Novice Campers Travelling Oz

Brad and Sam have gone away on a hike for four days with other Delhuntie staff and a group of year 9 school kids.  All was going well until this morning, first day of the actual walking part of the hike; Brad has done his knee in and will not be hiking, just camping.  Such a shame as little Sam carried his pack with his clothes, 3 meals and sleeping bag on his back, cared for by two staff Neil and Leah, and Brad didn?t get to spend the day with him - not fair.  Brad was driven to the campsite to bunk down with Sam tonight.  Brad cannot straighten his knee past ¾ so can?t walk yet can sit cross legged.  What is God trying to tell him?  The girls and I are painting a mural for our Pinnacle of Terror.  It is great that the girls can help me, keeps me from being a perfectionist!  I don?t know how many times I?ve cleaned up when they?ve gone out of the lines, but the experience is more important than the result.  We are having a lot of fun; making a lovely mess, paint in hair (Shay), on shoes, spilt in the workshop (me), ?Look mum I?ve got pink paint-gloves on!? (Nat), lots of giggling, singing and silliness.

When the boys go away the girls get to play...with the axe.  I had to chop kindling as we have none and due to the rain all the local sticks are wet, wet, wet.  One of Brad?s last parting comments was to buy some fire starters.  So while we were out I went to Woolworths and grabbed a pack of Heat Beads.  I tried lighting one, not much help I?m afraid... still none the wiser as to what a ?fire starter? is!  So we headed to the junk pile (through really sticky mud) and gathered lots of bits of scrap pine.  I haven?t chopped kindling since forever (Brad is such a gentleman).  For every swing of the axe I reckon I hit the wood every 3rd go!  So Brad?s chopping block is a bit chopped up but hey, a woman?s got to do what a woman?s got to do!   Then tonight as I go out I notice someone has mysteriously filled my wood box (I had none left, was just heading over to the boys house to borrow some of theirs while they?re all away) and gathered a mound of dry sticks for kindling.  Thanks Helen, I know you organized someone to do that!!!

R

Oh my knee!  The kids from Heatherton School were a great bunch and I was really looking forward to getting to know them more, as well as doing Sam?s and my first hike together.  We?d been down to the creek for icebergers and I had just been kneeling on my bedroll as I rolled it up.  Couldn?t straighten my leg or put ANY weight on it!  The grabbing pain was so very intense.  Thankfully when I pulled it back from the danger zone, back toward my butt, the pain went away.  Neil knee something was up when I shot him a desperate look across the campfire and came straight over.  After surveying the situation, he called on James ? camp cook.  What a blessing of a young man James is.  He massaged my knee, used hot and cold compresses for over an hour as we tried to slowly stretch, mobilise my knee.  It came a little straighter, but that knee was out of action.  I was SO disappointed and spilt some bitter tears ? why me, why now?  Anyway, I told Sam that I wouldn?t be going with him, but would see him at Sub Camp that evening, and that he?d be in the hands of Leah, Neil and Elwyn (re-named Cecil by the kids!).  Thank you guys for challenging Sam and pulling out of him the courage he showed on the hike.  He was so small carrying his pack that from behind he looked like a pack with skinny legs! (almost Magic Pudding-ish).  Short story, Sam was very courageous, often at the front of the pack, helped inspire the Heatherton hikers, and is a hero.  Back at Base Camp I sat on chair and chatted with James ? quality time, in between he getting up and retrieving things for me and also cutting down 2 large dead trees for firewood (probably more for fun too, but who?s to say!).  Got to tell you, being an invalid sucks!  I hated having to ask others for help and resented every request.  After lunch we got into the Troopy and headed to Sub Camp to set up.  The hikers soon joined us, with tales of walking impossibly steep 4wd trails, and some injuries.  Spent some enjoyable time that arvo with the others staff around Sam?s and my little fire, then hobbled with my make-shift crutch down to the creek for a cold dip.  The next day, after a hobble-to-the-creek-and-try-to-unsuccessfully-swim-iceberger, James and I waved off the hikers and jumped into the Troopy to head back to Base Camp, via those incredibly steep 4wd tracks (sounded like hyperbole to me, but the didn?t exaggerate!!)  We broke camp the next day and waved goodbye to some incredible students.  Memories of the camp: Tim conquering his abseiling fear, Bre and Caitey and their mates talking when they should have been sleeping, building a rock dam with Sam, ?capture the flag?, beautiful nature.  Oh and by the way, I was walking just fine on my knee an hour or so after the hikers returned!  What?s with that?  I?ll be very interested to hear from my Heavenly Father one day why I wasn?t to go on that camp.  Was it for Sam, for James, or perhaps for me???

B

We tried for nearly 2 hours to book some accommodation this weekend.  First we tried Philip Island (discovered there was a race on so zip, zero, zilch available), then tried anywhere within 1 ½ hours drive.  By the time we found something, booked it on the internet and left, it was after 6pm.  We rang and left a message trying to find out how we could get the house key, and of course they had to ring us back.  Long story short, no mobile network as we travelled, so after about 1 hour on the road, we got a message that the accommodation wasn?t available!  What?  I?d just booked it!   Anyway after a few calls and having arrived at Sandy Point Beach (ie in the middle of nowhere) they finally processed our credit card and gave us an access code, whew!  The code worked, the key fitted and we were ecstatic to be sleeping in a real house!  Architecturally designed don?t you know ? fancy.

One reason we needed to get away was that rain was forecast for the entire weekend and we just couldn?t face a whole weekend of sitting in the tent in the rain and gloom.  The previous 2 weeks both Brad and I helped facilitate 2 X fantastic 3-day family retreats here so were feeling emotionally and physically dead.  Was great just to lie in bed and have a clean bathroom that is close to the bedroom.  The shower at Delhuntie is gas run and temperamental, sometimes it?s boiling other times its cold.  It was so good to be under a real roof and have a real kitchen (I so miss an oven).  It was nice to have windows to look out of and a door to close.  It was great to go to the beach even if we were in 2 jumpers and a jacket and long pants.  Couldn?t believe it when some people turned up in a halter neck shirt and shorts and their kids are in their swimmers!!!

We built sandcastles, dug up purple crabs (Nat made a crab sanctuary for them), slept-in, watched videos, ate chocolate, had long showers, played extreme hide and seek with the kids while all the lights off, ate chips at the park, read books and talked.  So good to reconnect as a couple and family after a couple of intense weeks.  For the school holidays while Brad and I worked, the kids spent a lot of time tagging along with us.  Their favourite thing was when their friend Andy (se Alice Springs blogs) stayed for a few days and they built cubbies in the bush, made tyre swings, found a Huntsman?s nest complete with baby Huntsman spiders.  (?Hey Leah, do you like spiders?? turns out she doesn?t!)  Andy also spent time on his quad bike and after hitching a specially designed trailer to it, seats 2 and one on behind, he spent days just zooming around, taking them for rides.  As Ryan the new owner is renovating, lots of stuff ends up in the dump pile.  The kids found some wooden chairs, a small lounge and an old combustion heater.  Guess who now has a luxury cubby set up just near our tent?  They ate tea out there, in front of their fire and sitting on their chairs they?d transported via quad trailer.  Cool huh?

R

Sam and I had a mother-son afternoon out today ? scootering.  It was his choice of what we were to do together and no surprise, he chose to try out the local skate ramps.  It was one of the last things I wanted to do but we loaded the bike helmets in the car and took off.  I made sure we did it before school finishing time as I didn?t want anyone else as company.  After finally figuring out how to unlock/unfold the scooters, we were off.  I forgot to bring sports shoes so had my dressy black shoes on, luckily there was no heel on them.  I was wearing my black long coat and a nice jumper and black pants...and my purple bike helmet.  I couldn?t believe how steep the concrete ramps look when you get to the top!  Sam was whizzing up and down them as Brad has taught him well, but I?d never done it before.  My knuckles were white as I gripped the handle, Sam gave me great tips and showed me several times how to do it before I plucked up the courage to line up my tiny wheels and push off.  I didn?t fall off, but it did feel very unsafe.  After about 40 minutes of me tentatively following Sam up, down and all around, I suggested we go get an ice cream.   Usually when I take one of the girls out we go shopping or to a cafe, so glad I have a son to teach me to get out of my comfort zone.

R

Now has come the time to make some big, hairy, audacious (BHAG ? big, hairy, audacious, goals) decisions.  We have been travelling for 6 months dreaming about what great things we could do with our lives.  We are the sort of people who thrive to bite off more than we can chew and then chew like crazy, so it comes as no surprise to a lot of you when we let you all know that we are dreaming bigly.  We feel restored and fired up again ready to make a difference, and have decided to build a ?Delhuntie-type Adventure Therapy Park? on the Gold Coast Hinterland.  We have begun to look for a suitable property, but 50 plus acres within 20 minutes to Burleigh is an audacious goal.  It has to have loads of trees/ rainforest, lots of hills, prefer a cliff or two too, a road that can be accessible by buses, fertile soil (so we can be pretty much self sustaining food wise), and within a short distance to lots of schools and the beach.

We already have our first staff member Leah (currently working at Delhuntie, and is amazing) who is willing to step out in faith and work with us.  We envision permaculture gardens, free ranging chickens, straw bale housing, a big outdoor pizza oven, a tree house and a yurt in solitary spots, room for tracks for quad bikes and trail rides for horses.  We envision some sort of industry where youth can come and learn a trade/business, and we have an overall ideal of living in harmony with the environment: building with recycled timbers and non toxic paints, composting toilets, water tanks, solar power solar passive building designs etc.  We hope to find acreage straight away to move onto as soon as Brad finishes welding the P.O.T. and are even committed to camping/caravan til we build something solid.  We can?t wait until we have a few 4WDs, tents, and camping equipment to take bunches of kids out into the outback and the wilderness to find their life purpose and resilience. We see a lodge and accommodation, where we can hold family retreats, father and daughter retreats, spiritual revival retreats and host churches and teams alike.  We are passionate about healthy families, they are foundational for a healthy society.  We will be aiming to reconnect/strengthen/restore families to their rightful positive influence in communities.  Sounds like a pretty bold dream since we don?t have funds yet but sometimes faith is what happens when you step out; it doesn?t exist until you make a move.  We believe that adventure and wilderness therapy changes lives and each of those lives will change other lives, like a ripple effect.  When I say ripples, I don?t envision a small pebble dropped into a puddle, I envision a giant granite boulder being tossed into a massive lake, causing seismic waves across to every shore.

R

We have spent a full week here training to be involved with youth at risk in the area of camping and adventure therapy.  Brad was sponsored to go from ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency) so that was great and I was the camp cook.  After menu planning and shopping for the week the kids and I started cooking 3 massive trays of cookies.  After about 15 minutes there was that dreadful smell of smoke coming out the oven.  Then I thought I?d put in the third tray and burnt them too.  Out of 3 trays I salvaged about 1 ½ of what we made.  Since I was already feeling somewhat anxious it made me feel positively ill, then we just burst into laughter and chucked the burnt offerings out.

We spent the week with Russell from Crankt (Newcastle), Rowland from Youth Hot Air Balloon Club (Mildura), Dennis from Harmony Farm (Rockhampton-ish), Keith and Axil who take youth Caving (Kuranda way), Wazza from Camp Howqa (Melbourne) and Gary Director of ADRA Australia.   A mixed bunch but great to get networking with others who are passionate about youth and the outdoors.

After 7 days preparing, cooking and clean up, wash up etc for 15-20 people as well as attending seminars all day til 9pm each night, I need some time to myself.  The kids were my assistants and did an awesome job and I will give them a little pocket money out of my pay. What a great team. Nat and Shay are saving for a horse and Sam is saving for a motorbike.

R

Today welcomed a new life full of possibilities, baby Grace Elizabeth was born to my dear friends Janet and Chris.  She was a few weeks early (C section because of mum?s health), weighing 5 pounds 12 but very strong and healthy, and very cute.   I remember that Janet was one of our very first visitors when we had a very healthy homebirth with Nat. I remember the joy of sharing our first babe with someone I?ve known since the first day we started school together.  I feel like I?m really missing out on her special occasion because I am so far away at present.

R

Brad?s birthday today!  The kids and I had spent yesterday afternoon setting up a treasure hunt for Brad so he could find his present.  He had to climb over things and jump up things and finally row out to Melly Island in the canoe to get his present.  This year I decided to really throw him a curve ball and got him a unicycle (thanks Leah for signing for it with the courier and secreting it away for us).  After a few hours practise Brad could ride it for all of 5 seconds.  We took him to the local park for a picnic lunch and served him a sponge cake covered with strawberries and cream but we couldn?t keep the candles lit due to the wind.  For tea Montana and Del had organized for all the staff to meet at a Thai restaurant for tea.  It was not really a surprise as Brad noticed everyone go out in cars just before we were due to leave.  What was a surprise was that James had given Neil a Mohawk haircut and shaved the word Brad on the side of Neil?s head.  Only thing was, James didn?t leave enough room, so Neil was left with 'Bra' without the 'd' which they texta-ed in later!  The food was fantastic, so good to see Del out of the house!  Neil organized banana fritters with some candles on them so we could sing happy birthday! So he got some lit candles in the end.

Brad was a bit nervous going to bed as recently the local Pastor got the birthday present of a midnight visit.  While he and his wife slept some friends took off some roof tiles and got inside his house.  Once inside they took all the wheels off his car, put vegemite on his toilet seat, covered his kitchen benches with something sticky etc.  Brad was relieved to wake without any ?damage.?

This week has been great in regards to trying new things.  On Saturday we went to the snow at Mushroom Rock with Elwyn, Shelly (from the Outback Safari), Roo, Marg and their kids, the Chats, Ben (Associate Pastor of Moe and Traralgan SDA churches) Delhuntie staff (James, Keith, Montana, Neil) and a bunch of youth.  It was so beautiful.  I?d never gone bush walking in the snow before, only skied once, so to take the time and see the clumped snow on tree branches, the stripped bark of the trees, and the ?movie-like? panorama, was quite breathtaking.  I was surprised how wet I didn?t get, considering I was in joggers and jeans ? not the best water resistant clothing you can get.  Lots of crazy snow ball fights were had (thanks James, Neil & Ben) so the Melly kids had freezing cold feet and hands despite their boots and gloves.

Sunday saw our family plus Neil, Leah, Natanya and Shelly out at Peterson?s Lookout for some abseiling.  I guess the rock wall would have been about 15-18 metres high, a good 50 metres above the river in the valley below ? awesome vista.  I used the day as training to learn the Delhuntie way of doing the abseils ? including the anchor points, belaying techniques, and encouragement to each jumper.  It was great to share the top of the jump site with Neil ? I really respect him for his practical abilities, his genuine love for other people, and his funny humour.  All our kids gave abseiling a go, with Shay trying it for the first time ? after some great encouragement from Neil.  She was pretty teary on the first one but after she got down she asked to go again then proceeded gung ho down like a pro.

Tuesday saw Neil and I back up at Petersons lookout with a year 12 class from a local high school for abseiling and rock climbing.  I worked the top of the abseil belay, while Neil worked the bottom of the climbing belay.  I was truly impacted by a young girl who had told me she ?won?t be doing anything today.?  After much encouragement (she really had me working hard in that area) she climbed over the safety fence, then after heaps more encouragement she approached the abseil site, only to back out.  In the end, she did the abseil and was wrapped with what she achieved.  It was a really high moment for me (no pun intended) to be so connected with her in a part of her journey.

Thursday saw Neil and I take the P.O.T. (Pinnacle of Terror, a mobile adventure-therapy wall) to a school to work with the year 11 kids.  I stayed at the top of the P.O.T. to help the participants gain courage to take their Leap of Faith (harness on forwards, leap out to a trapeze bar, hang from backs of knees, then get lowered rapidly to the ground), Angel Rush (harness on backwards, leap out into thin air, get lowered to the ground rapidly, grab hands with the designated ?catcher?), or Everest jumps (harness on backwards, climb onto the top of the 10 metre tower, leap out into thin air, get lowered rapidly to the ground).  Again, powers of persuasion were needed.  You see, Delhuntie uses Encouragement by Enthusiasm, as opposed to the Industry way of Encouragement by Choice.  If someone puts on a harness and helmet, we will do our best to help them see their jump through.  We don?t want them to run on their feelings of fear that will make them back away from the jump and go home a failure.  It was an exhausting, but terrific day.

Overall, the week was awesome and exhausting.  I got to engage at a close level with people; to encourage them to become more than they felt they could; to celebrate their victories with them; to help them face their fears and come out the other side; to input some really positive comments at crucial times.  All in all, I felt like I engaged in effective and practical ministry this week.  This is what God has brought us down to Victoria to see.  We are starting to make plans to include a P.O.T. in our future.  We are seriously thinking about settling down on the Gold Coast Hinterland to work and set up an Adventure Therapy Park to work with disadvantaged/at risk youth, broken families and schools. 

Oh, and this week I welded a firewood box for our tent, to go with the combustion heater we have in the tent to keep us warm.  I?m pretty proud of that effort, considering I?m such a rookie.

B

Rode in an old army tank today, emblazoned with the slogan, ?Designing to destroy, now restoring Lives.?  They use it in their anger management program.  Usually the clients spend a lot of time in a workshop then they write down things on an old car.  They each get a sledge hammer and smash the car until they cannot move their shoulders anymore - exhaustion!  Then as a group they select someone to drive the army tank over the smashed car!!!  On this occasion Elwyn needed to drag/move a steel structure/tower a couple of hundred metres.  Sam was first in the driver?s seat, he looked like he was king of the world as Elwyn taught him to steer and stop the tank.  Then Nat had a go after the tower was hooked on.  Elwyn had to keep checking the progress of the tower being pulled behind him and since there is no rear view mirror nor back window, Nat got to steer it carefully herself.  We have been getting the kids to drive the car (sitting on our lap) all around the property, so their steering is getting pretty good.  Shay got to drive the tractor later with Elwyn but was a tad disappointed that she didn?t steer the tank, only rode in it.

R

Yesterday Brad started to learn to weld.  He bought a pack of rods and spent the day playing, having a ball.  He welded ?B-rad 4 Shell? into a hunk of metal and today he started on a firewood box for our tent and started helping Keith weld parts of a demountable house for Montana.

R