East Arnhem Land
To get to East Arnhem Land is no easy feat. It is a 2-day drive. 2 days of non-stop corrugations and rough roads. 770kms, 12hrs drive. This road is called the Central Arnhem Road.
Ready to start our journey to Nhulunbuy
At first we weren’t sure if we could just do one big day. (we have been trying to book in with the only campground but no-one would pick up the phone/ no online booking available). So we started the day fresh and was going to see where it took us.
The drive was long, corrugated & rough but good. Even saw a few groups of buffalo on the way.
Day two we saw even more wildlife, more Buffalo, a big wild pig and even lucky enough to see a Frill Neck Lizard. The Buffalo seemed to think they could hide behind the tree & we wouldn’t see them.
With a deadline to reach camp by 2pm to get ready for our video call with In Between Studio to deliver our brand identity, we set back off. A few snack and photo stops, we made it.
Table, chairs and laptop set up, we were ready. The call came. The girls… more than delivered, we absolutely love their designs, the colours, fonts, graphics. Everything.
On a video call to In Between Studios, delivering our brand design.
To top our day off, Bron & Soph (couple we met in Darwin) messaged us, they have been talking and checking out our Instagram: would we photograph their wedding? Wow, what an honour & surprise. Watch this space, we may become event and Wedding photographers along the way.
East Arnhem Live
Now the main reason we are here in East Arnhem Land is to photograph the music festival, East Arnhem Live. See our other blog that is dedicated to the event. From the set up, building a gaint tipi to how it looked and felt to photograph a music festival.
The Hog Shed
The Hog Shed. A shed in the Industrial Estate of Nhulunbuy which is set up as a BYO alcohol venue where the public can attend and bands get up and have a jam. It was the after party for the festival.
For us, we walked in the door to look for Matt and hear “you got to donate” repetitively over the mic & turn to see a guy shaking the tin. Turns out they operate on a gold coin (or QR code scan) donation to attend, we didn’t know. “We are looking for someone”. Shortly after the owner changed his tune, apologised and everything changed. Matt walked in, gave us a few drinks.
The cultural politics summed up in one image: Sacred site & mining operations… the following conversation touches on this.
Not long after entering we started talking to a guy called Scotty. Turns out he and his wife moved from Sydney to Arnhem land 20 years ago for work, loved it and stayed. Polite chit chat turned deeper as the talk turned to Aboriginal culture and communities up here. Arnhem Land has been the most integrated/immersed between Indigenous and non-Indigenous we have come across so far (they actually mix and hang out together) in our journey around Australia. Scotty explained the complexity and elephant in the room of the Indigenous problems as he has found them. The quick explanation: their culture works different. They wanted no alcohol and mining here. Laws were passed to take these decisions away and to be made by Aus government and councils. As a result, both are here. Nhulunbuy is town still operating due to the Rio Tinto mine. As the communities struggled with alcohol, domestic violence etc, people were sent into Arnhem Land to support them. This led to the Indigenous reliant on the programs. Their laws work different, they may have communities but the government runs the rules for the community, not the Indigenous. The jobs are not given to the Indigenous. The whole system is wrought with politics. If funding is given for here it is put in developing Nhulunbuy. The school here in Nhulunbuy does not teach Indigenous studies or language (instead taught Spanish). Another example is the Garma Festival. This is a 4-day festival that celebrates Aboriginal culture here in Arnhem Land. So it is sold as. It used to be a free festival, now its $1500 if you want to attend the whole 4 days. The locals can attend for free on one of these 4 days. They make $400,000 in merch. It is very catered to the rich wanting the experience. A corporate event, big business, sending the sales person to be seen there. Not at all authentic but rather zoo like where people spend money to come and look at the Aboriginals. Giving them money is not the answer, Scott tells us. It keeps them dependent on the services and on the government (these change every time government changes).
Astrid boldly asked the question: “how do you fix it?”. Scotty’s answer: Risky move but let them run their community. No government agencies and programs. Let them choose who is employed & into what roles. Let them use their rules to run the community not ours.
This is one of the few times we have enjoyed talking any form of politics or taboo. It is the most misunderstood concept in Australia. This experience in Arnhem Land has been a big eye opener. To open our eyes to see it, not necessarily from one side or another but see it as how the two cultures mix/don’t mix. The conversation with Scotty is one that has made a big impact on us & has us moved.
A few drinks later we called it a night and headed back to camp, Scotty’s conversation very much on our minds.
Beaches of Nhulunbuy
After a few days of editing photos, we decided it was time to explore what we came to see. We set off with the plan of exploring Little Bondi Beach, Turtle Beach, Macassan Beach & Goanna Lagoon.
Heading out on the tracks to explore the beaches.
Little Bondi
We started at the furthest point and work our way backwards. Little Bondi Beach. A secluded beach, up a soft sand track and onto the beach … stunning! We love it here, & decided that once our time camping at the Gove Boat Club was up, we were booking a night here to camp. The only bad bit, the water might be beautiful and inviting but its full of crocs so it doesn’t matter how hot it is, or how beautiful it looks, you can only look. No swimming.
Turtle Beach
Time for the next beach, Turtle Beach. This one we were expecting to be super cute as that’s where the guys from the festival were headed. For us, it was nice but didn’t compare to Little Bondi, you can’t drive on the beach. The camping is up the track by the road & walk down to the beach.
Macassan Beach
Finally Macassan Beach. A beach and rocky outcrops. Perfect spot for lunch. As we pulled in and popped the lid, getting comfy, a turtle was swimming just out from the rockpools. Lunch done, we wandered amongst the rockpools. Even found a deep one that we went for a little dip in. Giggling & inspecting the rockpools like kids until a couple wandered up to us worried about our proximity to the ocean, saying they have seen crocs come up on these rocks. Nope, that us done. Out we hopped and headed back to the car and off in the direction of Goanna Lagoon.
Goanna Lagoon
Goanna Lagoon, the only “safe” spot to have a swim. Now Instagram is very generous on its angles, making the channel you can swim in look quite large … in real life, maybe it’s no longer than 15meters. But it was cute and so nice to be able to get into the water for a swim. Especially if that person is Astrid, to watch her swim upstream against the current and sit under the waterfall. Not exactly the most graceful but definitely entertaining.
Memorial Park < Pumba breaks
Now Memorial Park is one of the tricky to get to spots in Arnhem Land, not so much geographically but because if you want to drive and check it out, you can’t. You can only visit this site if you book a camp spot here. Or come as part of the convoy with a max of 5 cars.
Now we didn’t book a camp site but our neighbours at our current camp (Gove Boar Club) were moving on and headed to Memorial Park. They invited us if we wished to join them out there for the day to check it out. We jumped at the opportunity and got ourselves ready. Not quite as quick off the mark as them, we left shortly after them.
20 mins into the drive (5mins onto corrugations and one bar of reception left before dropping out) WAAAAMP up spiked the revs. Each time any pressure went on the accelerator, the revs spiked. We pulled over. Tried first gear. WAAAAMP … but couldn’t drive. Actually, we couldn’t even stall it. Nothing. Hmmmmm. Got out, had a look. Nothing… but it stunk. Have we done the clutch? We have pressure on it but it doesn’t work?
We called Lukas “Have you got lockers?” Yep “Put it in 4x4, lockers on. Can you drive?” “Yep” as we rolled forward we could hear the grinding crunching noise of metal in the rear passenger side wheel. “You’ve snapped your axle”.
Shit. 2.5 days drive to Katherine, 20 mins back to Nhulunbuy. Astrid messaged Matt (our contact from the festival) “we are broken down, who is a mechanic you recommend?” We called Kaleb, 3 week wait. Hmmm. We called mechanics in Nhulunbuy and the one we were booked in with in Katherine. Mixed reports, some say drive it, some say don’t. We called Pacific Deisel and got onto Vince. He had someone cancel for tomorrow, he can slot us in.
Vince recommended a Tow Truck company. $1000 for the tow … wtf, 20 mins $1000? Ouch. I mean we didn’t have a choice though. He went down to $700. Done. We sat on the side of the road, awning out to escape the heat, waiting for tow truck.
Eventually Geoff arrived. As he loaded Pumba he shared his most interesting tow story: the cops interviewed him about assisting a Cocaine and escaped prisoner. What? A guy with a van called the tow truck for a tow, throwing cash at him but not wanting him to get into the van. He said something felt off. Turns out there was a few million dollars of cocaine hidden in the van and a guy who had escaped from a NSW prison and was on the run hiding in the bed above the cab. Geoff had no idea.
Chatting our way to Vinces workshop, he unloaded Pumba, Vince drove Pumba up onto the hoist & took off the rear hub to reveal some bad news: Pumba’s rear axle was snapped & in a lot of pieces in the housing.
What is bad news about this? The rear axle is not stock. It has been track-corrected. It’s 100mm wider so that the front and rear tyres line up. A Dana 60 rear axle. Not a part that is going to be found anywhere in Nhulunbuy. Means that we have to order it to be flown in from Brisbane. Bummer.
It took the boys nearly 3 hours to remove the old axle. Full team effort, switching between the guys to get this out.
The one thing that was lucky for us: Vince has a studio apartment attached to the workshop. We are welcome to stay in the apartment while the boys fix Pumba. We got so lucky. Ray and Vince have saved us so much stress!
At first we felt uncertain about staying in their unit, it was easy in Pumba, everything was there. A hot nights sleep later we moved our stuff out of Pumba and into the unit.
How Nhulunbuy works:
Beers. BBQ and beers. Now to buy takeaway alcohol here you need a permit. One that takes a week or so to process. We figured we would be staying here for 5 days. We won’t get one and we will have a dry week. This was not a great idea.
Turns out we spent a month in Nhulunbuy (28th Aug – 22nd Sept). A month being unable to buy alcohol in a town whose whole culture is around drinking. Anytime Vince or Ray saw us in the afternoon “Beer?”. Other times they didn’t ask, just handed us a beer. We have left Nhulunbuy beer drinkers.
Another thing we quickly learnt: Vince is a BBQ god! While we were stayed with them, he cooked the most delicious meets on the smoker/bbq. Pork, lamb … makes me drool just thinking about it! We have left Nhulunbuy beer drinkers and a weakness for BBQ.
Our afternoons/evening consisted of BBQ, beers and watching the footy.
Yirrkala
After spending a lot of the time in the unit, we decided it was time to use the 4x4 Vinces lent us to explore the area. We headed in the direction of Yirrkala. One of the Aboriginal communities out this way & the one with a famous art gallery everyone was recommending.
Now the gallery is one of the best presented Indigenous art galleries we have seen. It has some incredible art, it is however very expensive. The paintings aren’t the usual, painted on canvas, they are painted on bark. In the wet season, the bark is stripped off the trees, straightened and dried out. Once dry the artists paint on these. The indigenous art here is different to what we are used to seeing. Arnhem Land artists use a more cross hatch style design in comparison to the dot paintings we are used to seeing.
Other “canvas” the artists have chosen to use is street signs. Here they engrave & etch their art. Only one side of the gallery can you photograph, the other where the artists work, you cannot.
After the gallery we decided to go and check out the beach, the turquoise blue waters glowing in the distance. Shady beach was Matts tip. Off we went. The beaches here are incredible, almost resembling the Whitsundays, a photo does not do it justice. Sadly, they are also covered in trash from the locals.
After having to watch & not swim (later found out from Vince that this beach is full of crocs so glad we didn’t get tempted) we drove through town. Another Indigenous town with friendly locals but also one with a lot of trash and abandoned cars littering the streets. Below are a few shots we got while in town.
Conquer the Corrugations
Conquer the Corrugations is a mental health awareness walk that is done annually where people are invited to walk 30kms (over 2 days) up the Central Arnhem Highway. As the name suggests, conquering the corrugations. The corrugations symbolising those that occur in life.
Mental health is big up here, the indigenous have a very high suicide rate here in Arnhem Land. There were many people who wore a shirt in honour of someone they have lost to suicide.
We contacted the organiser and asked if they would like us to photograph the event for them. They jumped at the opportunity. We made our way to the starting line.
9am start, speeches a stretch and they were off. We walked and photographed the group, got a lift to the front and let them walk past us again, photographing.
Everyone participating or helping out was really positive and happy. This town always has a lot going on. After a few hours we headed back to the house to edit and then join Vince & Ray for a night of footy.
Our time in Nhulunbuy
The 3 weeks at the workshop went fast. From photographing the mental health walk, we also found ourselves on the field with guys playing touch footy.
Vince and Ray also have a coffee shop together (operates 6 days a week). As a way to give back to them, we volunteered to photograph the coffee shop so they can update their google account. So down to the coffee shop for breakfast & coffee and then photograph.
We also took some photo’s for Vince of his workshop and the boys so he could update his Google page.
BBQ and beers is how the evenings looked. Or footy, BBQ and beers. Each of us taking turns cooking meals for each other, although I think Vince takes the tile for best cook.
On the night that we had to ourselves we got to do what most people take for granted, watch TV. It felt so alien to us but maybe 4 nights in that month we watched a movie together. Sounds like nothing special, but for us who even before travelling the world had only watched one movie together, this was a treat. Also turns out Netflix has games. Found ourselves hooked on the smashing fruit game.
Then back to being immersed in the town activities. The Nhulunbuy vs Darwin NRL was on. A game that has a lot of hype and excitement around it. Down to the fields we went, camera in hand to capture some shots of the local boys.
When not photographing, we were busy. Astrid busy building this website. Bec writing blogs, editing photos. Both of us working on the Send it for the Strays campaign. This three weeks may not of been what we wanted but it was productive and we made the most of it.
It may of taken nearly three weeks but the axle finally arrived. When we arrived with a snapped axle, Vince was straight on it and ordered it. They sent it straight up. Unfortunately the post lost it. So Dans Trans sent another. The post lost this one too. Dans then sent a third. Finally the first one arrived. The boys fitted it (even left a note on the hub) and we took it for a test drive to make sure everything was all good before leaving.
Our time in Arnhem Land/Nhulunbuy was meant to be 5 days. It turned out to be a month. Our time here we are grateful, grateful for Vince and Ray, grateful for how much in the community we got to be involved and grateful for how much we managed to achieve while here.
I couldn’t end this blog without adding the some photo’s of Vince, his bikes and his dogs, Boof & Blue.
