sim & em in nhulunbuy, east arnhem land NT: bellissima montalcino

Thursday, 12 April 2007

bellissima montalcino

ciao i tutti!

thanks heaps to all who have written and/or followed our adventures ... Its great to hear from you all and to be able to share the stories so far.
at the moment, we are sitting in an enoteca (wine bar) in a small hilltown in tuscany called montalcino - well known for its specialty wine - brunello. needless to say, we have embraced the local red and are enjoying a glass or two before we head out to dinner.
Montalcino is a pretty little town about 45 km south of Siena - while it attracts some tourists, its nowhere near as touristy as San Gimignano and others. We have found the people extremely friendly, and the great thing is, we have more of a chance to use our italian here than in Roma, and as a consequence, are becoming far more practised and perhaps improving a little too. The views here are amazing - the town is about 560 mts above sea level and we can see 360° around the surrounding countryside. The place we are staying at is a bit of a steal too - a converted wine cellar complete with everything we need, for only 56 euro a night for two. we like it so much, we managed to fumble our way through negotiating an extra night here before we head to the cinque terre - florence will wait until our return from berlin.
today we headed by bus out to an mediveal abbey, about 10 kms out of town - Sant'Antimo. It is very much in working order - the benedictine monks living there pray seven times daily through gregorian chanting. em and i were lucky enough to experience this when we went. we spent the afternoon today in the grounds of the abbey on the beautiful soft (GREEN!) grass, reading and eating homemade panini with thick chunks of formaggio , proscuitto and pomodori. what more could you want?
enough from us for now. check out the photos below of the trip thus far. will write again, probably from the cinque terre.
cheers,
sim and em. xxx

1 - easter mass with the pope

2 - (right)

the pantheon

roman ruins and st peters basillica in b-ground

streets of trastevere

abbey of sant'antimo montalcino

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Nhulunbuy/Gove - an intro

Gove Peninsula (including Nhulunbuy and Yirrkala)
An important mining town on the edge of Arnhem Land. At the northeastern corner of Arnhem Land lies the Gove Peninsula and the mining town of Nhulunbuy. It is accessible, on a regular basis, by air from Darwin (650 km) and Cairns (1190 km). During the dry season, and with the appropriate documentation from the Northern Land Council, it can be reached by 4WD from Katherine. The journey which passes through the Arnhem Land Aboriginal reserve is 700 km over rough dirt roads and takes approximately 14 hours. There are no fuel stops on the way. The current attitude of the Northern Land Council to such journeys is that there must be some reason beyond sightseeing or simply wanting to travel around the edges of the continent. Consequently applications to travel through Arnhem Land are not easy to obtain.

The Gove Peninsula was originally occupied by the Yolngu Aborigines and its proximity to the Arafura Sea means that for centuries the locals traded with the Macassan trepangus which visited the coast. In 1931 the area was included as part of Arnhem Land but during World War II, with the imminent danger of a Japanese invasion of Australia's northern coastline, the area became a major air force base with a population of over 5 000 servicemen. The peninsula was named after a young Australian airman, Pilot Officer William Gove, who was killed in action in 1943.

In the 1950s the Commonwealth Government carried out mineral exploration and in 1952 bauxite was discovered. The bauxite deposit covered 65 sq. km and contained an estimated 250 million tonnes. Initially the government resisted demands to mine the deposit but in 1964 Nabalco was set up and with a commitment to spend $100 million and build a port, township and mine, the company was granted a lease.

The town of Nhulunbuy (the word is the term used by local Aborigines to refer to the hill named Mount Saunders by Matthew Flinders) was started in 1969. Today it has a population of over 4 000. With no easy land links to the outside world all supplies are either shipped or flown in.
The establishment of the town did not occur without resistance from the local Aborigines. A land rights court challenge was mounted in 1968 and currently the participants in the Gove Joint Venture (Swiss Aluminium & Gove Aluminium Ltd) pay $9.5 million royalties each year.

Part of the royalties go to the local Aboriginal community. The rest benefits Aborigines throughout the Northern Territory.
To the south of Nhulunbuy is the Aboriginal community of Yirrkala. The settlement, which was probably inhabited for tens of thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, was set up as a mission station in 1935 and was run by the United Church of North Australia until 1976.

In 1976, after four years of preparation, the Church handed ownership of the mission site back to the traditional owners who had set up the Yirrkala Dhanbul Community Association Inc. This subsequently came to incorporate the Yirrkala Town Council. The arrival of a large number of Europeans at Nhulunbuy and the mining of the area saw many of the traditional owners leaving the area and moving back into the hinterland regions of Arnhem Land.

sim & em in nhulunbuy, east arnhem land NT

nhulunbuy beach

Thursday, 12 April 2007

bellissima montalcino

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Nhulunbuy/Gove - an intro

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