The boys were bouncing like ping
pong balls from the moment their eye lids separated they were so excited to be
going to the Barunga Festival. I love to see their excitement but channelling
it and controlling it is another whole different issue! We were up early and
did a quick pack up but were still one of the last out of the rest area....some
of the grey nomads must be up and moving my 5am!
We rolled down the Stuart Highway
and turned left onto the Arnhem Highway. I would have loved to have travelled
to the end of it but time and money are always the determining factors. We
reached the community of Barunga and paid our entrance fee at the gate, asking
if there was a spot where all the white fellas were camping....he had no idea
as he was just a volunteer from the Katherine Rugby Union Club so we drove a
little way in and tucked ourselves in amongst a few other vans.
The program for the festival, if
it is possible, was pretty specific but at the same time very very vague, which
suited pretty well. We set up and headed off and within a few hundred meters we
came across a jumping castle style slip and slide and the boys were into it.
They were a bit nervous about being in an Aboriginal community but after their
experience at Middle Lagoon it didn’t take long for them to drop their
inhibitions.
Scattered along the edge of the
community park were stalls like “build your own didgeridoo” for $100..and you
really did ‘build it’ from shaving it down using old mower blades to having a
lesson on how to play it. There was also some bush medicine classes and some
wonderful Aunties peeling the pandanus leaves in two and them taking the stem
out of them to roll into fibres to make mats, dilli bags and the like.
The
next stand was very interesting as we watched some of the local lads singe the
fur of a couple of kangaroos, gut and butcher them and then cook them in a fire
pit using gum leaves and paper bark. It was pretty cool however we went back an
hour and a half late and tasted it and my thinking was it may have needed a few
spices as it was very very gamey!
We hung around a while and waited
for the didgeridoo competition to start. I must confess that out of the
thousands of Aboriginal people at the festival they could only manage to get 9
‘starters’ for the comp and half of them were white.....of Japanese! The show
they put on was pretty awesome especially at the end when the winner of the
‘traditional’ and ‘contemporary’ sections had a free style jam.
We wondered through the art
galleries with many of the artsists exhibiting their own work and a number of
them working on pieces. We would have loved to have bought one but the prices
were waaay to rich for our blood. We wondered over to watch a couple of AFL
games finding a nice shady spot under the trees. After about 10 minutes one
game finished and another was about to begin when all of a sudden when the game
was about to start about 10 of the team reserves and a few more coaches etc came
and sat right beside us!! I was going to ask if I could have a run but my lack
of knowledge about the intricate rules of the game made me decide otherwise!
 |
| The local bat colony wasn't a fan of the siren! |
At some point after lunch we met
up with another family, neighbours of the Curries from Sydney, and spent the
afternoon wandering from display and show to the next. The boys really enjoyed
the flying fruit fly circus who had been working with the local school for the
past couple of weeks to create a show.
As dusk came closer we headed for
the main arena and spread our blankets out to get front row seats for the
twilight performance of two ‘dance’ groups. While we waited we celebrated
Gabby’s 9th birthday with some delicious cake....our first birthday
cake since Sam’s waaaay back of December 8th...
After the opening ceremony with
speeches by all of the pollies and local leaders we were treated to about ½ an
hour of dancing from the Groote Island Community. Their dancing was amazing
with the blokes being energetic and passionate with dust flicking up and their
bodies moving about to the sounds of the didge while the ladies danced in
behind them rhythmically using their feet and swaying the bodies to the beat
while sometimes their whole bodies would get involved arms stretched wide like
a brolga or jabiru.
After a short brake the Red Flag
Dancers took over the sandy centre court. The passion with which they danced
was infectious with the red and white costuming of the dancers looking
magnificent in the reds and yellows of the setting sun. The male dancers were
leaving nothing behind as the stamped
and threw dust into the air using their feet. The dust cloud that settled over
the arena as they continued the performance was much like the bull dust clouds we had
experienced in the Kimberley’s! Their performance was awesome was something I
had really been hoping to see as part of our trip so I was extra happy as I
could tick that one of the list!
Once the dancing was done it was
time for the concert to begin. As usual they started with a couple of local up
and comers and then when the sky was completely black a few of the big acts
started to come out. At one point there seemed to be people coming from
everywhere into the ‘mosh pit’ in front of the stage. I wasn’t 100% sure and
still am not certain but there was a rock band on and they had an older fella
doing ‘backing vocals’ that were strongly reminiscent to Gurumal. So here I
was, pretty much the only white fella in a crowd of a few hundred Aboriginal
blokes watching someone who, if I was to see at the Sydney Opera House would
have probably cost me $100 or $200 or more for a ticket....especially in the
mosh pit! I was loving it.
As their set drew to a close I headed back to others
and we went to the other music stage. It was a magical setting, a small tent, maybe
6 x 15m set by the river with coloured flood lights lighting up the paperbark
trees around it. Unfortunaltey we were way too late to get near the front so I
rolled out the picnic blanket and laid down looking to the stars listening to
an acoustic set by I don’t know who, but they were pretty damn good, and I
couldn’t help but smile.
Unfortunately the kids were
getting pretty tired so we all decided to call it a day heading back to the van
and with the speakers pumping out music until the wee hours of the morning we
all went to sleep after a massive day...like that!
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