‘Bush tucker,’ he said as he slid off the little white dots from the eucalyptus leaves and ate them. They were some sort of mite eggs on the leaf and tasted sweet and a bit like honey. This evening we sat around the fire under the verandah of the village-chief’s house in Fregon and made damper – bush bread. Unfortunately we burnt it.
Bush tucker
We left Ernabella after a wonderful day and second morning with Pat. She gave us many great insights on living in this remote aboriginal community, and took us around in her car to see the area. We went to the school in the morning before leaving Ernabella and spoke to the kids. It was fun seeing the kids, and they seemed to be engaged and interested. I hope maybe it might have made a small difference to one of them. They are the new generation, and I wish them all the best.
Water hole
Red road
Ernabella school
Kids at Ernabella school
Leaving Ernabella we saw what happens to the cars when they die (if they are ever taken from the side of the road). In the local rubbish dump there was a field of burnt car carcasses. Along the road there was a car carcass every few hundred metres – sometimes on the road, and sometimes dragged off into the bush just off the road. Some were inverted or planted head-first in the soil. It must have been a spectacular crash to get them there like that.
Car graveyard
Car graveyard
‘Here is a coffee,’ said Pat as she got out of the car 30km out of Ernabella to give to me on my bike. She then drove forward to Clement who was ahead of me, and we had a coffee together in the middle of the bush.
We then had several cars pass that pointed us to Fregon. The head of the village was expecting us (a visit to him was the reason for us getting the APY land permit), and we were looking forward to meeing him and the community.
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