It's now mid July, and a whole stack of things have changed since we last updated you.
The end of term came a'rushing and we sadly left the farm. At the beginning of the last week, Sue told Greg that she'd had a restless night suddenly thinking of all the things that she was going to get us to do before we left, so we knuckled down and tried to knock a few off the list. Craig headed off up country for our last week, which meant that we could clean up with impunity. Despite the rain and mud, Greg managed to get around all of the paddocks and retrieved miles of discarded poly pipe that had been laying around since the bore line was put in several years ago, only getting bogged a couple of times. Sue and Greg hitched up the trailer and spent a couple of days picking up old, disused and discarded items around the property, and either putting it away, or piling it into the dump, so it all now looks a bit tidier which pleased Sue no end.
Mandy did her usual end of term day featuring all the remaining fun activites with the girls, there were presents and hugs all around, and we pointed the caravan down the bumpy dirt road for the last time. And, yes, we passed the grader coming up the road as we left. Sigh.
That left us a week free in St George to basically do a stack of cleaning and servicing. We were lucky enough to be offered the use of a 'donga' on one of the farms near the town (basically a portable cabin like you find in caravan parks). It is used by intinerant workers on the farm, so we parked the van next to it, and did loads of washing and cleaning, including an overnight visit all the way to Toowoomba to get the car serviced at the nearest Mazda dealership.
The second week of the school holidays was a bit of a blur. We helped set up, then run, then pack up the 'Day Camp' - a non-residential holiday program for the local primary school kids. In last month's note I said that there were 65 kids enrolled, but by the time the camp started there were 147 coming! It was held at a river beach on one of the local farms, which was a gorgeous setting. With 150 kids and 50 leaders, it was pretty busy, but with such a big location they could all be scattered throughout the bush and you'd hardly know it.
You'd never get away with it in the city. Each team of kids built their own shelter out in the bush on the side of the river, and cooked their lunch over their own campfire. There were about twenty activities for the kids to do over the three days, so they hardly had a spare minute. We had damper making, archery, two flying foxes, an obstacle course, 4 or 5 craft activities, chapel, sock wrestling, and time for them to work on their concert items.
Setting up was unlike anything we've ever done in the city. The farmers brought chain saws, tractors, dune buggies, utes, winches ....
"That tree looks in the way" "Hang on I'll get my chain saw out."
"We need to collect firewood" "No probs, there's a fallen tree over there - I'll just get the tractor"
"What happens if the the kids fall off the flying fox" "How about I get the grader and make a 3m pile of sand as soft fall"
The kids had a great time, and Mandy as first aid officer had a reasonably quiet time of it. On the Thursday night we served hotdogs to around about 500 kids and parents, endured the usual extruciating concert items, and it was all over.
So on to the big two items of news for the month - one good, and one not so good. First the good one. The second last day of term at the farm, Sue received the Distance Ed (formerly School of the Air) school newsletter which said that they were looking to replace the special ed teacher at the school in time for next term, as the current one had just left. Sue mentioned it to Mandy, Mandy casually mentioned it over supper that night, and Greg braved the lousy internet connection to try to track it down. When we found it, Mandy seemed interested, so we stayed up till 1am on the last day of term preparing a job application, as the postion closed that next day. Next morning while Mandy was in the classroom, Greg spent a few hours at the farm house assembling all of the necessary documentation and certified copies of certificates, finally submitted the package shortly after 2pm, and went home for lunch.
By the time Mandy got home from school around 5pm, she had been interviewed twice and offered the job. All before the applications officially closed! So, Charleville is our next stop, and Mandy will be on the other side of the microphone to her role last term as the new Special Ed teacher for both the Distance Ed school and Augathella Primary School (80 kms up the road) who share the position. Actually, we aren't so sure that we needed to stay up till 1am. We kind of suspect that she may have been the only applicant. It seems that the primary role will be supporting both the teachers and the parents who have kids with disabilities, and helping to tailor lessons to suit their capabilities. It's a temporary role, but it means that we will be in Charleville now until the end of the school year, and Greg will start looking for voluntary roles in the town once we arrive.
The not so good news for the month was the freak storm that hit most of the east coast of Australia on our last night in St George. The 40 knot winds tore the metal annex rafters clean off the caravan. 1am saw both of us standing outside the van in pyjamas and no footwear holding down the 18' awning and what remained of the metal frame until the wind eventually died down. To put it into perspective, Sir Francis Chichester completed the first yachting solo round the world voyage with a smaller sail than we were holding down. Eventually the gale receeded to a strong wind, and we tied the sail to the side of the caravan and tried to get some sleep. Come morning it was obvious that it couldn't be repaired, so we cut the awning off the caravan, and left it to be suitably interned in a dump somewhere in St George.
That morning, the church gave two rather tired caravaners a very generous send off and a couple of packets of musk sticks (a long story), and we set course for Charleville. The church has been terrific to us, and we will miss them all, especially the pastor with whom we shared a rare interest in AFL football and pathetic jokes. Fittingly Hawthorn trounced his team Fremantle by 72 points on the day we left, which provided much timely ammunition for Greg to lob his way, though verses about charity to the weak seemed to get trotted out as a forlorn excuse.
Well, that seems to cover the highlights. If you would like to see some photos, please head to the following links. Otherwise, we will regale you with stories about our new but temporary life in Charleville next month.
Playing tennis in the country http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gregd999/16/1434957707/tpod.html
Setting up for Day Camp http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gregd999/16/1435968000/tpod.html
Day camp in full swing http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gregd999/16/1436227200/tpod.html
The Church at St George http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gregd999/16/1436659200/tpod.html
The web's original travel blog
