Yabbies, Chooks and Snakes

Sunday 5^th August 2012

It is hard to know where the days go…. they just drift away. We walked with our food scraps up to feed the chooks, chatting to the children on the way.  We called in to return a saucepan to Kerrie, the nurse and had a chat. We wandered over to see the houses the government workers stay in and ended up having coffee and a very long chat.  Time has a different feel about it when you’re not in a hurry.

 The evening before they had set net traps in the river and caught plenty of yabbies which they were cooking and happy to share with us.

With all this chatting I am learning so much about life in these remote communities. I had heard that the vet was in town for a few days. I was told that a vet hadn’t visited Robinson River for 18 months and that he operated on animals on the back of his ute.

Later in the day we walked down to the river. We crossed a few snake tracks so I asked one of the little children, who astound me with their observations, what the mark in the sand was. “It’s a snake track, Miss”, she replied .“Which way was it going?” I asked. “That way Miss, into the grass.” How clever she is at 5 years of age, I thought. So I asked, “what type of snake was it?” “A King Brown Miss,” she replied without hesitation. “Wow!, How can you tell?” I asked, amazed at her tracking talents. “I saw it cross the track earlier!!” she said.