Marja Mob-leadership camp 2010
ICEA Mentor Marja Mob leadership camp
September 2010 – Blog
The trip started of with a bang when Lockie thought the flight left 20 minutes later then it actually was. Once made aware of this, it was on! With the smell of burnt rubber and a collection of speed records Lockie picked us up from home with nothing but a swag and the clothes on our back, and a bag full clothes but that is irrelevant to this adveture story.
On our arrival to the airport it was a team effort. Oli and Steady diving out of the car in a mad rush to get to check-in closely followed by Will, Lockie and I with swags and bags flying everywhere. Once we were out the counter we knew we had to do something drastic to persuade the virgin team to allow us to bored. Oli took one for the team when he used his silver tongue and a few tears to win over the hostess. One by one our swags hit the check-in booth.
WE MADE IT! We boarded the plane! The ICEA mob was on the plane. Now here we have time to reflect and think about what we want out of this trip. I think for all of us the most important thing is to see and experience the kids of the remote communities. We want to see how the incentives can help these kids create opportunities for themselves. We also can’t wait to spend the night out with Kevin Ejai, aboriginal elder, living off the land and getting to taste the Bardi people’s treasured turtle.
DAY TWO - Will Clappin
The day started early with a quick brekie, before we hit the long strait road up to one arm point. Lockie once again set a new record behind the wheel and had us at the tip of the peninsula in no time. Strait away we were put to work pumping up and labelling the footys, netballs, soccer balls and volleyballs that were to be handed out to the kids whilst lockie had his usual chat with whoever he could find. Stead even broke a sweat with his pumping duties, not sure if this was a reflection of the hot humid morning, or just another of his weird traits. The time at the schools was action packed with a record number of students reaching the 85% attendance requirement in order to receive a ball. With the first taste of remote schooling the boys were most impressed with students enthusiasm, however we were more impressed with some student attire, they are trend setters up here.
A quick exit was required in order for us to reach Lomabina located back down the peninsula. This was prevented somewhat as Lockie in all his hast to distribute the gear left the lights of the troopy on, resulting in a flat battery. Lucky however despite a number of questionable frames and a bung arm amongst us we had the power to push start the car back into action. We were welcomed in Lombadina with an impromptu game of footy with the kids as well as a knock around on the newly built basketball court, making it pretty clear that the brand new sports equipment that we were providing was going to be valued and put to good use.
From there it was back to beagle bay. With a quick lunch at home in which we dove into and annihilated loaves of bread, a whole chook, salad and multiple cans of tuna. After lunch we headed over to the school where we handed out the incentives before Lockie held a colourful water safety and surf lifesaving talk to which the students were fascinated, taking away some valuable knowledge and possibly something new to add to their vocabulary. After school finished we spent a few hours playing with the kids at the school testing out their new footies and basketballs. The kids wore us out with their requests for shoulder rides, playing and even mucking about with the surf life saving belt on the basketball court.
In the evening we headed up to kooljaman for a swim as the sunset, or very soon after, our timing wasn’t great. After some beach antics were headed up the hill for dinner at the restaurant. We all were feeling the connection to the Kimberly area and ordered barramundi, a fitting end to a busy day on the peninsula.
DAY THREE - Andrew Stead
A bright and early 6am wakeup greeted us, and we had to get straight into cleaning the house, have brekky and be on the road at about 7. Staying true to our form of the trip, we left at about 7:30, and the returned to the house around 8ish to retrieve some money that was stashed and then forgotten. Eventually we made it to One Arm Point, where we met up with Kevin Ejai and his mob. The plan for the day was to fishing and snorkelling in the morning, then a few different things in the arvo.
Kevin’s mob included his wife, Donna, and some of the extended family kids Zac, Herman, Jerry, Kamus and Sonny. They taught us how to make spears: from trimming the wood, drying it, bending it and then attaching a metal prong on the end. We spent a fair bit of time making these, and then the rest of the morning was dedicated to testing them out. I went with Will around trying to find some fish or crab to spear to prove ourselves, but the closest we got was about a 20cm fish that somehow found its way onto the end of Will’s spear. The rest of the crew was hanging out at one of the points fishing and using the spear gun. Lock got a cod and Kevin and the boys caught some other fish. About 50m from where we were standing (we think) a Tiger Shark found something. Around 1 o’clock the tide started coming back and we all headed back to the beach to find Bessie and Donna preparing some damper for us.
I was starving! The morning seemed like it lasted forever and we all nailed heaps of the tasty damper. I think this bout of damper, butter and syrup was my best feed of the trip.
After lunch we packed the car back in and went to the One Arm Point Hatchery where they have all these marine animals in tanks. They had turtle, barramundi and loads of different types of fish. Compared to the hands on trip we’d been having so far, this part was a bit boring. All the boys quickly got bored and we moved onto, as Lock described it, Lover’s Rock, The Ejai mob called it Round Rock. This was
awesome fun. I’d seen pictures of when Lock had been before to it, but this time it was really different. The tide was way down, and the reaction of our hosts initially was that it wasn’t a go, and we’d have to go home.
Then out of nowhere, Jerry jumped in and it was game on. You had to be pretty careful of where you were jumping, but everyone came out all right. It was just the young guys now, the older people were on their way. Everyone was putting down backflips and big dives off these rocks. Zac, Herman and Kamus didn’t come in – they stayed on the rocks being our photographers!
We were off again, this time to find where we were going to be sleeping for the night. Guided by Kevin in his trusty Ford Falcon (that seemed to have better 4WD than our one) we went to his sister’s property to find long stretching sand dunes and a beautiful scenic river. We killed time by doing jumps off tall sand dunes. We probably spend around an hour or two on this. By chance, the place we were causing a ruckus turned out to be the place we were going to spend the night. It was an awesome spot with ocean views and a big wind block thanks to the dunes wrapping around us.
Donna and Kevin had planned to meet us at the central point of the property for dinner. We were eating turtle and salad while listening to Kevin’s Mum (Bessie) tell us dreamtime stories. It was awesome hanging out with the kids and also getting an insight into the cultural differences between the Bardi people and us. We stayed at the camp fire for a while drinking tea, Talking to Eury Hunter the owner of the land we were on, waiting for Kevin to take Bessie home. After this Lock dropped us at home (the spot we found earlier) and we started to set up camp.
I think we were all a bit naïve to where we were staying – Donna and Kevin seemed pretty freaked out about crocs! We got the fires blaring in no time, then a few of us even carried and entire tree to it - planning on putting the trunk in later. Throughout the night we went mud crap hunting (got donuts) and others had a bit of success fishing. Eventually we went to bed in our swags and got a surprisingly killer sleep.
Day 4 – Oliver Angliss
The lads arose to the crisp Kimberly sun, glad to find that no-one had been taken by any unwanted, large, scary swimming reptiles (much to the thanks of Kevin Eji, who spent all night on patrol). It was Thursday, the last day of the trip and there were mud crabs to be caught, so without delay the crew rolled their swags, extinguished the fires and loaded the troopy. Unfortunately the wind which had cursed the whole trip had not relented and was blowing stronger then ever. Such conditions made for an interesting breakfast of weet-bix sugar coated in red dirt - this was met by the far cries of Andrew “nothing like the taste of red earth, hey boys, hey boys?”.
The convoy, filed out of Hunter’s creek, in haste of a secret mud-crab location. We were met by the rightful landowners, Herman’s father and given the necessary tools needed to trap the large, clawed crustaceans. Sunscreen jobs were done and booties were donned by the wisest of the group as the crew headed out into the mangroves. What eventuated over the next couple of hours is still considered a mystery, what was meant to be a creek flooded with mud-crabs was found to be anything but the sought. With the catch of the day going to Lockie “The Boss” Cooke, with a old purple shelled muddy. Lucky for the foreigners, the experience of Kevin meant that we would not leave empty handed, with Kevin returning with a half-full bucket of crabs. Quickly sizzled on the open fire, the fresh mud-crabs put 5-star dining to shame.
Unfortunately though this feast spelt the end of our time with Kevin, Donna and family. Sad goodbyes were undertaken and the aboriginal boys all received classy ICEA trucker caps for their kind hospitality and friendship. For the last time the troopy was loaded, and the boys were bound for Broome.
The trip home was full of mixed emotions. What an experience we had had, it was sad to leave the Peninsula but we left with amazing memories of in my mind a special, near untouched piece of land in our great north. Once in Broome the red dust was washed off at the famous Cable beach and sun-tans/burns were compared. In true ICEA style the boys were late for there flight, but nothing was stopping us from getting on that flight home full of stories to share upon arrival in the Big Smoke.
The kindness, friendship and hospitality of all the people we met in the communities will never be forgotten and they can’t be thanked enough. What can I say… I’m just looking forward to my next opportunity with ICEA!