Winiata’s Blog

My brother Etere has gone to live in Groote Eylandt, it’s a place in Northern Territory, and it’s an island. The traditional owners of the island are the Anindilyakwa People. The island produces 25% of the world’s magnesium. You have to have permission from the traditional owners to live there. My uncle Keith is a park ranger on the island.

Saturday 28 June

Etere just called us from Groote Eylandt to say he arrived there safely, 5pm NZ time.
Their whole whanau was there at the airport to greet him, as his Aunty Anne had a birthday on Friday & the whanau were over there for that. Uncle Boy went out fishing early this morning, but he is due home shortly.
Etere is being shown around by Anne’s boys, and has settled comfortably into ‘their happy chaotic home’ (says Aunty Anne). They just headed down to the beach to see Uncle come in with the day’s catch.
What a relief to know he got there safely, and he assures his poor mum that he doesn’t miss us one bit!!! (Well, the jury is still out on that one, we’ll see in another week or so…….)

Sunday 29^th June.

Uncle Keith wrote…..Etere arrived safe and well and in good spirits. He’s already found what he likes to do – diving! Went for his first dive & loved it….caught 6 crayfish, a coral trout & a huge cod.
He reckons it’s hot at the moment, but wait until the end of the year, it’s REALLY hot. The only good thing is we’ve got the sea breeze…stops us from melting.
Etere was out in the sun yesterday and did not even burn. I thought his skin was quite pale …but he has already turned a bit olive.
He’s rather quiet, but he’s just finding his way at the moment…as he gets to know everyone he will probably participate in more activities. Last night he was asked by another friend of the family if he would like to go to a blue light disco….so that’s what he is doing tonight.
Love from Boy

Tuesday 1 July
Uncle Keith wrote…..We just had fireworks here. We lit about $600 worth of fireworks in 2 hours, awesome! Yesterday Etere worked with me and two other rangers on building a board and chain road above ground, to protect the sand dunes and surrounding native vegetation from being ripped up by rogue travellers.
The Rangers also show him how to drink from a native plant growing wild on the sand dunes. It looks like a kumara, but you can chew it, or tip your head and squeeze the flesh and get the juice to drip straight into your mouth. It’s not bad either, a little bit like a milky coconut, not too sweet.
Today we took the Ranger boat for a run, about 26 kms out to sea. Etere got onto a nice queen fish just 3 kms away from the wharf, and boy was he excited! He did everything his uncle said, except get the fish into the boat. I was teasing him after that, saying we should call this Etere’s “Catch & Release Fishing Safari“…and everyone just cracked up laughing, including Etere. He actually reminded me of Pompi.
About half an hour later he caught 3 trevally, the largest being about 4-5 kilo.
Love from Boy.

Tuesday 29^th July.

We got a call from Australia last night. Etere just got back from 3 days out camping with the TO’s (as opposed to abbo’s) TO = Traditional Owners – of said island. They went bush, stayed in tents. When we asked ‘did you pack everything up when you came home?’ he says ‘no, they live out there permanently (in tents)’. No power, only a genny, oh, and cell phones of course!!
When they leave (presumably to go walkabout) everything is left as is, and no one takes stuff, just remains untouched until they return.
TO’s took him hunting for bush food, bugs and stuff, a small echidna (must be the oz equivalent of a tuatara).
Etere says “….just used sugar-bags for lizards and mud crabs. YES we saw crocs. In fact I saw my first wild croc, but it was heading into the water and I stayed well away. We were cooking on an open fire, on the sand.”

Sounds like he is having experiences he could never hope to have here in T A. But I’m sad that he’s gone not because I miss him (which I don’t!), but because I have to do all his chores as well as mine! I thought that since he’s gone there’d be fewer dishes (hehehe), but there’s still heaps of work!

But, I get to sleep in his big red bed, and have all his blankets too, so that’s alright.