The perfect set up

Out here in the slow hum of Outback QLD time is finally loosing it’s hold.  Road houses, road trains, and road kill, linking tiny towns that seem like lands caught in time.   John is also having a break from music business stuff so we aren’t running to the next town to meet a gig deadline.   

 

We are crossing the Savannah way and In the past week we have enjoyed legendary coffee in Mareeba, fed the rock wallabies at granite gorge, taken a ride on a steam train at Ravenshoe, paddled in the thermal springs in Innot, driven across amazing sunscorched landsapes, and caught king salmon in the gulf of Carpentaria.

But the greatest joy of our last week has been meeting a wonderful family from Newcastle, who are travelling OZ….

After being charged like a wounded bull at the mechanic in Mossman to fix our van wheels, we headed inland.  By the time we arrived at our next destination late in the evening the wheels on the Caravan were overheating again, and the smell of burning rubber lingered around our tyre.  We were totally crushed, thinking maybe we had melted our electric brakes again – money was dwindling and there was not much left for another costly mechanics bill.  It was late on Saturday night, at a free campspot in the middle of nowhere, the only hope we had was to stay put until Monday and find our selves another mechanic.  In the mean time we prayed together. 

Of course as Gods faithfulness would have it, we woke up the next morning and there was another family camped nearby, Josh wanted to play with their little girl, so I took him over for an introduction.  We soon discovered that Tony, Deb were from Newcastle like us and travelling Australia with their two children.  Tony is a licensed mechanic and graciously spent the morning with John under the caravan helping fix our wheels, teaching John what to do as he went.  If this wasn’t enough of a miracle, they also go to Victory Church and have the same heart for God as we do.   They say they are headed in the same direction as us and we enjoy a great day together in Ravenshoe with the kids on the steam train.

The next morning we look out the window at 7am, and find their camper trailer GONE!  We heard nothing, and they were gone without a trace, and I thought to myself they were too good to be true, maybe they were angels.  But then we found they had left their mobile phone number on our caravan step, and angels don’t usually have mobiles.

We followed them onto Karumba, which is a small fishing town in the Gulf of Carpenteria.  Supposedly one of the best fishing spots in the country.  John told me there wouldn’t be much there, but we could watch the sunset over the ocean, and he wanted to ‘throw a line in’.   (John has no idea how to cast out a rod or bait a hook so that was going to be interesting).

I think people only come to Karumba to fish.  You can’t swim or stay on the beach because of the crocodiles, and almost everyone at the caravan park we stayed at has a boat to go out on the water with expectations of a big catch. 

Of course because God is great in all his ways, we arrive at the campsite in Karumba, and are designated a place right beside our new friends.   They are there with their boat, and Tony is the son of a Fisherman, so he takes John out and teaches him to fish.  They come back with delicious fresh salmon.   A big trip highlight for John. 

The kids were totally delighted to have friends to play with, and we enjoyed the company of great people.  As we get to know each other we find out that Deb and John went to uni together in Lismore.  Deb like me also does the accounts for her church.  Tony is like Bear grylls and has so many talents fit for an outback adventure.  Only God could position such a perfect set up. 

We are both headed for Gregory Downs before going in opposite directions, and we look forward to hanging out together there for a few more days.