OFF THE TRACK

So we arrived at Peter and Estelle's place on Thursday and it was as if we had known each other forever. They have four children - Eden(18), Brooke(15), Harmony(12) and Cassie(8)- who got on wonderfully with our mob as we settled down to a few beers and a good chat. When she realised I was a teacher, Estelle showed me a photo of the school the girls go to, Rossville State School, down the road. There are only 28 kids in the WHOLE school and there on the right was Cassie's teacher who looked very familiar. When I showed the photo to Andre, he suddenly recognised the familiar teacher. He is Adrian, a friend of his from back in the London days whom I had met a few times. What a spin out! We hadn't seen Adrian in almost 9 years and to see him there in the photo was just incredible! So we called him up and after a little memory prompting, he and his wife came round and we had a great time reminiscing about times past and catching up on each others lives. We ended up staying 5 days with Peter and the kids (Estelle had to go to Sydney unfortunately)surrounded by the rainforest and learning about how they live. They have bought a hundred acres of untouched forest and over the past six years have worked to clear space to plant an orchard and live. They have a large, wonderful shed for the main living area, with smaller buildings for the bedrooms. They have solar power, a "long drop" (compost) toilet off in the bush and a wonderful hot water system runs from a large drum built into a stone fireplace, above an open fire. You have to think ahead, but it is amazingly good and they are totally self sufficient right through the rainy season when they can be cut off for days on end. We had a wonderfully relaxing time there as the children finished off their school holidays. Then, on Adrian's invitation, our kids started school on Monday. The best thing about the school? Definitely the fact that you don't need to wear shoes!! Nearly all the kids are barefoot and mighty fine soccer players. Tal and Rennie are thoroughly enjoying the experience and enjoying the company of the other students. I will encourage Tal to do his own blog in the next few days, so check the link to the right to hear about all the animal encounters we have had recently! So we will spend the rest of the week here in Rossville with Adrian and then head down the track back to Port Douglas to see our friends Jonas and Maree, before finally picking up Bessie in Cairns. H