Tête en bas

Down under wandering. Archipelagoes to islands; beaches to deserts; mountains to cities.

Daily life in Coober Pedy


  • English: Daily life in Coober Pedy
  • Français: Daily life in Coober Pedy

I asked Cassie to drop me at Erldunda, as it saved me 200km. My plan was to hitch hike to Coober Pedy. “Only” 500km to do. It was an easy ride. I though… I staid at the gaz station for four hours. Talking to everyone. Seems that everybody was going north, or west. None was going south. Well… a few were going south, but had no room. Except this guy who “doesn’t pick up hitch hiker, for safety reason”. Yes, I looked pretty scary with my flippers in my back pack… The sunset. There were less and less car… I was thinking to build my tent, somewhere in the wilderness. But there is a campground at Erldunda. And they only charge $11. Cheap enough for me to pay. It took me an other 3 hours the next morning. I was starting to loose faith. Thinking that there might be place, in Oz, where hitch hiking was to complicate. But I was finally saved by two italian girls. They asked me for $20 for the gaz, that I was more than happy to pay. And I finally arrive at Josephine and Terry orphanage, in Coober Pedy.

It was six days ago. Already! Enough time to get my little habits. Life is not really hard here. I wake up between 9 and 10 AM, and take my time to check the last news on internet. Also trying to find what my next step will be… after that, it’s time to clean the roo yard. Just on time for the first public feed at 12. If there’s a group, or a lot of people, all the five older kangaroos have there milk bottle. If there’s not enough people, they just get some little snack.

The afternoon is about getting an area of the house ready to become an other kangaroos yard, so they can have more room. So it’s about putting up some fence and digging a few holes. When Terry or Jo need an extra hand, I often help feeding the younger one, who are on a four hours feeding schedule. Yes, day and night. Terry does the day shift, Jo the night one.

Evening is usually quite. Chat, cuddling with the young joeys, watching tv. I usually find some time to play flute or didgeridoo. And to do some more computer too. And it’s finally time for me to go back to my room. Yes, I’m sleeping in a caravan, in a backyard, in the middle of the desert. Yes, it’s cold during the night. But I love my caravan! Looks amazing!

And sometime, there is those special days. Where a South Korean TV crew come to film the orphanage. I ended up being interviewed, and I’m now wondering if I’ll be famous in South Korean in the next few weeks… and that’s also during this interview that my phone rang. Next week, I’ll have a job interview. On Skype. For a job I applied in Melbourne, a few weeks ago. Why not!

And there’s also this phone call, at the end of the afternoon, that sounds like an alert. Yes, a rescue team is needed. A few miner find a young joey, still alive. A new family member is coming. I jump in the car with Terry. He’s driving fast. Not because it’s a real emergency, I think, but because he use to be a Rally Car driver. We pick up the young lady. Her name is Prue. She’s only 3 months and a half, and she’ll be coming with us. What a strange feeling to hold her, as close to me as I can to keep her warmth. To feel her breath under the towel. To know that she had a mother, 8 hours ago, and she’s entering a complete and totally different world by now…

2 Responses to “Daily life in Coober Pedy

  1. May 19th, 2012 at 3:29 am

    Kaly says:

    A cette adresse :

    http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangourou

    j’ai trouvé ceci :

    “Comme tous les marsupiaux, les kangourous mettent au monde des nouveau-né à l’état d’embryon de 4 semaines, à un stade de développement équivalant à celui d’un embryon humain de 8 semaines. À ce stade il ne mesure pas plus de 2 cm pour un poids de 1 gramme. Pour rejoindre la poche marsupiale (marsupium), il rampe sur la fourrure de sa mère. Pour l’aider, sa mère lui trace un chemin avec sa salive.”

    Je l’avais déjà lu quelque part. Le kangourou est un animal vraiment extraordinaire – comme tout le reste d’ailleurs.

    Et toi, c’est Prue que tu tiens dans tes bras ? Ou bien c’est Prue le vraiment tout petit bébé que l’on voit en train de se faire mesurer ?

    Ils sont tout mignons, ces petits orphelins, ils sont touchants, émouvants ! Pour tout dire ils me fendent le coeur.

    Comment Jo et Terry font-ils ? Sont-il subventionnés ? Ou bien ont-ils travaillé toute leur vie pour économiser pour créer l’orphelinat ? J’aimerais connaître l’histoire de la création de cet endroit.

    Remercie-les de ma part pour tout ce qu’ils font ! Je suis ravie que tu les aides.

  2. May 20th, 2012 at 8:21 pm

    Lavande says:

    La photo du bisou du bébé kangourou, je vais l’encadrer!
    Toutes tes petites nièces et cousines doivent être baba d’admiration!