Wilsons on the road: Monday 25 March 2013

Monday 25 March 2013 - Mittiebah

We’re still here. We keep saying to each other that we should head off soon, but it’s just been so pleasant hanging around. The girls have been (a little) less demanding and are Glenn’s been pottering around helping out as much as he can. Mustering starts soon, probably just after Easter, so in the meantime the workers are just making sure the fences are up to scratch and doing general maintenance to make sure everything’s ready for the busy period. Most days they have breakfast around 6am and knock around 6pm, sometimes earlier and sometimes later. Often they’ll head to the ‘rec club’, an open-walled shed with bar tables and chairs and a fridge full of cold drinks, for a refreshing ale before dinner. When the dinner bell goes, everyone heads over to the kitchen for a delicious home cooked meal.

While Glenn’s been working, I’ve been occupying the girls as best I can. If Sienna has a morning sleep, I’ll take Yasmin to the schoolroom and read with her, or Miss B (Belinda the governess) will get the paints out for her and she’ll do some artwork. Other times we’ll hang out at the tent or in the kitchen (unless we get under Aileen the cook’s feet). The kids have morning smoko at 10am so we usually join them in the kitchen then and afterwards will spend a bit more time in the schoolroom, or occasionally go and see if Clancy is awake at the house (he has a big morning nap). After lunch around 12:30, it’s nap time for both girls.

On Wednesday and Thursday afternoon we loaded up the two girls and Tom and Harry in order to seek out one of the waterholes. It’s a sacred Aboriginal site and there are a few etchings on the rocks there. We didn’t quite find it on Wednesday (Harry and Tom said the track didn’t look right, but it turns out it was, we just didn’t go far enough!) but on Thursday we made it in time for a cooling afternoon swim. The boys skimmed rocks and swam out to where a waterfall runs after it rains and after a quick dip, I watched the little fishes dart around once the water stilled. I even saw a little crab.

On Friday evening everyone meets at the rec club before dinner, which Tom, Harry and Clancy are allowed to come to as well (the two older boys are allowed one softdrink each!). After we had dinner and the girls had gone to bed, Glenn and I joined a couple of the other young ones back at the rec club for a few quiet drinks. It’s really interesting to hear everyone’s background stories, what brings them to Mittiebah and where they aim to be in the next few years.

The weekend was also fairly quiet. Marty and Dan had been away at a conference since Wednesday and some of the workers had headed off to various social events (another station nearby and the Camooweal pub). We hung out with Tom, Harry and Clancy and the girls in charge of them, going for a picnic on Sunday afternoon to a water-lily covered waterhole. It was pretty spectacular when we arrived, as a whole flock of brolgas took off on hearing us approach. Unfortunately this was before I’d got my camera out and sadly, they didn’t return. There’s plenty of birdlife around here – we’ve seen eagles, plain turkeys, kites, grass parrots and last night I disturbed a little tawny frogmouth when I went to the girls’ quarters for a shower.