After nosing our way through the floating residences in the bay, we found a particular bit of water that was just right for anchoring in. Ian dropped the anchor and stood there for some time observing, just in case we had made a mistake. Good, all was well.
Time to grab our towels and shampoo as well as our growing collection of rubbish and head to shore. The Gove Harbour Boat Club is open Thu - Sun so we were in luck and took out a one week membership for $10 each which entitled us to facilities we were in desperate need of.
I think we got our full value after that first shower. They must have been getting ready to call the police to get us out.
Smelling socially acceptable, we went and had a meal in the boat club. While there we met John and Barbara who were on their way to Darwin.
The following day, we caught a bus into town (Nhullumbuy) to restock essential items. We thought we would hire a car for a day as we needed to buy 4 jerry cans of diesel. The bus driver told us that hire cars were $300 a day so we decided to do without the extra diesel!
As the bottle-shops didn't open till 2 o'clock, we needed to kill a bit of time - it was only 10 o'clock. Lucky we ran into one of the others who had caught our bus. He informed us that we would have to get a Liquor Permit to buy alcohol and pointed out the office where we could obtain it.
It was starting to look like there was not much you could do in this part of the world without a permit for whatever it was that you wanted to do.
So, off we went to the liquor permit place.
"Are you in here for a Liquor Permit?" asked the friendly lady in the office.
"Yes", we said enthusiastically in unison.
"I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait. The lady who issues those has been called to Darwin and won't be back till Monday."
We got our groceries, missed the bus by ten minutes and would have to wait for another two hours for the next one. Our groceries wouldn't survive that long. We got back to the boat club minus $35 for the 10 minute taxi ride. Living isn't cheap in this town explained the taxi driver. He told us how much he would like to go to Cairns.
This video goes for about 8 mins. Ian appears in it for a short while as I pan around the audience, the rest is The musicians.
Saturday was AFL grand final day which was to be followed by a jam session at the club. We sat through the last quarter of the match so we would be in time for the music.
Ian was impressed with Shane's skills on the harp. I took the video camera and added a movie to You Tube titled Gove Harbour Jam Session.
Sunday was NRL grand finals so it was back to the club to watch it with John and Barbara.
Monday arrived at last.
We could get our Liquor Permit.
We could get alcohol.
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We went for a walk around the wetlands behind the township between getting our permit and waiting for the bottle-shop to open.
A Brolga shows us how quickly he can fly away when he sees a camera.
I managed to get a photo of this dragonfly before he realized he had a camera pointing at him - and flew away.
I went in search of a subject that wouldn't fly away. This flower took my eye. It belongs to the Morning Glory family.
Tuesday and we're still here. As has become a way of life, we are waiting for the right weather to continue on to Seisia and down the east coast.
Peter and Shannon who are friends of John and Barbara had arrived. They needed diesel too and managed to hire a car for $65! They kindly gave us a lift into town so we could fill our jerry cans too.
That afternoon they were going in to Yirrkala Art Centre with John and Barbara.
Having missed out on the Elcho Island Art Centre I was keen to have a look too. As they only had one spare seat in the car, Ian decided that he had things to do on the boat and I should go along with them.
We were warmly welcomed to the centre and shown to a small theatre where we watched a short documentary on the centre and early history of Yirrkala.
Although a new building is in the process of construction, the present centre is quite spacious and well laid out.
There was many, many pieces of art, each very intricate in their designs, some required more than one artist to complete. They were all constructed from natural materials, the baskets made from pandanus and grasses, dyed with natural dyes gathered from soil and plants. The paintings done on bark, with ochre and other colours gathered and made by the artist.
Many other pieces of art, all requiring much painstaking work, patience and a ton of artistic ability with a story behind each one.
A short movie of the Art centre starring our new friends.
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| John and Barbara departing on 'Murrundi' |
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| Shannon and Peter make a picturesque exit on 'Tryphena" |
Great food and great company, we were sad
to see them go the next day, leaving us hoping for a wind change.
well done with the videos, I have watched the blues one several times, the main bloke reminds me of Levi. Fancy getting Ian without him knowing, loved the photos as well, waiting to see the bread you baked love mum
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