on her gums, and she loves it - grabs the spoon and pulls it into her mouth. She's also very ready if a cup is proffered.

James is doing well with his reading. He knows quite a few letters. 'J' he reads as "j - mine", then there's: "M - mummy", "d - daddy", "a - babby", "b - babby", "n - nanna", "p - papa", "t - teddy" and "o"! It all happened quite by accident, but he even picks them out of small print when we read him his Bible Story. Its fast getting to the stage where he can read but not talk. But his talking is increasing every day. He loves to say "Eeyore!" (his version of the hello/goodbye greeting "yawo") to people passing by the house. And he is at last toilet trained. All of a sudden he was willing to go outside and pull his own pants down - no more puddles in the house. He is so funny when he comes and announces "anana di ga, di bleh" (I didn't wee on the grass, I went on the dirt). Of course no one except us understands him. Funny thing is, he manages to hold it in for the whole three hours at kindy.

I need to go and wring the saltwater out of the nappies and rinse them in some well-water. James keeps waking up and whimpering - looks a bit feverish again. He has what the people call "bad cold-sick".

Hey, its raining - ever so tentatively. If only it would slosh down and fill our barrel and the well and water the plants. There, its stopped already. Wasn't even enough to run into the gutter. Maybe if I go and hang the nappies out it will rain ...

Letter: Hoy! and Darts

1983-07-23T01:43:00.000-07:00

Letter 23 / 7 / 83

The kitchen is painted at last, and what a difference that makes. We are just waiting to get the floor painted and the ceiling up now. So we are just continuing slowly with our house-fixing - waiting for Peter Dunstan to come and help in September - and concentrate on language for a bit.

Peter had a discussion with a (drunk) Anglican fellow yesterday, and was being criticized because we haven't been joining in with "Hoy!" and darts sessions - we see it as encouraging gambling, they see it as supporting the church in their fund-raising. Drunk or not he had a point and we feel we must start being a part of these activities.

I took James to Kindy the other day. Its been closed lately for renovations, but just opened again. The (new) principal's eldest daughter, 3 year old Marissa, had been going, but with a new teacher there who "makes you do things" no longer likes it. They are supposed to only take 3-5 year olds, but they are fairly flexible. So, anyway, I took him down there and came back after an hour - and he loved it. They let him paint! The next day was a holiday, so we have to wait until next week to give it another go. We are all looking forward to him being down there a few hours each day for some companionship and mental stimulation.

He loves the daily "Kindy of the Air" - sits riveted to his seat and stares hard at the radio! I try hard to remember the rhymes and songs to do with him later, and we've been trying to tape the programme too.

Alison is growing fast. She rolls over at will now - in her cot, I never put her down on this floor - and she spends a lot of time in her bouncinette. And she grabs everything. And she's teething, so everything goes straight into her mouth and gets thoroughly dribbled on. Fortunately we have some 'Bonjela' for her gums as she's been pretty miserable with the pain. A spot of Bonjela soon brings back her sunny, smiley disposition!

Father Tabo's sister died in Cairns on Thursday, so half the village, all the relatives, are in mourning in the "Parasol" (shade house) next to our place, eating together, "sitting quietly" (except for the drunk ones) until the body arrives and is buried.

James is finally toilet trained. He comes running in and says:

"ananya" (ie negative, shaking his head) "di" (wee) "ga" (grass), "di" (wee) "bleh" (dirt).

Letter: Time for Church

1983-07-17T01:41:00.000-07:00

Letter 17 / 7 / 83

Another Sunday, another crucifix-stamped wafer (slightly mouldy tasting) and a sip of wine for us, and a pat on the head for James (it does amuse him) and Alison, and a long, rambly, mixed-up sermon to sit through. Last week we did our duty at the AOG church - the fellowship was closer but the teaching just as mixed up.

Growing kids

James has grown up a lot since the last photos we sent, but he's changed more in abilities than looks. He slimmed down so much when he got sick in Cairns, but he's eating well again now (after about 6 months). "Eat" is one of his favourite words. You hear a little voice after he's been put to bed, "Mummy ... eat?" He's so independent these days - sets the table and clears it etc, when I make bread he does a little one too ... but at certain times he swings right back and wants to be dressed on Alison's "change table" (converted fridge crate) - lying diagonally because he's so big. Or we find him "lying" in the bouncinette. He also likes to have his turn with his mum in the rocking chair.

Talking of growing up - that Alison! We call her "button" these days, because she's as bright as a button. Full of gurgles and smiles and a funny little laugh. James was amazed when she picked a teaspoon up off the table the other day ... later we heard him screaming when she got a fistful of his hair. She's gained control of her hands and is so grabby and strong. And she's teething and so dribbly and wet! She enjoys those "water-cooled" teethers you can get. And last night I heard her grunting in her cot, and there she was lying on her back, having turned herself over, giggling at me. So we've reached the roly-poly stage too.

Climbing the hill

Last week for our day off we set off on a walk and ended up going right around the island. That was rugged! Its very beautiful around the back. It would be lovely to have a hut there to escape to occasionally.

The good news is that our solar generator is working. Every day for more than a week we tested it and watched the charge creep up despite the cloudy weather. Then Peter mounted it on the roof and fixed up some lights inside. What a difference from hurricane lamps!

Monday

Well today we climbed the hill behind our place, then went on up the ridge to the highest point on the island.

Peter walked on to Gelam's Pit. "Pit" means "nose", "Gelam" is the Dugong in the MI creation legend. It was way too hazardous for the rest of us. Then we climbed down and walked the long way home via the airstrip and road.

Once again we were impressed with how incredibly beautiful this place is. And, as usual, we went barefoot. The hill is covered with knee/waist high grass, but underneath its rough and rocky. You just can't see the ground and need to feel the way with your feet. Can't you just imagine us leaping barefoot across rocky crags ... carrying two kids?! Although we do it for enjoyment, if things ever turned nasty here (and we have no reason at this stage to believe they will) its good to be both fit and to know our way around the rest of the island.

Letter: Around the Back of the Island

1983-07-11T01:40:00.000-07:00

Letter 11 / 7 / 83

Today we walked right around the island. My legs are aching - I'd love a deep hot bath ... but the water is off, pump is broken again, and I haven't even had a shower for four days (just swims).

The back of the island is very beautiful, rugged, and we had quite a few breath-holding moments leaping across rocky holes where the water way down below gurgles and spouts, me carrying Alison in the sling and Peter was carrying James. We didn't start off intending to go right around, so we didn't have much food or water. Fortunately the tide was way out or we would have been caught when we were almost all the way around, but that did make it slippery in places. It was about 4 1/2 hours hard slog.

Solar kit

A week ago the ship came. We got our solar lighting kit (now outside soaking up rays, but we've had solid cloud all week and the battery hasn't built up enough charge to start using it), rocking chair, bed, ceiling (though the important bits have gone missing), wardrobe (or rather linen closet), paint - the floor-paint went missing. We received it all by mail, we sent it to ourselves. We guessed we had sent about 50 boxes but didn't expect them all to arrive at once. But they had been saving them up on TI for us. There were 44 very large canvas Australia Post mail sacks, with one or two (10-20kg) boxes in each. There was absolutely no room to move in our tiny house. It took hours to bring them all indoors, and most of the day to get them out of the bags, let alone open the actual boxes. Peter had to make three trips carrying the empty mail bags back to the store. And - our boxes aren't all here yet.

What a week its been. Each night we flop onto our new bed, aching all over from the physical exertion. But we have 3 shelf units and the cupboard (all arrived flat-pack) erected and fully loaded, and almost all of the boxes have disappeared. And two rooms are nearly painted - it takes so long with un-lined walls, raw wooden frames (very uneven and rough as well as absorbent) to coat as well as the back side of the fibro to paint which is very absorbent.

A new sister for James

1983-04-14T05:40:00.000-08:00

We had worked hard to prepare James for the arrival of a new baby, so he was a full bottle on everything a baby needs to know and pleased to have the opportunity to expain the meaning of life, the universe and everything to his new sister.

A Baby Record for Darwin Hospital

1983-04-06T05:56:00.000-08:00

After giving birth to James under the weariness of a bout of malaria, I was eager to have this baby naturally, normally, easily ...

I hadn't had any ultrasounds, or any of the 'normal' check ups in the Torres Strait, so I expected the doctor in Darwin to be a little fussed. But as I lay like a beached whale on an examination bed between the doctor and the nurse, listening to them talk about me as if I couldn't hear, I became a little more concerned.

As we got to know our Alison, as she got older, we could understand perfectly what had happened. At the time it was a little perplexing. She wasn't positioned correctly to be born. She was an "oblique, flexed breach" with her head up against my liver, her bottom on one of my hips and her feet on the other.

The other thing was that this was obviously going to be a very big baby. I had several ultrasounds - so we were sure it wasn't twins - and even an x-ray to make sure there was room for her head to pass through my pelvis.

The doctor decreed a Cesarean Section birth, and I wept with disappointment. Kindly, the doctor offered to turn the baby - but if it didn't succeed, I had to expect a C-Section.

I was incredibly uncomfortable, getting around the Darwin SIL centre on a bicycle because it gave me the support I needed, and swimming a lot. Finally, a week late, I went into labour.

The only car available in the car pool was a beaten up old Holden, which stalled on most corners. Every time it did so Peter would ask, "So, do you think you could walk it from here?" I was cheerful and hopeful, intending to walk around at the hospital to hurry the birth along.

After a few minutes in the waiting area of the labour ward a scared-looking nurse came in readin my file. She was horrified to see me standing up, and pointed out that if my waters broke and the cord dropped between the baby's knees we would have a deadly situation for one or both of us.

So I gave in and submitted to the unsuccessful attempt to turn the baby, and so to a C-Section birth.

Our Alison weighed in at 5160gm, or 11lb 6oz. I had the Nursing Mothers association traipsing through wanting to look at the baby, because she was the biggest in I don't know how long.

And the reason she was in that terrible position and unable to be turned? She had the cord tightly around her neck three times. Yep, that's our Ali. You should see her using a telephone - the old-fashioned ones with a cord!

But so beautiful! Looking like she was already three months old.

The matron said I would never be able to feed her, and I should start her on Farex right away, but I figured that wouldn't be good for her at all, so I struggled on.

Letter: Waiting in Darwin

1983-03-31T01:35:00.000-08:00

Letter 31 / 3 / 83

On Monday I had an ultrasound and a pelvic x-ray - the doctor couldn't turn the baby. Yesterday I had my last clinic visit. They said according to the 'rules' this baby should be born by Caesarian section ... all rather depressing. The baby is very big, its breech, its sitting well above the pelvis, and its "flexed" (got its knees bent and feet down) - all very bad signs. He said there is no such thing as "trial labour" with a breech baby, you have to decide ahead of time whether the baby can make it rather than risk hanging the baby and having to decide to have a CS at that late stage. Then he had a look at my pelvic x-ray ... he said its a long time since he's seen one that big!

James is like a cat on hot bricks - he tends to be over-sensitive at the best of times. His poor little face is covered in blotchy red prickly heat. He won't let me out of his sight, and he wakes up umpteen times a night to make sure I'm here. I guess we haven't been careful enough about what's been overheard. He's sleep-walking again too, so we have to leave a light on and make sure the outside doors are well fastened.

Letter: Darwin

1983-03-12T01:33:00.000-08:00

Letter 12 / 3 / 83

Its so WET here. The wet season has truly arrived at last. It has rained continuously for about four days and nights now. Anywhere else in the world we would be under about four feet of water by now. Fortunately the "soil" around her is so gravelly it all just keeps draining away. The other night we are told we had a mere 7 1/2 inches - I think last night would have beaten that. It would get boring except it manages to vary between heavy, very heavy, and camels and buffalos falling out of the sky ... with or without thunder and lightning. Most of the thunder comes at night - not only does it terrify James so we have to bring him in with us, but its just not possible to sleep with an express train roaring through your bedroom (not like these quiet steamrollers that creep across your mattress...in the adverts).

The boys (James, and Nathan from next door) love the water, of course. As long as its not actually cameling and buffaloing (which would hammer the little tikes into the ground) they run around out there and 'swim' in the drain. Actually you can practically swim on the 'lawn' too, and they love the 'splat! splat!' sound and feel as their little feet sink ankle-deep in watery grass. The 'drain' is just a wide, shallow, long indent by the road - not like the Sydney storm drains. The bit across the front of our place has grass growing in it, which makes it nice and soft when you spin around and around until you are dizzy and fall over in the water. Everyone who is passing stops to watch and laugh at James and Nathan.

Letter: Darwin at last

1983-02-09T01:31:00.000-08:00

Letter from Darwin 9 / 2 / 83

Here we are in Darwin at last. I must admit, its quite a relief for me. We had forgotten just how awful Darwin is - we won't return here again before we really have to. If you have just come in from a desert allocation it would be lovely being back here ... but after Cairns its a real hole. Peter's so annoyed to find that the one-day cricket finals aren't even on television here - something to do with problems with the satellite. And the prices are way up on Cairns, getting toward TI prices. We did a quick shop yesterday, "just a few essentials" (you know what its like when you move into an empty house) for a mere $119, and there's nothing in the cupboards to show for it.

A friend for James

Here on the centre we have a nice little duplex to live in. And in the other half of it are the Elverys with their 2 year old, Nathan, and 8 week old baby Barnabas. Nathan has fiery red hair. He's 8 days younger than James, and about 3 inches taller. I guess, like James, he has spent all his energy growing instead of learning to talk. I've only heard him saying a few non-words, like James does, only of course they are different 'words'. They haven't spent a lot of time together yet, but as far as I can tell they don't communicate at all, just ride around on their trikes ... Nathan, of course, is as desperately lonely as James. We were hoping that the Eckerts with gorgeous Christy-Ann would come here for the birth of their second, but they are going to Alice Springs, I think. The Sandefurs, with little Tarsha, may yet come in for the birth of their second, but they are presently in NZ. If they do, it might be just enough for them to open the crèche again ... hope so. In the meantime we have raided the crèche building for all sorts of wonderful toys!

I think when we rang you James was still in the grips of his mysterious fever. As soon as the long weekend was over we took him to a doctor, who immediately (like us) suspected malaria or something - the fever had settled into a definite cycle after the first few days of erratic fever all day and night. So he had X-rays and blood tests - James was very brave especially seeing he was still feeling so ill, weak from not eating and hardly drinking for days, and obviously in some pain in his glands and joints - we were quite proud of him. Anyway, we returned to the doctor the same day - James didn't have a fever all that day. The test results were not at all conclusive, but it looked like viral pneumonia. The donctor prescribed antibiotics and it seems to have worked, he's gradually getting stronger again. He's suddenly quite a lanky kid. He still won't eat much, but he drinks plenty of milk.

Fokker Friendship

The plane trip here was very pleasant - it was nice to be on a big smooth jet after the fokkers to TI and the rattly old islander to MI. James loved it, he had a seat to himself, they even served him a meal, and they gave him a colouring book and a little packet of coloured pencils. He had his little toy plane with him, hand-sized, and he made it take off and do all the right things. He's still afraid of planes from the outside, which is difficult seeing the centre here is right in the flight path of an international airport. He come screaming inside every time a plane takes off and goes over.

We found out that the Marous never left Townsville after all. As far as we can tell they did in fact intend to ... remembering what dreamers they are. Actually, Uncle Melpal, Magina's brother, died quite suddenly - of cancer as far as we can tell.

Sunday

Yesterday was Peter's birthday. He spent most of it trying to construct a fence to keep James and Nathan off the road - says he really enjoys a bit if intense physical exertion for a change, but it made him feel really old.

Saturday

Here I am, sitting on the floor in the 'lotus' position ... having read all these books about 'natural' childbirth - we discovered the local library. I know its rather too late to start this kind of thing, but I'm reasonably fit (although a little overweight) and determined to have a better time than last time. I'm not quite game to have a 'home' birth (though the book almost convinced me) but we've decided (at the risk of being 'too late') to get to the hospital as late as possible rather than risk being put on a drip all night so the doctor can deliver at a convenient time when he arrives in the morning (like they did with James). As far as my weight goes, I'm not losing (they reckon that's a 'no-no') but I have maintained my weight since we've arrived here just by cutting out sugar, full-cream milk (all we could get on MI) and starchy foods. Peter is rather overweight and can't seem to lose it ... he is discovering at last what dieting is like - he who could always just eat and eat without changing weight (he reckons it must go with turning thirty). James is eating again at last - he is so tall and thin (at least until you compare him to Nathan.) James has discovered "mee" (meat) and will devour liver, chicken, and red meat. The embarrassing thing is when he sees a picture of a turtle and says insistently "mee! mee!" ... and we look around furtively hoping there are no conservationists around.

Boys at play

James and Nathan have developed a real love-hate relationship. James is more advanced in talking (such as that is) but Nathan is quicker, stronger, sometimes rather cunning. With the choice of about twenty 'bikes' - trikes, plastic push-a-longs, trolleys, pedal cars - they will always both want the same one. But Nathan will quietly accept one he doesn't 'want', and set off with James in hot pursuit. Then he'll stop and get off to play in the sand-pit or something, James will follow suit ... and quick as a flash Nathan is on James' bike! James usually screams until someone has had enough and says "Alright, Nathan, James had it first ... " whereupon Nathan meekly gives in - only to have the whole pantomime repeated. They are like a couple of bookends in everything they do, can't bear to be apart but can't stand to have each other around. We haven't managed to persuade anyone to get the crèche going again ... so rather than have Peter, Dallas, and I all worn to a frazzle in the course of a morning (Jenny works mornings) I have agreed to run the crèche and at least give the men a bit of peace (and the baby a chance to sleep) with only one of us ;frazzled' by lunch time. I gather the Sandefurs (with little Tarcha) arrived yesterday, so I guess we can run some sort of roster if we can't get any more joy out of the administration. We'd really like James to get used to being with some other adults...

We are really enjoying the swimming pool here - especially James. He is so confident we really have to watch him. He loves jumping in, and we are working hard to train him never to do it without one of us (preferably Peter because he tends to jump on my tum...) ready to catch him. He just needs to see Peter removing his shirt and he'll lift his own and ask "swim?" (actually there's no 'w' when he says it and its all cute and nasally). We still have the little blow-up pool we got him in Townsville with the birthday money J&W sent ... he and Nathan have lots of fun in that too.

The clinic

I had my first visit to the hospital obstetric clinic. Its not as bad as at 'Nepean', I am listed to see a particular doctor rather than whoever happens to be there, and my Doc is very nice - Dr Rajan Richards ... but he has now gone on holiday! Just my luck, eh. Next week I am to see a Dr Lee, after that, who knows? I'm booked for antenatal classes - wonder if I'll finish the course this time (I didn't at Nepean). I'd at least like to make it to the third week when you get a conducted tour of the labour and maternity wards.

Well, now tea is over and Peter is outside putting the finishing touches to the fence that now goes right around the back and front yards of both sides of the duplex. Now the boys can destroy each other in peace without getting run over.

Letter: Church Council Meeting

1983-01-16T10:30:00.000-08:00

Letter 16 / 1 / 83

What a day we've had. I would lie down and sleep now, but when I tried the mossies kept getting me. Besides, I need to unwind a little, and also I would like to get a letter on tomorrow's plane ... if there is one. We heard on the radio yesterday that they are changing the flight from Monday to Tuesday, but we didn't hear when the change is effective from.

For the protection of all concerned we made up a semi-legal document, I typed up umpteen copies, and the church council met after church this morning to sign it - it had already been agreed on. Then the strangest thing happened. One fellow who is a church deacon - but not of this church, he is only visiting here and not a member of the council either - suddenly went quite mad. He started ranting and raving and beating his chest ... it didn't seem to be particularly against us. And the priest started arguing and yelling back at him. It was all very strange, and embarrassing for all who were present. With the shouting, people began to come from all over and stood at a distance, but no one seemed to really know what it was all about. So all sorts of rumours started about us being thrown off the island. It really had nothing to do with us, it was a personal disagreement between this deacon-guy and the priest. He is apparently a real trouble-maker from way back. The paper didn't get signed, they decided to meet again on Wednesday.

The guest house

We were just trying to relax after that trauma, when there was a knock at the door, it was Wilfred and his father. They are in the middle of a dispute over the ownership of the 'guesthouse' on their land - one reason we were so glad to move out of there. Wilfred's father leaves on tomorrow's plane, and wanted to get things tidied up before he left - he had hoped it would all be sorted out in the three months he's been here, but in real island style they have been put off and put off ... so they wanted us to word a document for them, and type out umpteen copies. And that was my afternoon - typing. And here I am at the typer again!

Getting ready to leave

So, as if it isn't enough to have to pack up and get things stored away this week, we have to wait on this church council meeting and hope there isn't any more unpleasantness. We also hope that Wilfred keeps his word and doesn't go saying that we helped him - we would be willing to do the same for anyone. Living in this place we feel like we are constantly playing with fire no matter what we do. Did I tell you why the last school teacher had to run for his life? The then chairman was having his life threatened by a bunch of tough guys armed with knives etc, and he went to the school teacher for help, who rang the police on TI, so they came for him too.

Let me try and think of all the mundane things that have been happening to us this week. Its been so quiet. James and Peter have been down with colds and so we've kept pretty much to ourselves and not been to any feasts or anything. Peter finally made a hole in the wall, making it into a window in the kitchen, with a shutter. Its been one of those weeks that you say at the end of the day - "Well, I made some bread today" or some such insignificant achievement.

Checkout trouble

The store is empty again, after being open for four days. I told you the boat came on Thursday, but the store didn't open on Friday because of a big feast. Rumour went around it would open Saturday (only because people thought it should) but it didn't because the manager was too drunk to care what people thought. On Sunday he opened for two hours - we didn't even know. On Monday we were down there bright and early with the rest at 9am, but as if to make up for Sunday he didn't open until 10. We grabbed mild and sugar, a few canned drinks, some apples and oranges (eggs were already off, mostly broken by the rats or sold the day before) and made our way to the checkout ... only to stand there for another hour - I'll never complain about checkouts down south again. It was so hot, and the queue just didn't seem to move - they don't really queue the way we do, people just keep slipping in from the side. Anyway, the shelves are bare again now ... we managed to run out of toilet paper, but we picked up a couple of boxes of tissues before they were all gone too.

So, as you can guess, we are feeling very tired, and with the light at the end of the tunnel in sight we are really looking forward to getting down to Cairns. I dream about things like lettuce and cheese ... air conditioned shops to browse through, newspapers to read. We rang our friends in Cairns to say we're coming and we'd like to be booked into a caravan park or somewhere rather than live in their pockets for a couple of weeks, and they said they had heard only the day before of a family who have a little house right next to their own which they have set aside for poor missio's like us ... so if the wet season is 'in' in Cairns as it is here we'll be more comfortable ( and James less frustrated and frustrating) than living in a caravan.

Monday

Another lovely windy day on Murray. I've got my washing all done (in the Bamix "presawash") and I'm daring those clouds to rain on it before the wind blows it all dry. I've learnt that most Mondays seem to be water 'on' days, and sometimes Thursday too. What is annoying is when it comes on on a Sunday and I can't do the washing then. Sometimes I'm ready to wash on Monday, and it doesn't come on till Tuesday ... maybe those guys just don't know what day of the week it is.

Porridge for dinner

We've been feeling a bit poor the last few days. With Peter being sick, and me tired, and the store empty ... well the night before last we had porridge for tea, and last night we shared a fillet of schnapper and I boiled our last spoonful of rice. Its the lack of potatoes I feel most. I get very tired of eating bread and Sao biscuits. This morning I felt very proud of myself when I found some instant potato hidden away in the store. And peanut butter - there hasn't been any in the store for ages and this morning I found some among the pickled onions! (past its use-by date, though).

Uncle Ses

There is a funny little old man here, we call him Uncle Ses. He's a bachelor and reputedly went as senile as he is now when his mother refused to let him marry when he was 20 - he is now 70 or 80 I suppose. He is a bit stooped, but still quite sprightly, and he's the sort that when you see him coming you try to get out of sight because he'll talk your ear off and you won't understand much of what he says. But he's really quite clever in his own way, and we try to make time for him as well as being quite strict about him leaving us alone if we are busy, and generally he respects that.

This morning he turned up to ask us help him read and understand something he had received in the mail. It was something about a $5 raffle in which you can win a home unit in Coolangatta. Ses didn't really understand about home units, he thought maybe if he won it he could get the carpenters (everyone knows they can work magic) to somehow remove his home unit from its sixth-floor position and bring it up here for him. He also had a hopeful idea that the pretty girl in the picture might be part of the prize.

Ses really dotes on James, and James is beginning to get less frightened of him. He always calls James "Peter", even though he knows his name is James.

Letter: Christmas

1982-12-26T09:18:00.000-08:00

Letter 26 / 12 / 82

Well, its Boxing Day - we made it through Christmas. A couple of days ago I did wonder if we would.

So, how does a Murray Island Christmas go?

First of all, you spend furiously until the store is denuded of food and toys. Darnley Island (40 miles away, just visible on the horizon on clear days) has run out of food, even though they have two stores - a dinghy came across here yesterday apparently hoping to buy more, but even if there was spare food I don't think they would have let them have any (its not as if anyone was about to starve!).

Anyway, one spends Christmas Eve preparing and trying to rest at the same time. At 11pm the church bell rings - being so close to the bell we went to bed anyway having no fear of not waking up at the right time. Normally when Father Tabo rings the 6.30am bell he gives about 80 'dong's - if he is away, he replacement only rings about 40. But on Christmas Eve Father Tabo was determined to wake the dead with 122 loud 'dong's!

Then there is a Midnight Mass, followed by a procession.

They used to go right through the village and bless each house, finishing around dawn. These days they only go around the church. Then Christmas begins with presents and feasting around 1am. Bleary-eyed kids opening presents, squabbling, and eating sweets at that hour ... we spent the occasion with our old neighbours.

They announced to us during the day that they had presents already, for 'everyone', so we had to scramble around and find them all small gifts - we had already given them presents when we returned from Cairns, so we didn't want to go 'all out'. I wrapped a little bit of home-made fudge for each of the kids - which, as it turned out, they didn't like anyway but I wasn't greatly fussed because I don't feel that we owe them anything at all. We managed to extricate ourselves about 2.30am and flopped back into bed.

Peter is reading over my shoulder and he says, "You make it all sound like such an ordeal, I quite enjoyed it!" It probably wasn't that bad, but today is so incredibly sticky and uncomfortable ... we are all feeling grimy and tired. The water is off again, so we don't want to use up our precious little supply taking showers. And the church service is on so we can't really escape to the beach. After midnight service, and then Christmas service, we didn't feel we could handle any more this morning - we are so close we can hear it all from our house anyway.

Goodness, it does sound depressing, doesn't it. Actually Christmas Day itself was quite encouraging work-wise. We were to have lunch with the same family again, but then they came down and said we had all been invited for lunch and supper with other 'relatives' - our nearest neighbours at this end of the village. We had been wanting to get into that household, but didn't realise they were classed as relatives of ours. It was a lot nicer spending the day with the extended family instead of the same little group, and they have a nicer shade house set-up right on the edge of the beach.

James takes a tumble

James was a model child most of the day in spite of the other kids Wilfred and Margaret's kids). The only child in this household is a 4yr old girl called Rekira. Towards the end of the day James suddenly took a liking to her and started cuddling her. At one stage they were so involved in a cuddle and they weren't looking and fell off a step! Poor James came off worst with his face in the sand and her on top!

Why the principal ran

Anyway, in the course of the day we had quite a few interesting conversations with people, and Peter especially learnt quite a bit from the men about what has gone on here in the past few years - enough to make your hair curl! Island politics are not only very complicated but rather violent and one has to be so very careful not to be involved, which is extremely difficult. It all makes "Drums of Mer" a bit more believable. For the first time we have heard a reasonable explanation of why the last headmaster took to the bush with his family afraid for his life, and why two years later they finally sent out another headmaster - a single chap, on a trial basis. Some of the things we heard yesterday about some of the people who are even now sitting in church singing "He is Lord...", its very hard to work it all out. Of course, we haven't necessarily got the true side of the story even now, but we can piece some things together. We are so glad we are not still living in the 'guesthouse' now. Apart from having nicer neighbours, the whole business about arguing over ownership of that warehouse is in the melting-pot right now and things could 'blow up' at any time.

Going to the coast

Last week we were listening to "Australia all over" on the radio, and that adolescent-sounding Ian McNamara asked us (well, not us personally) if we were 'going to the coast' for our holiday! Peter went stir-crazy and ran round and round inside the house yelling "Yes! Yes! Let's go to the coast!" James didn't know what to think. Now whenever things get too much one of us will suggest a holiday at the coast, but we can't decide which coast to go to...

Later

Well, the church service finished so we could go to the water less conspicuously, so we all went down and had a soak in the shallows - James had a lot of fun as usual. It was nice and cloudy, and Peter sat on the beach listening to the cricket on the radio. James would stand by him while he said "Ready ... GO!" and then he would charge down the beach and fling himself into the water next to me, then back up the beach to do it again and again ... he thoroughly wore himself out. So after a little lunch (pressure-cooked sardines on Sao biscuits) he slept all afternoon while us oldies also did a fair bit of lounging around.

Council agreement

A bit of good news this afternoon. The church council has agreed to our proposal about the house. Now we need SIL to agree that this job needs doing, and then we'll see if we can get the house agreement in writing for when the church council and/or priest changes.

The water situation doesn't look good again. Since we've had our tap, the water has only been on three days. Each time it is on for a day then its off again for several days because something has gone wrong again somewhere. Today a group came and filled up a whole lot of dustbins with water from the well near us, something I haven't seen since the pump was fixed, so I hope the pump isn't broken again. If we really are going back to using the wells, then we desperately need some rain to thin out the tadpoles down there.

Wilfred's uncle and aunt who adopted us in Townsville, the Marous, haven't arrived yet. They are still stuck on TI as far as we can tell. Apparently about 40 Murray Islanders came up for Christmas and instead of going on the planes they chartered a ferry so they could all come together (it cost very little less each), a grueling fifteen hour trip. But the boat broke down and they didn't make it, and they missed Christmas. The latest is they will be here on 4th January.

Cracking eggs

I'm glad you might be able to come up with some egg powder to send us. I presume the eggs here travel up from Cairns, already at least a couple of weeks old, and not refrigerated at all at any stage. This last time they arrived here on Friday and the store didn't open until Monday - that store is a tin shed and is always very hot even when it is open with all the windows open. By the time we get them they are all at the 'stand-up-on-end' stage in the water test, and some are floaters. Every time I crack an egg my stomach gets all screwed up in anticipation! One batch we had were moldy (on the outside, and of course it gets in). When you crack them the yolk always sticks to the end of the egg, and if its not too bad it just breaks. But every now and then I get one where the yolk just won't come out ... or when you just crack it a bit you can tell straight away!

Monday

Well, the water is on today, so I have filled our barrels (enough water for two days if it goes off again) and I've done the washing ... and then drank three glasses of Salvital to replace the sweat I lost.

James' "-bi" tree

James spent most of the time over the road from our house under the sorbi tree eating sorbi - funny red and white fruits that grow mostly on the trunk of the tree. I imagine they could be quite nice, but at this stage - with the lack of rain - they are very dry and bitter, they draw your mouth worse than rhubarb! Now, of course, James is at my knee with one of his books as usual. They really are his most precious toys. He wants to go down to the "kwa" for a swim, but its sunny today (and muggy as ever) so I would burn in just a few minutes - not James, though, he takes quite a long time before he burns, like Peter. I have been trying to get James to say "water" rather than "kwa", and he has progressed to an occasional "kwati" .

Peter is trying to fix up an outside 'laundry' for me, just a bench in the outhouse to put my bowls on ...

The late news letters

I don't think there will be a plane today, being a public holiday. There was a plane or two just about every day for the last couple of weeks, but they were all charter flights, so no mail or anything. Last Monday the regular plane came early, and in the rush the mail (all the letters I had written!) got left in the store. Our printed newsletters (from Darwin) have got as far as TI, so the PO tells us. We had a friend take them into the AVDEV office and pay freight on them in the hope of getting them here sooner than the next boat. They are dated December, and it will be January before we get them - I've already done all the envelopes in preparation to send them out, but the news will be a bit stale regardless! Rumour has it there will be three planes on Wednesday, but they are all charter flights, one of them carrying a body back from TI, don't know who.

I had better close and get the bread started. It doesn't take long to rise here, no need to warm the bowl or anything! What does slow me down is my little helper!

Letter: Marous are coming

1982-12-19T09:10:00.000-08:00

Letter 19 / 12 / 82

Rumour has it that our 'parents' arrive tomorrow - the Marous from Townsville. We are not at all sure how things will turn out. Having them around (we don't know how long for) might really help to sort things out such as who we are related to etc. We are most relieved to hear that they aren't expecting to stay with us but with other relatives.

Under the hot tin roof

Its Sunday, church time, but I just can't face it today. I feel really washed out, probably the effect of this endless enervating heat and humidity. So I'm sitting up in bed (keeping my feet up) trying to type. If we weren't so visible from the church (the service is on and the walls are mostly made up of doors on all sides which are open) I'd take my mattress outside away from the heat of this tin roof. Fr Tabo is actually away today, so there won't be many in church this morning. Peter has taken James on the bike and gone away down the other end of the village to the AOG (Assemblies of God) church, thought we had better maintain ties with them before the Marous arrive, we haven't been there since we came back.

Tap

Quite unexpectedly the other day we got a tap! And then yesterday it had water coming out of it ... I actually did the washing in all clean water instead of re-using to the point of being ridiculous. But then last night the water went off, don't know why, hope its very temporary, because its so nice to be able to turn a tap on, even if it is out the back of the house - anything is better than going to the well which is very deep.

Soft sardines

My pressure cooker arrived among the things on the boat last week, and I finally got it out and got the handles screwed back on. Its lovely to be able to pop sardines in there for half an hour and then be able to eat them bones and all - just like the tinned ones only nicer! We have shown that to one or two people here and they have been most impressed - they are such tasty little fish and so fiddly to eat normally.

People are also very impressed by our 'tent' - we have our screen house set up outside our front door. It gives us somewhere to sit and converse with people as they pass (and to be seen generally), James sleeps in there in the afternoon, and now it has given people a reason to talk about us. On these hot nights a lot of people opt to sleep on the beach rather than inside - which of course has its own problems. Some build elaborate sleeping platforms, but most are more lazy and they can see that a screen house would be ideal, they all want one.

Need a language helper

We still don't have a regular language helper. All our efforts to invite people over for food have failed, they just don't turn up. I think they would if we invited several families at a time, but I just don't think I can cope with fifty or so! Usually I would have daughters, sisters, aunts etc to help me and provide plates etc. We were feeling quite despondent after our first few attempts, but now people are at least opening up a bit and talking to us more, maybe we were trying to go too fast as usual. The old chap, Sam Passi, who actually offered to come around, didn't even show up. He is recognised and respected as the one who knows most about the language, so he feels sort of responsible for us to make sure we do things right. The other day he offered to come and help us on an irregular basis, he is afraid he will be intruding. Anyway, he hasn't turned up yet; but he is a man of principles, I'm sure he will turn up eventually. In the meantime I guess we'll have Mrs Maraou for a while again. Trouble is, she'll expect us to be speaking fluent Miriam by now, and we really haven't progressed much at all - though we are getting much better at catching fish.

Fishing for niwop

Peter finally got me fixed up with a fishing reel of my own so I can join the women under the midday sun fishing for black bream ('niwop'). They are big fish and nice eating but they have very small mouths so you use a small hook and dough for bait. At least with dough bait I'm not likely to catch a shark accidentally. I really wouldn't be able to land most of the fish that Peter catches, they put up a pretty good fight - you should see some of his scars where the line has cut him on his arms. And when there is a shark on the end it often takes several men to hold the line. The fishing hasn't been brilliant the last couple of weeks (well, we have a bout a fish a day, or every other day), but they reckon things really hot up when the north-west season starts. At the moment the real sardines (the herrings) have mostly gone to Dawar Island (the little one close by) or round the back of the island to spawn, leaving just the wretched hardiheads. You can still eat them and use them for bait, but they are a lot harder to scale, and you really need to scale them even for bait.

Waiting for rain

Well, Peter and James are back, very hot and tired. The AOG 'church' is a tin shack with a sand floor - gets very hot, and sometimes James comes home filthy after rolling on the floor with the other kids (but mostly he's very good). And we've had a lunch of cold sardines on Sao crackers. Unfortunately James had a little sleep during church and so he won't sleep now. Not that any of us could get much rest, its so humid, we may yet have to resort to the beach - James has been hinting at it for some time. He lies on the floor and says "kwa" (water)! Every day there are hopeful areas of black sky, and every now and then a damp smelling gust of wind, but nothing ever comes of it. They had a big storm here just before we came back and that was enough to start the grasses sprouting on the black hill (after they burnt it) and in fact the whole village was looking grassy and pretty ... just as we were wondering if we could hire a goat to keep our grass down it all dies again because there hasn't been any more rain. (No, there aren't actually any goats here, I don't think we'd be popular bringing them in either for a number of reasons, including the spread of the dreaded screw-worm fly.)

Anyone for Lamington?

We haven't got definite names for number two yet, but we are considering some of the local ones ... how about "Lamington"? There's a gorgeous fat black kid here called Lamington, Lammy for short. He has a brother called Gormy - don't know what that is short for.

Soggy

Right now my brain feels very soggy. Sweat is running down my face and arms, I'll just have to go and face the sharks for a while ... actually having James climbing all over me in the water might be considered a worse fate. He loves swimming, he even likes the bright green seaweed which he calls "wee-weed". I just go swimming in one of my dresses, like the other women, which solves the problem of maternity bathers.

The doctor came here the other day and I got called in for a check - I didn't know he was coming. He seemed satisfied that all is going as it should be, the baby is the right size and all that. It was also interesting to watch the dentist while I waiting at the clinic. Just using an old kitchen chair with no headrest, pulling teeth (including wisdom teeth) and doing scratch fillings - real bush medicine. His main equipment seemed to be syringe for local anaesthetic.

Nearly Christmas. We have promised to spend it with our old neighbours ... I guess the Marous will be there too. The worst bit is knowing that so many will be drunk over Christmas, at least here there is less traffic. Even one tractor can be pretty hazardous to little kids when the driver is drunk. It would be nice to have a boat and disappear around the back for a few days. (We still don't know whether to get the long-boat or opt for a little dinghy.)

Letter: Warm Swamp

1982-12-12T06:53:00.000-08:00

Letter 12 / 12 / 82

What a week it has been. And its so hot. No, that's not true, the temperature is probably quite low, but the humidity is incredible. Its like this in Darwin for months on end, but there you have a ceiling fan you can turn on, or you can take a cool shower of a swim or go and buy an ice cream and stroll around an air-conditioned shopping centre for a while. Here, we just sit and melt! We really are in the doldrums. The ocean is mirror smooth, and from where I sit I can see the road, the edge of the beach, and then ... blank! Its all disappeared under a thick haze. Not a whisper of a breeze, and that haze makes everything damp and clammy. At night getting into bed is like sinking into a warm swamp. bleh! We just sweat and sweat and sweat. Sometimes we brave the sharks and go sit in the warm ocean for a while and sweat there instead - James loves playing in the shallows when the tide is right out and the ocean calm ... every now and then something splashes and we come charging out of the water!

The stuff arrives

The other day our boat came in. So we now have a little fridge, and a bike, and a pram, and a dining table, and a bucket shower and toys for James, and all those things so eagerly bought and lovingly packed when we were in Cairns. This little house isn't much, but its the first time we have felt we have a place of our own and we really like living here. We are really quite comfortably set up. I have everything in the kitchen I have always wanted - except a sink! It was such fun walking through a kitchen section of the shops in Cairns and buying all the utensils I like to use.

James' birthday

James had a very up and down birthday yesterday (most of his days are like that), but basically he learnt what the word 'birthday' implies, and he really enjoys all his presents. We wrapped them all up the night before, and in the morning sang to him and let him rip them open, he found it all very amusing ... we thought about having his little 'friends' from down the way over for a little celebration, but couldn't face it - in a way it wouldn't be much fun for him, although he sort of enjoys playing with them because he gets so lonely, they would break most of his things by the end of the evening.

So we invited the chairman, James Rice (who has 'adopted' James) and his family over for supper - thought it would be a good start to getting people to visit us here. But at sundown someone suddenly panicked that a boat which left Darnley Island (40km away) that morning hadn't arrived yet. James Rice wanted to ring for the helicopter from TI, but as we pointed out they could never find them in this fog and the dark, especially as islanders never carry flares or safety equipment. So, they are coming to supper on Monday anyway - more cooking for me, I guess.

Patriarch returns

Sam Passi has returned to the island from a sojourn at Bamaga. He is an elderly fellow, looks rather like a Jewish patriarch and respected in much the same way. Speaks reasonable English, and is a deacon or something in the Anglican church. And if anyone knows anything about the Meriam language, its Sam. He has done some translation in the past, such as hymns, but is not at all familiar with our methods or ideals. He can't stand to think of the island creole as a written language, its just a rubbish language - even though it has become the first language of hundreds of islanders. And he complains about the younger people polluting the Meriam language and not speaking it right, but we have to write it the way it is spoken - it has changed quite a bit in 50 years. Anyway, he is a key figure, and although he would make a too stubborn a translation helper, etiquette demands that we at least start with him. He has been hard to catch since we've been back because, like all worthy citizens here (this season soon sorts the sheep from the goats) he spends from dawn till dusk in his garden up near the airstrip. He is coming to supper tonight, so lets hope we make some progress from this brief opportunity.

Eating sardines

Among the goods that arrived the other day was my pressure cooker. We often eat sardines if we can't catch any fish - especially now Peter has a net and can catch big numbers at one go. We fry or grill them, and they are very tasty, though rather fiddly because they have very strong little backbones which need to be removed. Its alright for us, but we wouldn't like to serve them up like that for visitors. Anyway, a few minutes in the pressure cooker and - presto! - just like a bought one. And with the fridge we can have them cool for lunch instead.

Counting to two

James is funny these days, so independent and full of ideas. He loves all his books, goes through them again and again, 'talking' about everything. I made him a scrapbook while we were in Cairns - of boats and planes and things out of travel brochures. He loved it, but one day he was very quiet in the bedroom, and it got too much for him ... he pulled out all his favourite ones, couldn't stand to have them stuck in a book. He likes to compare things. When he find something he recognises he takes it and holds it next to the real thing if he can, or another picture of it. He likes counting to two, and gets very excited when he notices two things that belong together. He's very good at those discrimination tests in the 'talkabout' books where he has to find one to match the first one. Like Peter said, if he was talking you'd think he was ready for school.

He's good at little jobs too and is generally quite reliable at helping Peter catch and clean sardines, or going and getting himself a t-shirt and pants, or even setting the table. He watched me floating eggs the other day, and ran off to check his plastic ones. But he left them all in a tub of water and Peter came in: "Oh no! were those eggs all bad?" ... they did look rather realistic!

We haven't told him about the baby, but he listens so much he probably has an inkling that something is about to happen. He likes calling himself 'baby', and we are trying to emphasise that he is a big boy now. When we are reading the baby book we tell him he is the little boy in the picture who is helping. Come bed time though he seems to get very insecure and reluctant to sleep on his own. Still, we have a few months to get him prepared. And his talking is going ahead - I was afraid that when we returned to MI he would regress like he did last time. He is certainly a lot happier living in this house.

Keeping the chooks warm - ?

When your letter arrived (via Cairns) the other day, we sat here bathed in sweat and laughed and laughed. ... "Oh give me a chook run ... with some felt under the roof ..." Even bucketing water over vegies - having some vegies to care for and a tap to get the water from! And eating all those berries. I guess we suddenly realised what we are missing. At least we have the well to ourselves these days. Everyone else has water on tap, at least a stand-pipe near their house. But with only us using it the well has a reasonable supply of water. The water:tadpoles ratio before was getting a bit squirmy! And it doesn't taste quite as bad now. And we can cover it with planks between uses to keep James from falling in. We bought two big plastic barrels with screw-on lids in Cairns, they hold 60L each, so we only draw water every few days.

Better close off, tidy up a bit, prepare tea, and maybe write a few more letters ... all in the next half hour or so. Peter and James are down at the "kwa", as James insists on calling "water", baiting sharks ...

Letter: Back on the Island

1982-12-01T06:17:00.000-08:00

Letter 1 / 12 / 82

Well, here we are again!

James is asleep, other wise I would type this, (now that we have the 'typer' here) and Peter is out fishing. This may go out on the plane tomorrow - if there is one, and if I finish this. There was to have been an extra plane on Thursday so we paid extra on all our parcels (which should have come out on the next Melbidir, but no one told the PO when the Melbidir was coming, and the PO didn't bother to ask ... isn't this a crazy place?) only the plane (that is THE Avdev plane, there is only one) broke down. (Right after we had used it on Monday). The 'latest' on the plane is that it 'may' arrive tomorrow and may be carrying some of our stuff.

Getting here

We arrived on TI on Friday about 10am, having been up since 4am, feeling like we'd already done a day's work. But we were pleased that we managed to bring with us two cases - one full of food etc - the pram, the typewriter, new (large) radio/cassette player, my island woven basket (bulging and overflowing) and a full-length float-plate glass mirror! So far so good. While I looked after James at our host's house - introducing him to their 16 month old daughter - Peter tried to see the DAIA bod (about our accommodation ideas for Murray Island) ... but he was on Murray Island, and returned to TI as we left there. He found our fridge and bike and delivered them and the pram to go on the next Melbidir. And discovered the rest of our stuff still at the PO.

Monday ... we had to weigh-in at Avdev at 9am (only 13 kg each allowance), then be on the boat at 10am. We weighed in at about 100kg, including some of our stuff from the PO, and it nearly all got on in the end. By the time that was accomplished it was 9.40, and we realised that although we had sent a radio message to Murray as ordered, and we'd been trying to phone through all weekend, we still did not have permission to land.. We had a borrowed car which also had to be returned before we left. So I stood at the Avdev counter paying excess baggage while Peter raced off to DAID and asked them to ring the island, then whizzed up and collected our host (the car owner) and back to Avdev and found that permission had just been phoned through ... and down to the wharf just as they were counting heads for the boat to leave. It was a very harassing little time.

We got on the plane with our oodles of hand luggage - including the mirror, still in one piece. Here on Murray we found they had done nothing about preparing the "Deacon's House" for us as promised - ie a water stand-pipe close by, a connection to the church generator, and a stove. They wanted us to return to the guest house until they fixed all that ... but we assured them we'd rather move in and let them work around us. As it is, the village pump is still out of water and everyone is drawing well water. The tractor is almost out of diesel so the water has to be carried by hand - women's work, of course. The nearest well is a few metres from our house, which is a pleasure - but a terrible worry with James. As for power, we haven't heard the church generator running at all, so we're back to two hurricane lamps. And as for a stove, the school teacher's house has just got a new one, and we've inherited the old. Its pretty decrepit, but its a stove and its ours.

Our new home

This house is in pretty good nick, though its unlined. Tin roof gives off a bit of heat during mid-day! But the wall-frames are useful 'shelves' in the absence of other furniture. The church allowed us 2 beds and 4 chairs. Some previous occupant built a sort of 'table' attached to the wall - about 18" by 2'. So we're managing quite well. By the time the rest of our things arrive we should really be quite comfy. In very many ways its very much more suitable than the guest house.

We are thinking of doing a deal with the church. They charge rent on this place - $5 per night. That's okay for a short stay but its a bit rife for long-term in an unfurnished and un-lined house. (The bishop on TI thinks so too). If SIL agrees, we are thinking of putting it to them to let us stay here rent-free - if Anglican guests arrive we can put them up a lot more comfortably than as it is now. Then we'll line it, put a rainwater tank etc - and they can have it all when our job is finished.

Oh yes, your parcel arrived on the last Melbidir. All intact - except a rat ate most of the wheatgerm, James' 'thing' was just crumbs, and I think the spices have affected each other a bit.

James loves his bag and his "toot'n'tug"! He especially likes the fish ("zsssh") and its button eye ("aiey").

Found some wholemeal flour (in tins) in the store, so made some wholemeal bread today. Something wrong with this oven - won't get very hot - but it cooked eventually and was very nice.

We bought a cast-net in Cairns - its nice to catch a half-bucket of sardines (unmutilated) with one throw, instead of 2-3 with each spear-throw! Peter caught a rainbow runner for breakfast today - and its nice to be able to have it with a few herbs on. He caught a big shark-mackerel this evening, that's in Dave's fridge for tomorrow. Dave hopes to leave tomorrow (if the plane comes) so hope our fridge arrives soon.

I think I'll go to bed - I don't sleep too well these nights with this lively baby in me (so need to start early).

World Safari II sinks

Did I tell you about the "World Safari" mob? They previously made a film called "World Safari" and it was showing in places like town halls around the country. They made so much money they bought a new sailing ship and decided to do it again. They were here when we left for Cairns, filming the island. After we left their boat burnt to the water line and sank. James Rice (chairman) held a little ceremony (he loves that) and named the place "World Safari II Harbour"!

Well, I've washed the clothes this morning, in a muddy dribble of water - can't bring myself to use salt water. This well not only tends to run dry frequently, its hard to find a time when no one's using it. When we finally got a look in, late last night, we got more tadpoles than water. James was fascinated!

Well, tractors and planes being what they are I had better get this in the mail. The store is closed for stock-taking today - maybe they won't think to take the mail-bag.

Letter: Mail and Air Freight

1982-10-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

Letter 21 / 10 / 82

Its good to know that we are getting through at last. Your letter (Sun Oct 10) got here on Monday (Oct 10) - but not the parcel.

Is it clearly marked "air mail"? Otherwise it won't come until the next ship comes. AVDEV, the bods that own the local planes tend to be a bit funny about carrying mail, especially parcels. Freight from TI (by air) is 55c/kg, with a minimum of $5.50.

But sometimes they just decide they won't take this or that. This is the Torres Strait. Also there is a size rule with Australia Post. Normally its something like "no more than a meter in length, and length plus girth must not exceed two metres." But its different in some areas and we haven't managed to track down any local rules. I guess when we want something from down south we just have to learn a lot of patience.

We tried to order a Bamix washing machine from Brisbane. Its a little barrel-thing, holds 8 shirts or 2 double sheets, plus six pints of hot water and 1 teaspoon of detergent - you turn the handle for two minutes and it pressure washes the clothes. But they said they would have to bring one from Melbourne, its too big for air mail and air freight costs about double - $35 up from Melbourne. We're hoping to pick one up in Cairns - hand-washing takes so much energy.

Time for a holiday

About the time you receive this we should be on our way to TI, then the next day to Cairns. We plan a week in Cairns, then a week on the Atherton tablelands, and another couple of days in Cairns. Then - if there is somewhere for us to live - we'll return for another ten weeks or so here (before we go to Darwin for the baby to be born).

Phone

There is a phone on MI if you ever want to contact us in a hurry - or if you are bored and want to spend an interesting half-hour. The TI exchange is manual, so you need to persuade the "Old Dear" to give you number 129.

If you get through (if anyone answers) bear in mind that their English isn't too good. Our house (if we are home) is a good 200m (that's metres, not miles!) from the phone, and Islanders rarely run. So tell them to get us and ring back 15 minutes later, or better still give us a definite time later that you will ring.

Sometimes the phone makes a funny noise and goes dead. Just keep saying "Allo? Allo?" until you get through again ...

Churches

There's an Anglican church, an Assemblies of God, and a "Body-Felt Salvation". We don't worry about Body-Felt, but we alternate between Anglican and AOG and try to keep "in" with both.

There is no real Christian teaching at either, the singing is lively at both and we hear a fair bit of Meriam language at both. We occasionally get criticised for not attending daily 7am mass at the Anglican - they seem to have no idea that you can pray at home.

The few that seem to be really born-again on Sundays have absolutely no Christian life on other days - swearing, getting drunk, quarrelling. We have never heard anyone here say anything nice about anyone else. Worse than that, everyone goes out of their way to slander everyone else. It's the weirdest thing. Its all part of their constant power struggle. We upset it all by smiling and greeting everyone and giving away biscuits and bread at random.

Peter was going to visit (Anglican) Fr Tabo today to strengthen our ties there - we are living in an AOG stronghold at this end of the village.

He was just helping Wilfred clean the head of a borrowed cassette recorder, and he broke a bit of plastic on the door of it ... Wilfred is anxious because the owner is liable to return any second and he has a tendency to drunkenness and violence. We've tried Araldite, no good. Peter's gone up to the school to see if he can borrow some plastics glue. I might have to use the pumpkin scones I just made for Fr Tabo to temporarily appease this other chap.

Water supply

It’s been oppressive weather the last few days. The pump is still broken, people are bucketing well water. Our tank trickles on, thankfully. As far as I can tell from what they are saying, a large piece of wood from the pump broke off and got lodged down the well. There are 15 well casings, and as they were pulling them up to get the wood out, 13 fell back down the well. Its a bit of a disaster all round.

Burning the island

They burnt the island the other day. I gather it's supposed to make rain, but its a bit un-nerving to be on a tiny island that's going up in smoke. And of course there were black bits falling everywhere, and thick smoke. Sure enough, yesterday the clouds built up and threatened, and it even sprinkled lightly in rain, but most of it went out over the ocean and probably fell on Darnley Island which is 40 miles away on the North-West horizon.

Doctor's orders

I saw a doctor the other day - a different one. He says I'm two or three weeks bigger than my dates allow, so he says my dates are wrong. Well, what's a couple of weeks between mother and child? We'll be back in Darwin in good time for the baby to be born. Movement-wise, I know my dates are right. At least the doctor didn't sound dreadful warnings about something mysterious that could be wrong. He just said rest a lot, about every two hours - some hope, with a small boy to care for.

Poor James seems to be so insecure these days - its obvious in a number of ways. His toilet training has 'gone to pot' - he won't use his pot or the toilet. He wets everywhere - in bed, on chairs, on my knee. At least we've got the solids back in check after a bit of a 'rough trot' there too.

He cries uncontrollably if either one of us goes anywhere or is suddenly out of sight. I had a terrible day yesterday when Peter was helping out up at the pump all day. James was inconsolable - "Daddy! Daddy!" all day, but he's really not a "daddy's boy" normally at all.

Then there's the things he carries in his hands. Whether he's awake, asleep, eating, running - wherever. He always has two hands full of small cowrie shells, marbles, stones, usually a spoon (I keep losing those), often a stick, a cup ... And if he has a particularly large pile of things he wants to carry and they won't all fit in his tiny pudgy hands he just screams!

When he falls over he lies there like a turtle, on his tummy with his head and clenched fists (full of things) up in the air. He won't put his 'treasures' in the dirt to push himself back up again. Of course little darlings next door have observed how amusing it is to distress him by taking his treasures away.

I'd like to solve the practical side by giving him a large pocket or something (although I feel he may not readily accept that) - rather difficult when all he wears is singlet and trainer pants. I could put him in the "kindergarten" here - aged 1-5 - and have more free time for myself, but right now I just don't think he could take it.

Living with Margaret

Right now we are feeling a bit stressed and looking forward to our holiday down south. But when we work out what's causing the stress ... its not the place or the people - its our white-skinned neighbour, Margaret. She really has a split personality these days - nice one minute, screaming at everyone the next. Wilfred just keeps muttering "she's mad". I've stopped going out of my way to be nice to her, I mostly avoid her - she doesn't speak Meriam language and my association with her is blocking my way to any other women.

I'm beginning to hope they find us somewhere else to live when we return. The Anglicans have a little place Peter wants to ask Fr Tabo about. And it would be nice for James to have some new playmates too. At least Peter gets out and about these days - although 'the ogre' usually tries to take his head off on the way past. If it wasn't so hot, and me so tired, and James so heavy I'd take off via the beach (avoiding her) to find adventure with the other women ... but its a very sloping beach with (hot) soft sand and I always get such a bad back when I try carrying James along it, and he refuses point blank to walk.

I've planted a couple of sweet potatoes in milk tins as decorative indoor plants. They have really taken off. I half expect to wake up in the night with one wrapped around my neck.

Turtle season

Fish are not caught so readily these days, though we have one every couple of days. Its turtle season, and also there is still chicken in the store freezer so people aren't so keen on fishing.

Peter's biggest fish so far was a "black kingy" caught one morning - it was 49" long. After it was cleaned and everything we found some (weighing) scales and it weighed in at 26lb. We filleted it, gave away half, Wilfred and Margaret had two large meals out of it, we had one, then five of us and four kids tried to finish it off at a barbecue - but only ate about half of what was left, the rest went to the pigs and dogs.

Tonight Peter caught four small fish - a nice change. Its hard to keep thinking of different ways to cook fish when we have no herbs and spices, no cheese - just tomato sauce, soy sauce, and vinegar. We often do the "namas" mixture (pickled raw fish) but then dip it in flour and cook it - very nice.

The other day Peter and Wilfred and Dave went out fishing in a borrowed boat - with Fredwin.

Fredwin is a nice chap, it seems - big round face, bit of a giggler. They went about three miles out near the end of the Great Barrier Reef. Came back with half a dozen crayfish - not little ones like down south either - and lots of smallish various-coloured reef fish, all very nice. I'm not crazy about clam, it has rather a rubbery consistency. If you manage to cook it tender it comes out a bit crunchy. Looks 'orrible too!

Hoy! and darts

I think the Anglicans have a fete today. That means they sell a few things (cakes, bananas). But mostly they make money by playing "Hoy!" (its like "Bingo!" with playing cards), darts (a special gambling game) and Hoopla. We went to the cathedral fete when we were on TI - the money that was rolling in there was amazing. The Catholics on TI also had a fete, we heard that they raised $1400 in one day.

Trip to Dawar

Tomorrow we have been promised a ride out to Dawar Island - that will be a nice change. Unfortunately the men plan to leave Margaret and me and all the kids (!) on Dauar while they fish further out on the reef. I'm not keen on a day with Margaret.

Letter: Sunset on the Beach

1982-10-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

Letter 14 / 10 / 82

Another week is nearly through, so I'll get a letter out on Monday's plane.

We've decided to take a holiday in a couple of weeks. We are booked to fly to TI on Nov 1st and Cairns on Nov 2. Its partly for our sanity, but also because there's a teacher's conference here so we'll have nowhere to live.

We are down on the beach right now. Sun is sinking fast. Peter is trying out his new fish spear Wilfred made him - James is copying with a stick (and, as usual with a live sardine in his other hand.) The other day he found an old fishing reel (everyone here uses hand reels) on the beach and had great fun imitating Peter casting.

Kup maori

Turtle season is here. A few metres up the beach from me a poor old thing is lying on its back. Still further up there's a big fire blazing as a "kup maori" (earth oven) is in progress to cook another. No one goes fishing (for fish) these days. Maybe they know the fish just won't bite. There was a big turtle feast yesterday. Looked like most of the village was there, sitting around eating and talking nearly all day. We joined in around lunch time and again at tea. It wasn't too bad, actually, a lot nicer than turtle we've tasted before in Townsville. There's more turtle feasts tonight, to which we are not specifically invited - we don't mind at all. That sort of 'do' can be quite a strain and although its 'good' for us we inwardly shrink a bit.

Melbidir

The Melbidir came yesterday. Its a nice-looking ship, always kept clean and bright.

It arrived just as the tide whizzed out to the lowest we've ever seen it, the reef was all exposed, and the heavily-laden dinghies had great difficulty making it to shore. In the end they had to unload most of it outside our place where there is a bit of a channel instead of near the store.

It was handy for us because there were four boxes of groceries we had bought on Ti and it saved us having to carry them too far. Unfortunately the ship also brought cartons of beer. Those that aren't drunk on that have been into the "tuba" - jungle juice or fermented coconut juice. And when that is gone they turn to meths. You are only supposed to be able to obtain meths from the police sergeant, but the store manager is one of the sorst alcoholics and he somehow has his own supply. We'd like to get hold of one of those Coleman pressure lamps that doesn't need meths to start it. If the DAIA (Dept of Aboriginal and Islander Affairs) had any sense they'd sell those through the store and make possession of meths totally illegal.

(Back at the house now)

Fresh food!

We went to the store today and bought apples, pears, tomatoes, pumpkin, onions, potatoes - all at the most absurd prices. But who cares when you normally can't get them at all.

We also got some eggs and a frozen chook - which we devoured for tea. (Peter didn't catch any fish tonight.) The Melbidir brought a large stock of frozen chicken and meat, too mush for the old store freezers to handle. So they have got the freezer room working - right outside our bedroom,,, with a thumping great diesel generator.

Besides the exhaust sticking out in our direction fumigating us, it vibrates our whole place. Its the vibrations through the floor as much as the ...OH it just stopped! I wonder if its been sabotaged by someone? We've closed the outside door to the warehouse, and moved into one of the bedrooms further from the generators - its a bit hotter though. Even if they get it going again .... its nice to have peace for a while.

We're in the grip of a severe water shortage - people are having to brave the tiger sharks to wash themselves in the ocean. Last week all the men went up several days to work on the broken bore pump. They had problems due to lack of tools - the tools finally arrived on the Melbidir, but what with turtle feasts and drinking binges no one is doing anything about it now.

Well, I'm 4 months now at last - seems like 4 years! - and the sickness is abating. The first week here I was fine, thought it was all finished. But then it started all over again. I'm looking forward to being able to eat eggs, drink milk etc. soon.

Language work

Our language work continues to stand still - there are just so many social blocks. Every now and then we see a chink of daylight, grab a few phrases, and then it all closes up again. We hear quite a bit of language used all around us, which is better than when we were in Townsville, but can't seem to get anything on tape. Survay-wise, we are convinced the program will be a 'goer', though probably a 'class 2' (only selected scriptures to be translated) not 'class 1' (whole testament translated).

What James needs

James' birthday ... He does need something to play with - especially a trike - but the other kids are such a nuisance. The only game they know is destroying things. Their parents buy them a little car at the store about once a week, and I have never seen any of them even make it home from the store.

James has a precious little pile of books - which never leave the house. He loves them, especially the Ladybird ones. He has been through and through his picture books. Maybe something like a book would be best.

Clothes-wise he lives in size 2 trainer pants and t-shirts. Its hard to buy anything for kids here, at any price. He'd love a (sturdy) boat/car/plane/truck. He's seen other kids with them but never owned one.

Actually James seems to be growing out of his t-shirts, they are mostly too short. So we measured him the other day - he's grown 2 inches since July. He's now 341/2 inches tall. Quite a big boy. Still a rather big round tum, as usual, but otherwise not at all fat. I cut his snowy locks occasionally, which always makes his little face look fatter for a while.

Household duties call. I've put a pan of warm water on for a wash - can't face a dip in the ocean right now.

Peter and James are outside watching Wilfred feeding his four little pet turtles. He's had them since they were button-sized. Now they are about 8" across and getting too big for the tub he keeps them in.

Hopefully the doctor's visit the island this Monday. Should have come three weeks ago - that's when the plane broke down. I trust this time they will tell me everything is 'normal' Otherwise I guess I may have to go to Cairns for an ultrasound. It all feels quite normal to me.

Letter: Belly-Run

1982-10-06T10:27:00.000-07:00

Letter 6 / 10 / 82

We are going through a bit of a rough patch health-wise. Hopefully by the time you get this we'll all be strong and well again.

Gastro-enteritis has swept through the kids here and on Darnley Island - but James came down with his usual cold, chesty cough ... which he has passed on to me. Peter's main problem is getting up too often at night to look after James. I'm so tired and achey today, but James keeps pulling me by the hand to make me stand up, then wanting to be carried around - no good just sitting down with him.

Last year apparently Badu Island ran out of water and the people had to be transferred to TI. It hasn't happened here yet, but the tanks are low and the pump which brings up the underground water is broken, so most of the men are working on that today. I can imagine how much 'work' most of them are doing too. Peter planned to do some taping this morning but all the "mother-tongue-speakers" were up at the tank, so he's joined them this arvo.

I've got bread 'coming up' - no trouble getting it to rise here. I usually make two loaves and give one away - which usually results in a request for a bread-making lesson ... which provides a good contact. Although we are now surrounded by the people we came to serve, the family units are very close-knit and there's so much in-fighting its very hard to break into new families.

The other whites

We get on quite well with Dave, the single white school teacher here. He's only temporary, arrived just before us. There hasn't been a teacher here for over a year. The last fellow somehow upset island politics and it ended up with him and his family hiding in the bush fearing for their lives until a helicopter came and removed them. Then the Teacher's Union black-banned the island and wouldn't allow any more teachers here until certain conditions were met. There's supposed to be a new chap with a family coming next year.

Dave's a decent enough chap, despite his drinking and smoking. Many of the men, including our host Wilfred, had been making all sorts of excuses (especially now during school hols) to visit Dave for a couple of beers. Then Dave realised the trap he had fallen into and said his supply had run out. Monday was Margaret's birthday, and Wilfred went up to borrow some onions from Dave for the birthday barbecue. When he did not return instantly Margaret expected the worst and went and got him. He was drinking orange soft drink, she didn't believe him, he was very embarrassed and upset ... we found ourselves physically caught between them with Margaret screaming and Wilfred brandishing a knife. Very embarrassing all round! We prayed with them, things calmed down and the party went ahead - but we feel that we're still sitting on a volcano.

Disaster

I'm just waiting for some warm water to wash the tea dishes. Peter has taken James for a walk along the beach to try to keep him awake as long as possible. We've just had a very nasty shock:- Peter was filling our hurricane lamps while I prepared tea, he turned around for a second and James was gasping. We have no idea how much kerosene he drank, can't have been much, but he refused to drink milk, we had to force open his mouth and pour some in. Now he's in rather a state of shock, but his breath still smells strongly of kero, so we want him to stay awake as long as possible in case he gags in his sleep.

So many interesting things happen here, but when the time comes, of course, I can't remember half of them. I guess after a while most of it will become mundane anyway.

The army arrives

The army arrived yesterday, landed a great big Caribou (don't know how to spell that) transport plane on our tiny runway. They were recruiting men for Army Reserve - I think they go down to Townsville for three weeks in November. It was strange having so many 'whites' around. Peter and Dave pal-ed up with the pilot, a guy called Mark, as he wasn't involved in recruiting, and he came over for a cuppa and a chat - nice chap. Reckons when he gets out of the army he'd like to fly planes up this way, so we may see him again. A group of air-force guys came along for the ride (and some fishing) as well as a DAIA bod and the TI Catholic priest ... don't know what he hoped to achieve in just a few hours. I asked Mark how he'd go getting that big plane off that short airstrip - he assured me he'd use only half of it. Peter went up to the airstrip on the tractor for the ride and says he did only use about 3/4 - the 9-seater "Islander" plane only just makes it using the whole strip.

James was most impressed when the "bi- pay-" (big plane) buzzed the village then roared out over the ocean. He still "talks" about it, demonstrating with hand moving and finishing with "bye-bye".

Grubby brown children

We're having a hard time with James generally these days. Wilfred and Margaret's kids are very disobedient, and James tries to copy all they do. People get very upset when we discipline him in public, but we tend to do it anyway. He's mostly got tired of playing with those kids - they're so mean to him, pinching him, rubbing dirt on his face etc. (If we catch them at it when parents are not around we tend to return a bit of their own medicine - but if they catch James with us not around I guess things go worse with him. None of them, even the 4 yr old, have enough language to express to the parents what's happened.) Then if he tries to run off and play with other kids they drive him up the wall by kissing him. With being sick right now too, he's becoming very insecure and withdrawn again.

Somewhere to live

We are unsure about the housing situation here. We're forced to leave here for a while in November, but we may not get this place back when we return. We really need the council to offer us a bit of land to build a house on, or a disused house to do up and call our own while we are here.

Glass-bottomed boat

Then there's our boat. We have an ocean-going canoe, 25ft long, 4ft wide, glass-bottomed (!) boat in Cairns. It had a 45hp motor - not sure if that part of the offer still stands. It was bought for $800, someone is offering $1000 for it. We can have the boat or the $1000 towards another. It has problems - its hard to tow, which is why the people who put in the glass bottom abandoned it. For ourselves (occasional escape from the island) we'd like a small dinghy. But we are beginning to think it may be a good community thing for us to have it. Then if we decided to sell it up here we'd probably be able to name our price. So, we just don't know what to do yet - and the cane farmer holding the boat wants a quick answer.

Thurs a.m.

The days here flit by, but the nights last for weeks. Poor little James had recurring nightmares about drinking kero - each time one of us would get up and give him a drink of milk (he still smells very strongly of kero) then back to bed for another half-hour or so.

Keeping rats at bay

We've had trouble with rats too - or at least very large mice. We have a mouse trap set, but they are so big and tough they thrash around and make a horrible noise when hit - so Peter usually gets up and dongs them when the trap goes. That way we caught the four biggest trouble makers the first night, one the next - but not one since. Last night it was only the wind clattering something and not the trap at all.

Big fish to fry

Peter's just come back from fishing (its 7am) with 2 very large fish. A big fat trevally - about 10 kilos - and a smaller black kingy. But we won't even take a photo, its very commonplace these days. There's a funny old blind shark - about 6+ foot long - lives on the beach (well, in the water, but often practically on the beach) just outside our place. He gave us a few scares the first few times we saw him - when you're knee-deep in the water and there's a shark approaching with fin cutting the water straight towards you! He comes right up into the shallows, almost has to turn on his side to stay in the water. They tell us he's only a scavenger, but we still step out of the water when he comes close. Its the tiger sharks we have to watch for. Yesterday Peter counted seven where he was fishing. This morning a small one leapt right onto the sand chasing Wilfred's bait.

Wilfred caught a big (4ft) mackerel this morning - they aren't as nice eating as most of these others, but the men enjoy the struggle of bringing them in. Peters fish was medium size - if you put the nose on the ground, the tail was up to his hip - just to give you an idea of what a medium sized fish is. Now he's trying to find someone to give some away to. We may secrete a fillet or two in Dave's freezer for Sunday - we pride ourselves on not using his freezer generally, but its always a problem knowing what to eat on a Sunday.

James is funny with fish - fascinated by "-zzsh-" (fish) and boats ("boar-") in this place. Sometimes he'll come running in to me with a live, wriggling (bleeding) sardine in each hand, ones Peter has just speared for bait. Then he takes them back to make them swim. Sometimes he'll find a whole lot of dry sardines on the beach (where they've leapt out of the water with a big fish behind them) and he gets very worried about them all just lying there. It takes a bit of persuasion to get him to just throw them back and not bring them all home for tea.

He doesn't enjoy W and M's boys, but he loves baby Lenwat. She's a cute, smiley little brown girl. When she cries she sounds just like a kitten. He gets so upset when she cries, goes and talks to her and pats her on the head. Comes and tells me "... (gobbledy gook) ... bubby ..." We must get some of his gobbledy gook on tape before he learns to talk.

Supplies

The store opens again today - been closed about two days for stocktaking. There should have been a boat this week (rumour says) - the "Doigu" - but it broke down or something. Now they say the Melbidir might leave TI on Monday - takes about two days to get here - so maybe sometime next week we'll see a boat. No wharf here, of course, everything has to be transferred across the reef by dinghy.

One thing I don't think I'll get used to is drinking out of a "pumpkin". It took us a couple of days to realise that a "punkin" was a "pannikin" - metal mug. Even weak tea looks black in a pint sized one of those. Ah, but its so satisfying, they say.

Well, the water is warm for my "bath". We've come to the point where we just can't take cold showers any more. Its not that its that cold, its quite invigorating - but its so nice pouring warm water over yourself instead.

PS Could you make Peter a lava-lava please? Its quite simple but material is very expensive up here and a sewing machine is needed. Someone has given him an old one which he enjoys wearing, but he could do with a new one for Sunday.

You need 4 metres of calico - that's fairly sturdy, cotton material, isn't it? People like electric blue or green or scarlet. (Some wear pink or yellow, but looks better on dark skin) You cut it into two 2 metre lengths and sew it together along the edges to make a square. Then on the right side you sew a piece of braiding down the cut edge, not ric-rac, but some use white lacey stuff (not actually lace) or the sort of colourful braiding you can finish off furniture with - know what I mean? That hangs right down the front of the lava-lava on display. Then the other cut edge needs hemming, of course.

Letter: Plane Breakdown

1982-09-30T10:09:00.000-07:00

Letter 30 / 9 / 82

Thursday already, I'd better start building up a stack of mail for Monday's plane. Rumour has it that there may be a ship next week too, but no one ever really knows when the ship is coming.

This last Monday we waited in vain for our first mail plane. A team of doctors from TI were to make their monthly visit too, and I was looking forward to a check-up. But the plane broke down (as it does frequently) . The doctors cancelled their visit until Oct 20, and the plane finally came in on Tuesday afternoon. Even then we waited in vain for mail - its the policeman's job to deliver it. The tractor came by with a box for us from TI with some sultanas for James (even on TI they are hard to get) and a couple of lamps for us. It wasn't until mid-morning on Wednesday that we finally received our little stack of mail.

The chairman

The chairman, James Rice, isn't a bad old stick, though he is a little bit strange. Without our typewriter to make it easier for me to write at length I haven't a hope of beginning to tell you about the workings of "Island Politics" and the struggle for power.

Anyway, Chairman James Rice was delighted to meet our James, and immediately "adopted" him as his grandchild ... and, as far as I can tell, we therefore get this place rent-free and the use of the generator (when there is diesel available) free too.

Its all to do with who you are related to. Somewhere James Rice has picked up a peculiar dry sense of humour. Like when Peter was discussing our plans ... there is a teachers' conference here about November 12, accommodation will be tight, so we'll take a holiday in Cairns then and return about the end of January. Peter asked James Rice if that was alright. "No, you stay." "Here?" "No. In Cairns." All without the hint of a smile. Peter turned ashen before James admitted he was joking.

Edge of the world

We haven't received any mail via Darwin yet. Its very beautiful here, but we do feel a bit like we've fallen off the edge of the world. Its not obviously an island - not that peculiar trapped feeling you get on a tiny island like TI. Peter went right round the island yesterday after crayfish, and its quite a hike - even without climbing the hill. Still, its nice to hear that the outside world is still there.

Fishing

Peter's caught a couple of fish at last, and now he can relax a bit.

We had all been sleeping-in every morning (no point in getting up before James) - the sea air makes us all very tired. James picked up a runny tummy virus from the grubby brown boys he plays with. But yesterday he woke up early, so we all got up and Peter went fishing.

He couldn't borrow a fish-spear to get sardine bait so he was using dough ... but he caught a sardine on the dough, and a lovely golden trevally on the sardine.

This morning once again he was up early and we had snapper for breakfast. We have learnt quickly that we can't keep fish more than 3-4 hours - morning fish gives breakfast and/or lunch. If you fish in the evening and catch a great mackerel you have to eat it for supper or waste it. We eat so much fish. At least one meal a day, often two, sometimes three. (And not in small quantities either). If you can't catch some, someone's bound to give you some.

Bread

My bread making is going well - though only white flour is available. I make a couple of loaves every 2-3 days - we eat one and give one away (helps to build friendships). Our hosts here, Wilfred and Margaret (I did tell you about them, didn't I?) give us so much fish I had hoped to repay a bit with bread. But now Margaret has learned to make it herself and is doing quite well.

Work

Peter's out working on our housing survey - at least its nice and cloudy for him today. Our work at present is a bit indefinable, but a map of the village seemed a good place to start. He's looking mostly at types of houses to start with, with a view to our own house-building. Then we hope to be able to fill in who lives where and work out how some of them are related.

People are beginning to accept us a bit as we walk around the village - everyone greets us (and kisses poor James). But we still haven't a close enough association with anyone in particular to get language helpers. Each family is closely-knit and so jealous ... we can't hope to please all the people but we'd like to remain friendly with most.

Fruit and veges

We finally got some garden produce. Wilfred and Peter went up the hill the other day and came back with heaps of over-ripe pawpaws and green bananas. The pawpaws did not sit at all well in my tum, and we had to throw most of them out. The bananas are now all ripe and I've been dishing out banana cakes and banana biscuits left, right and centre.

We were looking forward to being a little more permanent and growing a few veges ourselves. It would be so nice to have a fridge too. And we plan to bring some chooks up here. The only "phat" available here is tinned butter - once a tin is opened not the flies, nor ants, nor rats are the slightest bit interested! Don't blame them, its horrid stuff. There were some tubs of "Softa" butter, but like the eggs in the store they quickly went off without refrigeration. Can't seem to get egg powder either.

Well I have some "culture" stuff to write up. Its getting towards 11am and James is looking tired so I must soon give him some lunch (and a wash!) and put him to bed. He hardly eats at all, drinks a couple of cups of milo a day - I guess that's where he gets his sustenance. He's still a stocky, strong-looking chap - of his three play-mates he is as big as the 3 yr old and as heavy as the 4 yr old, (and he's not 2 yet). Their mother force-feeds them (lays each one on her lap and holds his nose so he opens their mouth and then rams a huge spoonful in...) on white rice and noodles, and thinks I should do the same with James because he won't eat. But as far as I can see he's doing alright - if he's hungry he'll eat. He enjoys sultanas, and we scrounged a packet of All-Bran from TI for his fibre. And he eats Vegemite or honey on his bread, so his diet isn't that bad.

Letter: The Third day

1982-09-22T01:16:00.000-07:00

Letter 22 / 9 / 82

This is our third day on MI, I guess we'd better start remembering that the outside world still exists.

The trip from TI went very smoothly. 9am check in, 10am on the launch to Horn Is, 11.15am take off, 12.15pm Murray.

James was terrified on the plane. As we took off he was shaking and crying, clinging to my neck until he fell asleep on my shoulder. Just before we landed he woke up because I was trying to get a good look at the island - and he trembled and whimpered until he felt the wheels bumping along the grassy runway ... he'll just have to get used to it, poor kid! And that was a really smooth ride, no turbulence.

The brown bump

(This is one of the smaller lumps - Dawar Island)

Our first view on MI was a brown bump in the ocean, and a couple of small knobs next to it.

The airstrip is right on top (about 300' up, I think). There was a tractor and trailer waiting to carry baggage and passengers down to the village - with the ubiquitous dogs panting behind. In the village we finally met the chairman, James Rice. He wanted to house us in with the single white schoolteacher (who has only been here a couple of weeks - but that is another story) but his house was full with a couple of nursing sisters staying there too. So we were glad to have the guest house to ourselves. Its a large warehouse, and when you get inside and step around piles of building materials, you go through a door into a large 4-bedroom home. Its all lined etc so you're not aware at all of being in a warehouse. It has a (non-working) fridge - which I use as an ant-free, mouse-free zone - and a gas stove, and a kitchen sink with a rainwater tap. Outside we have a flush toilet, laundry sink, (cold) shower and rotary clothes hoist. All very civilized.

Living on the beach

If you take about three steps from our bedroom window you are on the beach. About ten steps down is the water. It is a short sloping beach, but because of the reef surrounding the island the tide (apparently) never comes in to the extent that it swamps the houses. The beach is sandy, with lots of beautiful shells. James always comes in with some in his chubby little hands.

The ocean (outside the reef) is calm and clear - looks beautiful for swimming, but the sharks are plentiful and come right into the shallows a metre or two off the sand.

Heaps of fish!

Its all true about the fish, though. Mmmm! At first glance it looks like a thick layer of dark weed just in the shallows - but it's sardines. Yesterday morning Peter looked out of the bedroom and noticed the sardines were very agitated because of big fish activity - they were just boiling up onto the sand. So he dashed out with a washing up bowl and grabbed a bowlful by hand. The Islanders reckon they fry them up and eat them whole, so we tried it. But the scales were rough, the back-bone tough, and the stomachs bitter! So for lunch we tried heading, gutting and scaling them - wasn't too hard, they are 4" long or son. Then they were quite nice, the backbones fell out easily.

Friends and relations

We are being "taken care of" by Wilfred and Margaret.

Margaret is white, but thoroughly Islander, doesn't speak English (says she's forgotten it), and is fat, loud and coarse - but generous at heart. They have an 8 year old thalidomide girl (I thought that was more than 8 years ago?), then three boys: Dadaboy (4), Melpal (3), Kakam (2) and a gorgeous girl: Lenwat (8 months) ... and one due in May! The children are loud and dirty etc, unlike other village kids, but for the time being at least we have to let James play with them. He usually chooses to copy the 4 yr old - and he's the worst. The father is very dark-skinned, so his children have turned out medium brown like most islanders.

I haven't been sick since we've been here - must be the fish. But that's all we eat. We haven't yet latched onto anyone here who still gardens, so we have no veges. A small range of foods are available at the store - for a price. But nothing with fibre or vitamins or anything good. Managed to get some oats yesterday - glad they are "traditional" and not "instant". We have a few cartons coming from TI on "the next boat", which may be this week, next week, or next month - according to the rumours. Its a 10c phone call to TI (we are glad of the week we had there making friends) so we can ask people to put small amounts on the weekly plane for us - again, at a price.

Fishing strategy

This morning Wilfred caught three (large) fish, all different: a big fat coral trout, a trevally, and a snapper - he gave us half of each. Peter hasn't caught any yet but we had an exciting time last night. The routine is: just before sundown you take a throw-net or fish spear and pick up a few sardines at the water's edge. Then you bait up your light line (about 40lb line) with a sardine and cast out to catch a few 18" barracuda. Then you bait up your 150lb line with a 'cuda (down south we'd gladly eat the 'cuda) and go for a mackerel.

The other day we were given shares in a mackerel 4-5'long.

Last night there was quite a large group of men on the favourite section of beach for fishing, everyone catching 'cuda except Peter - must be a few secrets about just where to cast. Then someone gave him one and they were all after mackerel. Peter's line suddenly went, cutting his arm, but at the same time so did three others. One chap was free and came to help Peter, and for a while he was winning. Then suddenly it took off again and he couldn't bring it in. The other guys had the same trouble, and brought in three 6' shovel-nosed sharks - Peter's shark got off in the shallows.

The people have a very healthy attitude towards sharks, because they can appear to be stone-dead then suddenly turn the full-length of their body and snap your leg off. the children were all kept well back while they clubbed the sharks - which then only had to twitch once more and everyone took off up the beach. It was quite a violent scene by moonlight. One shark they cut open and returned to the water for his mates to finish off, the others were left on the beach until soundly dead because they can sell the jaw-bones for money.

So Peter still hasn't caught a fish. The black bream is a popular eating fish, and for that some people will spend hours fishing in the hot sun with dough for bait. (At $2/kilo for flour that can be expensive too.) Peter hasn't caught one of those yet either.

Mer Island

I've hardly begun to tell you what its really like here. The village is on this flat sandy area, probably about a mile long on the NW side of the island. In this part of the world the seasons go by the wind - there's the SE season (dry) and the NW season (wet). I think now we're almost between the two, but its not uncomfortably hot - cooler than Darwin and quite breezy.

Behind the village stands the hill of Gelam; tall, steep and grassy - dry now. As far as we know the other side of the island is rugged and rocky - I'm not quite sure how you'd get there from here. Yesterday we escaped for a few hours, took a few minties and a bottle of cordial, and tried going round the island. We worked our way around the head of Gelam (the dugong that the island resembles), past the beach and clambering over rocks ... not easy carrying James.It was rugged and exceedingly beautiful. At one stage we were standing on a rock staring at the reef and both thinking that it would be shallow enough to wade out, when a couple of huge sharks cruised past right at our toes. Opposite that end of the island are the other two small islands - Waiar and Dauar. Waiar is just solid rock. Dauar is a little more hospitable but still very steep. Wilfred said he'll take us out there maybe on Saturday.

Ships

On Sunday there's going to be a public meeting about the Paluma. Its a ship that's just been bought by the ADC (Aboriginal Development Council) to operate between Cairns and these eastern outer islands. According to rumours it will bring "big stores" from Cairns, and take back fish caught by the people here. That could have a lot of real advantages for MI. [Nowadays we only get the Melbidir - the supply ship -about once a month, it goes to all the other islands first ... now we understand why there was all that fuss in the news about Prime Minister Mal Fraser going fishing when he was up here - he didn't take any little old boat, he took the Melbidir, the peoples' lifeline! Some of the stores run out of food in the Melbidir doesn't come on time.] Anyway, in the short term its a nuisance if the Paluma starts coming while we are still living here in the guest house, because right outside out bedroom is the freezer hut - an enormous walk-in freezer with a large, noisy generator attached to it. That will be thumping away day and night once the fish business starts.

Already its 3pm on Thursday. James is asleep - he's really thriving in this environment. Though the food is giving him problems. He won't eat fish ... or anything except bread, cake, milk - and he keeps getting constipated. Peanut butter is about the best I can get into him. I made some oat biscuits today - that moved him a bit, but he can hardly live on those. Normally he'd eat sultanas and apples - hopefully there will be some of those on the plane for us on Monday.

Peter's out making a map of the village. We promised ourselves we'd start "work" today, but its hard to know where to start. We're still very tied to this one family - they are very good to us but they don't speak Miriam.

I made us some "namas" for tea,. Its really pickled fish. You just cut up fish really small then soak it with chopped onions in white vinegar and soy sauce - its very nice. And we bought some sweet potato, shipped in from TI, and they bring it in from down south somewhere.

Peter's just got back, so I'll close or I'll never get this finished.

Letter: Delayed on T.I.

1982-09-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

Letter 11/ 9 /82

Well, we've got as far as Thursday Island and I haven't a hope of telling you all about what's been happening to us ... but why not try?

Already I'm missing my typewriter! We left the cot, and high chair, and nappy bucket ... and many other things ... in Darwin - James is having to grow up very fast. But he was very good on the way over.

Friends in Darwin were very concerned about us traveling, and at the last minute gave us $50 -"to spend at least one night in a motel". Well, we couldn't do that, but instead we spun it out over the trip and stayed in on-site vans instead of the tent. So we all slept well, Peter didn't feel drowsy even once while he was driving - which was just as well because I had to be doped up for the trip. I managed to not be sick until we were nearly at Townsville, which was quite an accomplishment. I've been trying to get vitamin B6 - the macro B we take has it as a high component, and my vitamin chart suggests things like bananas (can't keep them down!) avocados (!), red meat, peanuts, green veges - all of which I've not had much success with, including the macro B. Anyway, since we've been here on T.I. things have settled down a bit - feeling awful but at least not being sick.

TI hospital

While I'm on that topic... visited the doctor here at the hospital the other day. (No private practitioners here, only the out-patient sit-and-wait type!) James is teething, developed a cold etc, and we didn't want to head off up to Murray without antibiotics in our hot little hands, just in case. And I had a hemorrhoid that needed lancing, and thought it might be worth being "on record" here and finding out what services are available on M.I. Well the Doco was very good, gave me a thorough check (despite my protestations that I'd been thoroughly checked in Darwin!) All is well, except that he reckons my dates are out by 2-3 weeks - I say I'm 11 weeks, he says 13-14. The options are: I'm wrong (I don't think so!) or it's twins, or there is another problem which he didn't want to discuss. A doctor visits M/.I. once a month (weather permitting, and all the other things that go wrong here) so that's encouraging.

Planes

A plane goes to Murray only once a week ( - all things going well), and we were booked to fly on Monday (13th) pending permission from the Chairman of the Island. We had accommodation with a lovely family (contacts of Rod's), but things were obviously a bit tight and it would not have been polite to stay more than 2-3 days. Then the Chairman refused us permission to go until a week later, so Rod and Peter had to rush around looking for somewhere else for us to live. On T.I. one doesn't consider cost, just anywhere will do if anywhere can be found. Well eventually it was obvious that this house was the only option. Its owned by the Anglican church, and it's big, unfurnished, and other people live here too. Its recently been painted - cream walls and yellowy floorboards - so it has a nice fresh feel about it. Its a real old-fashioned place (like most T.I. houses) with big verandahs filled in to make rooms. No one actually lives in the centre room. The verandah down one side is blocked off from the rest of the house to make a flat for a swarthy skinned lady ("Flo") and her brood of noisy children. Another couple, Eric and Dobra, live in the verandah down the other side - they have a mattress on the floor, a card table and two chairs, and they are hardly ever here.

And we have the verandah at the front of the house - with three mattresses on the floor, and suitcases strewn around! At the back verandah is a kitchen and bathroom. All the inside doors of the house are missing, just curtains instead, but it doesn't seem to matter. (James loves flinging the curtain aside with a "BO!" - his version of "boo!") Anyway, its quite livable, and plenty of room for James to thunder around.

Life on TI

T.I. is a strange place When I was buying something in a shop the other day I hesitated, wondering if they would accept Australian currency ... then I remembered that we are still in Australia! There are no air-conditioned supermarkets here (even Madang, PNG, had one!), just funny little shops that sell an odd range of whatever they fancy. Some Chinese shops, like you see in Port Moresby - really this could be anywhere in the Pacific, except Australia. The prices - well, I'll never complain about prices down south again. You just can't afford to think about it. If what you want happens to be available you grab it and stock up because you may not see it again. Nothing grows here (unlike Murray Island, apparently) so fresh fruit and veges are rare and expensive - likewise meat and bread. The people we stayed with - he used to be a lighthouse keeper on Booby Island, now he's skipper of the "Lumen" ship that looks after the buoys and lights around the Strait - he gave us some fish from his freezer, and today we feasted on cray-tail and mangoes (they grow everywhere) so we are not exactly starving.

Baggage allowances

When we drove up to Cairns we tried to bring most of our things we'd left before in Townsville up that far. But then on the plane we were limited to a case each - we brought 3 and paid excess baggage. It was a Fokker F27 - propeller job, very slow flight. We sat right by the wheel, which was very interesting for James, but he found the landings rather rough and upsetting. We landed at Weipa, and there was a lot of turbulence, the hostess was rushing back and forth issuing bags and mop-up cloths. I was relieved that we managed without. Then we landed on Horn Island - no room on T.I. for an air-strip, but Horn is big, flat, swampy, and mostly uninhabited. So then it was a bumpy bus trip to the coast, followed by a boat trip (by a circuitous route to avoid reefs) across to T.I.

An interesting day for James. We had been trying to tell him the day before in Cairns about the plane, and he was awoken that morning by a big plane going overhead - he kept saying over and over, "bi- pay-! bi pay!" His speech isn't too clear yet. He does "talk" a lot these days - he wiggles his tongue all over, sounds a bit like a magpie or kookaburra, but the intonation is sensible, and his "sentence" usually ends in a relevant word like "bow" ("boat" - he is fascinated by them.)

Our luggage allowance on Monday's flight to Murray (that's Mon 20th) is 13kg each, none for James ... not much when you are aiming to set up house! Excess is 55c/kg - IF there is room. Ships are irregular and very unreliable around here, but looks like we've got to start getting used to that. If we can get the rest of our things on a boat we don't want them to get there before we do or people are likely to say "who are they?" and put them back on the boat. Also we want to get the rest of our things up from Cairns, which could be quite complicated.

We are both presently reading our way through "Drums of Mer" by Ion Idriess.We had trouble getting a copy all this time because it is generally out of print. It was published in 1933, and the Islanders have come to accept it as true. Its just a novel (and rather gory in places) but it is supposed to be "based on fact" and it certainly gives a background of what Murray and its people are like.

This letter is heading towards being a bit of a fatty. We haven't had any mail for ages because we haven't told our Darwin office where to send our mail. One nice thing about people on T.I. - you can say "we're going to Murray Is" and they know where you mean, you don't even have to explain where the Torres Strait is.

Monday

Mail leaves here every day except Tuesday, so I'd better get this in the mail now - now that we've bought some envelopes.

Don't know what milk powder's like "down south" but here its $6 a kilo, toilet rolls 90c each! Flour is $1.80 a kilo ... it just doesn't bear thinking about.

Must close. Looking forward to hearing from the outside world eventually.

Getting ready for Murray Island

1981-05-11T07:03:00.000-07:00

1. Wedding

It was a smallish family wedding at Caversham House, right by the Swan River. Sounds great, but it was summer, the gardens were crackling dry, and the flies were in abundance - making photography tricky.

This is where I was getting into the car to go away, and someone said I had to get back out and throw my bouquet ... and I was just saying "I can't! ..." But I did anyway, of course.

We both had jobs in Rockingham, and we rented a little flat right on the foreshore at Parmelia Close, at only $25 per week.

So we lived and worked in Rockingham for three years, and then we went off to get trained.

2. Bible College

We had a couple of wonderful years of studying, and then concentrated linguistic studies during the summer holidays.

And then we had to do field training. They called it

3. "Jungle Camp"

I was already pregnant with James when we went off to Papua New Guinea for our final training.

PNG men can't grow long beards unless they work at it for years - so they presumed Peter was very old, and they were very impressed that he had a young pregnant wife.

We lived in a tiny village house, and found this wonderful spot in the river where the water got deeper than a few inches going around a bend - the water was always very warm, and no pigs nearby.

4. The Darwin SIL Centre

Darwin can be a bit hot, so one of the best things about the SIL centre was the swimming pool.

James loved it too, he was such a happy little chappy.

So then it was time to move to Townsville. There were a lot of Islanders there and we would start getting to know them and learning the language.

5. Six Months in Townsville

Sunshine and sea and all that grass to run around on.