Well we've walked the Southern Isle

Well we've walked the Southern Isle
(of Australia's two big ones).
Done it with some pain, a smile,
relaxed/ intense, in "wigwams".

I don't mean we've walked THE lot,
just NoBo (that is North-Bound)
from South Cape, to ol' North Point,
(not quite nothin', so I've found).

At times we went: in-house (with bed),
under blue tarps, or blue skies,
cabins, or where campers fed,
'times with showers,.. & with flies.

Sometimes talking, sometimes quiet!
Learning from Creator's work;
story, colour blazing riot,
moving on, at rest, not shirk-

-king from the trail now travelled,
and still to come (with help).
Some of it now unravelled,
some wrapped up with more than self.

Folk have walked along some way
and those trails are "done 'n' dust-
ted", shared life, & learned to pray
as though God was one of us...

Tedius, at times it was,
wonderous - quite often too,
ponderous sometimes because
of blisters/ foot-sore in shoe,

and because of so much good
to ponder as we walked on
since the tale that Mark told would
come each day, before too long...

.. what a tale of strength & lure;
made me glad to follow such..
such a man as Yeshua,
who walked then (as we have) much. 

Day 12 - (the math &) the aftermath...

I ended up talking with Mark & Heather till 2:30am and beaky was at 7am with Mark cooking us bacon & eggs, Heather making us a cut lunch, and Hannah-Charis driving us to the plane at 8:15am..

Wow, what a day..I splurged, and we had the last night on the trail in a "budget cabin" at the Stanley Caravan Park. Hot showers, our own kitchen, places to charge our phones as we slept, beds, sheets, towels.

We had (the night before) checked out some of our options for the next day, &  the Caravan Park was happy to mind one or both of our packs till the arvo.

We weren't sure how we'd do the last day... It depended a bit on our feet.

Grego knew he wanted to get to the top of The Nut (one of the iconic landmarks of Tazzy, an outstanding volcanic plug in Stanley)

I knew I wanted to attempt to get to the Northern point of North Point (NP) - the tip of the peninsula above the town of Stanley.

I woke at 4am and heard Greg rustling with stuff in the kitchen. He thought he might try to climb The Nut then, and after that maybe come with me to NP about 6-ish...

I was thinking of leaving now (that I was awake) for NP. So we decided to have breaky, pack up, leave most of our gear with the Caravan Park Reception, try to do NP together, then if there was time in the arvo before Hannah picked us up Greg could "do" his nut (so to speak).

It took a while to pack 'n' clean. I think we left our packs in the designated spot at 6:30 or 7, then headed off on the approx 9km trip (18km return) to NP.

The first half of our trip was on public roads, then the last half was across a farmer's private farm.

Our feet were very sore. I had developed another blister (on my heel) the day before, Greg's gammy foot was very sore (He thinks he's got a break in it, and is hoping to get some X-rays tomorrow).

The Eastern side of the peninsula had the cliffs (of insanity(?)) that way, the Western side might work, but would be best to be low tide to ensure we could get around it. The tides were the opposite of what we wanted. High tide was ~8:30am. I had decided to approach the farmer & simply explain what I was doing, and that I had come from South Cape, & ask if we could walk on the tracks on his farm to North Point, if he said "Yes", it might save us 5 km, if he said "No", then to the extent we had to, we'd have to go around the coast; but who knows, even then, he might even let me/us cut straight accross to the coast from there in his property, rather than retreating all our steps, back a km or so to where the public road came close to the coast.

I led us on a wrong turn so it took 15min longer, to get there, but when we got to the front gate of the farm, a sign said "No entry".

I decided to push on and try the "ask anyway" strategy.

When we finally found the beef-farmer (John Bruce and his wife Angela) after spooking their newly weaned calves a bit, he said this was the worst day in the year for it, the calves just weaned the day or two before were in that lane-way, but I could walk through in about 2 weeks; or go back along the road - to the coast and go that way, but, he warned us, it was very hard that way, especially if it was high tide..

When Greg arrived & I introduced him as my partner for this leg of the journey, John said "Oh if you go back through this particular  track on the West, those calves haven't been weaned yet, so you could go down the fence beside them through to the coast. I thanked him for this shortcut though his land, and we took off.


We had no idea how lovely it would be.























But also,
if it wasn't through Bramble bush or scrubby stuff,














 it was over loose rounded irregular rocks as big as one or two fists...










or on sea-weed






beautiful soft seaweed, that depressed 5-15cm every step... making it quite hard to walk through after a while...

on already swollen, (blistered- well, mine) very sore feet. Greg said that if he had known it was going to be this hard, he wouldn't have come. I was glad I didn't know it was going to be THIS hard, because maybe I mightn't have come either...

At ~10:30am after a few mistaken identities, we arrived at North Point, took some photos, sent some texts, and headed back to try to make "The Nut". On walking up the bank I had 3 bars of phone coverage, so I rang Trevor from the Anna-baptist Community who had offered to help by picking us up, to make my daughter's trip that arvo easier. If we could get a lift to the Nut that would make it quicker. I decided to shout Greg up the chairlift to "The Nut", then I'd ring Trevor, he'd probably arrive by the time Grego had finished. All happened as hoped for, when I rang John & Angela to thank them & let them know we'd made it, they congratulated us, AND let us walk back on the inside of their perimeter fence when we weren't disturbing any cattle in a paddock. This was heaps easier. Then a Farm Manager (Ray) picked us up from the bitumen road (saving us about 6km?) and took us to "The Nut", the chairlift was $16 return (instead of someone's hear-say that it might be $40 one way).

Trevor's son Andrew, and his friend Ruben, picked us up (then our bags), and took us to Trevor's place where we had some lovely home baked bread n jam, & a cuppa with his family.

Trevor then dropped us off in Burnie with a couple of hours to rest while we waited for Hannah-Charis.

We finally got to Mark & Heather's place in "Perth" (Tasmania) an hour late, but enjoyed a sea-food dinner with them, and their son Ruben, & daughter Bonnie. Grego was a real hit, and Heather sorted a Magnesium salts foot soak for him.

Mark & I took off where we'd left off about 25 yrs ago, sharing a house in Cooma, learning to try to follow Jesus in ordinary Australia. Mark passed on a little something verbally, that for some reason I really appreciated, having shared life with a very special woman for almost 30 yrs now: Then he found it on his phone & texted it to me



They asked me to please pass on the greetings & love to anyone they know on the North Island (Mainland Australia).

We're just now as I write, on the bus less than an hour from Orange...and putting our feet up. Yipee.

Thanks to all those who helped, encouraged, waved, shared life, along the Way.

Paul (the) Walker.

Day 12 (Wed20Jan)

North Point, Tasmania.
We-eee-Who-oooo! Made it here!

From South Cape (or, on the way).
With a lot of help! Would say...

Thank you! [2God, and his kids
(or lambs), that's his "billy-lids"]

Paul the Walker (& the Greg
who is Harken-ing) now beg

you to celebrate with us-
"Champaigne", or some other fuss!

















Above: @North Point, Grego in the back-ground, me grimacing at trying to make this technology work to take a "selfie", with several "fly-friends" getting in on the picture too (bombing the shot).

Day 11(Tues 20Jan)

What a day!

During our 1hr. time of solitude as we walked, this morning, I felt like a little kid &  and made up a song to the creator, wrote it on this piece of bark as I went...

and recorded it as I walked...



It's been amazing seeing about 5 different strands that have been pulled together, to the point where it looks like we might make it to North Point by Wednesday sometime. Grego stumbled on a Hutterite/Anna-baptist community last night (thinking they were a Caravan Park), who took us in & have transported much weight from our packs for us today to Stanley, and sent us off this morning with a prayer after they gave us breakfast (and a cut lunch).

On top of that however was the freak co-incident of low tide coming on while we walked the last 10 or 15 km, which meant we could walk to Stanley along the beach, with our feet in the cool waves. Do a river crossing, holding our bags above our heads at Black River, ... etc,

and cut of probably 2-5km.











(for those of you who pray: Pls keep praying for God's work in Grego and his ol' mate who is walking with him - me.).















As we walk down the beach towards Stanley. You can see the "Nut" (extinct volcanic plug) at Stanley on the right (above the sea horizon, about an eighth of the picture in from the right edge). That's where we got to on this day.
When we got there we splurged & booked in to a Budget Cabin, as a celebration, to have a shower. a kitchen, somewhere to ask our friends into, & somewhere to charge our phones...

Day 10(Mon18Jan)

Ivan & Terri Beard offered some space to Stanley this morning... This meant we could cover more in a day, with out our heavy packs. It was beautiful, some roadside views: lovely sights on both the left, & right, coming closer to the turn off to Boat-Harbour beach.

..

(We had the chance to stop here, or move on and try to make it to North Point. Since people like Ivan & Terri offered to help, we decided to press on. Maybe another time for Boat Harbour beach.)

When we could go no further, Glen French let us pitch our tent on his front lawn at Montumana (about 7km from our nearest source of supplies. Then said "Hang it- I'll take you to an ideal camping spot, by the river and near a shop. Grego was glad because he wanted some milk for a cup of tea, and we had just about run out. I was thinking hmm, then I have to walk back to fully have covered the route. I checked if the camping site was on our route or not, it was at a place called Detention 10K further on & we would be going through it. Then it dawned on me that Greg could go with Glenn and our two bags and the tent and all our goods and I could walk the 10K. That's what we're doing!

Update: They found the ideal camping spot by the river had recently had a "No Camping" sign put up. Greggo decided to go to the Caravan Park he had seen down the road, and found it was a Christian Community (The Annabaptists), and they have given us a place to stay, as well as sharing a meal with us tonight, at the Russell's place. After tea some of them allowed me to practice my drawing... what do you think?

An exciting thing for me is that the father of this household (Trevor) has offered to take our bags the 26km to Stanley tomorrow. Maybe we can walk it without our bags. Maybe not. We'll see. Trevor has also helped us work out how to get right to North Point (above Stanley)

Break/Rest Day 2 (Sun 17Jan)

The day began with Grego making cuppas around 8, breaky, & off, at about 8:35am. Off we went along the warinto the lounges

and thraheadtown, to fin the dayn yhe df Jesus followers. They are all such different sub-cultures; St. Bridget's Catholic church - we would have had to be there Sat night @ 6pm.

We tried to follow the directions we got from the lady walker we met yesterday to the Christian City Church (CCC) up the Nothern end of Arthur Street(?). We arrived about 9:15am, to find that it starts at 10 a.m.

We met Neville, Fiona, Geoff, Ashley, Darren, Elly (&her boy, the Bass player, Josh), wow, and others, Nick etc. We heard Tom tell his story around the theme of Servanthood, had a cuppa after, and a bunch of fellows prayed for Greggo's foot to strengthen. 
As we walked back to have some lunch Geoff caught us in his car and asked us home for lunch, with the fam (Fiona, Simeon, Chris & his g-friend Christy). Chris & Christy were amazing questioners & conversationalists (both work for telstra- retailing), and what an amazingly generous family. We heard something of their stories for a few hours. Sitting on & @ amazing wooden furniture (with no nails or glue):


After the grown offspring had left for the arvo, we got a snap of the couple

& Geoff dropped us near home on his way to a meeting.

I payed up for our second day... & 
spent some time talking with a local whose business is ailing because of the rise of motorhomes & free-camping.
Grego cooked herb & garlic snags for us tonight, with 3 veg & pasta. Yummy.
We decided to miss our Mark today, have to do Mark 11 on Monday.
Early to bed, to rise at 5 tomorrow.
But about 8pm some fellow campers whom we met briefly yesterday came into the lounge area & we talked for more than half an hour... 
Ivan & Terri Beard offered us (or our gear) a lift slong the way, or to Stanley tomorrow... Could this work to get our gear dropped ahead, and then we can walk more..

Day 9 (Sat16Jan)

We woke at 5:15am, I think, put our phones on to top up the charge,  had our cereal & a cuppa, and packed the tent. We were on the road at 6:25am. We took our hour of solitude, with Greg ~50m ahead today. I think I recorded a ditty thing again. I wonder what Greg did. This is an essential part of the pilgrimage. I popped into a servo to use their loo, & ended up also buying 2 egg & bacon "rolls" & a piece of slice each for mornimg tea. Greg waited for me then at the sign that told the distance to the Wynyard information centre. and we walked from there together.

From here on we noticed an interesting phenomenon:
The flies were thick! Though I found it difficult, my secret weapon is the way they taught me an amazing lesson about living under a set of assumed rights instead of under authority. Greg hasn't yet had that privilege, so he was nearly going insane after 20-30min.  It was then that I recalled the fly net I was given for Christmas, by Mum. Grego tried that (& his coat)

 untill it got too hot under the extra clothing with "a tropical sub-climate", and they had probably slightly reduced in numbers.

(repeated below
so you get the drift-
poem-ish thingo
to help our minds lift..

it grew on our walk
& right up till now..
I'll pop in the cork
to slow it right down):

"The flies are thick!"
he said, "and fast!"
"Like, they're quick,
and - Oh be blast!...

the flies are thick!
don't mean they're dumb-
"thick as a brick",
though there are some...

don't mean they're broad,
or extra wide.
The flies are thick!
-can't be denied,

for when you clap
your hands in air
there's a fly chap
(or chap-ess) there.

and just now, greg's
applause brought 10
black dots upon
his paws but when

he wiped them off
and tried agin
the flies stayed thick
and did not thin.

For when one died
ten more came in
from every side
you could not win!

And so I say
with Grego here
"The flies are thick"
-so all ain't clear!

(I'd say there's more
from where that came,
for when we saw
the C-park dame

she said "Too bad,
for you just now,
the flies are thick
because somehow

the South bushfires
have made this smoke
which drove the flies
which nearly choke

us all here now,
and stops the views,
been such a row-
& on the news!

- but stranger yet
was when we went
off to erect
our newish tent

of thin gauze mesh
(up to the sky),
and then Greg's ques-
-tion; "Where's the fly?"

I grabbed it hence,
the thought came quick:
compared to tents,
"the flies are thick!"

We followed the abandoned rail-line for a while, I got a little better at ballancing walking on one rail. Greg's foot started hurting a bit much, maybe from the big bits of blue-metal between the sleepers so we abandoned that after 30min.

We stopped for morning tea at maybe 9:30 or 10:00 at Doctor's Rocks beach where we checked out our route - we decided to go through Wynyard, not around it. With Greg's sore foot we might even stay there tonight, and then probably also Sun also. I also took my shoes off and bathed the swelling and blisters in the refreshing cold Bass strait water.- lovely! - then we apportioned our Mark stories for the day.

We checked our way with a lady doing her morning walk about 10:30 on Sat morning & she walked with us for a km explaining the town, the whereabouts of the 2 Caravan parks, & "churches that weren't too wierd". We had passed one C-park on the S.E. edge, so we would continue to the central one, near Woolies etc...

We booked in for one night, (& possibly two), put up the tent, had a 1hr break with feet up, went shopping for two days, came back and rested, told 2 lots of stories (hoping to finish the third tomorrow morning), had an argument -of sorts, about people feeling wrongly judged etc. Had a yummy meal, and into bed about 7:30-8pm. That's when I tried this blog again...

Day 8 (Fri15Jan)

Day 8 walking: Fri15Jan

Today we packed the tent at about 6:30am,and had an egg & bacon pie and a hot drink for breakfast & we finished off some of Mark 8 that remained from yesterday, and said goodbye to Dave Rosali who was catching the bus from penguin at 10:15..

(It was going to be close; later in the day he texted me to say- He made it!)

Greg & I were on the road by 7:45am a bit late. A beautiful first hour of solitude, I ended up short cutting on a long curving Beach and getting ahead of Greg. this time a man came out of his home and waved to me and we got talking. As I was about to go he asked if I liked zucchinis, he was about to set up a roadside stall selling his wife's yellow zucchinis, so he gave me one for free for tea.

After an hour we stopped and had a cuppa and a table and chairs by the road. then quickly put in another 2 hours, arrived near Burnie and had lunch at Wivenhoe. I put my feet against a tree for a full hour after lunch which was fish and chips. Then another quick Cuppa and off we went. We had some interesting times trying to find alternatives to the highway in the city. After a Macca's cone each, we finally arrived at the Burnie Holiday caravan park at about 3:30. I was done for the day. Greg wanted to pay for this stint. We put up the tent and Greg went searching for something for tea and especially breakfast tomorrow. While Iput my legs up on a chair I got to know Morgan a fellow from Paris, France.He was very concerned with the events there recently, & is glad to be here in Australia.Greg returned with UHT milk & Nutri-Grain for both tea & breaky, I was happy with that, so we had a bowl along with a cuppa and finished the last four stories of Mark 9. I cut up the zucchini and gave it to some neighbours who could use it.I sat (with my feet up against the BBQ) near the phones to charge them until about 9:30. Grego was wrecked too, so he hit the sack about 7:30-ish, & I'll join him before 10. (By 9pm it was c-c-cold! We're going to try to get up an hour earlier tomorrow & take off in the cool. We'll see how we go!

Day 7(Thurs14Jan)

Thur15Jan
today we packed the tent at about 6:30am,
and had an egg & bacon pie and a hot drink for breakfast. we finished off Mark 8 That Remains from yesterday, and said goodbye to Dave Rosali who was catching the bus from penguin at 10:15..

Greg & I were on the road by 7:45am a bit late. A
beautiful first hour of solitude, I ended up short cutting on a long curving Beach and getting ahead of Greg. this time a man came out of his home and waved to me and we got talking. as I was about to go he asked if I'd like to kinis he was about to set up a roadside stall selling his wife's yellow zucchinis, so he gave me one for free for tea.
After an hour we stopped and had a cuppa and a table and chairs by the road. then quickly put in another 2 hours, arrived near Burnie and had lunch at Wivenhoe. I put my feet against a tree for a full hour after lunch which was fish and chips.
then another quick Cuppa and if we went
we had some interesting times trying to find alternatives to the highway in the city.
Macca's cone in each, find me a ride to the Burnie holiday caravan park at about 3:30. I was done for the day. Greg wanted to pay for this stint. We put up the tent and Greg went searching for something for tea and especially breakfast tomorrow. While I
put my legs up on a chair I got to know Morgan a fellow from Paris, France.
He was very concerned with the events there recently, & is glad to be here in Australia.

Greg returned with UHT milk & Nutri-Grain for both tea & breaky, I was happy with that, so we had a bowl along with a cuppa and finished the last four stories of Mark 9. I cut up the zucchini and gave it to some neighbours who could use it.
I sat (with my feet up against the BBQ) near the phones to charge them until about 8:30. Grego was wrecked too, so he
hit the sack about 7:30-ish, & I'll join him soon. We're
going to try to get up an hour earlier tomorrow & take off in the cool. We'll see how we go!

Day 6 (Wed13Jan) v3

ouray 6, Wed 13Jan

Up at 6am, cuppa, breaky, a drama with the key, then we headed off and caught the ferry accross the Mersey? River, then up Steele Street onto the "Sawdust Bridge" (a foot and cycle bridge, then up a winding way to the highway again.

We tried to walk just outside the carriage-way.

A beautiful walk beside the sea, though my legs are puffing more, (I had to stop after 2hrs and put my feet up for 30min, & blisters still make it hard to get going after a break.

We finally arrived (or hobbled) Into Turners Beach about 12:30pm, bought some lunch at a cafe La Mar,My ankles (up to the sock-line are blotchy red & blowing up.



Just like the other times. I have to stop and put my feet up after each hour for about 10 min (especially in the second half of the day) & do it for about an hour at lunch.This is more frustrating for the other two, but so far we are negotiating the pitfalls, as we learn to listen.



We sat in the shade (with my legs up) had a resta, booked into a Caravan Park down the road, "did" Mark 7, shared some tea, A lovely caravan park that said "no vacancy", but Luke and his wife found a spot for us and looked after us as though we were royalty.I had a swim in the Bass Strait. Delicious on my ankles and feet! Talked abit with some Belgium campers an off to bed after ( and before some more) rain.

Yup, Craig, the tent leaks a bit, as you warned us, and we didn't get that seam sealant! So far (luckily) it has rained for more than 20 min.

Day5(Tue12Jan)

We woke @  ~6, had a cuppa and got on the road ASAP. that's the Tasmanian Food & Wine Conservatory in the background. here's the three of us  in a selfie:

We were on the road most of the day, we had our hour of solitude at the beginning, and later covered Mark 5 (reading I
it in a break).

Paul's legs started swelling more easily and the blisters made it hard to get going again...


The others were a bit further ahead when we reached
Wthe street the Able Tasman was in. I have decided to start wearing thongs instead of shoes to see if that made a difference. now whenever the sun hit my feet they stung.  I thought I should call in to the chemist and get some + 50 sunscreen, on my way out an old fellow asked me if I could handle a take away coffee. WI said I'd love to if I could share one with him. he said he just finished his so I have to imagine I was sharing it with him. he ordered the coffee while I put my sunscreen on, and then his wife Bev joined us for a few minutes, what a man of peace.  fthen they drove off and I walked off.
We finally all made it to the Abel Tasman Tourist Park  In Devonport about 4pm washed & had cooked chook sandwiches  (Dave & I talked again while we charged the phones in the laundry then about 10pm we joined Greg Iein the tent) & slept soundly.

Day 4 (Mon 11Jan)Greg

Greg & I were up about 5:30am, Tony was already milking but Desley kindly offered to drop us back were we left the trail about 35hrs before; at the Deloraine Woolworths car park. That done we made our way to Elizabeth Town where we had a toilet break & stopped for a cuppa, thence the United Sevo where where we had a national pie, and  cold drink. We covered Mark 4 today.
Then we finally made it to the Tasmanian Food & Wine  Conservatory at Parramatta Creek, where the owner lady allowed us to pitch our tent & shared their scarce drinking water with us.

Dave arrived just before 7pm. Greg d Dave met for the first time, Greg hit the sack & Dave and I talked for some hours about Marriage and  a game God designed

Break-day 1 (Sun 10Jan)

Amazing generosity. An old mate & his wife (Tony & Desley Parsons) picked us up from the Woolies carpark in Deloraine, took us home to a lovely meal , a night of catching up, & and beds with sheets.
Then we joined Tony for 2nd breakfast at 9:30-10 (he was up at 4:30am for first breakfast & milking). Then we joined them for a great time at an alternative kind of "church-service-and-pot-luck-dinner" where everyone treated us as family. Then some snooping for where to walk to tomorrow, using a car they loaned us.
(a whole story there).

minI 

Then Greg had a quiet night at home while we went celebrating Tony's dad's 84th year of life at the local pub:

Home and more catch-ups. I recorded a story from both of them on some time(s) when they were made  aware of a spiritual dimension in their lives. How to put it up here though?

Day 3 (Sat 9Jan)

As the last post said, we're on the road by 7:30am (we think). Then an hour of solitude. I often sing and dance, and, make up stories and poemish stuff, to tell the sky and cows etc. The day before Greg had listrned to a podcast with his headphones on, but today his battery is flat..
I walked ahead this time to make some space between us. After 1hr I walked at half pace, ten min later I found a shadey tree to sit under. When Greg arrived I noticed he had carried the grocery bag (on his own) for the whole time. He was a bit cranky with me going ahead (he said half a kilometre ahead) - for safety reasons. His phone is flat.
We're going to have to sort this out. For now our plan for the next morning is for Greg to go first. Once we're warmed up I seem to be a bit faster, though he often gets going faster than me.

We got going, and stopped at Osmaston about 10:30 or a bit after in the shade out in front of a house..

The house-holder gave us 4 litres of lovely drinking water, so (i took off my shoes to examine my blisters, &) we boilded the billy, had our last milk in a cuppa tea, then I worked on the blog, we cooked some  lunch (Couscous and soup mix),  did some of Mark 3 together, telling little story-lets to each other.

Greg wes getting restless. He spewed up lunch (don't know what that was about, but yesterday's Cous cous lunch came back that night too) and we moved on to get in some more walking before the sun would get Greg's forehead again.

After 30 min the sun was higher,  the road turned and we could see that one cap between us would leave us frazzled on this 32 degree Celcius day. So... hear we are enjoying the hospitality of another beautiful bridge.

Day 2 (Fri 8Jan)

We walked from Si & Mim's homely house, with a hot breaky of eggs on sour-dough toast with home-made pesto.
Before we had left we remembered the phone charger. Later thst day Mim texted to say there was the washing on the line.

We holed up under bridge for a couple of hours, saw a Tiger snake swim past, I had a few dips, and took off again when it was slightly cooler.

When they found us along the road that arvo, at say 4:30(?), the had also found my undies which had blown off the fence in the night, but added to the list a cold one for Grego, a Cornetto for each of us, 4 litres of fresh water (very welcome), and some potato crisps (from Hannah, Si's sister whom they also rescued after a difficulty - see, they ARE angels).
We were over the moon. And after they left we continued to our camping spot, at Cluan, next to the car in the front yard of Smithy, where we crashed about 8, woke a bit before 7 this morning, had some cerial, and hit the road by 7:30.am

Dad Jokes...

A mate of mine (Craig) who's a dad, texted this (after the dotted line below) through to me after we were talking about the importance of real dad's who can even give (& take) a joke as a model for us in copying the one "from whom all fatherhood in heaven & on earth is derived"
......................................................................
I stayed up all night thinking of dad jokes and wondered where the sun had gone

Then it dawned on me.
......................................................................
Si, then helped me to see
from his experience,
that it helps if there be
tags to aid hear-i-ance

of a Dad-Joke by "kids"
even just to sign-post
that there has been some bids
to birth one, or play host

to a Dad-Joke, just now;
to help them roll their eyes,
be embarrassed somehow,
or even show surprise

that the old man is not
a dunderhead, but "skilled"
(if not quite a hot-shot)
- that some-how it's been billed

as an attempt to serve,
to aid, to even fight,
to comment on our nerve,
or help us (choose what's right)...

Trevor commented that
for him it's more stories -
embarrassing or fact
that somehow act as "breeze"...

Breeze that blows between trees
or solid things in life,
helps take a breath, bring ease,
ameli'rate the strife.

Night One (7Jan) on the trail...

2 angels of God (and their dog, woIf), after finding is on the road invited us to stay for the night. I had a bath in the creek,

washed the clothes from the day's sweat, and talked with them as they worked their amazing high-density, high-nutrient garden

Then we set up tent on their side lawn, joined them for a delicious cooked tea, & hot breakfast the next morning. We were on the road again by 8:10 the next morning.
Thanks Si & Mim.

 (it turns out that Mim just texted me - I left my clothes on the line. We may yet see more of them.)
yvalker@blogspot.com.au

Day 0 (6Jan); & Day 1 (7Jan)

Greg Harkness has joined me for this leg of the trip.

A very hospitable acquaintance (a friend of my daughter, with a very similar philosophy of life etc), offered to pick us up from the airport at Launceston and take us to Poatina, where we were booked in for the night - and he did it! Thanks Craig Townsend!

The next morning we slept in a bit and then joined others from the Poatina town-ship in a time of prayer and focus on the top of the hill overlooking the town. There we met with Ian & Jill I'anson,
they read & led us in resonding to this passage from the Christian scriptures:

“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
(Matthew 5:14-16 MSG) a beatiful time of reflection.

we had to move some glass art from one of the logs.

The building at the back contains a kiln for glass blowing & is an Art Space, that is about to harbour a week-long conference next week called "Faith and the Arts". Someone may have had s drink ftom this bottle, but they left it feeling a bit flat.

Then after breaky, we had to buy a few things from the shop
, pay for accommodation, and then Rowan offered for us to join the community morning tea at 10. When we finally got going Rohan dropped us at the top near Mount Blackwood at 12.

Here we are, above, with the tail end of Rohan's Laser. He dropped us up to the spot where Anne had picked us up from last January. (and then took the photo for us) Thanks Rohan.

Some shots from our walk today..
second last photo: Grego coming down the trail;
last photo the top of a pretty big cave...