Having looked on a map of Australia, and seen a tiny dot way out in the middle of the Kimberley, you may be wondering what everyday life is like out here?
Being 240km from the nearest town (Derby), we don't necessarily get into town all that often. Isolation requires patience!
Once a week we fax an order to one or both of the supermarkets in Derby, usually followed by several frantic phone calls to add items left off the list. The Supermarkets pack up all of our foodstuffs for collection either by road; a 12 hour round trip (including time in town), or for delivery on the mail plane. We pay for freight by the kilo, so that a $2 packet of sugar in town costs $5.20 including freight by the time it lands here. More specialized food items are brought up from Perth, or interstate.
We have a comprehensive "dry store", and several large freezers, as well as two large walk-in cold rooms. All the shelves are labeled, and items are re-ordered as stock runs low (kind of like running a mini-supermarket).
On the personal front, for many years people in country Australia have shopped from catalogues, and nowdays is no different, except for the advent of internet shopping. Mail arrives once a week, so the time from ordering to receipt of goods can take weeks, adding to the frustration if the items have to be returned (did I mention that isolation requires patience?) When we do go into town we stock up on personal items, and always have a good look through the book shop (Derby has an ABC Shop and a good range of books at the newsagency).
Our mail arrives weekly in a canvas sack, and we swap incoming for outgoing with the pilot on the mail plane, which services nine different stations and Aboriginal communities within the Kimberley. The mail service is contracted out by Australia Post and provided by a local airline. Mail day means not only the anticipation of long awaited cheques ("the cheque's in the mail takes on new meaning!"), and bills, but also magazines and urgent small machinery parts. We also get staff and friends out on the mail plane; once our airstrip is closed for the "wet", this is the only means of transport in or out.
The single most important element of keeping things running smoothly out here is the regular maintenance of the generator (ours is 50kva). Fortunately, I'm a skilled and resourceful generator mechanic. One has to have good tool box, and to be able to improvise and utilize whatever comes to hand.
My daily dry season routine involves breadmaking by hand early each morning. In the "Wet", the routine changes a little. Every morning the rain guage is checked by 6am and the rainfall datafed into the ROT (remote observation terminal) for inclusion in state wide rainfall data. Most work done is done in the morning, when rain is less likely, followed by lunch and a siesta, then a resumption of work in the later afternoon. Wet season jobs include three weeks worth of peeling and freezing mangoes in a good year, making marmalade, building, renovating and gardening.
What does one miss living out here? Mostly just family and friends; but with two way satellite internet, and a reliable phone system, it's not difficult to keep in touch, and you're really only as isolated as you allow yourself to be. We enjoy contact with a wonderful array of guests from around the world during the tourist season, and then have time in the Wet Season to pursue personal interests, so really enjoy the best of both worlds.
It takes a certain personality type to enjoy life in remote areas, but I absolutely love it! I certainly hope that you will too.
