The Traveller's Times

Hey Len Help Me!

2011-06-16T20:18:00.001+10:00

Gday mate,

Mark Copland here. I am on the way to Tiwi Islands in 30 minutes. And I was restarting my blog and when i signed in as coplanddiary@blogspot.com I was in charge of your blog and can't find mine? Can you help me?

Open Blog

2011-05-01T14:31:00.001+10:00

Hi all. Len here.
Well, it has been some time since I used this blog. I just thought that I had little to say of interest to anyone.

However...

I am getting an urge to write again. I will see how that works out.

I am thinking that there are many pieces of poetic writing inside me that want expression, much about church life (people church, as opposed to Building 'Church') that we as a family are exploring and this means we must take some radical steps to be more true to our beliefs and the Word.
It will be a journey, but one I invite you to share, and to consider, as well.

The boring home news.
We have settled well into Leongatha. It is a very pretty place and friendly.
I miss my life long friends, but Burnie is gone for us.
We settled (finalised the sale of) our Burnie home last month and have sold our cars, buying a newer XTrail, that will hopefully take us through for many years yet.
We have just put on Solar hot water, in a bid to do at least something for the environment, which many speakers whe have listened to who have challenged all Christians of late to take seriously and lead the way, instead of following behind as we seem to do so easily.
(Go on, put on a jumper, turn off the light! Assist God's creation that He trusted us with)

All are well here.
We have just left the 'Church' (denomination) that we were attending and are possibly going to go to the AOG instead.

What I want to do is to start a Home Cell Network, as Church buildings etc are a pretty Pagan thing to be having (read 'Pagan Christianity) and were not considered part of genuine Christianity for the first 300 years, then Constantine built one to 'legitimize' Christianity up to the same status of other, pagan religions. He was also a Sun Worshiper. The lovely St. Peter's Cathedral, which we have seen in the news of late, has Jesus in an artwork depicted as Jesus-The Sun God! (Does that make you think?) This was common, and the beliefs were absorbed by the institutionalized 'church', and still are, but now they are 'our traditions'.

Anyway. I expect some may find this to be a bit controversial, although history and facts are just that.
This is why I have opened the blog to 'anyone' instead of being locked away as before. The constraints of Tiwi are not on me any longer and we may speak the truth, as opposed by the leaders of the school when were were up there.

Please feel free to comment and contribute. Enjoy the journey, seek the truth. I am reliably informed that it will 'set you free'.

Blessings,
Len

Platelets

2010-09-18T18:12:00.002+10:00

The little suckers that help your blood clot had a party in Len's Leg, and forgot to leave and get on with their job of looking for cuts to mend etc.
There was a lump (sore one) on his inside left lower leg for some time, probably just where it must have been hit during the move, so it was thought.
Len also took up riding his bike to work a few days a week, and went to Ikea for 4 hours of shopping (standing!).
Jude has said all along that it must be looked at urgently.

Len is stupid.

On Wed. Len just knew that it was important t get in and have it looked at.
The medical people were great, rushed him through, got a doppler (whoooo, nice word) done and was sent straight to hospital. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, or clothing etc.

So, many needles to the stomach later, wolferine tablets, really 'nice' stockings to wear, and a few days laying down, Len is home again.

No walking much, no brussels sprouts, spinach, cabbage and all the other stuff that will be hard to give up (even ginger!), and perhaps 3 to 6 months of treatment, and having to wear the STUPID STOCKING until FOREVER.....

OK, calm now.

The food was quite respectable, the needles weren't.

The annoyance of having what feels like a disability is... well....annoying.

It was a Deep Vein Thrombosis.
Fortunately it did not travel around the body, or this blog might have a different title, along the lines of 'So long Len, some of us will miss you'.

On the travels down the West to Gippsland area w must have run over a hundred chinese people (that is supposed to give you bad luck, not that we believe in luck, but you get the drift.

The Prado cost $8000 to fix, on top of the $3000 we spent just before we left Darwin.
Our Air con blew up after a week of being in the new house.
The caravan is needing repairs and we were ripped off by the 'repair' (HA) man.
The good news is, friends have called, church people have called, Anthony and Len's mum called. People have been unbelievably kind.
The house is great, apart from the Air con and the fixing we will do, but the fixing items were what we wanted to do anyway, so it is still cool.

On Tuesday we get three aircons put in, and that will be better than sitting in front of the little fan heater as we are doing now, shivering a little.

Anyhoo.... that is the news.

Catch you next time.
The Clarks

The Prado Lives, and well it might!

2010-07-29T21:34:00.002+10:00

Hey all,
We picked up the Prado today, finally.
I wrote that the bill might be $2500.

I was wrong. Again!

It was $7200.00

This was a shock, and now we have a Prado that has LOTS of new stuff, motor, fuel pump, etc etc etc etc.

Anyhoo, we have 5 weeks until 'Clinton Court' days.

We are unconditional with the contract now, so it is all ahead on 1st Sept.

So, keep in touch and blessings to you all.
Len

Some ups, some downs, some colds

2010-06-28T17:58:00.004+10:00

Well, today the wind blows from a direction that must include a snowy landscape.
So far we have not experienced the icy winds of Burnie this winter, except for today. Still, it is not as cold, but unwelcome anyway.

The news...
For some time we have had our caravan up at Warragul where a bloke has been messing about, but finally we got it back on Friday, a lock was replaced, a window and a light cover that was smashed transporting it to him. It cost a bit, and when we got home the glass is cracked already. :-(
The bloke messed us around so much that we will not try to take it back, so it is here at last.
But......
There has been some smoke from the Prado for a time, we thought it was injectors, but it has a cracked head, and injector issues. So the bill will be somewhere around $2500.

We have also been looking at homes here, as we pay a considerable rent anyway, so we may as well make it count.
We will sign for one tomorrow. That is the one in this post.
The internet address for the place, so you can have a look is; http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-leongatha-105768897

It is a flat block and a large house.
There are a few things that need repairing, but we can do them ourselves.

We will consider what to do with the Burnie house, at the moment, it stays.

Judith has been very unwell. Jessie also, but less.
Sam and Len are robust!

Sam kicked another goal on Saturday, so that made his day (goals are VERY rare in his team!).
Jessie is in art classes, and attending a holiday club, the Scripture Union 'Shipshapes' programme.

So that is the news.
Blessings to all.

Don't forget to stay in touch...PLEASE!

Football makes us wiser

2010-05-29T19:02:00.003+10:00

So, Sam is a Footy Player now.
Each Thursday night we travel to Tarwin Lower (25 mins south, in another country almost!), fly capital of Australia in the Summer. Also the place where Sam and Len take SPECIAL care to look for cars with no lights on at night (It still haunts them a little).

Two weeks ago Sam had to play at Yarram, which is another hour towards New Zealand (or, if you are a Kiwi speaker 'New Zilland, Bro'). This week was Philip Island.
The good thing about driving an hour in every direction from Gatha, is that you get to see the countryside a bit.
The Yarram drive was beautiful. There were lots of cows (as usual) but a nice mountain lookout and very pretty countryside. Philip Island is beautiful, and we will take some of you there if you visit and time permits etc. There is a seal population just off shore by 1.5km that is 20 000 strong, and you can see them with binoculars, well, they don't have binoculars, you need to have binoculars in order to see the seals, get it?
(Just in case you were confused)
So, footy has taken us out and about the place, the only good thing about footy.

School is VERY busy, there are exams and reports coming up, so the holidays will come very soon.

The family have had mild cold things, but all ok otherwise.

Travis has had the bone samples taken (YUCK, poor Trav) and this week we find out the extent of the treatment required. We continue to pray for him and the family.
Georgie is nearly 2 years old, and Skype has let us see her and blow kisses, Michelle is still working most days and being a great mum.
Anthony has sold his flat and will move to Devonport next month, that should be good for him we think.

Our caravan is STILL (STILL!!!!!) at the 'repair' place, three months and no action. On Monday we will call the insurance company and, depending on the conversation we have with them, we may take it away to somewhere else. I don't think we will have it in time for the holidays, sadly.

Anyhoo.... that is the news that is the news.
Will post some pics soon. Comments welcome.

My goodness, what a few eeeks...

2010-04-30T23:14:00.003+10:00

Hi all.\
We have returned to 'Gatha' after the trip to Tas.
We loved catching up with all there.
We were there for Travis' operation to remove some lumps in the throat.
Sam and Len decided to visit Michelle and Trav asap, and it was just after Trav returned from the op. and was still messy and half asleep when we arrived. Apart from the blood on Trav and his pillow, the scar and stitches, the heat of the hospital and that Sam had not drunk much for the whole day, it was topped off by an old bloke across in the next bed that was blind and had one eye that was completely whit(ish). Sam managed that...just. But then a nurse came in, dipped two fingers into some cream stuff and proceeded to rub it INTO THE EYE, as in 'INTO the flamin' thing'!Sam then managed to get a bit overcome by it all, and fainted. Much to our surprise and consternation. His blood pressure was so low for a minute that the blood pressure cuff could not read it at all!

Unfortunately the test on Trav showed it was cancerous and has spread.
It is apparently the 'best' kind to have if you are to have any form of the dreadful thing, but we are obviously concerned a great deal and ask that those who pray, pray for Trav please.
It is a great shock and strain on all, especially Michelle.

I have witnessed worse things being healed by God, so that's what we are asking for.

It is colder here now, as elsewhere in Southern OZ.

Last night Sam and Len went to Tarwin Lower (20 mins east of Gatha) for Sam's footy training, on the return trip we missed our usual turn and ended up on another road to home.
Sam and Len were discussing how bright the moon was, and how Cat Stevens wrote the song 'Moon Shadow' after leaving London for the first time and seeing a shadow cast by the moon. London was sopolluted (still is0 that he did not know the moon could shine so much.

They came to a T section and turned right. At this time Jude and Jess were actually praying for a safe trip home for the boys.

On turning right, Len stayed in the right hand lane more than usual and then felt teh urge to swing to the right quickly.
As he did, a car flashed past from behind.
It had been speeding without the lights on, enjoying a Moonlight Shadow night as a prank.
It missed the car by a foot for the length of the car.
If Len had turned as per usual, or not swerved they would have been T-boned and Sam certainly would have been killed, and perhaps Len as well.

It is the closest to death they have been.

The car turned their light on and went off.
It was quite upsetting, but we are all thankful for the prompting of the Holy Spirit, obviously there is work for the boys down here to do yet.

That is the news as it stands for now.
Hope you all are enjoying yourselves,
Blessings to all.

In Leongatha, off to Tasmania!!

2010-03-27T20:55:00.002+11:00

Well, we survived the first term here in 'Gatha' as the locals call it.
It is a pretty good place, and the school is fine.

We have a HUGE house, as you know already. We are getting used to having to walk a 1/4 km to get to the bathroom. We have a new lounge setting, a new TV, beds and BBQ, but the gas bottles are all on the caravan or in Tas, so we will light it up later on.

We are off to Tas tomorrow to pack the remainder of our gear, which I am dreading.

We fly tomorrow, and will be at Michelle and Travis' for a few days, then to Hobart and back, then return to Gatha.

We will have our mobiles on us, so give us a call if you want to see where we are.
Jude is 0408 569 753
Len 0418 585 660

We have the phone on, and it is STILL (amazing) 03 5662 5687
We also have the net on at home now as well.

Travis is to have a pretty serious operation on Wednesday, please pray for him.

Better get some beauty sleep.
Bless ya all,
Len

The phones, the phones

2010-03-12T21:52:00.002+11:00

Hi all,
We thought we would get away from Telstra. That was the plan anyway.
As it turns out, they have the plan we needed, so we went with them again.
Simple, right?

Well....no, actually.

We WERE supposed to have the phone on today, but the first bloke didn't put the order through correctly.
He also gave us a phone number which we memorized and began to tell appropriate places about it.
When the phone was not on as stipulated Len called Telstra, and another bloke said 'sorry' Blah, blah, blah

We then have a new number (the other one went due to the different time the order was actually placed).
Internet will be in a week or so, phone on Wednesday (we'll see!).

So, here are our details,
Home address is

30 Lee Parade, Leongatha, 3953.

Postal address is P.O. Box 93, Leongatha, 3953

Phone number is (hopefully!!) 03 5662 5687

The doors are open, feel free to visit.

The Clarks.

Satellites, School and Stumps

2010-02-07T09:23:00.004+11:00

One week of school down, three until we get into a house.
A house!!!

I must say it again, a HOUSE, whooo hooooo.

Firstly, satellites.
I have always wondered how satellites fly above us, staying in orbit etc. Amazing.
More amazing are those that are in geo-stationary orbit.
You know, sitting above one specific point of the Earth, never falling away or towards Earth, never moving forward or backward at all.
I can reveal the secret.

From a satellite point of view it is always racing forwards and falling towards Earth at a constant rate, it is not sitting stationary at all.
The reason it does not crash is that the Earth is round! As the satellite races forward, it does so at the exact rate of rotation of the Earth, and it is falling at the exact same distance that the Earth is moving AWAY from it (the Earth being round means that Earth is always curving away from the satellite which is falling towards it).
So it is falling towards an object that it never gets closer to, and it is racing forward but never gaining and distance from the surface point of view.
Fascinating, I reckon.

That's just how Len felt last Thursday and Friday.
Two days to prepare for school, three brand new subjects and one of those days was spent in meetings (how I love meetings!!).
By Friday I was very unwell, headaches, neck aches, a pain in the left ankle and a desperate feeling that I wanted to run away. Possibly a panic attack and not pleasant at all.
It turns out that the pain in the ankle was cystitis, and is not a good thing and very painful.
A trip to emergency and antibiotics are sorting that out now.
since then the week has progressed reasonably OK, and calm is slowly replacing fear.
Judith went off to work and all is well, she keeps ranting about 'A House', for some reason. (Did I mention 'A House' before?)
She seems to like her new duties, and this week will be off to the other campus (students = 12) about 30 mins drive from Korumburra along a very windy but picturesque road.
Jessie has found a few friends already and seems to like the school, Sam has been in a cricket match already, and they are in the finals in a week or two.
He has displayed great maturity with some of the students at the school, one in particular who uses others to get dirty jobs done for his own benefit, Sam has stood up to that very well indeed.
On Friday night sam And Ln went to Melb to the MCG and watched the Paki/Oz T20 game. It was a thriller and great to be there, even if it took HOURS to get out and home.

So, satellites, school and stumps have all had their way this week.
It is a very beautiful area and we went to the Anglican church this AM, which was good.

What will this week bring??

Until next time.

And back again.

2010-01-25T20:22:00.003+11:00

Well, here we are.

Back in Leongatha.

We had a good time in Tasmania meeting again with family and friends.
Some of the time was interesting, much was excellent.

It will be these people whom we miss that will be the hardest thing about being in Victoria.

We collected our trailer and crammed the Prado and Xtrail with gear, put heaps onto the roof of the Prado as well, upturned our kitchen table onto the trailer cover and packed that as well and eventually made our way back here safely. This was not always a 'given', as it all looked a bit over the top.

That is, until we went to board the Spirit of Tas., where there were all sorts of people with strange loads on top of all sorts of vehicles. We felt right at home there.
The prize for strangest in the loading bay queue must be the person who had a complete shell of a VW Beetle on top of his car!
I felt positively small fry compared with that effort.

We loved the wedding of Jude's niece, seeing family and having some time to sit and breathe.
The Prado has decided that the fuel pump needs attention, and the exhaust billows smoke when it is first started. It is only $3500 to fix, we were told!

On our return we stopped in at the Fountain Gate Shopping Center, and proceeded to spend lots on furniture orders as we have no lounge or bedroom furniture or TV (actually we had to go into debt to do it, oh well). So they are ordered and will be delivered in 8 weeks when we get a house (we hope!), and some pay.

We thought that it would then just be a matter setting up the van and resting for a few days in Leongatha Caravan Park, then work and being at the park for the 8 weeks or so to come.

However the lady there informed Len that even though we had booked a week we would have to leave after that, as she had a golf tournament that had booked the park solid. We were floored, as we then had no home, a van, two cars and new jobs/schools/everything else.
We had told her that we needed the spot for some time, around 6-8 weeks, and had booked one week already. She had said we did not need to book the rest until we returned so we didn't.

To top it off the lady was very rude and her grandson was worse. Len is in shock!! Judith is calm.

In a panic we phoned the Korumburra Caravan Park and explained our situation, they have put us up and we will have to shift for a weekend in 5 weeks, and return again after the weekend, we can stay at the park, just in another temporary spot they will make for us. How good! The manager talks fast and non-stop to the point of nausea, but it feels, and is, much nicer here, so it has worked out well after all.

Korumburra is just west of Leongatha, and you drive through it to get there. So, we have to travel 15 minutes to work each way now, instead of 2 minutes, but we have a place to lay our heads at least.

We arrived late today (Monday) partly set up and will do the rest tomorrow.

Now, for a good lie down.

Tasmania

2010-01-18T09:31:00.004+11:00

After being in Leongatha for a short time, we high-tailed it to Tas, to collect some gear and see dear family and friends.

Leaving Leongatha proved much more difficult than first thought.

We went to FOUNTAIN GATE shopping centre.
An enormous, maze of shopping delight.
There are shops enough to keep Imelda Marcos happy for a few days. Jude and Jessie for weeks, Sam for hours, Len for... well no time actually.

We then went via the M1, using the trusty GPS to guide us safely to the Spirit.

Unfortunately the male got into Melbourne, and disbelieved the GPS ('You can't be serious, you stupid machine. Shut up!, What? Surely you can't turn off the M1 THERE!!!! I am going to find it MYSELF, so there!').

It turns out that you CAN in fact turn off the M1 where it was recommended by the GPS.
(To be fair, the maps have not been updated for 2 years and there are new freeways in Melbourne that are not on the maps, so the doubt factor was high, having driven on non-existent roads coming into Melbourne a few days earlier, thought I should just like to make that clear, OK)

It turns out that not following the GPS adds considerable stress to the whole affair.
Added to this was the fact the one car was dangerously low on fuel.

After a couple of laps through the center of town, much grinding of teeth and considerable calming talk from the wife via our two way radios, we stopped for directions.
The older male was considerably stressed.
Stress has a way of spreading.
After some desperate conversations with a video shop operator (thanks customers who waited for the talk to stop) we set off, knowing we were in fact close.
Bursting onto the M1 again with instructions to 'Turn onto the M1, get into the left lane immediately, then turn off onto blah blah blah road, and you are set'.

We raced onto the M1, raced into the left lane and Len raced past the left turn off.
It was only a few hundred meters where we entered.

Needing to smash a few things, much hard breathing was done.

The train station looked lovely as we drove past it again. It was the first time we had driven over the Yarra.
Around we went again, time was ticking by. And why do light take SO LONG to change when the teeth are clenched so hard?

This time we saw a fuel station which we had driven past some 30 minutes earlier from the opposite direction.
Jude filled the car (one problem down), Sam looked at our new shiny Melways, Len spoke to a bloke who offered to drive in front to the ferry.
His instructions were so clear that we declined the kind offer.

Onto the M1 again, we made the turn and Sam (GPS Sam, Global Positioning Sam) guided us safely and directly to the vessel.

Instead of 45 minutes spare, we had 30, so that was OK.

The voyage began smooth enough.

At midnight it was not so smooth.
At two in the morning it was positively rocking.

Len has always been a chronic motion sickness sufferer, so it was earlier that we unleashed the secret weapon, GINGER.

Applause, admiration, almost devotion to the miracle that is GINGER.

NEVER before has Len traveled and not been violently ill for days, so it was with much fear that the trip was planned.

The family had Travacalm, the ginger ones, Len loves ginger (how good is that) and ate it crystallised.
No-one was sick, even though much of the night was spent tossing back and forth, expecting the worst.
All hail ginger, and thank you Myth Busters, where they tested it thoroughly.

Sunday morning began at 5am with an announcement over the loud speaker, 7am arrived at the in-laws for breakfast, then to Burnie Apostolic where we saw lots of good friends, lunch with some of them and it was great to meet our mates again.

Later we went to the Walkers and are staying with the lovely daughter and hubby, and seeing our dear grand-daughter.

Very nice.

Oh, one last thing... it is cold here!

Until next time

Leongatha - and A NEW ADDRESS FOR POSTAL THINGS

2010-01-13T22:38:00.005+11:00

So, we made it.

Leongatha is actually better than Len remembered it to be.
There are a few more shops, and very friendly people.

What there is not, however, is accommodation.
The new desalination plant is to be built near here (somewhere) and homes are nearly all full up.
We inspect two tomorrow. Here's hoping!

A certain Mr. Flower esq. wanted us to be over the magic 10 000km mark by the time we got here from Darwin.
well...

The stats are (NOT counting from Melbourne to Leongatha).

1904.88 litres of diesel (I am so sorry, Planet Earth!)
$2585.00 fuel cost
Average of 19.22 liters per 100km (that is soooo bad, but a very heavy pulling load)
9856km to Melbourne in total.

If we add on the KM from where we were in Melbourne when we last filled to now, we add another 145.1 kms

WE GET.......

10001.1

Hooray, I hear Mr. Flower esq. exclaim.

Hooray, we exclaim.

The rest probably say nothing much at all and go and make a nice hot cup of tea.

Now, we have been busy, and we have already secured a post box, so you can post donations to the 'Pay for the diesel' fund.

This is the new address for us all.

L. J. S. J. Clark (Whomever it may be you want to post to)
P.O. Box 93
Leongatha 3953
Victoria, Australia

Now, get writing!

Until next time (or you visit us here)

Addled Aide

2010-01-13T07:57:00.003+11:00

We arrived in Adelaide after the trials of the Nullabor.
We saw a bloke on a push bike half way across!
We also knew what lay in front of the intrepid traveler, and wondered how the heck he was going to survive the time in the sun.
Then we drove through what he had already pedaled through, and wondered how he HAD survived the time in the sun.
There is an old bike at Nullarbor (The town that is, Nullabor on Nullabor, get it?) with an even older helmet. It is the bike and helmet of the first person to ride across the plains.
We are also pretty certain he was mad.

Adelaide put on it's best weather for us (read 'Stinking hot', and we had the pleasure of staying with the Flower family, and visiting the Jack family, both dear friends of ours. That was great.

We were a day ahead of schedule and were going to leave on Monday, but a Catastrophic Fire Warning was issued for the area we were heading to, and it would have been a struggle to get the van up the hill heading out of Adelaide. We waited until Tuesday.

Tuesday was wet and much cooler, so we headed out and drove to Ballarat, we would have driven into Melbourne but it was too hard to find a caravan space.

The van found additional leaks and we have wet bedding and coverings etc.
It looks bleak for the future of the van, insurance people will have a look in the next few days in Leongatha.

Today (Wednesday) we head to our new town and try to find a home to live in.

Today is also dawning bright and sunny.

The Main Game commences.
Until next time

The view from here is hot

2010-01-07T22:43:00.002+11:00

Esperence is a jewel in the tiara of the south west of Oz.
The Beach Drive is stunning. The water is so clear that close to shore waves seem to shimmer inwards, rather than move, as you can see straight through to the sand. The deeper water is magnificently turquoise, and we were fortunate enough to see a pod of perhaps a dozen dolphins frolicking in the waves on the first beach we looked at.
Driving along, seeing magnificence after magnificence we went into sensory overload and returned tired and happy to the caravan.
We left the next day to try to get as far towards Adelaide as possible.
It was 47 degrees in Esperance later in the day we left!

We decided that we would not dally on the Nullarbor, and skittle across as quick as possible. 'As quick as possible' turns out to be between 80 and 100kph. It also means 'two days of lots of driving'.
The view across the Nullarbor for passengers is not as one may expect. There is no places that are red dust either side, but much low scrub-land and some wooded areas. It is not a place to settle down and raise a family, we feel. We met my brother and partner (now newly pregnant) at Caiguna Roadhouse where he is working until next week.

The view for the driver across the Nullarbor looks a lot like a temperature gauge of a motor vehicle.
There is a very solid and delicately balanced link between the temp. gauge and the accelerator pedal.
As the vehicle is pulling quite a heavy load, it tends to run from 1/2 way up to 7/8 to the dreaded RED zone. A slight touch harder of the accelerator pedal and it soars to the RED zone, and heart attacks occur spontaneously for the driver, who must nurse the system down a tad, until it feels safe-ish to continue on. Even stopping and idling to cool things down a bit actually makes the car get hotter!
MANY hours were whiled away looking anxiously down to the temp. gauge and up to the road, then repeated, and .... well you get it.

We have driven for over 800k one day and over 700 the next.
Adelaide is only 5 or 6 hour away now.

What's in a Name?

2010-01-05T00:49:00.004+11:00

If you come from Tasmania it is easy to pick a foreigner.
They say 'Lawn-seston', not 'Lon-seston' for 'Launceston'.
Interestingly, if you are from England, the original pronunciation for Launceston is actually 'Lawn-ton', spoken very quickly.

Tasmanians don't let the fact that they say it incorrectly bother them when they frown at foreigners who pronounce it differently than the local dialect dictates.

Albany is actually 'Al-bany', not 'All-bunny'. We got that right so we fitted in there, although dealing with N.T. number plates was a little problematic, so we left them on the Prado.

En route to Albany we had a fantastic drive along Highway 1, the route is bumpy, narrow-ish but lined with great forests and lots to see and do.
We stopped at Donnybrook, where they have a huge playground for free, so people drove at least 5000kms to play there (well, we did).
That probably makes it not technically 'free', but there was no entrance fee. It was a great way to split up a 550k drive.

From there we went to the Diamond Tree Reserve, where they have BIG trees that have had the tops cut off and a cubby-house plonked on top, to be used as fire watch towers. There are several, we were told.
We decided to climb the one in the pictures.
Jude and Sam got 1/2 way up and returned to Terra Firma (The more firma, the less terra).
Jess and Len went to the top, and it was quite a feat for a 9 year old. Very scary thing to do, and gained some appreciative 'ooh' and 'ahh's from those waiting their turn to risk heart attack or sudden impact death.

We then went to the Forestry Air Walk, in amongst more BIG trees. Much like Tahune Airwalk in Tas, without the opportunity to scare everyone by bouncing the cantilever, sadly.
Mind you it did sway sideways much more, a fact Sam tried valiantly to exploit.

Albany itself is nestled in the lee of some granite hills, snuggled down in a hollow, where it has a good snooze each day between 12 noon and 6pm. (Not really, it just sounds like it should, being in a hollow and all).
It is also a beautiful town, and one should take a trip to the Natural Bridge and see the awe-inspiring coastline. There are also two 'Blow-holes' nearby, where there are holes in the granite the size of a basketball. If you wait long enough for a good swell then you are treated to a very surprising jet propelled gust of compressed air, strong enough when we were there to remove hats, glasses, tee shirts (Jude held hers down after seeing Len's fat belly exposed to the other visitors in an amusing moment for all but Len), and perhaps strong enough to exfoliate exposed skin, should you so desire.
We were told that some splashes out to sea were two whales. After lots of patient waiting with the tele lens on the camera, and a pic or two of the splendid splashes the larger animal made it dawned that they did not move at all, and looked suspiciously like a few rocks way out at sea that were just being rocks. The pictures have been discarded.
The final thing about Albany, that will be mentioned here, is that if you want a good pizza in Albany, then you must go to Jo-Joe's Pizza.
We bought the jumbo version, $24, fed everyone and there was some left over!!
It just fitted through the caravan door with a slight tilt. Truly the best pizza we have tasted as well.

We are now at Esperence, another 500 or so ks, and tomorrow we explore some beach driving, we think.
Until then.

So, where's the Pestilence?

2010-01-01T20:38:00.006+11:00

Some time ago, in a life long forgotten Len once decided that it was necessary to move from Tasmania to Geraldton, in W.A.
Geraldton was chosen because;
1. It had the best year round temperature for anywhere in Australia.
2. It was the furthermost place from Burnie with the best year round temperature in Australia.
3. It was the furthermost place from Burnie and the (then) Mother-In-Law in Australia with the best year round temperature in Australia.

After purchasing tickets etc. He eventually did not go, deciding to face the perils at close quarters instead of long distance.
One result of the last decision was the he always wondered what Geraldton would be like, thinking that it in all probability it was a dump and that it was a very good thing to have not been living in that city for all those intervening years.

It was with some interest and a little dread that we drove into there last week, on Boxing Day.

Well, it is very nice, as it turns out. Everyone loved it, it is bright, warm (not hot or cold) and has great places for family and seems a very friendly place to be.
It would have been OK to live there after all.

It is windy, but the locals consider that an advantage, promoting para-surfing as a sport for Geraldton's trendy people who can still wear small bathers and not make people feel ill.

We saw some Stromatolites in Shark Bay. Actually there are the largest collection on the planet.
Being an algae-rock thing they don't provide any entertainment as all, but we have seen then now.
Jessie nearly expired on the few hundred metre walk into them, it was stinking hot and very bright on the shell walk.
They also mined the shells some time ago, cutting them into bricks for building with. Very strange.
Kikipedia says 'Stromatolites (from Greek στρώμα, strōma, mattress, bed, stratum, and λιθος, lithos, rock) are layered accretionary structures formed in shallow water by the trapping, binding and cementation of sedimentary grains by biofilms of microorganisms, especially cyanobacteria (commonly known as blue-green algae). They include some of the most ancient records of life on Earth.'
So now you know.
In the pictures they look like burnt scones that grandma forgot to watch and then threw into the sea to forget about.

From there we high-tailed it to Perth and this is also a beautiful city, as we were told it would be. It has great gardens, a very 'outdoorsy' feel about it. The King's gardens overlooking the town are magnificent,the Bell Tower is very interesting as well. We paid the price for the tower and went in, where we saw actual bells played by actual bell-ringers. We were told that this is the only place where you can see this happening before your eyes. We think this may be so, as usually the bells are up in a tower, locked away and only share the space with a few dozen soon-to-be-startled pigeons, who also happen to be in various stages of deafness (I assume, given where they live and all). In civilized Perth they have a whole bunch of windows where you can watch the bells tumble when pulled by the somber, rather old fashioned looking people who volunteer to train to pull the chords. The fluffy part of the chord is called 'Sally', which seems appropriate for some reason or another. The bit with no fluff on it is just called the 'Tail'. A set of bells are called......
'A Ring' of bells. How cool is that.
(We were discussing collective nouns as we drove into Coral Bay and came up with a knit of sheep, a neigh of horses etc. We have to make ways to while away the hours spent watching the scenery go by)

So, Perth gets a big thumbs up, we could live here, Fremantle is lovely, Rottnest Island was too dear to travel to, and it has great beaches and some snorkeling we were told. Been there - done that, cheaper. So we gave it a miss.

We were also told we had to have fish and chips on one of the wharves in Freemantle, being home of all things seafood etc.
We did.
We have had better. (Burnie has better fish an chips than anywhere, surprisingly!)

Tonight Len and Sam went to IMax and saw 'Avatar'.
What a pleasant surprise, not the red an green 3D but the better polarized version. It wasn't done to impress with gadgety 3D tricks at all, but was the best 3D We have ever seen.
Well worth the money, go see it, in 3D if you can, and at an iMax if possible.

Pestilence? I hear you ask.
Well, we were coming home from Perth after watching the 20/20 match where we saw three of the best catches ever made, and the sky had a strange dustiness about it.
We later were told that there were fires north of Perth, where we had just driven through.
It seems we are being chased to Leongatha by Moses, or someone who has similar tendencies towards natural disasters etc.
We have had floods and now fire, just leaves pestilence I believe.
That will be interesting to see what happens.
Tomorrow the travel begins again, 5 hours to Albany. Is that ALL bany, or AL bany??
We find out tomorrow.
Until then.

Hot water is hot, and cold water is cold

2009-12-24T10:42:00.005+11:00

Excepting for two short stints in Tas, Jude and Len have had to add hot water to the showers for the first time in two years.
The cold water here is actually cold. How bizarre.

Traveling south from Coral Bay we swept past the Tropic of Capricorn, where we did not have to change our money or anything. Quite a disappointment, not even a security check. Nothing!

Carnarvon is, well, nice. More nice than Coral Bay we think. Perhaps.
MUCH more nice than Sandfire, which unfortunately did not get wiped off the map by cyclone Lawrence, who was vindictive enough to just miss the roadhouse.
Lawrence has now dumped all its rain on central W.A. and fizzled out, serves him right.

Another two noticeable things that have occurred by being south-ish are;
1. You can brush past palms/bushes/trees and not worry that a whole bunch of miffed green ants will swarm over you and make their bad tempers and displeasure known.
2. Little unexplained sores (probably from bites from nasty insects) heal. Len has had three that refused to get on with the healing process, and now they are healing. Hah!!!

Carnarvon is VERY windy. It has a mile long jetty (1.6k for those imperially challenged).
We walked nearly all of it yesterday. 'Nearly all' because they have a gate across the last little bit and you have to turn back. We enjoyed the walk nether the less. It was so incredibly windy it is a wonder that we did not get blown away.

It also has a pretty big radar dish, which has 85 steps to the top which you can climb and have a look around from. We will do so today, before we head off to Denham, where we will stay for Christmas and Boxing Day.
The dish was (you guessed it) a joint effort by the USA and Oz, they used it to communicate with satellites and it was where the first signals were received from the moon landing in 19 something-or-other.
It is a tourist landmark now, unused and lonely.

Stingrays don't like me

2009-12-22T00:35:00.002+11:00

Coral Bay is a nice town.
Expensive, but nice.
Nice people, nice caravan park, nice temperature, nice beaches.
Nice...

The shallow waters just before dusk had a few small stingrays feeding there.
Len decided to try and step on a tail, just to let them know he wasn't all that happy with the Steve Irwin incident.
It turns out that they can sense when a foot is near their tail, and they can also swim very quickly.
On this occasion it did an U-Turn ('a U-Turn'?) and went straight at Jessie. Although it stopped short of Jessie and resumed feeding she seemed nonplussed at the event and decided the ray was actually chasing her. Len believes that rays actually don't have a malevolent cartilage in their bodies, and that it was a chance direction away from a tail-flattening idiot.

Judith and Len continue the slow recovery from sun burn.
Jude complains when she bends her legs, but is stoic and managing very well, and Len is looking for a bandanna ($9:00 here!!) to wear on the head when next the snorkeling bug hits, which will be early tomorrow morning in fact.

So, the kids are complaining already that it is cold here. It is, must be 28-ish, and a cool sea breeze to boot.
Hope we toughen up to the post-tropical weather sooner than later,
Until next time,

The Windswept Water People

Exmouth, sunburn, Nemo and 'What's-her-name?'

2009-12-20T21:05:00.003+11:00

Exmouth is better than Port Hedland.

It is a small place with not much going for it excepting that it has fab beaches and great snorkelling... oh, and a bloomin' great VLF radio transmitter array.
The Yanks and the Ozzies (surprised?) use it for war purposes, you know, contacting subs and ships to tell them who to blow up etc.
The central tower is the 2nd tallest in the southern hemisphere, it says. It is supposed to be 387m high, and surrounded by 12 other towers as well. It is a bit 'Dr. Who'-ish to look at.
It looks 100m tall when you are close to it, but to be honest, you CAN see it from a very long way away, so I guess 387 is correct. The central tower weighs 800 tonnes alone. I would have guessed 80 at the most.

We taught the kids to snorkel and returned with the same number of children as we set out with, which I guess is a good thing, right.

Nemo and 1000 of his cousins made an appearance at The Oyster Stacks, as did Dory and a whole menagerie of colourful aquatic creatures, a bit like swimming in a very big Melbourne aquarium, but the plants and corals are real not fake as I am told they are in Melb!!
Apart from the astounding beauty of the underwater world I was also taken by the critters nibbling the coral. I thought some of them did it, but everyone was feasting in it today (Well, not me, obviously). They are just water-cows I have decided.

Judith has discovered that snorkeling involves lying face down in the water.
This leaves the back of the legs exposed for some time to the sun.
Now, the sun here is not the same sun we had in Darwin. No, really.
The Darwin sun, let's call it 'Dun', is generally hot but kind enough to not burn you.
The Exmouth sun, let's call this one 'Xun', is not so benelovent.
Jude's legs will need a few coats of Aloe Vera spray tonight and tomorrow and are developing a nice, but unhealthy, glow.
Sam is so tired all he can do is play PS, Jessie is sitting drying her head by letting a towel impersonate an Arabic person on her head, and Len has again realised that the smart thing to do was sunscreen the back of the legs before you burn, but forgot that he has little hair to protect his only functioning area, his head. Aloe Vera has been applied to the slightly hairy scalp.

Tomorrow we head to Coral Bay, which is supposed to be even better snorkeling than Exmouth.

Now... how do we snorkel in long pants and tops?
Until next time,

The Lobster Bake Clan.

Another day (again).... another 784ks

2009-12-20T01:10:00.004+11:00

How many Ks can you do in this place and not go too far??

Answer: A blinkin' lot!

We went to Karratha today and decided that 2 days in Exmouth would be better than one, so we traveled on... all day actually.

It was so hot that the air-con heated up again and we had to turn it off.
Sam displayed a nice collection of sweat in his belly button, Jessie had sore eyes from sweat and Jude and I looked like salamis curing in the mid-day sun.
We opened the windows and were very cool as the sweat began to chill and evaporate.
Then we were VERY hot once that finished.
Driving into Exmouth was great, nice little place from what limited sunlight we have used to see it with so far. It is actually cool (well, probably high 20s, but that is cool, right?).

Tomorrow we sleep in, and then we teach the others to snorkel and have a look at one of the famous reefs, Ningaloo. It should be great tomorrow providing no-one drowns.

So, we are all very tired but we traveled well.
I hate to think how much diesel we used today, it was so hot the car ran right to the top of acceptable range and we had head winds as well, I am sure we did 100k less than usual for the same amount of fuel. Will check tomorrow.
We did not have anything stolen last night, except that the cover for the rear wheel is missing, either 'borrowed' or flew off during the drive today, unsure.
I did not take a pic of the disabled toilet, as I went in the monster that lurks under the leaf litter (real leaf litter) tried to swallow the camera and I could hear murmurings that were a tad unsettling from the brown stained hand-basin, so I retreated. Sorry Dear Reader.

Now, to try out the showers in Exmouth!
Happy Holidays.

The traveling Wilbury-Clarks

Another Day, another... well 640kms

2009-12-19T00:50:00.006+11:00

This is such a big place.

I mean, if you need a bit of flat land that no-one seems to want to do anything on, then have I got a deal for you.

500 kms today was all flat country. Nothing there except a few cows that didn't have the sense to go on walkabout until they found either water or something to eat, or both.

Then there's the heat.
Mind you, I guess 40 plus in the shade is ok, for some.
I love our air con, did I mention that before??

We were chased out of the tropics by the cyclone, it stayed just north of us.
Sam had his last Water Boy engagement with the Tiwi Bombers, who look set to be in the finals.

We went to Looma and spent a night there with the Shorts, that was great. There is 20k of gravel road into Looma, it was excellent, just graded for us, how kind.
The next day we went to Broome, and it hasn't stop raining at Looma since. Hee heee.

Two nights in Broome, even though they said they would have to evacuate us for the cyclone. It slowed down so we stayed and had a rest.

Today we drove the 600++ ks from Broome to Port Hedland. Very long day and Len's posterior is getting tired of the seat. He lays on the couch a bit now, to relieve the pain.

Port Hedland is forgettable.
Sandfire is even more so.
We stopped there (200k before Port Hedland) and took a look and got into the car and drove on, even though we wanted to have a break. Driving all your life was better than spending some/any time in Sandfire.
We are going to start a list, like Top Gear's fastest track time board.
We will put our least favorite places on the bottom, and the best on the top.
Sandfire will be on the bottom.

Mind you, we are in a caravan park that is cheap in South Port Hedland.
We have progressively found out why it is cheap.

Things get stolen in the night here and cars get broken into.
The showers have panels hanging off the walls, and the disabled toilet is well..... disabled. Not to mention that it is VERY unclean and covered in litter and filth.
I should take a pic tomorrow and publish it. I am sure you will enjoy.
Len has covered all the car windows to stop people seeing in, and parked it nose first under our outside light so one can see down both sides of the car. That should help, as well as the fact that it was pension day today, so the local indig mob should have grog and money of their own at the moment. How sad. They bring such shame to themselves.

We will try to sleep tonight with one ear alert (Australia needs more Lerts, you should become a Lert).

Tomorrow we travel only 265k to Karratha, one night and then on to Exmouth and Coral Bay. They are both at Ningaloo reef, which they say is better than the Great Barrie Reef and you can snorkel in waist deep water and be staggered.
They should be excellent and we will do some snorkeling/drowning there. We have bought a cheap disposable waterproof camera to get some wet pics. It is a film camera so we can't publish them as until we settle in Leongatha.
So, until the next time, happy trails (or is that 'happy trials'??).

The Clark Mob - Leighland Brothers

Fitzroy and Looma

2009-12-15T10:06:00.003+11:00

Yesterday we got to Fitzroy crossing. Took 7 hours and LOTS of diesel, which is rather expensive here!

It is very hot, but thankfully it is also dry.

I am amazed at the Indig communities that you come across in the bush. Lots of them.
It is so hot and I wonder how they can just be there all the time.... amazing.

We are off to Geikie Gourge, near Fitzroy, then to Looma for one night where we will visit with our friends Jamie and Natasha Short whom Len visited a few years back for a mission trip.

So, a hot day today.
Very thankful for the air con in the caravan I can tell you.
Len

Kunnunurra

2009-12-13T20:44:00.003+11:00

we did it, took all day from 8 am 'til 6:30 pm, but we are in Kunnunurra, will be off to Ftzroy Crossing tomorow, another 8 hours and then we can step it back a bit, thankfully.

Our caravan is leaking, the door is sagging and I have broken other stuff, great start!!

Huge rains in Darwin, 100ks of wet then it was dry, which was great as I wanted to temporarily fix one of the leaks (we have 3), but ran into major rain again 40 Ks from the caravan park :-(

Will try to dry the area and tape it for now.

Didn't kill anyone or any animals (apart from a very nice but slow moving butterfly).
Saw a feral donkey again, just like last trip, and lots of roaming cattle that we always hope will not suddenly run across the road. Had to nearly stop for a mentally challenged calf though. I think he will not be long for this world, road trains take several hundreds of kilometers to stop, being 20 kilometers long themselves. I think those measurements are close, perhaps a little large.

So here I go, fixing the world with one strip of tape at a time.

Len

Au Revouir N.T.

2009-12-13T00:27:00.002+11:00

We head off tomorrow early, it has been amazing here, and the farewells from schools were just unbelievable. So much support and kindness it is astounding. My Tiwi brother, Bernard rang to say goodbye today, breaks my heart.

We have had the experience of a lifetime but it has come to an end, and the new chapter begins.

It has been quite wet here, heaps of tropical rain for 24 hours and a very low pressure system just off the coast tryimg to become a cyclone.
The caravan has sprung leaks for no reason, and the door is drooping, so I am a little concerned.

I hope the van lasts until we get back home at least, I will need to remove a whole side section and rebuild the collapsing door section some time.
Water was coming through a light fitting, and we have just discovered a new leak into a power point. Might be interesting in the next few days!!

We will do 8-10 hours tomorrow, and the same the next day. Meet some friends in Looma and then on to Broome, where we will have a rest day and then off to Pt Headland, a long and boring drive we believe.
We will keep this updated so you know where we are.
Bless you all,
Bye NT (sob, sob, sob).

So this is it

2009-11-30T22:06:00.003+11:00

So, we have made a decision.

It has been long and difficult to get to.

It should have been easier.

We are off to Leongatha.

Today (01/12/09) the school in Tas was notified and the Ed department was as well that we would be not taking a position there.
South Coast Christian College were notified that we have accepted their position offered to us. Judith and Len both have positions there.
We will continue to rent out our Burnie house, and get our gear over asap (when we get some money I guess).
Jesie wil attend that school and Sam will probably go to Leongatha Secondary College.
We will rent in Leongatha.

There are family pains to deal with, which is why it has been so difficult to get to this place, but we are pretty sure that it is the right choice, for many reasons.

To any whom may find this out first on the blog and feel we should have contacted you before this I apologize, we will talk to others as soon as we are able, just thought you might like to know sooner than later.

Love to you all.

2 2go

2009-11-29T09:17:00.004+11:00

Well, only two weeks to go.
We packed the xtrail as a trial run yesterday, we are sending it down on the Ghan (pronounced 'Gan', as it was named after the AfGHANistan camel drivers that used to be here), they allow you to fill the car up to window height.
What does not fit into the car and the caravan will stay here. We have little here anyway.
We leave on Saturday the 12th or Sunday the 13th (Sam wants to do a waterboy job for the Tiwi Bombers and Jessie has been invited to a birthday party for Saturday).
We plan to drive down W.A., trying to get to the Broome area in two days (8 hours driving a day for two days!). We want to see Jamie and Natasha Short at Looma (near Fitzroy Crossing) if it is dry enough to get in there. We would only stay for a day and then head off. Broome by 14th or 15th.
Then racing down the west and back to Melbourne.

On the job front....

Leongatha (South Coast Christian College) unexpectedly rang back with a job offer for Len (Woodwork, Music, Art and Business studies) and 2 days a week for Judith (on class).
The next morning there was also an offer from Somerset Primary school for Len (On a grade 2 class (HAAA HAAAAA) and 2 days of music.

There may also be an offer from Penguin High for Len (3 days lower High school Art and 2 days Music). We find out on Monday or Tuesday about that we hope.

We need to decide by Wednesday, as the one/s Len does not take will need to be filled by the schools and we want to give them the best time frame possible.

At the moment we are pretty uncomfortable with the Somerset option. There are several issues there which may make it an unpleasant place to be.
Firstly being on a grade 2 class would be a stretch possibly, and a big unknown for Len.
Secondly there are some there that are not Christian friendly. Judith worked with one there some time ago and would not do so again, and other friends have had poor experiences (very poor!) for the same reasons. It is not a matter of differences of opinions, which we can live with. It was issues of active aggression that made working with a person there actually very bleak and impossible in the end. We have done some checking if this may have changed and have been warned off by several who know. However the Principal has gone out of her way to make the position available, so that is really good and we are thankful for her efforts, but there are serious questions we are unable to resolve as yet. Whilst it is still an option, it is unlikely that Len will take this position.

And...

Leongatha (SCCC) http://www.sccc.vic.edu.au/ would enable us to speak freely there, and teach freely as well. Also there is a job for Judith immediately, so that is a plus. There is an awesome music programme, Nationally recognised, a huge sports programme and a community that even shuts the shops (smaller ones) at midday on Saturdays so families can go to the sports together. It is impressively clean, and friendly. Sam would go to a different school than where we taught if we go there, and if you want an idea of what others schools are like have a look at the Leongatha Secondary College website http://www.leonsec.vic.edu.au/

There would be a substantial amount of pain for one member of our family in particular if we choose there, and we are not sure how to manage that. We feel this pain strongly. We love them deeply.

Returning to Burnie has issues for us as well, church and schooling for Jessie being the main two obstacles.

So, many sleepless nights, endless debates, upset stomachs and the inability to do the best for everyone in one place all need to be resolved by Wednesday.

Sam flew off to Nguiu, Tiwi yesterday and did his water boy job. He had a chance to say goodbye to some boys he knows, and he said one boy had to walk away as he had tears in his eyes. The Tiwi take friendships very seriously as do all Indigenous. He has had a ball doing this job and the team love him. He has a Tiwi Bombers shirt that he is proud of as well, only team members and support staff get them.
Jessie is at yet another sleep-over and returns at 10am today, Sunday 29th.
Judith is sleeping in!
Len is enjoying a cup of tea.
Now you know what we are all up to!

Your comments and prayers are welcomed.
Thanks to you all for your kindness shown to us.
Our two year adventure draws in, the Mist of God is a little clearer but no less painful.
Until next post,

3+

2009-11-18T21:05:00.001+11:00

Hi Y'all.
Nearly three left.
What has happened.
Well, still no job.
Len has applied for one at Penguin High School that would be good, we think.
We have booked the Spirit to return to Tas.
We still don't want to leave the great jobs here, so it is getting tougher each day.
your support is appreciated.
Where will we end up?
Who knows
Post again soon.

4

2009-11-14T10:21:00.002+11:00

4 to go...
Cor how time flies.

So, Len didn't get the job at Leongatha.

or the one at Kingston.

(no one love me :-)

Actually, they needed other curriculum area specialist in both cases, so its understandable.

The builders have arrived. From 7:00 am 'till 5:00 pm they concrete cut and removed.
We now have a great pile of mud to traverse as we get to the door, so it is fun.....not.

It was great to see the builders again, we knew most of them from Tiwi.

This weekend we will sort out the remainder of our stuff, ready for the caravan trip and remove all other. Basically anything that won't fit into the caravan for the trip, and what we can send back in the xTrail is all we will take.

The day looms large, and it will be a wrench to leave the schools we are at, especially Len and working with the indigenous mob, as there is amazing connection and progress there. That will be very sad indeed.

So, for those in Tasmania, we will see you soon!

THE MISTS OF GOD - next step

2009-10-31T09:56:00.004+11:00

Hi all.
We are counting down in earnest now. Only 6 weeks to go.

To update you all....

This Thursday night Len flies down to Leongatha to have a look at the school there, where there is a job comprising music, woodwork and sundry tasks. Leongatha is 2 hours SE of Melbourne in the Gippsland area. It is small-ish school that wants to grow and seems like a good place to be.

There is also a position in Kingston, below Hobart.
This one closes next Friday and we have asked them if we might get some idea if Len is in the running or not, as Leongatha need an answer as soon as we are able to.

Apart from that, there are no other jobs in the pipeline at this stage. this means that we are not really able to pack successfully, as we don't now where to send the car and a car full of gear (which we are down to now).

On the living front, we are still squatting at Driver Avenue. We were just told that some builders will arrive in the next two weeks to start cutting concrete etc. Someone will live on site in a caravan, and will need to use the toilets etc. This might be too much for us and we will move out earlier than anticipated and return to our 'home', the Free Spirit Resort and live in the caravan for the last few weeks.

Both our jobs up here are fantastic and we both will miss them. Len is having an excellent time at Marrara and the end of the year will be quite painful actually. Comments from staff are so amazingly encouraging that it is making it even more difficult to leave that it was earlier in the year.
Jude loves Litchfield Christian School and this too will be difficult to leave.

A simple (for us) solution is for immediate family move up here!

We have Terry and Cheryl Young visiting, they are here for two weeks and leave on Wednesday. They have just left (Saturday) for Kakadu, for two days. It has been great to have them here.
Bevan French is here today from Tiwi, and we also have Ryan Warlapinni staying, a student from Tiwi College. Sam is very excited to see him again. He will move about with us this weekend and catch the ferry home Monday morning.
So, it is very busy, eight in the house and all. But it is also very nice having them as well.

So, as we work towards our next move, please keep us in your thoughts, and feel free to comment below.
Until next time.

What next??

2009-10-17T22:38:00.003+11:00

Here we are, 8 weeks today from when we plan to drive away from Darwin and begin our journey south. As we say that is the plan at this stage. The school year finishes then, it will be the beginning of the wet, hot, sticky weather. Our "plan" is to move out of the house we are in at present about a week before that and live in our van, back at the Free Spirit Resort for the final week. Seems fitting that we began our time up here, in a cabin at the FS for about 8 weeks. We also hope to meet up with the French family (friends of ours who came up with us and were also at FS and over on Tiwi with us) on the Friday night. We will have a final meal together there, a swim in the pool and chat about where we will all be heading from there. Seems all so strange but nice too that it is wrapping up in this way.

As we said, we "plan" to drive to the southern states via Western Australia, to be in Tassie by 23rd of January for my niece Jayne's wedding, then to celebrate a late Christmas with family and friends. Christmas for us will be in the van, somewhere down Western Australia. Of course this all counts on the rain not being too heavy by this stage, the road to WA may be impassable and we may have to head through the centre or via the East Coast.

If we have jobs in Tassie ready for us, we will head over on the Spirit of Tas and after the wedding be ready to settle back in for the new school year. If we don't have jobs, we may need to consider Victoria. We do feel that where ever we end up next year though, we will need to stay put for a few years, to allow Jess and Sam to settle in school, and particularly Sam to move through years 9 - 12.

At present Len is applying for jobs in both Tassie and Victoria, hoping for some nibbles, but still waiting. There definitely aren't many in his teaching field in Tassie at the moment. It is all a great time for patience, seeking, hoping and praying. In the words of Sam, "Something will turn up, it has before".

In the meantime, we continue working, both Len and Jude thoroughly enjoying their schools, probably the happiest we have been in our work for a long time - a bit of a shame we will be leaving really. Sam is enjoying playing in an indoor cricket team now that outdoor is finished for the year. Both he and Jess are reasonably happy at school and have made a few friends.

We are all very thankful for all we have done over the last 2 years and wait in bated breath for what exciting adventures await. As someone said to Len, it is like walking into the mists of God.
At church last week, a new song (for us), had a great section in it,

"You took me out of the deepest sea
You gave my soul a song to sing
You took me up on a mountain top
I see my life in a different light."

This was a great song for us at this point in our lives and for the time we have been up here. I hope and pray we can go back to a more "normal" life but hang on to all we have learnt from being away. Now that we have seen our life in a different light, it would be good to use what we have and go for it, for God.

Your thoughts and prayers would be appreciated.

Back from the West, still in one piece (Episode 3)

2009-10-17T11:57:00.013+11:00

After our great experience at Marglu Lagoon, we headed back in to Kununurra for one more night, stocked up on supplies, had an interesting experience at the local chicken take away shop. Len and the children were getting our tea while I finished off the groceries. They found themselves sitting amidst a fight breaking out, police arriving, people massing around. Meanwhile, they sat reasonably calmly waiting for their meal to be ready. If we hadn't had all our experiences the last 2 years this probably would have been a pretty scary experience for them, but they were all quite calm and safe as well. Praise God! As I came out with the trolley and heard/saw all the action over there I was naturally worried for them all and wondered what on earth was going on.

The next day we set off for Lake Argyle, lovely drive in, good roads and quite picturesque. The caravan park at Lake Argyle Village was a pleasant spot, clean and casual. We explored the area, were amazed by the small dam wall which had created such as massive lake. Below right is the dam wall, taken from the Ord River side. The left shot is looking back down the river. Below is the Lake Argyle side of the dam wall and looking out over the Lake. It is something like 35 km by 75 km.

We were all pretty amazed by the sheer size of this project, and to us as complete amateurs, it seemed to be such a positive thing not only for the communities of this area but also for the environment. It would be great if other places in Aus could tap in to the natural supply of rain water each year. Even if this Lake had no rain for 25 years they would still have plenty of water for all the irrigation etc for the region. But of course they get the wet season every year so the water quantity is huge. They even have to let some of it go, enough that would provide water for other parts of Australia. What a pity they can't come up with a cost effective way to move it south. The water capacity of the lake is nearly 20 times that of Sydney Harbour.

On our second day there we decided to treat ourselves to a Sunset cruise on the Lake, and a treat it was. First we watched a dvd about the construction of the Lake, most of the resources used were found in the immediate area too. The cruise just showed us again how awesome the size of this place was. We were on the boat for about 4 hours, and only saw about 1/4 of the Lake. We saw various birds, a few rock wallaby, some fish (the Archer fish were cool, they spat water at you when you were feeding them). We had one swim half way through the cruise in water around 26 degrees - beautiful. A little daunting that the solid ground was up to 19 metres below you - we stayed close to the boat. The kids loved it. Later, at sunset, the boat was stopped again for a second swim, complimentary drinks, dip and crackers, all while floating around in the water again watching the sun go down. Wow, what a great moment. This time they gave us noodles to bob around on so we could relax a bit more.

What a wonderful day and experience. One of those again that we will never forget. We seem to have so many of those from the last couple of years, we better get some extra long term memory storage for all these great moments.

After our 2 nights at Lake Argyle, we set off back to NT, the border only about 1/2 hours drive from Lake Argyle. We stopped at Timber Creek for lunch, met a guy from Wynyard who is travelling round Aus on his own after his wife died. Then on we went to Katherine. Decided to stay there for a couple of nights and relax a bit before heading home. The caravan park was one of the best we had. Well laid out and concrete slabs for all sites. Incredibly noisy bats as the sunset though, quite an amazing sight and sounds. We also had a meal with Colin & Merran Smith. They are the couple who let us use their house in Gunn when we first came over from Tiwi. Judith is now working at Litchfield Christian School, sharing the class with Merran and Colin is the principal. They also went to the Kunurra area for the holidays. Enjoyed relaxing for the 2 days, went to the Katherine hot springs and on our journey back we went in to Edith Falls, another very pretty spot which we had never seen, just north of Katherine. Had a swim and on we went back for home. A great 10 days, and the van and Prado had served us well. A few things to fix or improve on, but now we feel ready for the journey at the end of the year.

Back from the West and still in one piece (Episode 2)

2009-10-06T11:04:00.011+11:00

After leaving Turkey Creek we travelled north ready to drive in the Gibb River Road to the El Questro area - looking forward to seeing various gorges, waterholes etc. All was supposed to be very beautiful. We got to the turn off, knew it would be dirt road but the map indicated major unsealed which usually meant reasonable condition. In we went, hoping it would be fine for our poor old van. After the first km we were worried, the corrogations were terrible!!! What should we do, maybe it gets better. We continued for almost 10 km, some bits were better but mostly just the same. Len was even worried for the Prado and it is 4 WD. We stopped again and made the decision, we would turn back. If we went in it was 50 km, 100 km round trip (OF THIS!!!) It wasn't worth damaging everything so back we went. We stopped at the turn off and looked in the van and things were being thrown about, a door broken, oven door off etc. We were glad we didn't continue. (Left is a picture of our trusty van and Prado - before Gibb River Road)

We then decided to drive up to Wyndham, the most northerly town in WA although apparently not much to see or do there. People were right, very small, quiet, but it does have a port and the meeting of 5 rivers. There is a good lookout to go up and see the whole area, but unfortunately on this day it was very hazy, think it might have been some of the dust from east drifting across. (Right is Wyndham)

We spoke to the local tourist lady and she was gobsmacked when we told her we went in the Gibb River Road with our van, she reckons she wouldn't take her 4 WD in there. Apparently it gets graded and is often quite good, but it is now the wrong end of the tourist season, we copped the worst. She suggested staying at Parry Creek farm so we drove a few km south of Wyndham and drove in to there. A beautiful little oasis, lovely pool, its own lagoon and good ammenities. We stayed overnight and also checked out the dreamtime statues, giant croc, big boab and look out in Wyndham.

On the second day before we left we drove in to Marglu Lagoon, near Parry Creek. If we had gone to El Questro we probably wouldn't have seen this and we are so pleased we did. We have never seen such a huge number of birds in one place. There were nearly 50 brolgas, pelicans, magpie geese, egrets, whistling ducks, and numerous others. We also spotted a couple of decent sized saltwater crocs. One which had a very foolish bird walking close to the sharp end. We sat for
about an hour, enjoying the sights and sounds. It was like we were in their world but they didn't notice or at least didn't care. A great experience.

Back from the West and still in one piece!! (Episode 1)

2009-10-03T10:33:00.012+10:00

We did it. The Prado, the van, 4 people, 12 days, another amazing adventure. It was a great time to sort out anything else we need to do with the van before our 6 week trip down through WA heading south at the end of the year. We all had our allocated jobs, so by the time we got back home we had the time for packing up and setting up running quite smoothly - Fantastic! We are so pleased with the van, its size and layout. It really was a good buy and will be a great family van for many holidays to come.

We drove from Palmerston to Victoria River on the first day, a small caravan park and roadhouse. Beautiful setting amongst the trees and watching the sun set.(Above - Victoria River)

Second day we drove across the border into WA and stayed in Ivanhoe Caravan Park at Kununurra for. We loved seeing the changing countryside, WA is much more hilly than NT. Also enjoyed the arrival of the Boabs, we all really like these trees, they have so much character. The border crossing is reasonably strict, no fruit, veg, nuts etc. Turned the clocks back 1 1/2 hours. Explored the township, went to Kelly's Knob lookout and watched the sunset, checked out the agriculture - good soil, and an over abundance of water in the area, also drove across Ivanhoe crossing, part of the original road through from Kununurra to Wyndham.

Placing the photos in the right place on a blog is obviously a bit tricky. These photos are boab trees, us driving over Ivanhoe crossing and the sunset over Kununurra.

After 2 nights at Kununurra, we decided to tackle the Bungle Bungles. We made the journey south to the Turkey Creek Roadhouse (Warmun community) We camped there overnight, ready to head off early the next morning into Purnululu National Park (The Bungle Bungles) A 4WD track only, through Mable Downs station and then the national park, only about 50 km but the time was about 1 1/2 hours of bouncing over corrugations, round bends and a few water crossings (not deep though) Finally we made it and were so pleased we did. Went to Cathedral Gorge, saw the domes typical of the Bungles, and into Echidna Chasm. It was very hot, so we were pleased to leave by early afternoon, but glad we made the trek, Len's life long dream now a reality!! We stayed another night at Turkey Creek, and realised you needed to watch out for the locals when heading to the toilet block.

Cool

2009-09-18T07:27:00.002+10:00

The air con went in..... whooo hooooo

It would have been like being in a tin can in the desert without it.

Actually, it is a tin can in the desert.

So, that's why it was hot!

Very cool.
And hot, if we want.

Kunnunara here we come.

The mists of God

2009-09-17T07:18:00.004+10:00

Hi all.
We are about to have two weeks holidays, perhaps our last here in the Darwin end of N.T.

For the first week we will head to Kunnunura, which is just into W.A. at the top end.
It will take two days to get there.
They say it is very pretty (but they also may not have been to Tasmania!), and it is a couple of hours away from the Bungle Bungles. It take two hours from Kunnunura to the Bungle turn off, and another two hours to do the 40 kilometers into the park. It is obviously not a highway for that section. We will test out the Prado.
We are installing a domestic air-con onto the caravan (tonight, all being well) so we can survive the temp during the day. Electric brakes are wired in now, and we are ready to roll on Saturday 19th.
We will post some pics when we return.

Family are all well, with some bites from the Midgies for us all. Jess in particular has bite marks everywhere on her legs, then Len is next worst, with Jude and Sam doing pretty well.
The bugs are so small you can't usually see them, but they pack a punch.
Sam was entered into an orienteering competition. He has never done it before and we hoped he would be paired with a boy who had done it before. Some got lost last year, they tell us.
He went and there was the only boy without a partner.
He came second, much to his amusement and delight.
He also just won a tennis racket for being the best tennis player in the school's competition.
Now he isn't sure if he wants to be a famous tennis or cricket player!
He got four wickets in ten overs for 23 runs last game of cricket. He assisted a run-out and had a couple of other catches dropped from his bowling. This was in a game where the opposition were flogging his team, so he does very well indeed.

As for us moving back to Tas.
Well, we need jobs for that to happen. At the moment we have no idea of the future or the location we will be in.
A man up here who is in the same position said it was like walking into the mists of God.
That is certainly how it feels.

Both Jude and Len could have great jobs here if we stayed, and they ask us all the time to remain, but family calls us home.
Mind you, housing up here is hugely expensive, rents for a average home is around $500 per week.
So, we work and we wait. The mist rolls in and we will see what happens.
Until next time.

The end is nigh

2009-09-05T08:44:00.004+10:00

Well, we have been in the house for some weeks now, sleeping on mattresses on the floor etc. It has been good to have more space and a yard. We even have a plunge pool that is crystal clear now. It was a green that you could walk on.
Some grass has braved its way up since we have put some water on it, but not the front yard, which remains brown and littered.

There are huge trees and palms all around the place, fruit bats love them.
They pooped on the new (to us) Prado and I didn't see it, and it was before I polished the car. I now have places where it is down to metal! They have very acidic poo. Swines!
We have put a cover over the caravan roof for the same reason.

One of my (Len) brothers lives in Qld with Mum, he called a couple of weeks ago, and he was at Coolalinga. Coolalinga is 10 minutes south of where we are!
He 'wanted to go for a drive'. 3500ks is a 'drive' I guess!

He and his latest partner (Chrissy) are in the caravan for a while.
They will return to Qld next week, I am told.

The Dry is over. It hasn't rained here yet since the Wet, but the temp is rising (34 instead of 32) and so is the humidity, but not too bad so far.

School for me has been excellent. Lots of good stuff happening with students and especially indigenous kids.
Jude is now working 2 days a week at Litchfield Christian School, she says it is the best school she has worked at, and she loves the class, the kids are genuine country folk, horses and all.

Having to find work in Tas. and getting all cold again is not a pleasant thought, but it will be nice to see everyone again of course.

Sam is at his last cricket game of the season. His team has not won a game all year, so today is the last chance. He is already talking about indoor cricket!! Can't stop him. His bowling is excellent and much improved on last year, which was pretty good already. He is dissapointed that some members of the team don't take it as seriously as he does, hence the losses. The coaches have done a great job, in the face of low enthusiasm.

Jess is doing fine, school is ok and all seems smooth enough for her.
(Pretty quiet life she leads).

So, that's where we are at.
Starting to inquire about jobs, fares etc.
Money may be an issue, but we seem to survive somehow, so we should be back in Tas in late January.

Until next post.
Len

Big Brother Returns

2009-08-06T09:35:00.003+10:00

Hi all.
I have just had an email from a bloke who found the Blog and asked a few questions.
I made this public again so all could see it, not expecting a search for 'Tiwi' would bring it up.
As there is private opinions on it, I have again made it Private.
Sorry.

We moved into a house last night!
Whooo hoooooo
Len

Post Vietnam

2009-07-28T12:17:00.008+10:00

Today is a long weekend here in Darwin. It’s show weekend.
I sit in the rapidly warming caravan listening to warplanes roar just above our heads. It’s war game season in the Top End. They go night and day.
And they are loud!

What have we been up to?
Cor, where to begin.

We worked away until the mid year holidays and then flew to Vietnam.
Vietnam will take the focus of most of this blog, OK.

We flew into Ho Chi Min City (Saigon) and went to a luxurious hotel, The Metropole. It was actually quite good.
We went to theme parks, markets and jostled along with the traffic. Pictures speak a thousand words, so I will upload plenty for this blog.
We then went south to the Mekong Delta area. Expecting it to be ‘in the bush’ we were surprised to have it built up all the way, and then some.
We saw a bloke whose foot had just been crushed by some vehicle, blood everywhere and people running with bandages from who-knows-where.
We saw a couple of more accidents in our two weeks there. They manage to dispatch 14,000 a year on the roads. That does not seem to have dented the traffic though, and it is amazing it is not more.
We went across on a quaint boat to an island, then a canoe up a stream, then a donkey and cart, more boats and back. Too much food, but a great time anyway.
It was very surreal to be the only tourists in a shop/eatery place and the waitresses stopped cleaning up, stood in front of us and sang some traditional music, standing only a meter or so away. A bit daunting, but not quite as daunting as the ‘offering bowl’ quietly placed in front of us when they finished. We gave them a tip, surprise, surprise.
On the way down I mentioned to the guide that we wanted to try Durian. A fruit banned from many hotels because it stinks like off meat/milk/sick stuff.
He immediately got the driver to pull over and purchased one for us. The seller lady opened it up as I prepared to ignore the smell because ‘it is very nice if you can get past the smell’.
The first thing I noticed was that the large fruit opens in three segments, and each has a nut in the middle of the fruit. (Bananas also are in three sections, try it!)
The second thing I noticed was that it had a squishy slimy, pale beige thing happening. Highly unattractive and lessened my resolve a little.
Anyway, we all tried a piece. The guide wolfed it down happy as a pig in Durian.
Sam said he was going to vomit and quickly turned for the grass behind him. Jude and Jess said it was ‘OK’, but it lacked any conviction. I said it was a mistake.
Needing fairly urgently to rescue our taste buds from the assault we raced across the road to buy cold drinks. We all selected one except Jude, who was being spoken to about the various drinks that were not known to us. She selected one called ‘Winter Melon’. Quite a favourite in Vietnam, we were told.
After a sip, Jude offered us all a taste.
There IS one thing worse than Durian.
It is Winter Melon drink.
Not trying to overstate it, it tasted like cigarette buts taken from a urinal and soaked for a while to release the full flavour.
My whole can of Pepsi did not dent the taste, sadly. I resorted to munching more of the sure fire remedy for motion sickness, Ginger. That helped both by removing the taste over time, and stopped me being sick.
Jude persevered for a while (amazing woman) until we got to the Mekong Delta boat place, where the guide said he had to go to the ‘Happy Room’. We waited until he returned and then asked if we could find a toilet.
‘I already told you I was going to the Happy Room’ he replied.
OK, ‘Happy Room’ = toilet.
Jude went and decided to discard the remainder of the drink down the Happy Room facility only to discover that it is actually the same colour as cigarettes-taken-from-a-urinal juice. None of us tried it again.

We flew to Hanoi from Saigon and stayed at the Hotel Luxor, in the Old Quarter. They were great, and ended up like family. Mind you, I think that is where we got Salmonella, which I still have (27/7/9). But they were great, and I would stay there again.
More shops, Pagodas, Museums, Parks, Cyclos, and bikes.
From there we went to Sapa, in North West Vietnam. It is a 5 hour train ride, then a couple more hours in a taxi up and up and up.
Much cooler, and very beautiful. The ability to farm rice on 45 degree slopes is amazing. Mind you they have been at it for a few thousand years, so I guess it all took some time to get to where they are today.
We visited three villages, and the Black Mongh are the most ‘active’ of all the sellers. We finally worked out how to get rid of them, bit it takes some convincing them that we WILL NOT BUY FROM YOU TODAY AND IF YOU FOLLOW US FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS YOU WILL BE WASTING YOUR TIME SO WHY NOT STAY HER AND GETTHENEXTTOURISTLOTASTHEYARRIVEOKOKOK!!!!!!!
They got the message and we had a fantastic walk into the last village.
One of the amazing things is the farming of hemp, which the strip, dye and colour to make their own clothing. We should farm hemp here.
We went into the home of a villager, who are accustomed to having strangers poke around their homes, they have spare beds for guests available all the time and are very hospitable.
They are in an area that snows in Winter, yet they have no windows, the walls are not sealed and are on dirt floors with a pot for cooking and a pot for bathing. The young people go somewhere outside to toilet, the elderly have a little square section inside, against a wall and they put some ashes over when they are finished. Amazingly it did not smell at all. Their way of life has not changed for centuries, but it is only 10 years since tourism hit them. Some say that it will all end in the next ten years, sadly. They are extremely happy people.
It seems that you don’t need Maccas, DS’s or Xbox-iPod-Phone-computer-cars-and-planes to be genuinely happy.
Who would have guessed?
The scenery was amazing and we sadly farewelled Sapa to go back to the train and Hanoi.
The next adventure was a trip to Halong Bay, two hours car ride from Hanoi.
We stayed on a ship that was amazing. The whole thing was amazing.
Did I mention it was amazing?
I kinda had to hide the camera a bit as that’s all I wanted to do, it is so photogenic.
I loved all the seafood, then loved all the seafood again, then liked ALL the seafood again, then was a bit over the seafood and then…… well, I was so stuffed with food that I thought I could never possibly be hungry again.
Each meal was in 8 or so courses. It just kept coming. We sent most of it back in the end, we were told they gave the excess to poor people, so I felt better about it then.
Jude and I had a massage, whilst we watched the bay slip along.
My masseur wanted to put her thumbs through my calf muscles and I valiantly tried not to whimper or cry. I almost succeeded. Judith’s lady, on the other hand had a voice that was the closest to singing in angelic voices I have ever heard. She was amazing (did I mention amazing yet?). I would have paid to have her just speak quietly whilst I lay there.
We visited a floating village, caves, and went through a hole into an internal lake thing. Fantastic and a real highlight of our time there.

We returned to Hanoi, then Saigon and home again.

We are now in a too-hot caravan in Darwin, the same place we started the adventure in 18 months ago. We will hopefully move for a time to a house that needs work that Marrara Christian School is buying, and then… well, I don’t know.
We intend to return to Tas next year, but I must get a job first.
We will travel for 5 weeks down W.A. and back. If there is no job then we will have to return here, as I am asked to stay every day. Flattering but also sad that I can’t.

I am presently on sick leave. Rare for me, but the effects of Vietnam linger on, and the local Pathology Dept knows us well now!

Well, hope that fills in the gaps a bit. Let us know if you would like to know anything else.

La La Land

2009-05-27T18:58:00.002+10:00

Sometimes it is easy to forget that we have just been on the Tiwi Islands.
Everything is so 'in order' here.

Well.... apart from us that is, we are still having lots of change happening, we need to move in a few weeks again, and as yet we have no firm place that we will go to.
We have been offered a rumpus room and a place for the caravan, the room is just large enough for a bed for Jude and I and a lounge-ish space.
If we take that we would share with the caretaker at Marrara, who lives on the top floor.
And some dogs.
And some chooks.

The bloke is tamed.

We also would have people in the caravan in the build-up, and that would not be nice.

The other place offered today is with Karen Kidd, closer to Darwin city, where we stayed for a few days when we first left Picker.
That is further from the kids school, and would take 20-25 mins to get there. Karen's husband is sailing a boat from Tas to Darwin, and is now caught in the Q'land storms, and has to wait until the weather clears before he can set sail again.
Where will we go?? Who knows as yet.

On the Tiwi College front... well.
Now I don't have to censor it! Remember this is private info!

We had the pleasure of having staff from TC here this weekend, and that was great.
It is obviously extremely difficult there now. A combination of less teachers (hey...that's us) and stress is making it very difficult for those who remain.
In the mix of teacher quota numbers was the Principal, who said he would assist the teachers on afternoons to have a break (as one is legally entitled to) but there has been no assistance at all in the classroom, same as last year. The teachers are way stressed and not happy. They have no breaks all week, after pick-up, until the students leave on Fridays.
Discipline seems to have gone out the window, with students openly walking around smoking etc. Some night the students were out of their homes all night, I am told.
This week one girl threw a stone which badly damaged another girl's ear, last week one student threatened to cut a staff member's throat (and was expelled). All reports are bleak, with many more losses than wins it seems. Most of the house parents are due/desiring to leave at the end of term in a few week, and this will be a HUGE problem for the school. Replacing them is very difficult.
I am also told that the Indigenous Teacher Aides have not been there for three weeks now, as the Hospitality area of TC has been closed and they would have to cook for themselves now. Apparently this is too hard for them to do, so they aren't coming back! Sad, they are good blokes as well.

My good mate Bernard, who is 70 years old and retired and a respected Elder is still there, working away, much to the shame of the younger TAs.
Even he was hit in the mouth by a girl last week, which is unbelievable, and incredibly disrespectful. This fact alone staggers me.
We love these people, but they really need to have some control over their children for this to succeed, which appears shaky at the moment. Please remember them/pray for them as you are inclined to do.

Please also remember us as we try to find a place to live, it is VERY expensive here, not uncommon to spend $500 a week on a small house, or $700 if you want a bit bigger place etc,
Our place in Burnie would be worth a fortune here.

So, that's it so far.

We continue to pay for and get ready for Vietnam, which looms close now. That will be some more picture ops I am sure.
Until next time, CU
Len

Hmmm

2009-05-15T18:04:00.000+10:00

I don't think anyone is reading this now??

The eighth commandment

2009-05-13T18:28:00.003+10:00

It's amazing how living here has altered my (Len) thinking.

In Tas the only black people I saw lived in Hobart except for a couple of friends in Burnie.
Certainly not enough to make me really think that Australia is not pretty much all white.

Here is different. They say that the N.T. black population will be the fastest increasing group in the next few years.

I read a story of one Grandparent talking about when the Christians first came.
They taught them the commandments.

The eighth one is 'You shall not steal'.
'They had already taken our land by then'.

We still have it, mostly.

Hmmmmmm

3 Weeks in Darwin... how are we travelling??

2009-05-03T10:41:00.002+10:00

Hi, Jude here.
I don't usually put these comments on to the Blog but had some time up my sleeves. Len is working at Marrara Christian College now in a full time position, mostly music but some emergency teaching for other classes too. This week he has been given lots of indigenous classes to take and he has quite enjoyed those, no swearing and they call him "Sir". I have had a fairly easy teaching load, in the 3 weeks of term I have only done a 1/2 day on a year 8/9 class at Palmerston Christian School, where Sam and Jess are attending. I do have a few days booked in already for Marrara during May, but there certainly hasn't been the huge rush on relief that we had been assured of when we left Tiwi. It is great that we were given the full time position for Len because otherwise money would have been getting very tight. (God knew!)

Sam and Jess have settled in quite well to their school now. Back into that routine of uniforms, lunches to pack, homework deadlines to meet. There is something I really dislike about all that, but at least it gives us some structure. I have been busy working on a photo book of our family's time on the Tiwi Islands, can't wait to see the finished product!! At times I have been feeling very much at a loose end, missing the Tiwi kids terribly and the sense of excitement and doing something worthwhile. There is such a lack of community over here, we don't really know many people and those we do are scattered here and there. There is something to be said for small communities!!

I guess right now the excitement and something worthwhile that I am doing is being a mum and a wife. I thank God for the different phases we move through and learn through. Len and I celebrate our 20th Wedding Anniversary this year. What a wonderful 20 years of adventures, serving God in many different ways, roller coaster rides, beautiful children and now grandchildren. Not sure how we might celebrate in June, but the journey we are in the midst of is like one big celebration!!

In 7 weeks we will be sitting in Ho Chin Minh City, Vietnam and we will also have moved out of this house. We only had it for this term. Now that we have agreed to stay till the end of the year - because of Len's job - we need to find somewhere else for term 3 and 4. God has put everything in place regarding home, school, work, finance and furniture so far so he has something prepared we have no doubt. Worse case scenario is that we could live in our caravan for a while, it arrives next Sunday which is very exciting.

The time in Vietnam is racing up very quickly and we are hoping the swine flu thing doesn't change anything by that stage. It has been good to have some free time recently as there has been a lot to do finishing off passports, visas, travel insurance etc. We are there for 12 days and it should be fascinating. It is Sam and Jess' first time out of Australia so they are both apprehensive and excited.

Some may be wondering what next for us now that we are staying up here till the end of the year.
Well we are not sure, but are very much keeping all options open. We bought the caravan and have always intended to travel throughout Western Australia before heading home. Whether we do that over the Christmas holidays and be back ready for school to start 2010 or we wait and travel for part of next year is still unknown. One thing that is known is that there are 2 things constant in life, God (who doesn't change) and change. What is waiting around the next corner? Not sure, haven't turned it yet...

Going fast...slowly

2009-04-18T21:56:00.002+10:00

Tomorrow we head to Howard Springs area to look at a church there, then a BBQ or Pizza lunch with the Smiths, our long time friends here.
Sam and Jessie are enrolled at Palmerstone Christian School now and have their uniforms ready for Monday, and Sam played his first game of cricket in the A grade under 15 team for Palmerstone Cricket Club. He bowled two overs, for one wicket and three runs. A great effort, he hasn't sprigged shoes yet and they play on a great turf pitch, so he had to bowl spin, with one fast ball, as he slips too much if he runs in.

I have had someone look at the Hilux, which looked great at Picker but very dirty here, so I spent 3 days cleaning it up and nearly went too far yesterday and felt pretty spent an a bit ill because of it all.

I now need to wait for the confirmation call from Marrarah to see if I actually show up on Monday for work.

Will get back to you.
ONYA,
Len

Good Grief, Charlie Brown

2009-04-14T22:07:00.003+10:00

I can't believe that it's only a couple of days since I last posted (I accidentally typed 'pisted' by missing the 'o' and thought it looked funny. Don't know why I wanted to tell you that, just did, OK!).

So much has happened. We are at 30 Kakadu Parade, Palmerston, NT 0832
It is small-ish but great.

We have so many people who have rallied around us and donated furniture etc, it is great. Yesterday I spent the day collecting furniture and speaking again to the Principal of Marrarah Christian School, he has offered me a full time job, if I stay 'till the end of the year.
It would be 50/50 music and relief or in the music room repairing and getting things organised etc.
The music dept is a bit sad and need someone to show the way forward. I think I would like that.
Jude would pick up ome relief work as we needed it.

I have someone interested in looking at the hilux, which is great, and all is moving fast here.
If we stay sam and Jessie would be required to attend a regular school, which I think would be good for them. Mind you KSA is GREAT.
Judith and I can't do Sam's algebra!

So, more big decisions to make.

We went to the Darwin Baptist Church on Sunday and he said he could not sleep the night before he had to preach, and he changed his topic.
His topic came from Psalm 5 which say something like 'Crying comes in the night, but joy comes in the morning'.
He reckoned that ther was some one in the meeting who had a rough time of it lately, but to let them know that there would be joy in the morning.

We felt like it was for us.

And there has been.

Another matter....

My eldest daughter Michelle is on the front page of the Tasmanian 004 phone book!
Here is the pic they used.

Until next time,
CU later, Len

M.I.A.

2009-04-13T08:51:00.000+10:00

Hi all.
Today we leave for the next adventure.
Our new home in Palmerston.

I am unsure when we will have internet as of a couple of hours from now.

Please contact us via mobile phone.

Jude is 0408 569 753
Len is 0418 585 660

I also have a chat with the Principal of Marrarah Christian School later today, so I may get work there, we are still unsure if it will work, given our intention to not be here for too long.

Perhaps we have to stay in Darwin until...... well who knows??

Bless ya all.
Love
Len

Life - Post Tiwi

2009-04-11T17:20:00.006+10:00

Here we are in Darwin.
We have been staying at Mirambeena Resort with the Salters for a few days and now we are at the home of Karen Kidd, who generously allowed us to stay for free. It is beautiful. We have our own marina, but unfortunately not a boat.
On Monday the 13th we move to Palmerston, just south of Darwin, where we will rent for term two, then hopefully we will still afford to be able to go to Vietnam mid year.

Leaving Tiwi was very sad.
This is a picture of our stuff leaving on the barge, we left on the ferry. Confused yet?
We travelled by minibus to Paru, opposite the town of Nguiu, and boarded the ferry with Patrick and Thomas Salter who had spent two days on the island with us. Partick was great to have around in the business of leaving and the emotional ups and downs we had as well.
The night before we left we had Bernard Tipoloura (a Tiwi Elder whom I love) around and it was great to speak with him and let Patrick watch the genuine Tiwi culture show through. He is 70 Y.O. this year. That is quite a feat for any Indigineous person.
He is also 6 ft 4 inches tall and has a goatee. He calls me 'Bro' and we joke that no one can tell us apart except our mothers.
He is very black.

This is picture of us, can you tell who is who (most can't!).

He gave me one of his family names, which is pronunced 'Poomp a roo', but has some amazing spelling, I wrote it down but it is packed away somewhere at the moment, so I am unable to share that with you.
This is an honour, and I might like to be called that instead of 'Grumpy' for the granchild/ren.

On the ferry we were very upset.
It was a perfect day, smooth water and warm weather.
Just as the ferry pulled out of Nguiu we had a student hand us a plastic bag which contained a woven basket in it.
This turned out to be a present from Bernard and his partner, Lynette.
We rushed to the back of the ferry and Bernard's car was there, with Lynette waving to us. We waved, but emotion got the better of us both and we shed a few tears.

Everyone saw us upset and then we noticed that the news of why we were given a present from an Elder, and why we were crying spread like wildfire around the ferry.

Very embarrassing.

During the voyage we had many come to us and touch our arm and say thanks for what we had done and wishing us well etc. It was very moving indeed.
In some ways it was the best way to leave, slowly saying goodbye, rather than the 18 minute flight to Darwin.

I (Len/Poomparoo), have been feeling the weight of providing for my family in unknown circumstances, yet I also am sure of God's provision for us as well. A contradiction I guess, but that's the way I feel.

I gave Bronwyn Salter the ochre look.

Today (Saturday, 11th April) I had a call from a teacher at Marrarah Christian School who wanted to know if I had work or not.
Not, was the answer.
As I type this I have just had a missed call from the Principal of Marrarah, who will call later.
They have a job for a music teacher available and sound pretty keen to speak with me.
It seems that they have some rock band stuff but not a lot of music lessons at the school and are wanting someone to get it into shape.
Sounds right up my alley, and at a very good time as well.
So, I might have a job already by the time you read this!!

It's like riding a roller-coaster.

Our newly purchased (well 1/2 purchased) caravan arrives at the end of the month from Queensland.
The loose plan is at the moment, work until mid year, Vietnam, hit the road down W.A. and return to Tas next year if I get work that is.
Then again, who knows where and what we will be up to then.

We hope to sell our two vehicles we have here, after I do a fair bit of work on the Hilux to make it not look so 'Melville Island-ed' and purchase either a Landcruiser, Prado or Jackaroo which will pull the caravan for us.

Family have recovered fairly well to the trauma, and all are quite settled at the moment.
Sam has had a few 'moments' and his grade 8 algebra is not helping!!!

At the school. We fear a bit for Bevan French and family, and Wayne Vincent the Vice Principal, as they are the two remaining teachers at Picker last year and it will be very hard for them now.
We also worry about the management of the school there, and it seems to have all the malaise that I have seen in other Christian schools, sadly.

(I always seem to type 'teh' instead of 'the'. Drives me nuts fixing them all the time! I may have missed a few.)

So, stay tuned. Never a dull moment here.

Thanks so much for the prayers and emails of support that some have given. It really helps.
Love to you all.
Len and family.

Lots of pics

2009-03-30T00:29:00.003+11:00

I have submitted a few pics to Panoramio, they are the ones who allow pics to be placed on Google Earth for others to look at.
If you would like to see my pics, go to;
http://www.panoramio.com/user/682414&comments_page=1&photos_page=1

Has a few of the Tiwi Islands, amongst others from central Australia and Tas.
Cheers.

The Last Post....err.....Week

2009-03-29T23:00:00.002+11:00

So, here we are in the last week of our time on Melville Island.
It feels quite strange.

The tensions are high-ish and there is no end to the support that the general population ha shown us, it has been fantastic. They put on a farewell for us last night and it was great. They are lovely people here.

There remains tension between us (and all the rest of the community actually) and the management. It is difficult, I feel for them as they have made some hard calls and they were never going to be popular ones.

Mind you, they have very little contact with the general population and this is the cause for most of the discord, even though they would not say the same thing themselves. There are some serious issues here and people are very disqueited by the turn of events of late.
Since I posted last another Family Group Home Parents have resigned after feeling they were given no viable alternative. They are a great couple and will be sorely missed.

Yesterday I had the best adventure.
I went north to Jessie River to fish.
What a primeval place. We have been there before, and it is croc heaven.

I mis-read the tides chart and instead of arriving at low tide we arrived at VERY high tide.
We decided to fish anyway (it's an hour's drive from Picker). We had to drive through some of the sea to get to the creek where we then walked up to a large flat plain inland. Steve, the groundsman, used his cast net to get some live bait, which then died.
At one cast he caught 5 Barra, one was 50cm, and he threw them all back, as the legal limit is 55cm.
In Tassie I would have kept them all and had lots of beaut fish in the freezer.

I took some of Steve's reject fish and went downstream on my own and promptly caught a 65cm Barra. Later Steven's son caught a 60cm one as well, and a new teacher, Mark, caught a Black Fin Salmon.
We then lit a fire and roasted it in the coals, and ate it there and then. It was great!

On the way out we had to fight our way through the bush, as the tide was so high we could not get along the beach anymore. This included cutting a big tree out of the way.
The last bit before we went inland was again in teh sea, and I was worried we might not nake it, but we got out to the road safely.

Along the forst section of the track a huge Buffalo was on the road, and I took off after it.
They can run at 40kph, and they don't slow down.
We were so close that it was throwing dirt onto the windscreen like paintballs. It went for 700 ish metres and then veered off the track.
You can't outrun a buffalo, OK.

On the main road home I noticed that the diesel was lower than it should have been, due to the torturous route out of the beach area, and so turned off the A/C, and wound down the windows to conserve fuel.
Then a wallably came across the road and, deciding the this was not the time to die, tried to do a U-turn.
It was almost on it's side, scrambling for traction in the road gravel, we missed it by a few centimetres, and it sprayed a heap of gravel throught the window into the car, and across my face in the process. A first for me.

Almost all the warning lights were on the car, due to a fault caused by teh water I assume, and then the fuel light was on.
We made it home, JUST.

Man, what will we write once we are in civilisation again?

The plan is to finish packing and then send all our stuff via Tiwi Barge (grrrrrr...) on Wed night/Thurs morning, possible some stupid hour like 2AM, due to the tides etc.
We then have Patrick Salter and his son Thomas visiting on Thursday, so I will pick them up from Millicapiti on Thursday morning, and we will all leave on the ferry to Darwin on Friday afternoon.

I am scared about the future, yet we know God will provide, and it will be interesting and exciting as well.
We have some options opening up already.

This week we paid 1/2 of the purchase price on a caravan that is in Q'ld, and it will be delivered to us in the next few weeks. We pay the other 1/2 when the courier checks it out for us and gives the all clear on it.
Even buying a caravan is not normal for us.

Well, I have to work and pack, and plan and ... well you get it.

CU in the next post.
Len and Judith

My... how times have changed.

2009-03-20T14:38:00.003+11:00

Re-reading the last post is funny.

Enough money to keep things rolling blah, blah.

Well.... I wa wrong.

We were sacked yesterday, with 6 weeks notice.

So were another teacher and some support staff.

Jude is devastated as she in particular has been able to get through to the girls and started one-on-one chats with them about how to handle situations they face etc. Her class has some great breakthroughs as well.

So, we will be here for two more weeks and hope to pack up by then, and then we have two more weeks in Darwin. After that, they don't expect us back for the PD weeks so we are totally unsure what to do or where to go.

We have to be in Darwin in June as we have prepaid tickets for a trip to Vietnam, or we lose the money, yet we have nowhere to stay and very little money.

I guess we were after adventure!

At the moment, and this could change before I even finish typing, we are contemplating trying to get a term's work in Darwin and save if we can, go to Vietnam and then travel around W.A. until Christmas.

We can't go home, our house in under contract until Jan next year, and we have to find somewhere for our gear, as the house is full etc.

So, we need;
1. Prayer, not to get bitter, and to find a way through this path.
2. A job or someone who has millions to give it to us and save all that work thing!
3. A good sale for our vehicles so we can get a caravan and a landcruiser if we travel.
4. Lots of encouragement, it is a dark few days, even though the sun is out :-)

and finally,
lots of bloody Grace!!

You can email us at tiwassie@gmail.com, as comments still won't work I think...grrrr.

Love ya all,
Len

2009-03-11T12:55:00.002+11:00

The week that was

2009-03-11T12:19:00.003+11:00

Well all, I promised that I would keep you up to date from time to time, so here it is (uncensored this time!)
PLEASE remember that this is a confidential site, please do not circulate info back to anyone who may be problematic for anyone here, thanks.

We got over the census week where we needed 60 students with 58 students, so that was good. At least there will be the money to keep things rolling.

We have had a torrid time of it here still, with lots of incidents, which I will elaborate below.

When we arrived back this year we were told that one community had a rape and a stabbing there, this was pretty sad news of course.
It was a little later that we discovered that both incidents involved students from our school.

The girl involved in the rape is now not the same as she was before, and being very promiscuous at school, and this had resulted in a whole girls house being sent home during the week, as they were out with the boys, disabling alarms etc so the boys could get out for them.

We had a girl expelled for using a kitchen cooking knife at school during a fight, a premeditated act.
Judith went around a building to see her and discovered she had the knife. Unable to leave she sat with her and prayed...lots.
Finally some girls came around the corner and sparked an angry response in the child with the knife, a fight ensued and the girl was disarmed. Sadly she is now expelled from school permanently, sad because she has no other school options available to her now, and we love her dearly here. She has always been picked on, and knows how to retaliate and not much else.
Judith was quite shaken by this incident.

We then had another incident where a child had knives again, and that took some stopping. One community member was cut on the hand, grabbing at the knife to remove it from her.
And these were not the one involved in the stabbing at the community!!

We have had a lot of mobile phone abuse in class, including filming fights where teachers have had to restrain students, which is a concern if any of the video got out, especially out of context.
We have had a terrible time with smokes being used and passed around, even during class breaks. The Tiwi love their tobacco, and parents supply them with it from a very young age in some instances. It was a real problem.

So.... finally we had last Monday and Tuesday and Student Free days, which included some professional councilors who were to speak to staff one-on-one as there was a lot of disquiet amongst us, due to the stress we are all under and there were some strange emails etc circulating which caused anger amongst a lot of us.
We also spend considerable time on firming up a consistent set of rules. (Duh!!!)

One statement made by the Principal was excellent. He said he was prepared to shut down a Family Group Home (FGH) and not worry about numbers so that we could develop a culture that was workable here (Duh also!!!!).
We have been trying to get to that all last year, and those that have left will sing out a shout of relief I am sure.

So.. Now we have a No Phones at school policy, all phones are to be handed in on Monday to be kept safe (they get stolen if left at home), and no tobacco at all, ever.
This will be interesting in the next few weeks to see who can get through the nicotine barrier. So far more kids turned up on Monday than I thought would, and they seem to be OK-ish so far.
There is a zero tolerance towards violence or threats towards staff (Duh!!).
We have a Blue Ticket and a Gold Ticket system in place now.

Students get a blue one for poor behavior, and 5 tickets brings a detention, 3 detentions brings a suspension, 2 suspensions brings an expulsion.

Gold tickets are rewards for good behavior above the usual expectations of good behaviour, 5 bring a reward, 15 bring a major reward.

This is the first week and we have some way to go yet.

Yesterday was the first day of detentions.

I told three boys they were on detention, spending 5 minutes explaining how and why it worked. They were happy enough but then one kid went off with his towel to go swimming with the rest of the kids (remember this is after 5 minutes of me and a house parent talking him through it all!).
We asked him where he was going and he replied 'Swimming'. We said he would have to stop behind to go to detention and he spat it. 'This F^&%ing shool, I don't f*&%ing care about this school.....' etc etc.
They just don't get it yet.

It continues to be difficult, hard to get them to respond in and out of class, and that is the fatiguing aspect most of all here.
One new teacher said it is this aspect that makes him so tired.
We agree.

We haven't had a Wet here really yet, and is seems that it is all over already.
We had perhaps two weeks of major rain and then nothing.
I think it has all been drawn to the West and East coasts.
This means that we have been able to drive the students home every weekend...hooray.
If we were unable to do that they were talking of allowing them to stay for 3 or 6 weeks at a time.
I reckon most would have resigned by now if that had happened.

It continues to be a magical place to live, when the kids aren't here here :-)
However after 7 weeks I am starting to fantasise about Pizza, you know, the 'bad for you' kind.
And I am not that fond of pizza either.
Bicardi and Coke... well that's a whole new level of fantasy.

It is very hot and humid, with little cloud to shield us during the day, but the nights are magnificent, getting down to about 27 degrees, perfect!

Bet those in Toowoomba wish it was that temp there now, eh.

There is a million other things that I have forgotten, but that brings you up to date a bit.

Please remember to be private with this info. I don't want to get into trouble, OK.

Take care.

Shhhhhh

2009-03-08T17:28:00.001+11:00

Hi to anyone who has responded to the invitation to look here.
If it all checks out as 'secret' then I will start to post the stories here again.
Please be patient.

Also, any info here is JUST for you, OK.

Post soon. Len

The Modern World - Someone is Watching You.

2009-02-07T21:56:00.002+11:00

Unfortunately I have been asked to censor the blog by management.
Apologies to all who have been reading here.
I will not water this site down any further, but understand the reasons for concern.

Friends are encouraged to email us for info about our travels.

Readers who are not know to us personally and who ask for information will be refused such requests.

Email is tiwassie@gmail.com

Phone number is 08 8970 9024 Extension 413