Tjilpi

The Perquisites of Youth

I was 19 when I first came to Alice Springs.   It was January 1968.  I had hitched-hiked down from Darwin.

For 3 days I sat just south of Heavitree Gap, in sight of the mission of the Little Sisters of Mercy. 

Aborigines gathered in the Todd River bed just as they had always done, and just as they do today.  I watched them, and I watched the sun rise and set on the Namitjira colours of the McDonnells.

The 10 year drought, which had lasted from 1956 to 1966 had well and truly broken and rains were falling regularly again.  Massive flocks of budgerigars were wheeling through the sky like radio controlled clouds.

The Finke River was in flood and no cars were able to get to Adelaide over the washed out unsealed South Stuart Highway. As a result, the Ghan, which was able to get through over the old track via Oodnadatta and Marree was packed with cars and people.

There was no room for somebody who hadn’t booked ahead, but I was lucky enough to get a job as a kitchen hand in the buffet car.

I left Alice Springs peeling potatoes and washing dishes as the train made its 24 hour journey to Pt Augusta.

I knew I would be back....

[Text first published by Tjilpi on Tjilpi’s Blog Thursday, 03 February 2005]

This Bl***ing Life

Why do I do it?

Maybe it is the distant friends one makes along the way, who prod one back into their blog pod?

When I was a kid we had "Pen Pals".  That took Airmail Paper and Real Stamps.

I used to correspond with a girl in Ceylon.

Her name was Padmani Daswani.

I remember that.

We exchanged a few letters until one day, she asked me to send her a Koala Bear. 

That was beyond the scope of a 10 year old, so I stopped Pen-Palling.

So, if anyone out there asks for a Koala Bear, you will hear no more from me!