#37. Melissa heads back - that’s tough. What’s next and what are my goals for stage 2.

So the second phase of the trip starts. Mel hopped on a plane in Alice today. I dropped her off and sent her back to— she's gone to Sydney, then she'll hop on a plane there and fly back into Dallas. I'll see her again in 6 weeks. She'll come just after Thanksgiving, US time, and she'll go into business as well, which is exciting. She's very well received by the elders. I I could not have hoped for a better outcome. They're the nicest people, the nicest people. I am so proud to be Ombromba. I'm so proud to be Waramunggu. Djungarai is my skin name. I'm so proud to be Djungarai. When I say proud, I don't mean arrogant. I mean a warmth in my soul. When I think of, of who I am and the family I'm coming into, it's just, it's just wonderful, absolutely wonderful. It's such a privilege. I'm not sure how it's going to unfold over the next 6 weeks. I feel really challenged that I'm to listen to Country, that this first day there was so much anxiety and a sense of meeting family. And seeing whether I belong, seeing whether I fitted in. And now that I know I do, I want to listen to country. I want to listen to my elders. I want to listen to what they have to say. When I came over this trip, I felt there was 3 things I really needed to do was respect, listen, and share. Respect whomever I was talking to. Listen. And hear, hear with my heart, not just my ears. And then if asked to share, to share a thought or an insight. And I want to continue that. I think I've done okay with that in terms of listening to people, but I want to listen to country. I want to listen to the land. I want to listen to the trees, the water. I want to listen to— it's a It's a spiritual thing. And the only way you can listen is to still yourself. Still yourself from white noise. And white noise would be, I don't know, I think metaphorically the noise of, of, you know, 60 years of existing in one way, stilling that. Turning off all distractions. Audible distractions, cerebral distractions, and just giving myself time to hear. You know, I, I don't think I'll ever understand the weight or the complexity of what I'm entering into. I don't want to be arrogant enough to say that, well, I understand what the magnitude of this— that's just wankerish. But I understand that I should understand the weight of this, if that makes sense. So I want to give that that time. So I'm in Marla at the moment. I'm tired. It's an emotional day, you know, leaving Mel at the airport. First time in probably ten years we've been this long apart. She's my rock, you know, my true north. What can I tell you? She's always guided me home, the greatest friend I've ever had. So that's really different. It's really an unusual thing. And so I'm in Marla, then I'll go to Pimba. I'll stay at Spuds Roadhouse. Why Spuds? Because it's called Spuds Roadhouse. I've got to make my mind whether I keep going south to Port Augusta or if I go back to Broken Hill. And down that way. So just trying to figure all that out. But tonight I will have a whiskey, probably lamb shanks, and a beer, and I'll go to bed. I'm only probably going to drive 6 to 7 hours a day, maybe, maybe 6 is what I'm hoping for, because I don't want to chance the— I didn't see any livestock today at all, or wildlife or livestock. I don't want to chance the, the dawn or the dusk period. It's not worth it, man. It's just not worth making it up. So I probably won't drive more than— if you You think about it, you drive 6 hours and have an hour for breaks along the way, it's about 7 hours, 8-hour day. It's a long time behind a wheel. Um, like, I drove for probably 2 hours, so I just didn't see anybody coming either way. Um, so yeah, yeah. So I'm looking forward to whatever's next. This, I see this as phase 2. And not ramping up, because that's just, it's just the wrong perception, but falling into stage 3 and allowing it to unfold in a very natural process.