SAPPHIRE

We had heard about Sapphire months ago and have been looking forward since then to visiting and doing some fossicking. After staying the night in Emerald we drove an hour down the road to the very strange little place that is Sapphire, which contains not many permanent structures, mostly caravans set up on brick pillars, with rough extensions tacked on here and there. There is a feeling of temporary permanence, caravans, buses and motorhomes that were only meant to stay for a week or so are now rusting and weathered, surrounded by long, dry grass and rusty old mining equipment, and of course the familiar piles of dirt that are commonplace in every plot. You can just imagine people visiting years ago, finding a small sapphire and catching the bug, it is quite addictive really. Many small claims have been set up around the place, one with a sign that states “Anybody caught digging on this claim will be shot”, although the people we met were all very welcoming and full of advice. Sapphire supplies 80% of the worlds sapphire demand. It is very hard work sifting through all the clay and gravel to find the precious stones that a volcano spewed out millions of years ago. There are a couple of ways to go about finding sapphires. You can buy buckets of “wash” at many places and sift it with their equipment on site, or hire the picks, shovels, sieves and willoughbys (a mechanical dooverlackie that cleans your wash in a 44 gallon drum of water) and go for it in one of the places open to the public. Being 200kms inland means that it is very hot around here, and needing sunlight to find the sapphires in the piles of gravel makes for hot and thirsty work. So we bought a few of the $8 buckets at Pat’s Gems and had lunch and a beer or two while we searched for our fortune. We did find a few stones that are of a cuttable size and it was good fun, but we did not find the million dollar stone.

FROM JARRA.

I have finally got my hands on the lap top, gee these Macs are cool, and so user friendly. Let me start off by saying that whoever invented the “terrible twos” cliché should be congratulated. It is like a licence to misbehave, and I am playing it for all it is worth! Another of my mottos is, “if it is there, it deserves to be climbed on, AND jumped off”. You should see Mum and Dad’s faces sometimes when I am about to jump off something really high, it cracks me up. I don’t get as excited about big trucks as I used to, but any sort of roadworks get me going. Diggers, rollers, graders and bob cats are sooooo cool. There was a great sand pit in the fossicking place here in Sapphire. Mum, Dad, Tal and Rennie were playing around with sieves, washing little rocks and picking out tiny little blue ones while I enjoyed myself playing around the piles of sand, the wash troughs and the sorting tables. They reckon they were going to make their fortune, but they only came away with a few. They had fun though, which was good as it kept them out of my hair. I am very independent these days, as I am sure you can gather from my writing. I do not like to be helped with things at all, except when I get frustrated. I might consider letting them help if they ask nicely. Mum and Dad have decided to stop driving me around each afternoon to get me to sleep. I really can’t blame them, the price of petrol these days is silly and it sometimes takes 20-25kms until I drop off. Most days I can do without a sleep in the afternoon, but sometimes we are in the bus travelling anyway and I have a wee snooze along the way. And can I say how much fun it is to get out of bed at 4am and get into the big bed. A bit of poking and pushing really fires them up. Lack of sleep doesn’t bother me really, I can always have a sleep in the afternoon if I want!!

CARNARVON GORGE

The country around here is very dry, the yellow fields feeling the brunt of the drought, fluffy type grasses with pink tips line the edges of the road. The long straight stretches of road means that other cars and trucks are seen from miles away, and as we plod along they slowly catch up and eventually pass us. Unfortunately the kangaroos do not seem to see the traffic as well as us as there has been more road kill around here than we have seen anywhere else on this trip. So many dead roos on the side of the road in all states of decay, some you can smell before you actually see them. It has been nice to see some hills about as we travel on our inland loop and the country side is becoming what I have always imagined the “outback” to be like, although the soil is not quite as red yet as it needs to be to complete my picture. Spinifex grass blows along like tumbleweeds in the old westerns, yesterday we actually saw a willy willy (a small scale hurricane) in a field we were driving by, the circular wind had picked up a lot of spinifex and was spinning it around, was an amazing sight. So it was great to arrive in the oasis that is Carnarvon Gorge, which sits in the middle of some very dry country and is lush and green and hosts some amazing wildlife. It contains a quarter of Australia’s bird species and supports many roos, wallabies, gliders and platypus. On our first day there we did a 13km walk up the gorge to the Art Gallery where there were some great pieces of Aboriginal art from 10,000 years ago, stencilled hands, boomerangs, goannas and nets were some of the symbols displayed. We had to cross the creek 12 times on a series of stepping stones, and as we had the pusher with us we had to get Jarra out, carry the pusher over and convince him to get back in again, we were all very pleased to get back to camp after our trek. The next day we headed up one of the side gorges which was spectacular, getting narrower the further we went up, sheer walls of rock 30 metres high and only about 2 metres apart at some places. We received some sad news after leaving Carnarvon. When we got back in to mobile reception a message came through that Helen’s Gran in Scotland passed away the night before, she was 89 so had a good innings, but it is hard for Helen being so far from home. The sandflies are quite prevalent up here in Queensland and we have all been affected by them. We found out that they do not actually bite you, instead they wee on you, and if you can wash the area where they have been soon enough, it makes a big difference.

Life is full of contrasts.

The past few days have been full of contrasts. After staying at a lovely campsite in Rockhampton we move east to the coast to visit the beach one last time before heading into the hinterland and prospecting country. The coast between Yeppoon and Emu Park is literally empty. Kilometres of greyish sand with white dunes and the ocean in the distance. When I say in “in the distance” I mean about 500m away. When the tide goes out here, it really goes a long way! When Andre and the kids went in for a swim, I could barely make them out in the distance and certainly couldn’t see them when they were in the water. In addition the campsite and the surrounding areas are sub tropical, lush and green. We had a lovely time there. The kids found some dunes and had a ball sliding down into the pool of warm water at their base. Beaches bring us together as a family, with something there for everyone. Tal and Rennie played beautifully together, not always the case, and Andre and I commented on how well they got on. The sand was so good for building sandcastles, that Andre was able to stack them into a large pyramid – very impressive! At the campsite we at last met a family very similar to ourselves. They are from Belgrave and are travelling for three months with their four children. They have a four-wheel drive and a camper trailer that unpacks into a substantial tent area, with a kitchen. This means they can go places we never could, but lack the comfort and permanence that we do. Each has it’s own drawbacks and advantages. So we had a lovely time with Bernie, Jim, Grace, Rose, Lily and Oscar. Hey guys, if you are reading this… thanks for the time, conversation and tips. Great to meet others with similar aspirations for their family. From there we headed inland, back through Rocky to check out the slot cars one last time, but alas they were closed on Mondays. Foiled! We met briefly with Matt, had lunch and were on our way for one of the longest days we have had for a while. As we drove inland things just got drier and drier. We decided to spend the night at a free campsite, well off the beaten track close to a weir in Blaalala??. When we got there, we were surprised to see how popular a spot it was. All retired couples, many of who were from the south up for the winter. Before the sun went down they all got together for drinks and a game of what I termed Frisbee bowls – definitely a seniors club if ever there was one. Feeling a little young for the company, we moved on the next morning driving on to Banana – not named after the fruit, but a bullock of legend – and on to Rolleston, through miles and miles of open, arid nothing. This was the first open, straight(ish), quiet stretch of road that we have really hit, so it seemed as good a time as any for me to have a go at driving the bus. Yee Haa! I have finally done it and we all lived to tell the tale. Being over a year now since I passed my truck licence and with the bus and trailer being at least twice the length of the truck I learnt in, I have to say I have not been looking forward to the day I finally get behind the drivers wheel. However, I do want to be able to drive the old girl. Boy was it scary. I had to use all my weight to push down and change gear, or not as the case may be! My feet dangling just above the pedals made me feel the enormity of what I was in control of. For the first 15 minutes my sweaty hands were clamped onto the steering wheel with my heart pounding. Each time I passed a truck I held my breath and my eyes were glued to the road. Andre had to remind me to wave. What a nerve-racking experience! Eventually I began to change the gears a lot more smoothly and was able to judge when to change too. At last I was able to relax a little bit, but it will be a while before I will be doing any parking or hill starts that’s for sure. Hats off to Andre and well done! Keep on trucking!! With my moment of truth past, we arrived in Rolleston. By contrast the most ordinary campsite we have stayed at in 6 months, but as we bought a few essentials at the one and only shop/ fuel stop in town, we saw the best sunset of the trip so far. The sun sinking, a deep red ball of fire into the horizon. Absolutely stunning, which serves to remind us that mother nature rarely chooses where she shows her most beautiful attributes. Which leads me on to Carnarvon Gorge where we arrived this afternoon. The campsite is great, with excellent modern facilities. Yet again, due to our size we have a secluded spot far away from the other campers surrounded by beautiful trees and wildlife. We are looking forward to doing lots of walking, watching and learning. This promises to be as wonderful as the Warrumbungles. We will fill you in on our next entry.

SLOTCARS, HOCKEY, WIGGLES and ANT’S BUMS

While waiting for the car to be serviced yesterday I had a few hours to do a few things around Rockhampton. I visited the art gallery where there was an exhibition of year 11 and 12’s work from all around central Queensland and there was some excellent pieces, some too deep for me though. Checked at the Post Office for mail from Mum then noticed a red sandwich board on the side of the footpath advertising slot car racing and I must admit I was curious. A doorway opened straight into a steep, carpeted staircase, then more stairs to the right which leads to the landing and a darkish corridor each way. A most unlikely place to find slot car racing, whatever that is. Taking a punt to the right I happened on a door with an A4 sheet of paper which indeed indicated I was at the right place. In a huge room there was a long, blue, 8 lane track, snaking around within a metre of the walls in most places, except for the work areas. Consisting of a 25 metre straight, full 180 degree fully cambered turn, right hander, hairpin left, right again, 270 degree loop and a left hand turn onto the straight once again. This takes about 7.8 seconds! You use a little controller, they go about 50 km/hr, great fun, although I spent quite some time putting the car back on its track until I worked out corner speeds. There is a monitor with lap times, fastest lap etc. Took the kids there this morning and they loved it, they decided to spend some of their own money and go back on the way home this afternoon. In 20 minutes Rennie did 107 laps, she was very consistent; Tal completed 97 but had some very fast laps. It is run by a guy and his wife, they must be 50ish, he looks like he has been playing around with slot cars all his life and he decided to import this 1/24th size track from America. It was certainly something a bit different, we all really got into it, we were really racing those zippy little things, was good fun. We heard that there was a hockey International on and I was lucky enough to watch Australia play Korea last night. Haven’t seen that standard played for many years and I enjoyed seeing the sport I loved playing for so many years, it brought back some good memories and it was not a bad game, we won 2-1 for the record….. It was quite strange for me that they had a speaker system all the way around the ground that was playing “We Will Rock You” before the game and the opening whistle was co-ordinated with the end of the song. Loud bits of “Black Betty” were blared after each goal, that dodgy 80’s ice hockey organ accompaniment came to mind. From the hectic racing circuit to the tranquil and very beautiful Botanic Gardens which host a free zoo and is a most interesting place. There were 3 pythons which pleased Tal, some baboons, chimps, cassowaries, the usual native cuddly and hoppy creatures. We were lucky enough to meet Simon the head zookeeper and got talking. He showed us this amazing skull and jaw bone of a huge croc that was 8 metres long. The solid bony heads of these things is amazingly solid, Simon pointed out the recess that the brain sits in and it is about as big as your thumb, they rely on instinct, there is not too much thought processes going on in there. We will pay heed to the travel warnings, when north of Rocky, watch out for croccy!! Simon would have given us a close up look at the snakes, but they were shedding their skins and they subsequently lose their sight for a few days as the skin peels off. Instead he took us around to let us meet Wiggles the 1 year old wombat. I fell in love, so did Helen. She is the most adorable little thing, just lying there in our arms, big soft nose and the softest, greyish fur, as placid as can be, just gazing into our eyes. The kids noticed an army of green ants outside the information centre and asked Simon what sort of ants they were. He said to the kids,”Hey, have you ever sucked an ant’s bum?” What the? He grabbed an ant and squeezed the back section, a green sac, and said it tasted of lemon and that some people put a whole lot in a pan of boiling water to make a sort of lemon tea. We all had a go at this bit of bush tucker, was very sour, the kids thought this was great, sucking ant’s bums!! In the info centre they also had a collection of dead spiders, scorpions and other crawly critters. There were funnel webs, tarantulas, redbacks, huge hairy bird eating spiders, quite creepy. The tropical fruit garden contained an amazing array of different trees, although the wrong time of the year for most of the fruit. Can’t believe it is 6 months today since we departed on this trip, unbelievable how the time has flown. So, time to say goodbye to Rockhampton, city of; bulls up on verandahs with slogans such as “Move a bull” on the furniture removalists shop; “Edi bull above a restaurant, etc.etc. City of hoon car drivers. City of many, many pubs, seems to be one on every second corner. And of course, city of cool slotcars.

The Big Rig

THE HERITAGE HOTEL ROCKHAMPTON

15th August. We had the pleasure of having lunch today with a friend of ours, Matt Mullins at the recently renovated Heritage Hotel in Rockhampton. Matt and his business partners, have spent 6 months completely transforming the old place into a fantastic, modern new venue, we were very impressed. They have a great ability to make spaces that people want to be in, lots of wood and soft leather couches, interesting looking chairs, it is a huge place with a balcony right the way round the front, with views of the Fitzroy River. Matt, Andy, Tom and Doug have successfully completed four new pubs in Melbourne in the last five years and both of my exhibitions have been at their venues in Swan Street Richmond; Holliava and the Richmond Club Hotel. Matt’s brother Andy has played quite a part in the early stages of my art career. Jarra was pretty full on, climbing onto the billiard tables and grabbing the balls, grabbing the pool cues, climbing onto tables and jumping off, doing forward rolls on the carpet, he was quite feral really, although Matt was actively encouraging him……

FEAR AND FALLING APPLES

Yesterday when we stopped in Miriam Vale on our way here, I was watching the kids playing in the playground and got talking to another mum, from Gladstone on her way to visit rellies in Bundaberg. Two things struck me as I thought later on what we had talked about. The first was her comments about Jarra and his apparent lack of fear. He really thinks he can tackle anything and accomplish what he wants to do. He has so much confidence in almost everything he does that at times all I can do is sit back and watch and hope that the injuries are nominal, for certainly there will be some form of knock or abrasion. We have recently taken to calling him “monkey boy” or “circus child”. He is incredibly agile and has recently begun to suddenly execute a forward roll/front flip (on any surface!) without any warning. The first time he did this was on grass at Rainbow beach outside the pub where we were having dinner and there was a collective gasp as we waited to see if he had indeed injured himself this time, but he just got up and shouted “ More! More!” and continued to entertain us and quite a few of the other customers. He climbs everything and jumps down with great guffaws of laughter. Seen through his eyes, every aspect of life is an assault course just waiting to be tackled. Can you imagine tackling life in this way – full on. So much of who we are and what we do is governed by our fears. Fear of failure certainly, but also the fear of being thought less of ; of being laughed at; of being hurt; of seeming too different or out there: of being perceived as being rude or not complying to some social/cultural norm etc. The list goes on, but the sentiments are the same. Coming on this trip Andre and I could have had so many fears and everyday I try to make sure that my concerns are realistic, but that we also allow the kids as much freedom as possible to make their own trip and to discover the places that we visit in their own way. Often this means letting them go around the campsite/park on their own, always difficult as of course anyone could be lurking just around the corner waiting to pounce, but on the other hand they may not be and our children’s confidence and life skills grow. Which leads me on to the second thing that struck me ( if I was Andre I am sure there would be a pun at this point about some branch or another!). While we were chatting at a bench her four year old was sitting eating an apple at another bench when suddenly a wail pierced our conversation, “ My aaappppllllllle!!” He had dropped his apple below the bench and was distraught that his mum wasn’t there to pick it up for him and so she duly went over and picked it up for him so that he could continue to eat it. Now this struck me as a bit sad. How will this little fella cope with life if he can’t pick up his own apple and sort it out????

RUM’n’ NUTS’n’ BARRA

While waiting for the tour to start at the Bundaberg Rum factory I noticed two guys in their boots, denim jeans, black cowboy hats and navy blue wife beaters (I do not really like this colloquialism, although it is a pretty funny one! A wife beater is the common name for a vest/ singlet top), I actually thought they may have been leading the tour as they were the epitomy of a Bundy drinker and fit the stereotype perfectly. As we checked out the rum making process they had to slip in comments here and there to complete the picture. It was an interesting tour and we enjoyed a tasting at the end of it. A guy at the caravan park we were staying at told us of the macadamia nut farm across the road that had completed its harvest and were happy for people to come and pick the nuts that were on the ground. We didn’t need to be told twice and we ended up picking up about 5 kilos of this sweet nut with the bulletproof shell. They are really nice roasted up with oil,garlic and rosemary. Yum! On the 6th August,Tal started his 9th birthday off in style with a bacon and egg roll for brekky followed by a game of footy with the local footy team and a steam train ride in the Botanic Gardens on the way home. From Bundaberg to the Town of 1770 which had some nice beaches, Captian Cook must have thought so too way back then. The Information centre at Miriam Vale told us about a free bush camp at Lake Awoonga which was delightful. The countryside is a lovely yellowy colour around these parts, tall grasses containing a spectrum of orange, yellow and brown hues, it is not too dry, still a lot of green about, although we can feel the sun getting hotter as we venture further northwards. We had a lovely time at Lake Awoonga, a haven of peace and quiet, only a few other people staying here, loads of birds and wildlife. Have been feeling pretty cramped staying at caravan parks for the last month or so and it is just so different when you can choose your own space in the camp area. It was also nice as there was not much to “do”, as in the touristy sense….:we must see this while we are here”…..etc…. It was nice to just “be”, out in nature, in comfort. It is nice to think that our bus relies on solar power while we are camping, which means we have to make sure we park somewhere not too shady. It is a funny thought that we use sunshine to make our fridge cold!! Also noticed a funny sight at the campground at the Lake, someone had screwed an electrical power point onto a tree next to a picnic area, and just for a second it had me thinking…….hang on….!! The barramundi is a fish famous for its fight and size, we are just heading into barra country now and had a bit of a try for them at Lake Awoonga. I caught three on my first night!! ……………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………………….. Unfortunately I have to add that they were only about two inches long…..I had set a yabby trap and they got caught in that……Oh well…….. The barra hunt begins!! Had pancakes for breakfast this morning in Rockhampton and I bought a couple of bananas yesterday for this purpose. I knew they were going to be expensive, but the $4.27 really shocked me. We told the kids that we were going to start paying their pocket money to them in bananas, Rennie would get one banana a week and Tal one and a half!!

Been a while…

It feels like forever since I last wrote. So much has been done and experienced. It has been an interesting combination of very busy and very quiet times. Today I experienced something I have been looking forward to for a very long time. Due to the lack of enthusiasm from the children, this morning I went out on a whale watching tour on my own. It was strange to be without them, but I had a truly amazing time watching these majestic humpback whales frolicking in the ocean. After a fairly brisk start we headed off out into the bay and it wasn’t long before we could see the now familiar spouts of water on the horizon and then the whales themselves launching into the air and pirouetting before crashing spectacularly down again with an almighty splash with that all too familiar breach. The boat I had chosen (The Quick Cat) seemed like a lucky choice as it was spacious and comfy, with lovely staff and as it’s name suggests, had enough grunt to get us to the whales in no time. In many ways it is nice to share such moments with other people, where we can all oooh and aaah in unison at the awesome sight taking place before our eyes. Although we have spotted humpback whales a few times up the coast and were lucky enough to see some when we went out sailing with Phil on the Gold Coast, what makes Hervey (pronounced HArvey for some reason) Bay the best place in the world along with Hawaii, is that they seem to take the time to have a little R&R and a play in this protected area. Watching them today rising to the surface and smacking their enormous pectoral fins into the water, each in turn, for about ten minutes really looked like a game they were playing. They are very inquisitive and come right over to the boat, a couple swam right underneath us and we all held our breaths as we absorbed the incredible grace and power of such an enormous creature as we moved over the top of her. I feel privileged to have seen these creatures in their natural state and shake my head in amazement that anyone would want to kill them. What an experience! I won’t forget today for a long time… …And neither will I forget yesterday. As much as today was uplifting, yesterday was about killing and destruction. As we were driving round Hervey Bay we spotted a building with a huge shark outside, advertising the world’s best shark show and a frozen Great White. Well, you can imagine Tal’s face lit up and we excitedly ventured inside to be met by this rather lovely Kiwi lady, but a rather dated looking place. Not to be put off we paid or entry and headed on in. The first port of call was that great white in a huge frozen display. This had the sound of being something great, but in reality he looked much as I feel some days – a little old and worn around the edges!! He really did look very ordinary and there was definitely a slightly fishy aroma pervading the dank, cold room he was in. We should have taken this as a sign of things to come, but we soldiered on and walked around to look at hundreds of media clippings, surfboards with bites out of them etc. all relating to shark attacks. There seemed to be a lot of information about this guy Vic Hislop, including letters sent to him from grateful people for whom he had saved the day by killing a shark or ten. The best was yet to come. “Shark Hunter 2” is billed as “…entertainment for the whole family.” It’s a movie that runs in a little theatre on a loop. Our kids weren’t very entertained, so much so that Tal got up and left, as did Rennie. In fact Tal got really upset and we had to leave shortly afterwards as he ended up in tears and was really quite distressed. The movie, and the whole expo for that matter, was all about killing sharks - how to do it, with lots of photos and footage. This was all too much for Tal the boy who loves sharks. He couldn’t understand how this guy could call himself a conservationist and go out there and kill all these sharks – I feel much the same myself. Hislop claims that due to heavy fishing we are taking the large sharks food source and this in turn leads them to attack baby whales, dolphins etc much more than mother nature intended. He may have a point, but I am not sure if culling sharks is the solution. Now that the great whites are protected I think he is a bit less active and he certainly isn’t too happy about the ruling. After the event we asked Tal why he hadn’t told us earlier about how all the images were upsetting him and he reminded us that we had said we would do this for him and he had been worried about the money we had spent on his behalf, so didn’t want to let us down. We both felt pretty ordinary after we heard this. How easy it is to try and make kids appreciate things by slipping in a comment reinforcing that we are doing it for them, instead of just giving with an open heart and letting things take their natural course. It is a tricky thing, but we are learning all the time. One would think this would have been enough killing for one day, but last night Andre decided to try out the new headphones and extension lead he got for the TV. This is to enable us to watch TV at night without Tal listening to every word being said – he had started to comment on the plot for The Bill a bit too often. Anyway we decided to watch a DVD and we chose Munich from the selection our friends Zo and Ant made for our trip. Undoubtedly it is brilliantly acted by Eric Bana, but as some of you may know it is all about the hostage taking and shooting of the Israeli athletes at the Olympic games, and the reprisals to the Black September organizations. All just a bit too much for me and I slept an uneasy, dream filled sleep where I ran around desperately looking for people to kill and not being able to find any of them! I hope I sleep better tonight. H

NO DAM

We saw an article on 60 minutes last week about the 500 families that will lose their home and land when the Mary Valley is dammed to supposedly ensure Brisbane’s water supply. The project is being pushed by the Premier of Queensland, Peter Beattie, even though many experts believe the site will produce a dam that is far too shallow to be effective. We happened to drive through the area on the way to Rainbow Beach, a very beautiful part of the world, we started to pass signs made from old sheets, corrugated iron, any material that could be found really, with various messages hand painted on, such as: No Dam ; Dam Peter not Mary ; No Dam way, etc… There was an absolute classic I saw which stated, “My horse can’t waterski, don’t build the dam”. Ha!! We have started to watch the Chasers War on everything, 9.40 pm Friday nights on the ABC, it is one of the funniest shows I have ever seen. Last week when they took a horse around and into city shops, restaurants, cafes and even a betting agency, I was rolling on the floor laughing and it was hurting. So we made it to Inskip Point which is just past Rainbow Beach, a sandy finger of land, the ocean on one side and a sheltered body of water on our side, great for the kids to play in the shallows. We pumped some yabbies at low tide in preparation for our next days fishing in the boat. Crammed into our little boat the next morning, along with all the necessary gear and motored off in search of fish, Tal caught a little bream to start us off before Rennie brought in the catch of the day, a decent sized flathead. I dropped Helen and the kids back to shore and headed out by myself to try and catch us a feed. During the afternoon drifting around the bay I had a dolphin swimming next to me for a while, and after hearing a whooshing sound behind me, I turned around to see a giant turtle come up for air and I caught enough fish to feed us for dinner. Yum! Tal and I went out again the next morning and we could not catch a thing. We met some nice people who were camping near us including Troy, Tracy, Khia (pronounced just like your name Kaiya!), Braeden and Leyton; Steve and Vicki and Tjanna; Dave and Scott. It is a funny thing meeting people while travelling, it is easy to get to know people you have never seen before, yet we lived the same distance from people for six years in Cash Grove who we never spoke to. From Rainbow to Boonooroo, which I reckon sounds like a Scottish person who is upset there are no Kangaroos about, not much there to write home about, or to the blog either for that matter. Our plan was to go to Hervey Bay from there so we phoned ahead to try and find somewhere to stay. Every caravan park was full so we came here to Howard instead and will drive into Hervey Bay for a day or two instead.

Kingsley Piece

CARAVAN REVERSING

There are a few rituals that occur daily at caravan parks, one of the most amusing to see must be the act of reversing a caravan onto the designated site, under the watchful eyes of all and sundry. They will not just blatantly stand and watch the victim attempting the backward manoeuvre, but secretly chuckle to themselves while pretending to be busy doing something else, watching out the corner of their eye. It is always the male of the usually elderly retired couple who gets the job, while his wife uses hand signals and runs about doing the directing. It is like a test of manhood, the pressure mounts as the attempts increase and the frustration rises. There are a few schools of thought that you begin to identify, those who just guess which way to turn the steering wheel and hope for the best, trial and error style. There is also the slowly does it option, this way you do not actually give away the fact that you do not know what you are doing. Then there are the experts who do it in one motion with one hand tied behind their back, then hop out of their car and polish their fingernails on their shirt. Here at Forest Glen we have seen all manner of styles come and go in the past week and a half. There was a young lad here for the first week of our stay, Josh, the experienced and well travelled12 yr old who knew everything about caravans and mobile homes, including the reversing of. Whenever a new comer arrived he would be straight over, sussing out their style and all their gear, commenting on the quality or lack of and suggesting any improvements. He was very honest and quite a pain really! Another noticeable ritual is the row of men shaving every morning at the basins in the amenity blocks and the usual banter that goes with it, ably accompanied by the noises from the toilets behind. Fair dinkum, at times you would think you were in the midst of the brass section of an orchestra. And the question must be asked, how do you choose which toilet to use from the seven on offer? Do you use the same one each day or become comfortable with “yours”. For some reason I never choose the ones on the ends, usually the third one in, don’t know why…. When you spend any length of time in the same place you become very comfortable with the surroundings. You also get to meet various new “neighbours” as they come and go, they are mostly very pleasant and usually up for a chat. There is the odd unsociable person like the Pauline Hansen lookalike who was next door for a few days, though we have had the pleasure to meet Isobel and Keith who parked up next to us a couple of days ago in their spiffy American made RV with all its hydraulic bells and whistles. They made it known very early on that Isobel is in the middle of a fight with breast cancer. Whilst admiring the artwork I was working on she told us that she had started to draw with pastels for the first time in her life when she was first diagnosed a year or so ago and let us have a look at the preliminary copy of a book she has produced which will be published in October. It comprises a series of drawings and some words about her battle with cancer and it is very inspiring. She loves butterflys and these creatures are her signature, signifying peace, hope, freedom and beauty, a lesson the Israelis could learn from at the moment. I made her a small butterfly out of steel, it was simple and very effective, it went down very well with Isobel. They are a lovely couple from Kyabrim in Victoria and we wish her and Keith all the best with the coming months. On a lighter note, there is a little town near here called Sippy Downs, it rolls off the local’s tongues very easily but I can’t mention it’s name, or even read it on a signpost without smirking. The organic shop around the corner from here is quite amazing, it has organic everything and the prices are not too bad really, we will stock up on produce before we leave. We also visited Underwater World last week which is full of sea creatures and was very interesting. The leafy sea dragons are a totally beautiful creature, we enjoyed the seal show and the glass tunnel which has a moving walk way right through the deep sea aquarium, it was quite fantastic. I am even more determined to catch some fish now!! Last Sunday morning we went to Palmwoods so Tal could play a game of footy with the local under 10’s team and they were a great bunch of people we met, very welcoming, down to earth and enthusiastic. I finished the two pieces of art for Kingsley today, I am very pleased with them and have learnt more and developed my style in the last week working on them. Kingsley was also very pleased with the result, it is funny the path that led to us meeting eachother and I am glad we did because he is a genuine and very nice bloke. It has been a nice stay but we are ready to hit the road again and head northwards. Have more news from Rainbow Beach where we are leaving now, will post again soon.