Sunday 8 June

We start the day in Cairns, with a lovely breakfast at Wharf 1 by Cairns Harbour, with our friend Bridgette, who has created and built an amazing business here, called Let’s Go Buggin http://www.aussiemacrophotos.com. It’s great to see her doing so well, and looking the same. Onya Brig!

A leisurely walk back to the hotel takes us past the old piers

Such is the quality of Cherrie’s photos that I feel perhaps we need to prove that it was us really there and not a pair of other old gals, having a swell holiday

It not only feels tropical here, there’s the trees to prove it

and the flowers, lying casually on the pavement

Taxi to the airport where we check in for our flight to Nhulunbuy. We cunningly clock some other elderly folk with matching back packs, just like ours, provided in advance by the tour company, along with our name badges. Thank heavens I don’t have to carry my drivers licence with me every day to remind me who I am. I just look at my badge. If I remember. Anyway, as I was saying, we board the 100 seat plane with 98 others. A smooth 2 hour flight to Gove (as the airport is called and we land about 2pm

and we are met by Greg. Now Greg is an Aussie, through and through. He is also our tour guide. For the next 13 days. We are a group of 14. Plus Greg. Greg leads us to a bus. And I mean a bus. A coach. He loads our soft luggage, max 15kgs per person, plus maximum 3kg back pack, into the bus. We board. Greg then dons a headset microphone and starts to talk. We can’t hear him. “It’s crap” he says, but “it is what it is”. Cherrie hears much of what he says, and apparently he did apologise for the sound and advised that he’s asked for a replacement. I hear little of what Greg says. If he speaks up it’s ok but he’s a mumbler. But what everyone hears is that the roads throughout the top end are flooded or washed away by recent rains and are therefore impassable. That nice 4WD Merc van I was looking forward to is stuck on the other side of the collapsed road. We won’t be driving the top end, we’ll be flying it. In 14 seat planes. Two of them, so that luggage and people can be evenly spread by weight. I’ll probably be on my own, with the bags. This news is clearly a disappointment for some, me included, but welcome news for others. Cherrie loves small planes. I prefer the roads. Anyway, in the words of Greg, it is what it is.We were to have a tour of the town today, but we’ve got the afternoon off instead. Tomorrow we do the local tour, including the community of Yirrkala. I’m very excited about that. We’ve got some beautiful artworks from Yirrkala, and it’s where the Garma Festival is held each year.

We drive to the Walkabout Inn, and really get the very local tour on the way. There’s not a lot to see in Nhulunbuy. There is a Woolworths, and a Thirsty Camel. And a very big open cut bauxite mine. I was last here in 1978 when I was Production Manager on a doco called “Dirt Cheap”. The mine had opened 7 years earlier and the operator, Nablaco back then, had neglected to seek any sort of permission from the traditional owners. We shot in and around the mine and in and around the countryside. We went to Yirrkala and met a young man who was then Chair of the Northern Lands Council. He was very impressive as I recall. His name was Galarrwuy Yunupingu. I have stories about Nhulunbuy in the 70’s but that’s for another blog. Or not.

Cherrie and I walk down to Town Beach. Any thoughts of swimming are quickly dismissed

The beach goes forever (I stay still) but the vegetation is fabulous

And we see a local curiosity…an old tree with advanced rheumatoid arthritis

Back at the Walkabout Inn we do a tad of unpacking. The bottomless drawer is a feature

Right next door is the town 50m swimming pool. It’s hot, so off we go. Cherrie swims 20 laps (1 kilometre). I swim 70 metres. Very refreshing for me watching her swim.

In an unlikely twist of fate, two of Cherrie’s closest friends are staying here, in this Walkabout Inn (built 1971 to celebrate the mine opening). Bins and Bert are travelling with others to visit their niece who is here for this year only. She is a lawyer and working for the Aboriginal Legal Association. The friends unite over a pre dinner drink

Dinner for 15 at the outdoor table at 6.30pm (Greg eats with us), with name tags in place, and we start to get to know our fellow travellers. Tomorrow is another day.