Bad Smells

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

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.

Then we heard Father Tabo start ringing the second lot of bells. He was ringing as loudly as he could, pulling 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 hear 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

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

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

Playing School

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.