And After a Short Break in Transmission…
Amanda November 22nd, 2007
We’re still not unpacked, although it’s getting better. Life is slowly returning to normal after our big move. It was an absolutely insane idea to move it all ourselves. I have no idea why we thought we could do it. It ended up taking nearly two weeks to finish it. Both of us have been exhausted and out of sync for weeks … combined with Gary’s working at Watarrka (Kings Canyon) and me involved in gym launches and bush trips. It’s only this week that I’ve got back into my routine with yoga and running … and by the end of next week, with the last of the big bush trips over for the year, I’ll be able to return to normal again.
My latest bush trip was to Chambers Pillar (yes, I know – there’s no apostrophe - which really annoys me, but it’s boorish NT government policy NOT to use apostrophes in place names). Chambers Pillar is about 130 km south east of Alice Springs on the very western edge of the Simpson Desert. It’s a remarkable sandstone pillar sacred to the Southern Arrernte people, who call it Iterrkewarre (eterr-ka-wurra), and a place where many early European explorers harve carved their names. Here is what it looks like:
Yes, it’s spectacular and very remote (no mobile phones here … there’s not even a rubbish bin), and at this time of the year very, very hot. When we arrived yesterday afternoon it was 41 degrees. We were there for a joint management planning meeting, Chambers Pillar Historical Reserve being one of the 27 new parks coming under joint management between Traditional Owners and Parks and Wildlife.
In all, there were close to 50 of us all scattered around the campsite at Chambers, dessicating in the heat. By about 9pm, after dinner was cooked and we were starting to think about rolling out our swags, the night had started to cool and the humidity was rising. In the distance we could see lightning. Great! Not only insufferably hot, but there was the threat of getting wet, too!
I rolled out my swag about 9.30 under a Witchetty Bush (an acacia species whose roots provide homes to witchetty grubs) and went off to sleep despite the heat. About midnight I was awoken with lots of nasty little bites on my legs … ants. When I looked with my light, I had unrolled my swag on the ant superhighway and they were crawling through my bed! I moved my swag and spent 5 mintues massacring ants and then strategically rolling Aerogard all around the perimeter of my bedding. Then, I went off to sleep again…
…Only to be awoken at 3am by thunder and lightning and gale-force winds. I could hear all the tarps and shade shelters we’d set up for the meeting flapping about and being blown away. Cups, plates, bottles – all went flying. And then it started to rain. I pulled the canvas over my head and told myself to go back to sleep. I could hear people running for vehicles and what little shelter was around. I went to sleep – again. The only good thing that was the rain; the temperature plummeted to about 16 degrees. Here’s the camp with order restored the next morning:
The meeting went very well, and we were finished about 2pm, did the packup and then got ready for the drive back to town. Here’s a picture of some of the young boys climbing Chambers and another of the Pillar itself.
