I have survived 14 months in the middle of nowhere. I shouldn't say 'survived' because that conjures up an image of some hardship and deprivation, that isn't the case at all. Maybe I'm the sort of person that is well able to cope with change, maybe it's because I was very lucky to have a father that worked for Qantas as a navigator, way back in the day when they had such things and not everything was automated, and I was taken all over the world and got to live in England for two years and start high school there. I didn't think I would be able to feel at home anywhere other than our patch of paradise on the slopes of Mt Roland in Tasmania after we found it in 2004. I was wrong.
For anyone that is wondering, Harts Range, or rather where we are which isn't quite as far as Harts, is approximately 165 km's North East of Alice Springs. No, we don't live on a cattle station or in a 'community', my husband is a 'tech' at the transmitter site for JORN (Jindalee operational radar network). We live on a 'patch just down the road from the site, consisting of 12 houses, a school of the air building, a demountable that houses the 'gym' and the Harts Range Country Club. This consists of three demountable buildings comprising of a toilet block, one that is used for the kids to play in and a bar, all built around a central concrete area that has a table and chairs and a B-B-Q, this is where all things 'social' happen, oh and there is a pool. This whole complex is surrounded by a 6' dingo-proof fence with an electric sliding gate at the entrance.
We don't pay rent, we don't pay for our electricity or our phone (no mobile service here!), so the idea coming here was to pay what is left of our mortgage on our home in Sheffield which is now tenanted, off as quick as we can. We haven't done a bad job of this so far, after all, there isn't much to splurge on up here! Shopping is done about once every three weeks, this isn't too bad from someone that couldn't go more than a week previously, even though I hate shopping. I shop for all nonperishables online and we just roll up at the bush order door at woolies and some nice person has done it for me. This means just a quick trip into the store itself to grab meat, veggies, frozen stuff etc.
So what do I do to amuse myself? So far I've completed 4 units for my degree since we have been here. An essay unit that saw me writing an essay on the Enlightenment philosophers, examining one artist of the 18th century whose work was influenced by these ideals and one essay on the art of propaganda during the French Revolution, examining the work of two artists of the period. The last painting unit for 2nd year where I produced a body of work about the fossil site at Alcoota, which is just down the road from here. Two 3rd year drawing units, delving into diverse subject matters such as Dark Matter, architectural drawing, the body as mark maker and the post-human. So bored is something that I haven't been!
Neither Maurie or I knew that we were going to be slap bang in the middle of one of Australia's best gem fossicking fields, nor that just down the road was a very significant fossil site on Alcoota station (I think that deserves a blog on its own!). The landscape is beautiful in a harsh way, the colours are an artist's dream. The quality of the light is totally different from Tassie, my favourite time is just before sunset. The landscape is not completely flat and featureless, there are lots of interesting rock outcrops, not to mention mountain ranges, some that in times past were as high as the Himalayas!
Now I'm taking a study period off my Uni studies so I'm hoping to get to work on some things that I want to do, not what Curtin University wants me to do. There is no shortage of subject matter so let's see how I go!
PS I love it here! But I do miss family and friends.
