ILLARA WATERHOLE AGAIN 2009

Illara Waterhole in a new location.

Instalment 2.

 I am on another painting trip to Illara Waterhole with Sandrifter Safaris. I think this is the most beautiful place I have ever been to. You would have read in my first article how difficult I found camping to be. Well the place was so beautiful that I could just not resist going again. I could not get enough of the wonderful landscape. I knew the ropes now, knew what the tents were like, and the routine.

We left from the usual place, Alice Springs, and travelled the 250 Kilometres out to Illara. There is always something happening on these trips and this time while we were having morning tea, Gerry had to fix the axle on the luggage trailer! It is very rugged travelling on these outback tracks and not surprising.

We had our quoter of travellers-18 artists, some I had met before and some I hadn’t. when you do art trips with Gerry and Corinne you find that it is one big family! You are bound to run into some one you know, and meet other members as well.

When we arrived at the campsite all the tents had been set up along the bank fronting the waterhole. This was very pleasing. We just had to grab which tent we wanted, our beds and bedding, sort out our luggage and we were set for the 11 days we were to be there. The camp kitchen was set up and ready to go, and Gerry had set up two separate toilets, named  Gidgee and Mulga  and had established a system that macerated everything so he didn’t have to empty anything. Very posh. The usual shower truck was there but now  he had a gas heater that heated the water as we needed it. The water was pumped  from the waterhole to the shower. Very ingenious.

There was the usual lecture about zips and how to use them and camp rules and then we were ready for a drink and snacks before dinner. This is how the days went- Breakfast, painting, eating a delicious packed lunch, more painting either back at the camp or staying out for the day. Showers, drinks and snacks and dinner and wine or cordial… one could live like this forever. The camaraderie of everyone was just wonderful.

This time was different. The waterhole had decided to move so our swimming spot was no longer there, and there were a few ponds not really suitable to swim in, a distance away from camp. There were a lot of interesting rocks around the displaced waterhole where I painted for quite a few days. This was drought time in Illara. No matter how many times you visit the one place, it will never be the same twice! This is what I have noticed about the many places I have travelled to. One can never be bored.

 We had our usual exhibition at the end of the tour and our paintings laid out in the sand weighed down by rocks. This time I had done a mixture of gouache and acrylic paintings. One spot that excited me was the area of dead trees. I did many sketches of these- grey, bluish and purple sometimes depending on the light at the time. Eventually the sketches became a painting which I have on my wall at home- reminding me of the landscape, and the different types of clouds I saw when the sky was not just clear blue. Long trails across the sky, or just blobs of white dotted all over. All this combined in one painting. Every time I look at it I think of Illara.

We had to put up with a few visitors- dingo’s came to camp and stole artists palettes, and doormats from the front of the tents, and some pillowcases that Corinne had hanging out to dry! They were around and about each night as we could hear them howling.

It all had to end of course, and so on the last day we packed our bags and headed off in the bus early. But we were not to leave without a bang!

I was sitting up front with Gerry when we saw this old bull running towards us, head down and roaring. Gerry put his foot down trying to out- drive the bull, but it was coming so fast it hit the bus right below where I was sitting, it was demented and made such a bang on the bus, then staggered away shaking its head! It had made a hole and dent in the door, but surely made a dent in its head as well.

On the next trip to Illara they found it dead and it was so smelly, they had to drag it as far away from the camp as possible!

‘Dead trees in a living landscape’