Day of Australian Culture

-


Larrawa Station, between Derby and Kunnunara

It’s just after 4pm and we’ve arrived at our residence for the evening; a working cattle station. Camping costs  $30 per night and there are actual toilets (with a sign to shut the lid to keep the green frogs out) and hot showers with a very large shower head. There is only about ten other vehicles here. Our nearest neighbour 50m away is playing a didgeridoo and the kids are cracking a whip. Horses and cows are roaming around. Can’t get much more Aussie than that. 

The camping grounds

Campervan parked half in shade (as hot) and half in sun (for the  starlink!)


This place is a hell of a step up from Fitzroy Crossing, which had a very rugged (scary) roadhouse and barbed wire around what we thought was the campsite. I said to Mark “please do not break down here!” 
A very inviting roadhouse (not)

Seems to be a caravan park behind the fence?

Anyway backtracking a bit, we started our day with a visit to Norval Gallery. A fabulous place - another Derby surprise. Started by Mark and Mary Norval it is chockablock full of amazing indigenous art (and Mark Norval himself does portraits of indigenous people). And it has a cafe with almond milk. 

Lovely cafe under boab tree in gallery


Artist - Mark Norval - lace and bark on Perspex. This is part of a series called ‘contemplation’ 

I adore this one! Artist: Shirley Yoomarie 

Love this one too. Artist: Donny Woolagoodja - was artist for Sydney 2000 olympics


Next we stopped at the Boab Prison Tree - which was used as a rest point for indigenous prisoners stolen from the north of the Kimberly (they were captured to do pearl diving, station work etc). There’s a lot of graffiti on the tree - which apparently lasts for decades. Ancient carvings in these trees, called dendroglyphs, include animals and Dreamtime stories, and capture a lot of important culture. 

Boab prison tree 

Bee hive in the boab prison tree

A huge boab in a rest stop on Great Northern Highway





 

More Mark Noval art



And more paintings by Mark Noval





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lazy Day - With Electricity

-
Image
  Tom Price Caravan Site, Tom Price  After a brief shop and coffee in Tom Price, we were planning to hike one of the gorges in Karijini. Tom Price shopping and coffee Very very long train - hundreds of carriages However, we changed our mind and opted for a lazy day- knowing we had a powered site waiting for us at the caravan park. We are having some gas and inverter issues, two separate problems to my knowledge, so the thought of unlimited power was appealing.  Mark wrote a song, I worked on my mosaic, we had a brief walk, several visits from a young autistic kid determined to play Peppa Pig on Mark's speaker, and dinner at home. I finally figured out how to upload photos for this blog so can publish it now! Lovely purple flowers (mulla mulla) Walk out the back of our caravan park Local views Weird tree - Black on the inside and white on the outside Our campsite Half finished mosaic An uneventful day, which we both appreciated. 
Read more

Monks, Monasteries and The Mat

-
Image
About to leave Checklist on dashboard   Dalwallinu Caravan Park, Dalwallinu We left home around 1pm, after a quick visit to mum in Mounts Bay hospital (should be out soon), final packing, and last minute instructions to the kids (eg  “don’t leave the heater on the whole time we are away”).  Despite the checklist - prominently stuck to the glove box - we managed to leave the mat behind. On Day One! Saying bye to Talia!  Saying bye to Melissa!  We are ready ! It was pouring with rain as we drove through Perth and I was anxious about the weight of the van and braking distances as we pulled up to stop at lights.  But about an hour north, the rain and roads cleared. Within a couple of hours, surrounded by the vast sky and clouds with spotty orange eucalyptus trees lining the road, I had a fantastic feeling of freedom. Unfortunately, intermittent reports about Dad (in Albany hospital) were not good, so a bit of trepidation too. Skies clearing Already lovin...
Read more

Nostalgia Trip

-
Image
  12 Viewway, Nedlands Packing has made me remember our last campervan holiday. Sixteen years ago, around the same time of the year, we set off in a 28 foot motorhome across Europe for several months. The three kids slept in the area above the cabin - that is how tiny they were! You can see some scenes below - bike-riding in Bruge, dancing in Spain, playing boules in France, throwing snowballs in the Alps m, and Talia carrying Melissa (an obsession of hers at the time, something to do with the Sound of Music). We had so many crazy adventures! But that is another blog :-) Me and the kids in Bruge  Suzy in Spain Playing boules in France Alex joined us in Italy Not sure where but you can see Talia carrying Melissa   We will miss them on this trip! Talia and Melissa are in charge of the house and Suzy is back in Melbourne. If our current trip is half as good as this one was, it will be great! :-)
Read more