Macca's Meanderings

Christmas greetings from Croker Island.  As I write this blog post the monsoon has formed over the Top End and the wet season has begun. This has resulted in an 'explosion' of life - both plant and animal. Areas that were dry and dusty just two weeks ago are now lush green. Likewise the animal world, just a short time ago was in survival mode, hanging out for the rains but now they are much happier. Driving to the Croker Island airport to fly to Darwin this week we drive across a flood plain.  The transformation has been amazing. Thousands of horses have moved in to take advantage of the green grass along with many types of birds - brolgas, magpie geese, jabirus and many other waters birds. The rangers close over Christmas New Year. We will spend this time in Darwin with our family. Since the last post the Grngi Rangers have been very busy. Large amounts marine litter is washed up onto the beaches around Croker Island - some of which comes from other countries. This litter inc...

 Hello from a hot and humid Croker Island.  All this last week the forecasts were predicting maximums of 39 combined with high humidity. Nancy arrived in Darwin last Monday greeted by this 'warm' welcome. She will fly out to Croker Island next Monday, in the meantime she is catching up with our two sons in Darwin and other friends.  One of the aspects of the Garngi Rangers work is coastal patrols. We have contracts with both the Commonwealth and NT governments to do this work. Recently we have done patrols to both the northern and southern parts of the island. Even though the temperatures have been high, the seas have been very flat making for great days on the water. Below we are approaching Cape Croker, the northern most point of the island. Cape Croker has a small lighthouse - Nancy has a thing about lighthouses so will be keen to see this very remote one. At lunch time we found a shady spot at the mouth of a creek that also provided a good anchorage for the vessel....

Hi from Croker Island As we move through October the temperatures and the humidity continue to rise making physical work outdoors increasingly demanding. The once clear blue skies are now filled with more clouds producing some amazing sunrises and sunsets. Most non- indigenous people mis-pronounce the word garngi as follows: garn-gi (or garn-gee). The correct way is: gar-ngi. The 'ng' sound in garngi is the same sound as 'ng' in the English words sang, ring and then add an 'ee' like in the English word seek - gar-ngee.  The house with the 4WD park out the front is my accommodation. It is just 200 metres to the beach. There is only a limited view of the sea. As mentioned in an earlier post, we are in the late dry season which means there is not a lot of green around at the moment. That will change soon when the wet season brings an explosion of growth. Down at the beach directly in front of the house is an old jetty, a relic from the mission days. The current bar...

It has been nearly three weeks now since I arrived here at Minjilang.  Some may ask, where is Minjilang or Croker Island? From Darwin, Minjilang is 240 kms north east lying just a couple of kms off the Australian mainland, which at this point is the Coburg Peninsula. Minjilang is the most northerly community in the NT and apart from the Torres Straight Islands and Bamaga in near the tip of Cape York Peninsula in Queensland it would be the most northerly community in Australia. It is just 350 kms to the nearest Indonesian island. See map below. Long before Europeans came to this part of the planet, Crocker Island was hone to Iwaidja, Mawng and some Kunwinjku people. The Dutch explorer Tasman travelled along the north Australian coast in 1644 long before the English explorer James Cook. Some place names from Tasman's voyage remain today such as Groote Eylandt and Coburg Peninsula. The Dutch were not suitably impressive with Australia so sailed off to later establish a colony in Indon...

 Late morning on the 25th of August saw me on the road heading for Darwin initially and then on to Minjilang on Croker Island around 240 kms north east of Darwin. Nancy will fly up in mid October after overseeing some maintenance and a tenant change.  Since 1984 we have travelled the roads between the NT and SE Qld many times. This time I decided to take a couple of detours. My paternal grandparents met in the Blackall area. Grace was nursing at the Blackall Hospital and it is thought that Claude was working on Fairfield Station near Longreach. After their wedding Claude and Grace moved to Cressy Station north east of Winton where they managed the property for around 7years. My dad and Aunty Lois were born during this period. The great depression resulted in Grace and Claude being laid off and their departure from Cressy.  First I dropped in on Aunty Lois in Toowoomba to collect copies of photos and letters relating to Cressy Station as the current managers were keen to l...