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27 November 2004
G’day there.
It’s a hot & steamy time up here in the land of afternoon monsoon storms, lizards scuttling along the walls and breakfast on the balcony.
Cath reckons that the little geckos who regularly race across the walls here look like fridge magnets. I think she’s right. These agile fridge magnets seem to be guarding our flat, as they scatter all over the outside walls whenever we arrive home. In the main they have done a fine job, though a couple of nights ago I ventured out into the land of the David Attenborough documentary (outside our door step) to find a green tree frog trying to pick the lock on my bike. You can’t relax for a moment up here.
My last report might have mentioned Darwin heat. Well, with the benefit of hindsight it shouldn’t have. Heat is a concept that we re-learn every day, as each day is more oppressive than the last. (A warning for the squeamish – tune out here and re-join at the end of the paragraph). Writing this, for instance, I am inside the loungeroom and it is 7:24pm. Every door is open. Every louvre window is open. Both ceiling fans are spinning like mad. The slight zephyr of breeze that passes my bare skin (it’s OK, I’m wearing shorts) tries to take away the sweat but my cooling mechanism is not quite up to it. Sweat beads in clumps on my forearms here and gathers in capillaries before joining into a 5th order stream network. The ABC news reports 84% relative humidity today at 9am, maximum temp 34°C.
CJ is at her weekly drawing course right now. She’ll tell you she can’t draw at all (but I’ll tell you something different). If you ever need an apple sketched in grey-lead pencil, I know someone. At work CJ’s been working on many different projects with the Department of Health & Community Services, with one field trip to Katherine the other day. The policy position she’s got looks like being very interesting.
I’ve got 2 weeks left with the Water Resources group at NT Gov. For the past 2 weeks or so I’ve been involved (as a field sampler) in the eradication of a weed from the Darwin River. Crikey, has this been an eye-opener. The quick version is that an exotic aquarium plant was dumped in the Darwin River and has colonized a 10km section downstream of the town dam. If it spreads it could be disastrous for NT rivers. So a temporary dam wall was built across the river to contain the affected section, and an alarming pesticide poison 2,4-D, was applied to the river. This will hopefully kill the weed (and everything else) in the river soon, and the dead section of river will be rejuvenated before being released to the harbour. The whole thing is much more complicated, but I’ve been out on the Darwin River taking water samples for the past fortnight.
Imagine being hotter than if you’d done something hot on the hottest day you can ever imagine. Sitting in a canoe or a little tinny with the sun beating down… The Darwin rural area is routinely ~42°C. I know how an egg feels as it is cracked above a frying pan. At one of the places where we launch our boat, there’s a soberly placed steel crocodile trap, complete with bait (rotting chicken carcass), as a salty has been seen in the area; posing a threat to nearby landowners. As I thrust my gloved left hand repeatedly into the murky river water to collect water samples, I need to believe the words of my local partner: “You wouldn’t catch me doing this at dawn or dusk, but crocs understand that the middle of the day is OUR time on the river.” Right.
We had a top weekend in Melbourne, last; great to catch up with news and events. The stand-out highlight being the wedding of Jeff and Kirsten. A wonderfully picturesque ceremony in the grandstand of the Brunswick Street Oval. In Melbourne we relished the touch of a soft cool breeze. And we each turned the hot tap of the shower for the first time since September. Being back after an absence of a couple of months brought a few things into focus: there are too many cars on the roads of Melbourne. Brunswick Street on Friday night was outrageous. The mobile phone is King. All hail the King. And all the grass is green. It was all yellowy brown when we left. And the back streets of Richmond haven’t become any easier to navigate.
CJ is riding to work most days up here – a superhuman feat. Full of good intentions, my latest effort ended with a puncture 7km from home and an ignominious hour-long run/ shuffle/ sweaty walk. Up here Car is King. (Or rather 4x4 ute is King; car is Weedy Prince).
We’re staying in Darwin now until late January. Anyone who’s in the neighbourhood, let us know. We had dinner with Brad Williams and Valerie last week, which was amazing in Darwin, and we also has a feed with Jenny & Richard a few weeks before that. Thanks for the messages from down south and all over. They are very well received. Sorry we were unable to catch more people on the weekend just gone; I hope you’re all well.
Ciao belli,
Top End Tom & Kakadu Cath.