October 2013
Ceduna, SA
Deb’s contract at the Ceduna hospital continued into early
October and from here we were planning to head down towards Port Lincoln via
Coffin Bay when her contract had finished.
Over the October Long Weekend, Ceduna hosts “Oysterfest”, an
annual event showcasing the local oysters and culture and it is held on the
grassed foreshore along the bay.
Deb and
I headed down there on the Sunday as she was working on the Saturday and to be
honest, it was fairly disappointing. The
area was circled by marques and another area for side shows such as rides and
amusements but only one marque selling oysters … and what a rip off too! We can buy oysters for around $10-$12 a dozen here in Ceduna any day of the week and they were selling them for either $8 for a half dozen or $16 for a
dozen at Oysterfest. Whilst you could have them
natural, Kilpatrick, with chilli and garlic, the tourists were still buying
them by the armfuls. The other marques were essentially selling hand crafts or
promoting businesses in the area and because it was free to get into
Oysterfest, we did buy a cap and t-shirt from Oysterfest 2013 … but I doubt we
would ever make a special trip back here just for it!
The weather here continued to be hot to very hot during the
day and cool to cold overnight with little to no rain. In fact it reached over 40 degrees a few
times and the strong gusty winds blowing dust around made it quite
uncomfortable both inside and outside the van in the caravan park.
Here is Blade under “his tree” just outside our van door
trying to keep cool although he does seem to like being in the sun for some
reason!?
We met an elderly couple who stayed a few nights in the site
next to us that had been on the road now for over 2 years living in their
motorhome. It is a small coach that was
converted into a motorhome and it was named “Beats Workin” … apt really! Cheryl makes beaded sunglasses chains and sells
them whilst they travel and Deb bought a couple of them from her. Wayne, a retired truckie proudly showed us
through their mobile home as we had mentioned to them that we were only just
starting our lives on the road full time.
Wayne told me that Toyota import these Hino coaches from Japan once they
reach 50,000 kms and then convert them into motorhomes. It was really well set out inside although it
was a bit tight to get around in and I was far too tall to stand up in it, but
for them it was ideal. They towed a small 4x4 behind them so they could have
something to drive around in once set up somewhere.
Another couple we met were travelling Australia in absolute
luxury and comfort as they had a 5th wheeler which looked more like
a penthouse on wheels. They pulled this
with an American Silverado truck. I’ve
seen these Silverado trucks advertised for $120,000 and the 5th
wheeler would have cost at least that again.
Kaaren and Adrian were from WA and sold their house and farm to live on
the road full time. Kaaren was also a
Registered Nurse who had a few years ago worked in remote aboriginal
communities and they were here to work with Viterra during harvest season. They had both registered with Viterra some
months ago and had worked with them previously too and both had casual employment
with them for a few months during harvest season here working at silos at Thevenard.
As Deb's Ceduna Hospital contract came to an end, the Nursing Agency offered her an opportunity of a 6 week contract at Oak Valley, an Aboriginal community some 520kms North West of Ceduna, in the heart of the South Australian Outback.
As Oak Valley is a 'closed' community, all visitors must obtain a permit to enter their tribal lands and as I would not be working if I went up there with Deb, they would not approve my permit so I had to stay in Ceduna.
So the next day, I went down to the Viterra office at Thevenard and registered my name with them for casual harvest work, but was told that they had hired all they needed for now but I was on their waiting list and would be contacted if a position became available. Next year, I’ll do it months earlier to avoid missing out and it would have been easier to secure a casual job if I had my truck licence or some experience!
It soon came time for Deb to head off to the wild north west ...
Oak Valley / Maralinga, SA
Oak Valley is a dry (no alcohol) Aboriginal community approximately 150kms west of Maralinga and approximately 520kms north west of Ceduna on the edge of the Great Victorian Desert and only a couple of hundred kms east of the SA / WA border and a few hundred kms south of the SA / NT border.
The map below shows (A) Ceduna, (B) Ooldea and (C) approximate location of Oak Valley.
Oak Valley and nearby communities such as Tjuntjuntjara (Joon Joon Jara) (WA) and Yalata (SA) are populated by the displaced aboriginals from their tribal lands in and around the Maralinga Nuclear Test areas.
At Oak Valley, Deb was to be the senior nurse from the two nurses stationed there and once the Elders from the Oak Valley / Maralinga area had granted her permit, she was allowed to enter their lands and work in the community.
The Oak Valley community is home to a couple of hundred aboriginals, it has a school, a general store and a power station along with essential services bought and paid for by the settlement the British Government made to these people when they were displaced. There is approximately a dozen or so 'white fellas' up their at anyone time from teachers, nurses, truck and machinery drivers, tradies etc that live there to manage the services and infrastructure for the community.
As petrol vehicles are prohibited on their lands (due to the problems associated with petrol sniffing etc), only diesel vehicles are allowed and as the landscape is predominantly bush land, only 4x4 vehicles should be driven anywhere up there. This presented a challenge for how Deb was to travel up there until we were informed that the community general store truck would be in Ceduna to pick up food and supplies and she would be able to hitch a ride up there in the truck.
Here is Deb on the morning she left in the front with Glenn, who was employed by the community as a driver / contractor.
The drive to Oak Valley is long and most of it is via a rough dirt road that crosses the Trans Continental Railway to Perth at Ooldea and here are some pics that Deb took on her journey to Oak Valley. The pic below is at Ooldea and Oak Valley is only another 200+kms away.
The landscape changes from dense salt bush like in the pic above to very thick wooded areas and as there is virtually no water, the army built rain water and bore water tanks about 50 - 80kms apart along the road.
Half way to Oak Valley from Ooldea is the bitumen road the British Army built from Watson on the railway line to Maralinga and just as you start to get used to the 14kms of bitumen on the middle of no where, this sign reminds you of where you are ...
One thing you see plenty of out there is abandoned and burnt out car wrecks which remain off limits as they are off the road and on tribal / sacred land.
To navigate the endless dirt roads, a teacher in Oak Valley sketched a mud map on paper some years ago and accurately noted the kilometres between land marks to provide some level of comfort when driving these distances as you will rarely see other vehicles out here. Also, there is absolutely no mobile phone network unless you are within 20kms of the railway line and the only form of communication is a satellite phone.
You have to admire the locals that created these road signs ...
So what do you need to do as you approach a corner out here ... you "lift em foot" and then when it is safe to resume speed, you "put em foot down" again ... simple really!
Eventually, after a 7 hour drive Deb and Glenn arrived safely in Oak Valley.
Here is Dino, the local dingo greeting Deb as she arrives in Oak Valley.
(Dino is a wild dingo that has come into the community looking for food and water)
The pic below is at the Oak Valley dump on the out skirts of town and it illustrates just how many cars have been trashed out here and only a small percentage have been collected and dumped, the majority remain out there in the bush.
So whilst Deb settled into outback life, Blade and I occupied our time by fishing and walking along the beach.
As part of the nursing duties at Oak Valley, the nurses often drive 'half way' to meet the Ceduna Hospital transport bus to pick up and/or drop off patients from the community and then return to Oak Valley. Half way is where the bitumen ends and the dirt 4x4 tracks start and we took the opportunity to meet when Deb had a half way meet a few days after arriving up there.
So Blade and I drove from Ceduna some 200kms to meet Deb where the roads met and I was starting to wonder what to expect when I started to see signs such as these ...
Thankfully the meeting place was easy to find as the original wooden sign marking the turn off to Oak Valley has faded in time ...
The pic below was taken on the return back to Ceduna showing where the bitumen road meets the dirt track to Oak Valley ...
Here is my beloved and Blade at the Ooldea train crossing in one of the community "troopies" or Land Cruiser Troop carrier 4x4 used out here.
Here is Blade at the crossing ...
And the view west towards Perth ...
And the track to Oak Valley ...
After a too short a time and as this as far as I was allowed to go without a permit, it was time for Deb to make the trek back to Oak Valley and for me to return the hustle and bustle in the metropolis known as Ceduna.
Within a few days I was called to see if I would like to relieve the Oak Valley General Store Manager for a couple of weeks and I jumped at the opportunity to not only be with Deb but to experience a very remote Aboriginal community first hand. So I met the Ceduna based management team of the Oak Valley / Maralinga Tjarutja community, had my permits granted and police checks arranged and I booked Blade into the local dog kennel and headed up to Oak Valley.
So we have dedicated an entire separate section of our blog to our time in Oak Valley ...
In October, we travelled ... 1,607 kilometres
Cheapest fuel was in Port Wakefield, SA where it was $1.507 / litre
Dearest fuel was in Ceduna, SA where it was $1.589 / litre
Unfortunately we did not add a new "Big" icon to our list this month ...
So far, our list of sited "Big" Australian icons is at 8 ...
- the Big Blade at Snowtown SA
- the Big Merino at Goulburn NSW
- the Big Ned Kelly at Glenrowan VIC
- the Big Lobster at Kingston SA
- the Big Pelican at Loxton SA
- the Big Orange at Renmark SA
- the Big Galah at Kimba SA
- the Big Oyster at Ceduna NSW
So far, we have travelled 10,483 kilometres, the equivalent of Adelaide to Melbourne, to Sydney, to Brisbane, to Cairns, to Alice Springs, to Darwin, to Broome and onto Port Hedland.
