Desert Mandala: Life In Central Australia

Amanda January 25th, 2009

This year, we again made a peri-annual trip to the Murray River. Before you ask, there is water in the river above the lochs and weirs. The level of water is fairly well controlled by these artificial barriers. Downstream of these, from Mannum in South Australia to Lake Alexandrina, the water level drops and drops and keeps on dropping.

Gadget & I love our houseboat holidays because on the river and in the long distances between, there has been space for reflection. For clearing out the mental clutter, letting go of what’s not needed and connecting with the things that matter. It is truly one of the most mentally and physically relaxing holidays you can ever go on. You feel like you’ve been cleaned inside with a broom. I don’t get the same effect from seaside holidays – for me, there has to be bush.

We went on the boat this time with Ben, with my mum and dad, and with Gadget’s mum and her partner, Joe. Here are a few pictures:

There was lots of time for bushwalking, canoeing, geocaching, birdwatching and swimming. Oh year, and for Gadget to do some of the things he does best:

Of course, there wasn’t just Gary eating… there was lots of drinking AND eating by everyone … Here’s photographic evidence:

We also saved a possum with gummy eyes. Gary caught him and I bathed his eyes in saline. We put him back in his tree and the next morning he was gone, so we hope he’s ok:

There were also sunsets and moonrises- the rhythms of the day and time, often forgotten in our busy, urban lives:

Tomorrow, I’ll post the amazing trip home via the Oodnanatta Track.

• coffee & raisin toast , geocaching , small furry animals
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gadget September 14th, 2008

Each year in Alice Springs the YMCA (the Y) organises an eight kilometre walking and running race from the Y to the top of West Gap, on the west side of Heavitree Gap. For all those of you that are locals then you’ll know it as the place where the three towers that provide telecommunications to Alice Springs can be seen wide and far.

This year Amanda, myself and Ben volunteered to assist in setting up the finish point high above Alice. After a fitful sleep due to some noisy neighbours we arose at 5.40am to travel to the Y to get the gear that we needed to setup at the finish line. So loaded with a trestle table, food and eskies full of Gatorade and mineral water we set off for the top.

At the base of the hill is a locked gate that is always locked except for occasions like this or for maintenance on the towers high above. We engaged 4wd because it said to and started up the long single width bitumen road to the top. It is quite a steep incline, winding as you near the top and no doubt just a bit of a challenge to the walkers and runners that attempt it. After getting to the top and just enjoying the view for a moment, we began the task of setting up the table, the eskies and laying out the food to await the athletes upon their finish.  

• Central Australia , small furry animals
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Amanda July 16th, 2008

But what if you don’t like the bland styling, the size and you detest that stupid wheel? In other words, you will never own an IPod. So what happens when you purchase an audio product that assumes everyone in the world owns an IPod? I spend a lot of time driving and like to listen to podcasts whilst I’m going along. One podcast I listened to led me to an interesting book, which I discovered was available as an audiobook. I purchased the audiobook and downloaded it and the file manager software that went with it. Easy? No.

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• geekdom , small furry animals
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gadget October 18th, 2007

Watarrka (Kings Canyon) ranger station is home to a large feral-cat-and-fox-proof paddock housing an endangered mammal called a mala. Mala are very small macropods (kangaroos) that are furry, extremely cute and rather docile. Like many other small Australian mammals, they are nocturnal and are endangered due to introduced cats and foxes. Mala is a Luritja (Pitjantjatjara) word for this animal; in Arrernte, mala are called aherre, which is said like you’re trying to clear your throat or you’re Scottish. Think of how Scottish people say ’loch’ and take the ‘ch’ sound and add -urra and that’s a bit like how Arrernte people say this word…

Ok. Maybe just say ‘mala’, which is why many English speakers find Pitjantjatjara much easier to learn than Arrernte.

Anyway, back to the mala. About ten years ago, the numbers of mala in Central Australia were at critical levels, so Parks and Wildlife began a breeding program. The program was really simple: build a feral-proof fence, get some mala and let nature take its course. So they brought some mala down from the Tanami Desert, put them in paddock and the little guys all got on really well. There were over a hundred in there. So many, that Uluru built a similar fence and took some mala to breed up as well.

As the mala have bred really well, Parks staff have to do a population census a couple of times each year. So last week, this is what Gary, some of the scientists and the other Watarrka rangers did: caught and counted mala.

Most of the time, the mala are easy to catch (in fact, some of them are very tame) , however you have to be very careful when handling females as they can expel their little tiny hairless babies out of sheer distress and shock.

Here are Chris (left) and Kim (right) weighing a mala.

Once the mala are caught, you weigh them, measure them and tag them so you know whether you’ve caught this particular little guy before, and so you can see how the little guys are doing:

Then, the mala is released back into the paddock to join his or her friends. The mala census usually takes about a week to finish, under the direction of the Park scientists. At Watarrka, the mala census is a bit of a community event, with many of the Traditional Owners from the communities on the park coming in to help with the census or bring along children to see the mala. And of course, there are the usual ranger BBQs and socialising. Gary did admit to getting bitten by one of them, but that’s another story…

• Central Australia , Kings Canyon , small furry animals
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