Wallabies and Kookaburas

A brown kookabura on the street sign, headed back to Cooktown.

Well, we're back in Cairns (said like Cans) from FNQ -- Far North Queensland, as it's known here. Yes, we were in the bush. And yes, it was beyond amazing! We had such fantastic community visits -- really, this is why I love my job. Incredible people, fantastic cultural experiences. If you've never experienced it, it's really hard to explain. But know that this is why I do what I do, what keeps me here, what motivates me, what rejuvenates me. It's working in this way, empowering people to take care of their own needs, that I so enjoy and am hoping to be able to do better through my doctoral work.

In any case, for now, know that I've been thoroughly enjoying the wallabies along the roadside and the kookaburas above. Tomorrow I fly back to Brisbane. I'll have a quiet weekend of catching up on office work, finishing my last presentation, and doing laundry. Three more work days, then vacation!! It's so good to see my friends here, and now I have even more! So I just need to plan when I come back..... Sounds like I'll be in big trouble if I don't. :)


Four-wheel drive vehicles only on the road to Wujal Wujal. This is one of the streams we had to cross, and this was easier than some of the roads.


We had VIP treatment from the community here. The children of Wujal Wujal performed numerous traditional dances for us. They were fantastic!


This is the Indigenous Knowledge Center in Hope Vale, our other community visit. We were here for the opening of NAIDOC week.


At the Quinkan Cultural Center, we caught up with a group of children from the school in Laura and talked with them about dance differences. They were so sweet! Here I'm talking with them about drums.