week 27

Warning! Nardia, probably best if you don’t read this entry!

Almost all packed up. After four months in one spot we are all spread out and in a mess! Had a bit of a thank you - farewell - birthday dinner for Tim on Saturday night, which was a lovely gesture of the boss. We tried long-neck turtle! A bit…. Hhmmm… chewy! LOL! Plus I was told to grab a leg and peel the skin off which is a little offputting when you can see the long claws of the thing and the skin is quite tricky to peel away. Anyway, they were part of the farewell gesture from the mob here and I was actually really keen to taste it but it was not quite what I expected for some reason.

We did not get to see them cook it the first time but then on Monday afternoon they cooked up the last of them. It had been a stinking hot day (38’C) and around 4pm a bit of a breeze picked up and cooled things down a bit (maybe 34’C!) so we figured it was cool enough for a fire! ROFL! Bloody crazy. Anyway, Zac got some dried pandanas seeds that make great heat-beads and also add a nice smoked flavour. Then he lay the turtle belly down on the pandanus seeds until it started to cook just a little and then turned it over and cooked it more until the legs poked right out. Then he took it off the fire and tried to slit the throat to reach in to pull the intestines out in one piece because they are apparently really tasty! ?? Anyway, did not work out so well! And he had to try again from the bum end. Not pretty! After that it went back on the coals until it was all roasted. Then he split the shell to expose the belly and meat inside.


I had intended to try some more of it but Jordy had a minor accident with a bit of a split lip so I was back in the van when it was all scoffed down. Tim said he tried the intestine, the meat and the green bile bit that is supposed to be delicious but it still tasted like bleugh! The smell is something I could not describe either. Most meat I think smells quite appetizing while it is cooking… but turtle really smells odd.

We were chatting about how the old women find the long- neck turtles cos we had heard out at Kakadu on the ranger talk about how they walk through the mud and look for little bubbles and they reach into the mud up to their elbows and drag out a turtle… pretty impressive we thought. So we asked about how Zac and Sam went when the old aunties took them out to get them. Must be modern bush tucker cos apparently, if you know where to go and at what time, the turtles just walk right out on the road and you drive past and pick them up! LOL! They drive up and down this section of road at whatever time of day and by the time they reach the end of the road and turn around another turtle will be there… up and back, up and back, until they have enough!

Not much else to talk about except the weather. Bleugh. The build up has begun and it’s hot and muggy and the nights are sticky and the afternoon and early morning sky is pull of storm clouds that do nothing except make you think it might just rain to cool things off but instead they just hang around and do nothing. Talking to customers today though and they were out at Labelle Station (about 15km or so away) and this afternoon it bucketed down out there. The people were southerners and they said they had never seen rain like it. I want to see it!!!! But if it does not rain really soon we will miss out (for this year at least).

Not long to go!!! Jordy is really enjoying his countdoan calendar and has started to ask where abouts on the calendar was Lala’s visit and things like that so we had to get a bigger calendar to show him more dates . So that was fun too. He is getting really excited about our train trip and he also can’t wait to head off on “the big road” to see new stuff and to see the really big rock (Uluru).

I can’t wait to have a real shower with fresh clean water! I can’t wait to have grass instead of sand. I can’t wait to get out and see something different. I can’t wait to have phone and internet reception again. I can’t wait to escape the constant background HUM of the generator.

I will really REALLY miss the food! All you can eat cheesecake and apple pie and jam drops and barramundi and kangaroo and T-bones and delicious wombok salad and super salad with the works sandwiches and beers and chips and milkshakes and iced coffees…..

I won’t miss the snakes or the cane toads but I will miss the wallabies and Darcy will miss all the lizards and bugs.

I am totally annoyed that I never got a chance to get any of the local geocaches! Pathetic! I know. But the couple of ones that I tried with the kids were just too hard while lugging them along with me and I never got back on my own. One more reason to make sure I head back this way again.