Day One …….. 24^th   July 2012

The journey (read adventure) began with an early morning flight to Darwin. It was a pleasant surprise and very appropriate that our plane was in the capable hands of Captain Andrew Poulsen both a Carey parent and husband of Donvale staff member, Jenny.

It felt good to be back in the warmth, and after a night in Darwin we flew to McArthur River, a small mining town about three hours from Robinson River. Waiting for us were two ex-Carey students (Tom and Hattie 2010) volunteering in RR for the term.

The drive with its river crossings, red, dusty, and sometimes corrugated, dirt road and starkly beautiful surrounding landscape, brought us to the town of Robinson River.

It was the middle of the day, but there were very few people around and when we arrived at the school we found that only a third of the children had attended the school day.

The excitement we were feeling quickly faded when we heard the reason why so many children were away. Two infants had died over the previous two nights, and the town had closed down in grief. It can take some time for the community to attend to their ‘sorry business’, during which time many students don’t attend school.

 

After settling in we were taken on a school and town tour by James Bryant, the principal of the school.

Still recovering from jetlag (the week before we were in Italy!) we decided on an early night, but whilst in the middle of cooking our evening meal, a man arrived at the door and asked if we wanted to go for a drive …. ‘Of course’, was all I could say!!

Up onto the back of a ute and in no time we were hand feeding 100’s of hungry cattle.  Then as the sun set we drove to the paddock containing the goat herd, where dozens of cute baby kids stayed close to their mothers under the trees or hid under half water tanks for fear of hungry predators. Day one didn’t disappoint… we were in the outback!