I thought I might write a quick blog about where I am at the moment – some of my other posts might make more sense if you know where I am. Also, I am planning on being a travelling writer very soon and I thought it might be nice to share all of the places I go to with my fans! π Oh, when I say “travelling writer”, I mean a writer who travels a lot not a “travel writer”, a writer who writes for travel magazines or sites! But maybe I can work that in on the sidelines! π
So, as of early 2014, I am residing on a small, remote island called Groote Eylandt, off the eastern coast of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is in the tropics, so I can call it a tropical island, but it doesn’t really fit the images of what most people think when they hear “tropical island”! The water does look beautifully inviting but there are lots of crocodile sightings and jelly fish in the area, so not a good idea to go swimming! The flora is also not quite tropical – mostly your standard Australian bush, if not a bit greener during the wet season. The only palm trees I’ve seen are in peoples gardens in the mining town! π
It is populated by Aboriginals and is also home to a mining operation that is mining manganese. It’s thanks to the mining operation that this island is not as remote and deserted as a lot of other communities I have been on in my childhood – there is a tiny town called Alyangula where all the fly-in-fly-out miners stay (as well as most of the permanent live-on-island non-indigenous people) and it has a supermarket, a post office, a school for all the non-indigenous kids that are on island with their parents, a rather large and quite nice pub, a resort and even an ANZ bank!
I did not expect all of this stuff when I first arrived. All the communities I grew up on only had a small shop with the bare necessities and it was usually at least a two-hour drive to any sort of civilisation, but more often it was longer and you had to make a week-end trip of it to do your grocery shopping!
There are two Aboriginal communities on the island – the largest is called Angurugu (pronounced an-oo-roo-goo) which is where I am currently living and the other is called Umbakumba. Milyakburra is another community that is on a smaller island just off the coast, called Bickerton Island. I work at all three of these communities, at the schools as the nutrition coordinator, making sure the Aboriginal kids get some healthy meals. As far as jobs go, it’s a pretty great job!
So that’s my position in the world at the moment, but that is likely to change before the end of the year as my husband and I are planning on moving overseas, so keep your ears open for that exciting development! π