'Flowers blooming in the desert' reflections on our journey.

Hiya,

I wanted to touch base again with the whole journal aspect of this blog and remind ourselves of why we are here which helps during those moments of utter heartbreaking 'homesickness' for family and friends back on the coast and to also celebrate where we are now.

Recently I have been able to get back out to bushwalking and I feel so lucky to be able to enjoy this & with my ups and downs with this back injury I now am learning never to take even the simple things for granted.

On my last walk I got to thinking, this is a harsh climate and one of the toughest landscapes in the world, but it is teeming with life, and even in this 'desolate & hostile' country, plants and flowers manage to not only survive but in the right conditions, they thrive.

And...then as I walked on, it dawned on me that this discovery really reflects our journey as a family. We are pushing through the 'survival' mode and now seem to be emerging to a new era, where we are each finding our unbridled selves and starting to bloom in the desert.

I have been reading some wonderful and thought provoking sites about the emotions behind money  lately and I know that hubby & I took a long time to separate our emotions from our finances and probably held off making the important decisions for sentimental reasons also.

I think often, as most people, we do not give ourselves credit for our strengths and instead focus on our weaknesses as if we need to be reminded of these when we are already struggling. These ideas drew me into more research; I spent a lot of time this last week reading and revisiting various books & blogs that support a positive mindset to achieving financial (and personal) goals.

It has been a new challenge in our house to avoid using terms that keep you locked in a negative mindset. For example  we no longer are paying off old debts and sulking about it but contributing to our financial freedom. We are no longer starting all over again, but blessed with a fresh start. We prefer quality over quantity. We dare to look into the future and dream about where we all want to be, and to actively make plans to get there. We (I) no longer feel bad about 'lost career/study opportunities' but plan to make the most of new ones. And you know what? as we change our mindset, 'the universe' seems to be listening and dropping things in our lap.

Nope.... not the lotto just yet, but probably even better in my opinion: meeting great like minded people & making fantastic friends, receiving great medical care, offered career/study opportunities, improved earning potential, great schooling & supportive opportunities for my kids...and TIME.  Time to be spent together, doing the things we love or just simply enjoying each others company as a family.

AND...The ability to shake off that poverty mindset which dangerously restricts your goals and aspirations far beyond the purse strings.

Yes that means I'm still driving my old bomb, but instead of being embarrassed about her dings and squeaks, I see her as a symbol of working towards achieving my most important goal....financial freedom. I almost laugh inside when a colleague raises their eyebrows at me & 'suggests' I 'just' buy a new car he he

I feel after all the tough times we've endured and as we continue to battle towards financial freedom, that we have been blessed to be given the chance to thrive in these tough times. We have learned some amazing things about our strength of character over this last year or so and as we continue our journey we are finding that as we apply these to many areas of our lives, we are each beginning to bloom like flowers in the desert after a rainstorm.

....and we can see the end of this bumpy road in sight ~!

Come, lets bloom together :)

The ubiquitious pics of Kate & Andy at Uluru...and THOSE beads...

 

Today while out and about with one of my gorgeous clients, an 90+ frail indigenous woman (we say 90+ as her birth date is a made up one appropriated by the Government in the 60's so she is likely to be much older, and often our clients have conflicting birth dates in separate departments that differ by up to 15 years! now that's a lot of aging overnight!) anyhoo, while we were out doing her shopping she requested to go and buy some Pijuri (pr: Pitjiri) or Mingkulpa a kind of native plant to these parts which is used like chewing tobacco (see more info on the link at the bottom if you are interested). 

After a bit of a wild goose chase around town, we ended up in the back of one of the land councils offices in a spot I'd never visited since working in Alice.  The shop we were advised to go to by the lovely indigenous ladies hanging at the bank who did a really great job of not laughing at my pronunciation by the way *thankyou ladies* was Tjanpi desert weavers gift shop.  Now this is not in a tourist oriented part of Alice, in fact it is hidden away in the industrial estate which is a real shame as this place was fantastic!  I fell in love with some of the handpainted seed necklaces & beads and was admiring them while I waited for her to go out the back to get my clients pitjiri.

I noticed the lady behind the counter seemed a little stressed so I made some small talk about being 'flogged' after a long weekend...and she told me they had been inundated by people from 'all over wanting to buy the necklace like Kate' was given at Uluru.  Now not being much of a news hound, and sorry to admit it but also not really a royalist (but how could you not like the lovely personable Kate), I will admit that I became really interested then as somehow I had missed all the buzz about town (my boss later laughed at me) and had forgotten it was this week.  But back to the store...there were so many gorgeous and unique handmade items on display I vowed to go back and wish I had known they were there before I had done my Christmas shopping last year. 
If you're interested in buying a unique necklace similar to the one Kate was given and supporting a worthy cause the link is here:
http://www.tjanpi.com.au/

While there I tried to take a tongue in cheek picture of the artwork and store front showcasing the variety of beautiful gear they had on sale for my Mother In Law who is a total fan of the royals and even went to the UK to see these two married....and then this fella did a spectacular photobomb, it was amazingly quick and I didn't even see him coming~! 

Looking at the puzzled look on his face now I reckon he was wondering what this middle aged (*gasp*) white woman was doing buying pijiri he he. 

 

(pics of Kate & Andy from www.news.com.au )

OOPS almost forgot to add the link about pitjiri for you fellow culture vultures out there :)
http://quit.nosmokes.com.au/media/10810/history_of_smoking_nosmokes.pdf

Camping in Central Australia....What do YOU want to know?

Werte!
(pr:Wooda) Local Indigenous language (Arrende) for Hi!

As much as I'd love to ramble on about our bush camping successes and failures (and no doubt still will as I think I am at the stage where it is funny now...!) I would love to know a bit about you, where you are from and what it is you want to know about this region.  I think I have mentioned I LOVE travel & was indeed a Travel Agent in my pre children life, so am only too happy to help you research your Central Australian adventure.  So please feel free to drop me a line, tell me a bit about YOU and your Outback dreams :)

Something to keep you going while dreaming of your next adventure: http://www.travelnt.com/en/alice-springs-and-surrounds/things-to-do/nature-and-wildlife.aspx

On top of the world...

As promised, I am posting a few pics of my new favourite hiking spot close to home....Crown land behind Alice Eastside, 5 minutes from home & spectacular views of  the West MacDonnell Ranges & Mount Sonder (below).  It looks almost fluorescent green after all the rain we have had in the last couple of weeks, a beautiful contrast don't you think?  I cant wait to see all the wildflowers in bloom!

 

My dogs love their new playground and it is also a favourite among dirt bike riders too....with many accepting the challenge of the rocky hillsides opposite the lookout (and making me stare wide eyed in wonder how they don't fall off!).

 

While wandering down the hill, singing to myself & feeling all serene after absorbing these vast open spaces that seem to soothe my soul, I noticed these beautiful markings in the sandy trail, criss crossing all over the place.  It wasn't until I finally realised that they disappeared into the large scrubby bushes next to the trail that it dawned on me they were 'possibly' snake trails.  I told myself this A/ because I only had one pair on knickers on me B/ because I had my best snake safety hiking attire of shorts and thongs on C/ because I had to get out of there and passing out would have helped no-one...and the dogs would have licked my face till it fell off.

I say this in jest as I am not actually afraid of snakes...not even the deadly variety.  That doesn't mean to say I would be happy to stumble across one in the wild....or even at home for that matter (and there has been a few accounts lately of people leaving their screen doors open to find brown snakes in their lounge room....eeek)  BUT these were all over the place, I mean EVERYWHERE...and they were LONG.   Like up to 5 meters at a time long.  I know that doesn't mean the snake was that long, but anything that can leave a thumb width dent and 5 meters long has already earned my respect man, no need to be a hero or anything!

Needless to say as soon as I got down that hill I jumped into the car and looked up snake trails in Central Australia and this is what I found......

A Brown snake trail....I wont put the snake up here as I HATE spiders and almost fall off my chair when someone kindly posts one on bloody Facebook, or I accidentally stumble upon a picture...eeek and cant get it off my screen fast enough then need to lie down and recover for a while after trying to scrub the image out of my eyeballs...okay I think my point is made, we are all scared of something, so I wont post that blasted snake.  But boy am I glad I didn't meet the fella or his friends...(gaggle?...what DO they call a bunch of snakes, a Wriggle?)

So to get our minds off that we can focus instead on the lovely colours of the Central Australian Dusk....

 

 

 

 

 

AND we won't think at all about how just two nights ago we were camping right here...

 

And I will leave you with a 'family joke' I have been taught since I was a little girl, hailing from my grandfather who sadly I never met as I think I would have done him proud with my own sense of humour...
Q:What do you do if you come across a (insert scary wild animal HERE) BROWN SNAKE in the wild?
A: You get a bit of poo on the end of a stick and wave it around and it will go away~!
Q: But...Where do you find the poo?
A: Oh YOU'LL find it, don't worry!

he he,  yep  quite possible a strange family ....

Oh Dear! I went Walkabout!

walkabout

ˈwɔːkəbaʊt

noun

noun: walkabout; plural noun: walkabouts; noun: walk-about; plural noun: walk-abouts

1. 1.

   Brit.

   an informal stroll among a crowd conducted by an important visitor.

   "the prime minister went on an impromptu walkabout"
2. 2.

   Austral.

   a journey (originally on foot) undertaken by an Australian Aboriginal in order to live in the traditional manner.

And in such gorgeous country like this, why wouldn't you? (taken from Central Australian Tourism)


But seriously, I'm so sorry.....I had the very best of intentions and a wifi connection that wouldn't keep up the pace!  In the end I just had to give up until it was sorted.  Such is life in remote regions I guess.  And upon asking at the local Telstra office about that cabling that was supposed to have been in by now (I asked the same question last year on arrival) I was told just as jubilantly by a fresh faced customer service officer that it would definitely be ready in 'about a year'.  Aaaaaah the good old NT Rubber Time......*sigh*

Did you know...that NT stands for:
Not TODAY
Not TOMORROW
but if you're lucky
NEXT bloody THURSDAY~!

It's true.

Anyhoo, I digress.

In early days in this blog (HA! who am I kidding that's all I got up to!) I used to have the time to go to the lovely little public library and finish posts on their comparatively fast PC's. BUT alas, not so much time to spare nowadays.  You see, we have settled in well, better than anticipated even.  So much so that between, school, work, the kids sports, my 'stuff' and our new life, I really didn't get a lot of time to do that.  BUT I am excited now that I have sorted out our connection issues because I have SO much to share with you!! 

We have had some ups and downs, and visited some amazing places since I last wrote you, but hopefully now with the benefit of retrospect I will be able to offer a bit more insight into those great places I want you to come and see for yourself (and avoid our camping sagas like this last weekend where we ended up back in town at 9pm ordering pizza to take to the hungry hordes back at the campsite....umm yep, an all new camping low lol).  I am really looking forward to sharing some fantastic family adventures you can do on a budget, as well as some fabulous local secret spots if you don't have time to get too far out of Alice.  I LOVE to travel, and ever since I stepped foot in to the Territory I felt it was a very special place (way back when I was a wee Lassie of 19 landing in Darwin after a 36 hour bus ride with $80 in my back pocket.  Seriously, my poor Mother!....) & I hope this blog inspires you to come and see, no FEEL it for yourselves.  With probably a lot of tongue in cheek, I am looking at compiling some bush camping tips so you can get out here and have it all to yourself, just for a bit, so that you can let these ancient sacred lands recharge your soul too.  Now I am not going to pretend that I have been everywhere and seen everything there is to offer here.  But I will say that what I have seen is truly spectacular and unique and genuinely worth your time and effort.

I still have so much to tick of my list around here that I just don't know when we are going to fit it all in.....

......and there it is. 

We have signed our lease for another 2 years....though we still really miss 'home' & family and do occasionally feel landlocked (at least we don't have to worry about Jaws...) the kids are happy here, their school is great, Hubby loves his work and so do I.  We have been able to address some pressing issues while here & last but not least, we have made some truly special friends which was unexpected and & an amazing bonus to this journey for us. 

What are you waiting for?  Oh sorry, me again!

In the meantime, go and get yourselves a great travel mag, like the ones my hubby is partial to...like 4WD Australia, the Lonely Planet Outback Australia or for some eye candy head over to Explore Uluru's site or the NT Tourism site:
http://www.travelnt.com/

Thanks for popping in,
Aretyehenge (pr: Arich you nung a) local Indigenous (Arrende) lingo for See you later!

Remote = expensive...boycotting the supermarkets

There is no denying how expensive it can be to live in a 'semi' remote outback town, and it seems that is becomes an excuse for lackadaisical service at best and shonky pricing at worst...I kid you not one of our local IGA, who I will name and shame later (when I am not so tired) actually sells no brand flour at $6 for 2 kilos!!!  anyhoo.  Today I had a brainwave.  I have felt like this a long time and in 'other lives' have managed to use my dollar to protest the 'big two' (in Australia that is Coles & Woollies) supermarkets taking over and destroying local business and farming...another rant another time, by shopping at independent stores.  Going back to the 'Butcher, Baker, Candlestick maker' grassroots of retail.  However, despite my best intentions, I cannot afford to sustain a family HAPPILY doing this, I popped in to the green grocers today..while fresh on my rampage, and while I admit they have lovely friendly service and fresh produce displays...I simply cannot afford $17 bucks for a hand of bananas, a bag of apples and 1/2 dozen pears.  I dont think my kids will care by the end of the week if the service was friendly if we are out of food....so it is a hard battle to cave in to.  BUT in my wisdom I decided to bake the kids lunches..thereby avoiding *or if I am feeling rather risque I might substitute that for BOYCOTT *the stupidmarkets this week for the school lunch routine. 
So it started off with me popping corn for recess snacks and accidentally overloading the pan and ending up with hysterical kids and greasy popcorn all over my (freshly cleaned) kitchen floor....

and ends up with a brain wave at about 10 pm...

mmm...nothing like late night baking for school lunches..what is that I hear you say..you had the day off and could have done it today? Well yes I could but then I would have no reason to trash my kichen late at night and risk red wine induced third degree burns, and theres no fun in that is there spoil sports...lol
The end result was even edible...and I SWEAR there was only 11 scrolls...

 

 

All this protesting has made me tired.. Good night, sleep tight :)

If this is winter....

This morning I woke late compared to 'school' days, and was relieved to see the sun already up and thawing the lands of the overnight frosts we have encountered lately.  I have been braving zero temps this week to get up and get organised, all in a house with no heating aside from a bar heater in the lounge, and vinyl tiled floors! 

Todd 'River'..lol, usually a dry sandy river bed

However, after pouring hot water on the windscreen to melt the ice and
getting the car to splutter to life each morning, once we wipe a space to see through the windscreen we have been surprised to see the sun peeping up above the ranges, promising another clear sunny day.  The temps have still hovered under the twenties but with that clear sunshine, I find I am peeling off the layers mid morning and forget all so quickly just how much the mornings bite!

Ambling along the scenic Todd River bed in town

Kmart proved to be a lifesaver for us as we had no idea just what we were in for...and if we listen to the old locals, probably still dont...there is afterall possibly a good reason there is ANTIFREEZE on our water pipes...sadly not just a practical joke by the Real Estate Agent...as we were hoping...
We armed ourselves with snuggly robes, cheap tracksuits for sleepwear and slippers and hot water bottles early on.  So far we have survived, and have even quite enjoyed the milder weather which makes biking and walking a pleasant activity not requiring a drip to rehydrate afterwards....

So this morning, while slurping on my 'wakeup' espresso and enjoying the morning sun on the patio, that is exactly what I decided we should do...

The kids set off on their bikes to 'town', a mere 3.7 km away ...as I trundled off after them on foot, trying to enjoy the scenery, the blue sky and the sun on my face all the while trying to keep them in eye sight....we headed off into the library to let the kids enjoy the unlimited downloads for an hour or so and then wandered on over to the 'Alice Plaza', a small shopping mall housing an eatery, several retail outlets and a small Target.  We enjoyed a milkshake and a good strong coffee from one of the cafe's there and headed home recharged and happy to have had some fresh air and exercise.

If this is winter....I will be a happy camper :)