Blog Diary of a Junk Artist

Well been outback now 11 months today which is also mothers day. I sent mum some flowers.
so much has happened in this the hardest year of my life yet, also the most challenging and rewarding. dead dad in december he died suddenly that hurt but i do have some of his ashes that mum sent upto me and i have buried those in the Imanpa red dirt at the back of my house it is a place i can go to and say the things i did not get a chance to say to him while alive, I split up with my Annie that has been hard as I Know we still love each other, I was airlifted out again with a serious infection in my leg i did 7 days on a drip in the alice hospital and 2 week recovery in Adelaide that is the second time i have been evacuated from Imanpa, the environment is so tough out here iam constantly feeling sick, I got food poisoning last week at 2am in the morning had to ride it out for hours as the nurse was on leave, I sometimes get lonely, I miss my son, I miss normal, being able to go get a DVD and a pizza, catch a movie, go the beach, going for a walk along the river.

But what you don't get anyware else in the world is the amazing sunrises and sunsets, the wild animals crossing the highway at radom, packs of camels, wild brumbie horses, majestic powerful wedge tail eagles feasting on road kill, kangaroos by the hundreds, snakes and goannas, beauitiful bird life, the thorney devil lizards, hundreds of cows searching for food and water, millions of tourist heading by the bus loads to the incredible Ayres rock, i get to see on a dialy basis the imanpa artists sitting in the red dirt doing tradional dot paintings and wood carvings and the most rewarding is to see the beautiful smiles of the Imanpa children doing it so tough in the outback their smiles are like a sunset all on there own. come to think of it I don't want to be anyware else just yet, there is still more of GOD'S work to be done

I went to the Gold Coast for 10 days met my son and two mates up there it was a wild time so good to be near the water everyday.

At Imanpa I have become Bumbleb cultrual father to Xavier, Team Leader, and surragote parent to many of the disadvantaged youth out here, i have a welding shop, gymnasiam,art and junk art programs running on a daily bases.

Shine on a crazy diamond only the strong survive out here I have 2 years of my contract to run, rock on, I will stay strong. I have read two things this week that I would like to share here they are:

"Everyone dies but not everyone lives"

accredo - "to accept whole heartedly and believe unconditionally"

till next time

Well I got bitten Sunday by a Red Back spider at Imanpa while at work and have just been air lifted to the Alice Springs hospital been on a drip for 5 days and in lots of pain as I have Cellulitist. Didn't know a little RED Spider could cause so much damage. Iam on the mend now after being pumped with lots of penicillin into my body to fight the infection, have to keep my leg elevated and stay off it as the swelling was very bad, almost had to have my right leg where the bite is amputated at the groin, would not have been best pleased about that. But all is on track for a full recovery and I should be back running the Imanpa marathon real soon.

still lovin the outback.

Stay tuned for some red hot photos of my spider attack at Imanpa.

Greetings from Imanpa Aboriginal Community where I have been working for the past 4 months.
I have had problems getting on line out here and have just got back on dial up, i also had a malfunction with my blog page but my good friend Shannell and web host has fixed it up tonight.
All i need now is a progam to shrink my photo images and hey i can share my past 4 onths journey it's been amazing journey.

stay tuned Mamu (my aboriginal name)

Well Annie has been and gone i feel so sad we had an amazing time together in Imanpa. We went surfing in the red sand, annie did a coupla back flips of the cliffs and went missing for a few hours but i did find her at the bottom of the cliff i threw her a rope and pulled her back up the rocky razor sharp cliff face. she had a few deep cuts on her back but we got them stitched up. After the sand hills we went diving in the water holes that was beautiful the water was crystal clear and full of crocs and mosquitos, we had a picnic on the roadside and watched and waved to all the road trains as they went speeding bye, they tooted there horns and told us to get off the fucken road, we just smiled into each others sandy eyes i could just see her through the dust it was very special time. At night we went up the top of the water tower and watched the sun go down. Annie pointed to the bright stars and tried to touch one as she leaned out i asked her to hold that position while i took a photo but her wrists are week and she let go of the railing and fell to the bottom i got a great snap as she landed she had a beautiful smile on her face as she lay in the hot red sand. I rushed down the bottom to help her up and she just moaned in pain and told me it was worth the fall just to catch a star.

Well 2 days at imanpa was all Annie could handle otherwise she told me she would never want to leave. So I loaded up the troopy with Annies 8 suitcases and took her to the Yulura airport it was a quiet 2 hour trip Annie did not say a word all the way there she was just reflecting on our incredible time together, silence when your with some one you love is the ultimate sign of affection, we didn't need to talk all annies cuts, bruises and stiches said it all. we got to the airport and just held each other and cried for hours then one last kiss and she flew back to Adealide.

Until we meet again Annie I sure miss you Imanpa is not the same without you.

Well still waiting on our lap top commputers and net access so i can do my daily blog updates, so much to share and talk about I also have some amazing photos to include taken around 200 shots so far mostly road kill ?

Just at the Ebenzer roadhouse this morning 10 km from Imanpa checking my email on the pay per minute net machine it certainly is hungry only eats brass coins.

well this week I have been backup ambulance driver to a double road crash fatality, not the road kill I wanted to see, made me realise that once your dead there is no more hello's or goodbyes no more beautiful sunrises and sunsets over the outback, nothing it ends there, I relise now that my life is very presious and I will enjoy every minute of air time I have left in me, life really is harsh and wonderful all in the same breath. Its so true, to love as if you have never been hurt, dance like no one is watching, and make time to redeem things that can be redeemed in your life.

My fellow mission workers are a great bunch of characters there's Angie at Imanpa, Shelley and Be at Multijulu, Anthony and Jillian at Docker River, Adam and Noreen at Fink then theres our team leader Peter, outreach support team Della and Rob, Daniella, Charles, Deb and lastly Erica the admin PA to Peter.

My Annie is coming up next week so Iam very excited about that hope she loves the sea breeze running through her long hair and a great view of the ocean. Will show her how to cook in the hot sand and catch fish with my bare hands. We can sleep in a hamock between two palm trees and sip champayne while the sun goes down.

We will have a wild adventure annie loves collecting sea shells and sunbaking nude in the sea weed.

ok times up until next time live life like there is no tomorrow.