HEADING SOUTH AGAIN

The time had come for us to head for home. The road appeared to be endless, with long distances between the small rural towns. It was pleasant to pull up beside the road, under a tree and enjoy a cup of tea, smoko or lunch. Thankfully most of the country we travelled through was enjoying a good season after a devastating six year drought. Sadly, many stations were not as lucky, remaining drought-stricken. Our hearts went out to them, we hope and pray this year may see the end of the suffering.

Several days later we arrived in Emerald for an Author Talk at the library. Once again, country hospitality was at its best with a delicious morning tea provided and a very warm welcome. This was a lovely group with several people present, including several familiar faces from School of the Air days! Two ladies had driven from Yeppoon, a four hour drive to meet us! This made me feel special!

Two hungry grandchildren at Boarding School in Rockhampton awaited us, anticipating dinner away from the Dining Hall at school. If only they knew the effort involved in making this happen!

Booking in to a caravan park, we expertly unhitched the van and set off to the school in a hurry to comply with school prep times. Halfway there we realised we didn’t have any seats for them having loaded the vehicle with books and supplies, necessitating the seats to be folded up.

Back to the park to unload the vehicle into the caravan, which was quite a job, we finally managed to take them to dinner and return in time for Prep.

Back to the park to load the car again! They had no idea the effort involved by their elderly grandparents to take them on this outing! That is family and they were worth it!

Our final stop was in Gladstone to hand over the caravan and vehicle to their rightful owners, load our little car and head for home. We were rather reluctant to leave our little cocoon. It had been great fun wandering in the bush, returning to the country we both love.