On the road with my dog

True to the title of this blog, Charlie is not short of adventures of late. He’s bathed in waterholes, chased plenty of kangaroos (much to mummy’s annoyance), watched wild horses graze up close, gone into Warmun and Kununurra, stayed at the best and worst hotels, climbed Kelly’s Knob (seriously some of these names are hilarious, there’s even a creek named Cheese Tin Creek) and perhaps the best adventure was the trip to Wyndham and the Grotto today. Beautiful waterfall, beautiful waterhole – bit precarious walking down and feeling our way into the water over the top of unseen rocks, but once we were in it was divine. Just beautiful.

Been a wee while my faithful 5 followers but be rest assured I’m alive and well even though I’m covered in bites rendering me comparative to someone with chicken pox!

Made it to Frog Hollow exactly a month ago and so it’s timely I updated you on my adventure with Prince Charles so far.

Drive up was fine and managed to drop Guy off in Kununurra with no hassle. Was a bit rainy on the way but the roads were clear, no flooding, so all was well. On the way back to Frog Hollow I gave one of the community members a lift back and did my best to hold a conversation for the two hour drive even though I’d never met the man and I was a bit concerned at the amount of rain that was being spilled from the heavens. “She be rite” is a term that gets flung around quite frequently here!

Made it to the Frog Hollow turn off and then it was a bit of a bumpy ride towards the creek which was in full flow. I just had to drop my passenger off and then in no time I would be home…just cross the creek again, sweet….uh huh…nah…that didn’t happen! After careful consideration and lots of encouragement from my newly promoted CO-DRIVER I approached the creek and proceeded to drive through it with much trepidation. I couldn’t really tell how deep it was but I was advised….”she be rite”. So I crossed. Phew – Big Bessie made it! A little way up I then proceeded to help unload a whole load of shopping, got completely drenched, all the while in my head saying….”I’ll be in my wee housie soon…great.” Drenched, shopping unloaded, back in the car, let’s go Charlie, get to the creek and then….WTActual? The creek had risen in the space of 5 minutes to a level I couldn’t cross. Seriously? I was wet, cold, annoyed, frustrated, just wanted to finally get home and get settled, had Charlie in the car looking at me like I was an idiot, a whole load of shopping to unload, it was getting dark, mozzies were out, I was thinking what the hell am I doing here, nightmare! With no-one around I went and knocked on my co-pilots’s front door and asked what I could do….”wait…..she be rite!” So I waited…but for how long would I have to wait? I could literally see my house and yet not get to it – arrrrgghhhh. 5 minutes turned into 10, into 20, into a very long 45 minutes before I plucked up the courage having waded into the creek to check it out. OK Big Bessie – you better get me across and you better not get stuck because that just wouldn’t do my white girl street cred any favours! Slowly, carefully, being sure to keep the momentum going, she made it. Still drenched but slightly less annoyed and suddenly a devout Christian, I thanked God for this small mercy and finally made it to PURNULULU!

Hello, hello, hello my faithful 5 followers. Been a while since I last wrote but fear not, Charlie’s adventures are not over, not by a long shot! Interesting, and slightly ironic, how over the last 7 weeks we’ve been living in the big smoke (Perth) with my blog updates amounting to zilch. Now that we’ve hit the open road again with miles and miles of space, there’s a ton to write about. Grab a cuppa and a biscuit as this could take a while to read!

I’m sure you’ve all heard but in case you haven’t Charlie and I (well I – ’cause Charlie actually doesn’t really get a say ’cause he’s a dog and doesn’t speak human – one of his many endearing qualities) have taken a job teaching at another remote Indigenous Community called Purnululu, or Frog Hollow. It’s set on the edge of the Bungle Bungles, 250kms south of the town of Kununurra and around 130kms north of the town of Halls Creek, relatively close to the Northern Territory border. Whilst I’ll continue to teach, Charlie will assume a new role as Assistant Principal. Word got out from Parnngurr how amazing he was and he was snapped up rather quickly – who can blame them.

Since leaving Perth, Big Bessie has managed to clock up just over 3,000kms. There was a stop in Newman for one night followed by a couple of nights in the beautiful, currently muggy, town of Broome. As I sit in my new abode writing this post, I can’t help but think about the few hiccups that were encountered on this trip – great fodder for my blog mind you.

FIRST LEG – Perth to Newman. We had planned to leave Perth around 6am so we would avoid arriving in Newman after dark. Dawn and dusk are dangerous times to travel as all the animals come out to play chicken! Cows (affectionately known as moo-moos to Charlie) kangaroos, more cows, more kangaroos, lovely and cute and all, but also a bit ‘Tim nice but dim’. With this in mind, you can obviously understand why I was keen to hit the road (and not an animal) early. Nek minit…..9:30am we drove out of Perth. WHAT THE ACTUAL? My fridge blew a fuse and of course it took 3 hours to figure this out and wait for a shop to open so we could buy and instal a new one. What did I say previously? NEVER EVER EVER EVER TRAVEL ON A SUNDAY….EVER EVER EVER! With a few stops along the way, we rolled into Newman with almost 1,200kms clocked, at around 10:30pm.

SECOND LEG – Newman to Broome. We managed to leave Newman around 7:15am. Got up, got out of bed, dragged a brush across my head, made my way to Radio Hill for a walk with Charlie then took off along the long and not winding road to Broome. Hoorah I thought, now we’re rocking! Nek minit….a bloody 20km train decides to cross our path. AARRRGGGGHHHHH. Well it looked like 20kms long. I tell you these trains are unbelievable – they go forever. Once it had finally passed we were on the road again and decided to have a little fun with the CB radio. It was ‘wide load’ rush hour on the Great Northern Highway between Newman and Broome which provides for fabulous entertainment courtesy of all those fabulous truck and pilot drivers. With a rather long stop in South Hedland, including a very rare serve of McDonalds chips for lunch (obligatory on-the-road sausage roll for Charlie), we were off again. As we drove the last stretch (600km last stretch) we came up against a random bush fire. The smoke was pretty thick and from a distance it was difficult to make out how close to the road it was. Turns out very close and I can now see how fires jump across roads however, thankfully we made it through. Arrived in Broome around 6:30pm.

THIRD LEG – Broome to Purnululu School. We had blown a fuse in Perth, encountered a 20kms long train outside Newman, drove through a fire out of Port Hedland…what on earth did the road out of Broome have in store for us? Rain and a locust plague. Setting off was fine but then about 100kms out we were literally hit with random dark clouds of locusts. Poor Big Bessie – she was caked with the critters. Oh well, on we went together with our newly acquired load of dead locusts. As we progressed the clouds up ahead grew darker and darker and what started as a pretty relaxed 800km drive, turned into a race to beat the rains. There were moments when we couldn’t see a couple of meters ahead of us because the rain was so heavy but we sauntered into Frog Hollow around 6:30pm. WOO HOO! MADE IT.

You may be wondering/asking; “don’t you get lonely Vetski?” and the answer is; “well I’m not technically alone because I have my prince Charles and whilst he’s of the furry variety of people, and I am not sharing my desert experience with a significant non-furry other – GREAT I say!” Although many people are beautiful, kind, honest, compassionate, loving, genuine, funny, and generally all that good stuff, some are real assholes! The world is full of them. To that end, I actually like being by myself AND I can be one of those assholes without anyone writing about me saying I am one of them because there simply isn’t any evidence of it! Nobody is here to witness it (except Charlie, but he loves me unconditionally so that doesn’t count). I can be completely selfish and uncompromising. None of that ‘higher being’, serving others, rising above others, being patient nonsense! No wonder there’s such a thing as nuns and monks! They’ve got it sussed! Like me, they can swear (I’m sure they do this under their breath, especially against mother/father superior), eat what they want, when they want, watch what they want (come on…we all know they love a good dose of ‘Sex and The City‘ just as much as any lay person and watch it religiously), obsessively clean, get up at 4am every morning without worrying about waking anyone else up. OMG it’s fabulous! Plus there is the added benefit of not having to put up with another asshole! Win, win. Oh, and the best bit…I can check out the local talent. My friends, that’s where things are a little, how shall we say…limited. Not that I’m looking AT ALL, but the single, male contingent here in Parnngurr is not exactly a leading contender against the likes of Tinder for dating opportunities. BUT THEN…yesterday I went to pick up the mail from the mail plane and LO! Out steps a young, blond, Ray-Ban adorning pilot, complete with plane! He was easy on the eye I must say and made my Thursday afternoon at the happening Parnngurr all that more exciting! I’ll absolutely be happy to go and get the mail again next week.

Speaking of which, what a monumental cock-up with the most beautiful parcel I was expecting from Elaine and co. A couple of weeks after the parcel had been sent I started to wonder where on earth, in Western Australia hopefully, it could be. What’s particularly frustrating is when I took the step of trying to investigate the whereabouts of the now infamous lost parcel, the best I received was a central Australia Post number, which of course when dialled, is followed by a plethora of ‘dial this number’ options. Seriously world! Is it too much to ask to speak to a person straight off the bat so problems can be straightened out with human-to-human contact! Now in all my dealings ever, ever, ever with Australia Post, I have never had any issues. So I put this one down to human error at Newman. Sorry girls, but it’s true. How on earth a parcel addressed to PO Box 14, could be confused with PO Box 22 (Newman Shire Offices) is beyond me. Apparently, after much time investigating, that is where the parcel ended up. Ok I think, so where is it now? I managed to get a direct number for Newman Post Office and asked the postal worker where the hell this very special parcel was. “Oh I think it was returned to sender.” It’s now at least 3 weeks since Elaine sent this beautiful gift and neither she nor I have it. What I love most however, is the bloody insane tracking numbers you have to recall in order to try and locate lost parcels – great tool to try and combat early onset of dementia though. Try and memorise them! What I also love is the complete nonchalance of the postal workers at Newman – care factor ZERO. Followers (all 9 of you now I think), this is a story that as they say…is to be continued…I’ll keep you POSTED!

Howdie! Been a wee while since I last wrote, just so happening here in the desert, hardly get a minute to myself.

Word must have got out that I am now officially flying solo in the classroom (the other teacher who I am covering left last week to have her baby). Having spent last weekend in good old Newman for a ‘wellness’ break, I’ve come back and the community have all abandoned ship. There’s hardly anyone here, let alone any children. Did Christmas come early or something? Poobella me. What’s a teacher to do? Clean. I’ve been sorting, cleaning, sorting, cleaning…I actually love doing it. Gives me a great sense of organisation and starting fresh – on my own – with no children!

Speaking of ‘wellness’ break, my dearest Bonnie Prince Charlie was not so well last weekend. In fact the week leading up to our trip into Newman he had a decent bout of the runs (I’ll spare you the photos for this one). It was the first time that I felt really isolated. My brain was doing backflips wondering what the hell was wrong. Was it the water, a dodgy egg, dodgy sardines, dodgy chicken, dodgy dogs, dodgy soap that he goes and licks after he’s had a wash with it, dodgy treats, dodgy heat, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH MY BEST BUDDY? For the rest he was ok actually. Still wanting to eat, still wanting to go for walks but it was every hour he needed to go – day and night. Poor fella. I was beside myself. Luckily we went into Newman where I promptly made a visit to the local vet. She was lovely and said it could have been any number of things and thankfully if was not a virus but a bacterial infection in his gut. She sent us both away with a smile, antibiotics, probiotics, electrolytes, and gave my prince a tablet whilst there. Charlie pretty much immediately perked up. Poos got more solid, and we were back on track – PHEW!

On the subject of our fur-babies, we have a couple of vets coming into the community tomorrow to carry out checks on the community dogs – the involved de-sexing, worming, general health check-up. Fantastic I say. Might be called upon to help out.

Thought I’d leave you all with this parting shot of Sir Colin and Lady Camella having an intimate moment!

Ciao xxxx

Be still you naysayers…be doubting no more as to the existence of Sir Colin and his Lady Camella…oh and an added illegitimate extra if one looks closely – comes with the territory of being a celebrity. Oh and a couple of Parnngurr sky shots. Never ceases to make me stand in awe and wonder at the beauty…

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The notoriety you come across in the desert! Would you believe Charlie and I have managed to catch glimpses (well for Charlie that would be catch sniffs) of Sir Colin and Lady Camella who, did you know, stem from a terribly distinguished bloodline – British India you know…well I say!

Though elusive, I believe the couple are just a little bit curious about us common folk – that being me and Bonnie Prince Charlie – who go walk about early every morning hoping to catch just a glimpse of the darling couple. Me thinks Sir Colin and Lady Camella however, prefer to enjoy their privacy amidst the tranquil, red-dirt, desert bushland country. Even HELLO magazine would be hard pressed to procure a paparazzi shot, never mind call them in for an interview!

Not to be deterred and so as not to turn our daily morning walks into a laborious exercise, Charlie and I are endeavouring to befriend the delectable Sir Colin and Lady Camella. It has become a bit of an event for us. We certainly see evidence of their presence, much like any celebrity really, you know…droppings, large foot prints.

See if you can spot Sir Colin in the photo below!

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I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank-you to my dear friend Elaine. Around a week ago I sent a text to a whole bunch of friends asking whether they could perhaps spare a few pencils and stick crayons and general bits ‘n’ pieces to help me get started with bringing Steiner to this special community. I was happy to accept anything really as long as it was in keeping with the good quality products I had grown accustomed to using during my years as a Steiner teacher in Perth. New, used, it didn’t matter, whatever could be donated.

Dear Elaine proceeded to ask me for a couple of photos so that she could tweak the interest of a few people she knew and take it from there. I don’t know what she did but the generosity and magic she has worked has left me lost for words. I’d like to send a massive hug and thank-you to Elaine as well as everyone who contributed. Elaina for the wool, felt, knitting needles, and paper. Lisa for all the beautiful wax crayons – tons of them! Melanie for the monetary contribution that covered postage! Nicole and Jacqui for the wax. Robyn for the paints, Lyra pencils and block crayons and the drawings from the children. Golden Threads shop for the embroidery and knitting needles, tons of Lyra pencils and felt squares. Anna and Vanessa for block crayons. Tanami for blue paint and Elaine for seasonal seeds and for organising this amazing package. Please watch this space for updates on our artistic endeavours with your beautiful and very much appreciated gifts.

Love Vetski xxx

In case you missed it, the main reason I am here in the desert is to teach! Furthermore, my principal thinks it is absolutely imperative that Charlie helps me out – who can argue with that? I come therefore, armed with 12 years worth of Steiner class teaching experience, my never-to-be-forgotten time and experience teaching in the Kimberley (north-west Western Australia) AND Prince Charles. A pretty deadly (in a good way) combination if you ask me.

Now although I think the state education system has its place (in the bin), I am 100% sure that there is a lot a Steiner curriculum can offer in terms of a holistic, authentic, arts-based, spiritually underpinned, hands-on education. It has been a dream of mine to do exactly this for many, many years. At the same time, I am under no illusion that the idea of bringing Steiner to a remote community could go totally belly-up and that my dream could at any moment be shattered. Back I go with tail between my legs.

Thankfully my principal (brave) is prepared to take a punt on my ideas so I start small (we’ll get to the hairy armpit, tree-hugging bit later) – let’s try some finger knitting. To my amazement, the children were very receptive to it. They were patient, curious, willing to give it a go, and ultimately it was a successful introduction to a Steiner craft mainstay for the early years. Phew!

Next, I think to myself – hmmmm, I wonder if ‘circle’ time will work. This is a morning session of about 40 minutes whereby the children engage in movement, verse/poem recitation, language and number work using the body – all done in a – you guessed it – circle. A coming together if you like. Rather than the usual 30-40 minutes I think 15-20 minutes would be more than enough as an introduction to a modified morning routine. A little nervous, I ask the children to form a circle and I bring some activities to them. The outcome – amazing. Once again the children were receptive and seemed to enjoy the experience.

It gets better. The icing on the cake came yesterday. The children were ready to come into the class and I said; “now when we go inside children, I’d like you to stand in a circle because we’re going to be doing some more of that clapping, stamping and marching I showed you last time,” to which one adorable little girl replied as she jumped up, “Oh I love that ‘ting!” Cue Vetski’s heart melts and beams!

If I take away nothing else over the next couple of months it doesn’t matter because I have that! I have that gorgeous gem of a beaming, laughing, happy child participating with great joy in something so relatively simple yet obviously so meaningful and engaging. This little girl was enthralled for the entire 15 minutes and what she doesn’t realise is how enthralled I was because of her reaction! That’s teaching. That’s what it’s all about. These moments of pure bliss. Oh I must mention that unfortunately Charlie hasn’t quite got the idea of circle time and sees it as play time so while circle is going on, Charlie has to wait in another room – much to his annoyance and protest! Maybe one day he’ll be able to join in though not sure how he’ll handle clapping.