Is there anyone out there that likes a good read. A friend of our Jen's has recently set out on a trip to the very top of Australia and she has, and is, still doing a very comical blog about it. She and her husband are travelling with their 4 kids and, trust me, it is a good read. You will see some great photos of a quite remote part of Australia in the process but you really should start at the beginning to get the full benefit.
HERE is the link.
Mum has really been enjoying the blog as she and Dad did this very same trip a hundred and 87 years ago. When they did it there were no campsites along the way and they had to free camp everywhere. There were NO facilities at all. It took them a lot longer than it is taking this family. They weren't anywhere near as well set up either but they didn't have 4 kids in tow. They were told to take another couple with another 4WD as it was, supposedly, too dangerous to do it alone but Mum and Dad took no notice of that. Lucky for them they survived but only just if the stories I've heard are true. I think it is a bit different these days. Mum and Dad hardly saw another vehicle for their entire trip. I don't think that would happen anymore. One funny story they tell is when they saw a "house" and, as they were quite lost, decided to head on over and ask for directions. The house turned out to be 4 poles with a corrugated iron roof, no walls and a dirt floor. There was a family living there and the numerous kids and dogs and chooks and a couple of pigs came out to greet them. The parents eventually wandered over too and told Mum and Dad the way to go. "Just keep going along that track and you'll get to the place you want to go (Princess Charlotte bay). No-one's been out there for a while so we don't know what the track's like but you'll be right, mate. If you're not back in a few days we'll come out and look for you". Well they never did find where they wanted to go but they did manage to see some interesting stuff along the way and made sure they were back so as the family didn't have to come looking for them.
Our Jen went to work on Thursday Island soon after she graduated from University. She was a special education teacher, specialising in hearing impairment and her job was to travel to all of the Torres Strait Island communities and check on the kids that had hearing problems. There were a lot of them. Nearly all the kids she saw were local Torres Strait Island kids and, unfortunately, they had and still have a lot of hearing issues. She travelled by helicopter to the different Islands and would return to her home most nights. She would sometimes stay overnight but not too often. She'd never been in a chopper before and was terrified at first but soon learnt to love it. The waters up there are inundated with all sorts of sea creatures, not to mention crocs, so the view from the chopper was always entertaining. She ended up living on Horn Island (not Thursday Island) and her flatmate was Bianca, the Mum in the blog. They became very good friends and are to this day.
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| Crikey .... such a long time ago now. Our Jen's first school. |
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| Just some of her beautiful pupils. |
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| Teaching sign language! |
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| This was taken from Thursday Island looking toward Horn Island. The colour of the water up there is amazing. |
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| Just so you don't forget what I look like!! |
I'm sure, if you take the time, you will enjoy Bianca's blog. I sure hope you do. I know if you left a comment or two Bianca would be over the moon. She didn't think ANYONE would bother to read her blog.
Wanna run ..... Love, Charlie.
