I have just suffered the greatest humiliation since, in 1985 at Charnwood High in Canberra I was made to stand up in front of the entire school assembly (and Adam Weir) for talking. I remember never having been so embarrassed in my life; until now.

Picture this........
It's 40C and has been since before midday. These parts are known for very scary creatures in the heat of summer so I wasn't all that surprised when I spotted a snake in the front yard just outside the front door. I stood there watching him for a few minutes before I decided to call Justin the snake man. "I'll be there in 5 minutes" says Justin . "Don't take your eyes off him, if he moves away I need you to tell me where he went.".......I tell Justin that when he pulls up the driveway he won't see me because I'm a prisoner, trapped inside the front door, so he'll have to come in the side gate and walk slowly up to the door where the snake is sitting. I stood at the front door eyes plastered on the sanake until true to his word, Justin arrived a few minutes later.

He gets out his snake catcher and a white cloth bag and he makes toward the side gate. I can see him just as he comes around the corner and I say "He hasn't moved". Justin replies......., "That's because he's rubber mate". I say "Oh bullshit, you're kidding" . "nah mate he's rubber alright" says Justin as he picks up 'Mr. Rubber' and hurls him a few feet away. Oh god, "I'm sorry I say. I'm house sitting, I'll kill those mongrels when they get back. I'm so sorry for wasting your time". He turns back toward his car not 30 seconds after he pulled up and says, "you were my 4th call out today. First rubber one but, don't worry about it mate", as he pulls off down the driveway...........oh the shame of it all, in retrospect maybe it wasn't quite as embarrassing as that school assembly.......

If you're ever looking for a change in direction, a new career with a challenge and on the job skills to gather, Alice Springs is the place to be. I reckon I've been offered about 6 or 7 jobs now, and finally one that has a 'feels right' factor despite only being short term until the end of January. I start in just over a week here in town for a week setting myself up for 4 weeks out bush in a community on the edge of the Pitjantjara lands about 45okm's south of Alice. I'll be waking up under a big red rock every morning for 4 weeks and the pub is a bit closer than 530km's away........I've been given the task of mentoring 5 anangu child care staff (don't laugh) and coordinating their school holiday programs for the kids. After xmas in Melbourne I'm back there for 3 weeks before the funding runs out. Then who knows?? I have a pretty good idea what might happen after that but just waiting waiting waiting. We're good at that over here in the Territory. Lots of waiting.......

Now where was I? Oh yes - Rain and Ketisha stayed one night in Lochiel, then headed off toward Coober Pedie. What a weird arse place that is!! Kinda groovy in a what the? kinda way. Driving into Coober Pedie was surreal. It's how I imagine the moon to look like but apparently it's more like Mars. It's a complete sandscape with small buildings and houses (mostly made of sand) dotting the landscape. Many houses are partially or completely beneath the surface of the earth and large piles of sand pop up on the outskirts of town and beyond for as far as the eye can see. There are signs all over the place warning people not to walk backwards lest they fall down a mine shaft and every second shop is an opal shop, lest the mine shafts all over the place. I wasn't sure at first if I liked it, but it has a distinctly european feel about it strangely enough. I read there are 98 different nationalities in CP. It's small, dusty and hot. Definitely not pretty but worth a visit. We ventured about 30km's out, on our way north to an expanse of land called 'The Breakaways'. WOW, it was so awesome. We sat on the top of a cliff I guess you could call it and looked out over hundreds of km's of desert in more colours than you can possibly imagine. Have you ever seen those little bottles of different coloured sand you can buy in tourist shops around the country?? Well that's what it looked like but it was a kick arse bottle. We drove 250km's north of CP and stopped in Marla. Marla is nothing more than a roadside stop with a hotel and a pub which is all one needs really!! We left the girls at home and took A & J out for counter meal. I'm pleased to report the parma in Marla is pretty rockin'. The next day we arrived in Alice, checked into the Desert Palms and sat by the pool under the palm trees for 2 days until J left to fly back to Melbourne. Since then I've been staying with a friend and doing temp work. I've been offered about 4 jobs but nothing quite right just yet. I've moved out of my friends place and into a share house once, only to move out 10 minutes later and I've almost moved out a second time until I remembered I didn't have a real job so probably should sloooooooooow down and get a job before I start to pay rent. I've almost joined the labour party. Don't laugh!!!! I got dragged to a meeting last week which I have to tell you was 99% BBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORING, but the last 10 minutes were interesting. It was revealed that Claire Martin - the Chief Minister for the territory has passed a bill to restructure the governance in remote indigenous communities. Governance will be removed from individual communities and shires will be created where several communitites fall under the umbrella of one shire. I'm a little sceptical as I can see ATSIC problems arising again but I think it's great that the thought processes are in motion and change is afoot. The situation in remote aboriginal communities is catastrophic in my opinion, with far too many ill meaning people given jobs out bush only to squander every penny and piece of capital equipment for their own personal gain. Just 2 weeks ago I met the town clerk from a small community in the Western Desert who was appointed 3 months ago and has just recently left. Previous town clerks had sold every piece of equipment in the community - backhoes, vehicles, computers, graders and the like - pocketed the money and took off. They left this community with no money in the bank and no equipment to function effectively. As a result, the govt. have ceased supplying the community with funding and so the circle continues. There are those who believe this is reasonable given the recent history but what they forget is that it wasn't the communities fault, yet it is they who suffer. The govt. are largely responsible for what took place because financial reports, KPI's and acquittals had'nt been submiited to the funding bodies of govt. for years yet no one at govt. level asked the question why. No one followed it up. No one looked out for this community and as a result they are now in dire circumstances. This type of thing happens all over the territory, predominantly in the centre. God, it's so tragic. Anyway back to the ALP. It was really good to hear this information from the coal face, something that, had I not been to that meeting I'd know nothing about. It was an interesting exercise......