More Djugarargyn

Deb arrived at Djugarargyn later that day. She'd just gotten back from a trip down to Perth where their daughter had received medical treatment. Deb and I got on just as readily as Steve and I had. I looked forward to following along on the bushwalks scheduled for Sunday and Monday.

Sure enough, Deb's knowledge of the local flora and fauna was impressive. She pointed out a number of important plants, including the Pandanus tree:

From Oz Fieldtrip 2008

She also introduced me to the Bardi calendar. The calendar is an important set of guidelines that helps Bardi determine when to harvest which resources. The longer I stayed on the Dampier, the larger and more inclusive the calendar became. Deb wove different threads into her bush walks. The second seemed to build upon the first. If she'd scheduled more, I definitely would have kept tagging along!

Instead, she returned to Perth and I ended up helping Steve around the "block." We undertook a number of projects during my time at Djugarargyn, including: digging and cementing footings for the bio-friendly composting toilet, rerouting some kitchen plumbing, converting waste vegetable oil to biodiesel, and recycling parts from two old box trailers to make a new one.

From Oz Fieldtrip 2008

In between our projects, we took trips to Lombadina, Djarindjin, and Ngamakoon.