Daly River - Nauiyu and Wooliana:
The trip started out fractionally behind schedule while we waited for our third four wheel drive to arrive. We had three four wheel drives, a ute and a motor bike which made a nice convoy to Daly River.

This time we stayed away from the bitumen and went through Litchfield National Park. Our first stop was Wangi Falls – if you are in the area it is a must see. After a quick swim and lunch we got on our way through the national park.

Unfortunately Pete ran into some trouble with the bike and after a couple of hours of pulling it apart and trying everything to get it going (a great team building activity) it was decided that the bike would go back to Darwin on the ute and Peter and Ray would meet us in Daly River later that night. The trip through the national park was spectacular with amazing scenery and giant termite mounds – tall thin ones that only ran north to south and great river crossings, with a few bush speed bumps to keep us on our toes.

Our program started in the school first thing Tuesday morning at Nauiyu – Daly River. We ran class sessions on healthy eating and got the kids involved in taste testing with foods that they may or may not have tasted. They let us cover their eyes and they had to guess what it was that they were eating by touch and smell before they put it in their mouth. Some of them tasted foods for the first time which was a great experience. The older kids were taken through a great goal-setting session, which was a real eye-opener for us to see what these kids were aspiring to become when they were older. The afternoon was spent doing sporting clinics with Kate taking softball, Nik basketball and Kyle athletics. There was swimming in the pool after school was finished and basketball and footy at the rec centre after dinner.

There are two schools in Daly River and day two was spent at Wooliana – a great school of 40 students that is split into two classes. The kids went through the same program that we had set the day before, with Kyle kicking off the day with some great stretches and athletic warm ups to get us going. The kids competed in teams for the taste-testing exercise with some very healthy competition as well as the goal setting session. We also took part in their regular class programs. They had a new playground at the pool which we all made the most of, climbing and running around madly. Lunch was a BBQ with the kids at the school followed by sport clinics.

Thursday was an early start with the whole team going out on Daly River to fish for barramundi. We were accompanied by four of the kids – two from each school that were identified as leaders at the schools and were part of a mentoring program. A big thank you goes out to Paul and Jeff from Reelistic Barra Fishing tours who gave us a great day’s entertainment on the river. Thursday night saw us back at Nauiyu for a BBQ which the kids helped us cook and we finished up with a big basketball game - girls V boys. It was not just the school kids - we also had some of their older siblings and parents playing.

Friday morning was spent in the class helping the kids with their class work - Kate read a book to the older kids while the young kids gave us a tour of their community. It was a day of goodbyes at both schools – not an easy thing to do!

These kids have a very special place in all of our hearts and we can’t wait to go back.

 Milikapiti:

On Monday morning, twelve of us flew to Melville Island and drove the 10 min to reach Milikapiti, our community destination. We had arrived at one of the most remote indigenous communities in the North of Australia.  

The 34 degree sun was beating down, and the coconut palms were gently swaying against a backdrop of endless blue green water. All of us wanted to just dump our stuff and jump in to cool off, as most of us had traveled from a southern winter and had not enjoyed even being outside for extended periods of time.  

Then reality hit. There are large nasty things in that water that want to eat you! We never really ended up seeing any crocodiles though. We did manage to eventually go for a swim, but this was at an inland freshwater billabong about 15 minutes out of town. The children loved jumping and splashing around and so did a couple of the Red Dust mob. We spent the rest of the day settling in and playing some sports with the kids in the rec centre after school.  

Red Dust had really assembled an A team for this tour. A brilliant mix of youth and experience, as well as some of the most elite people in their chosen fields. Every base was covered and all constantly contributed to make for a truly memorable week. 

We were lucky enough to have three members of Essere with us on the tour. Essere is an organization that teaches skills and strategies to assist individuals to develop self esteem and resilience techniques. The workshops they conducted with the kids were a big hit as the kids learned self-calming tips and practicing good choices. 

Other Red Dusters conducted healthy food programs where the kids were blindfolded and had to guess the food they were tasting. This was a great way to outline some healthy alternatives for snacks and to demonstrate which foods were the best choices for their active bodies. Dental care and food preparation hygiene was also demonstrated. 

Taking part in regular classroom activities was an invitation that many chose to help with. Listening to students read and helping them with writing and comprehension tasks was a rewarding way to spend the mornings.  Afternoons were sport time and we spent them conducting skills sessions in football, softball, basketball and soccer. We were lucky to have elite athletes from each sport on hand to instruct and umpire games. Not easy to do in the middle of the day in 30 plus degrees. We finished these sessions with a reminder of some of the healthy choice options that we had gone over in the morning. 

After school we all participated in the activities conducted at the rec hall. This was hours of more sports, games and Red Dusters pretending to be large walking pieces of play equipment! At night we joined together and had a meal, and one night we were treated to some local bush tucker. Magpie goose and golden snapper were tried by most, mixed with some of Gavin’s “Rings of Fire” chili burgers. 

Friday came around all too quickly and this meant it was time to return to the mainland and back to our homes. The kids were all waving and shouting goodbye with their beaming faces and bright smiles as we drove to the airstrip. We had all been touched by this community and I know I wasn’t the only one who hoped I would be back a lot sooner than later.