Leg 4; Rest Day (Friday 6th Sept 2017)

Amen, thank Him for his truth and his way,
May he help us live in it, through night and in day,
Thanks that he leads in wisdom and light,
It makes me sleep peacefully, tomorrow'll be 'right.

.......... - ..........

Peace fully given, yet we learn each bit,
that's piece by piece until we've walked the way,
& know it top to bottom, all of it
(well, might be we're more  known by it, I say).

For as we've opened up ourselves to Peace
(that's "Shalom" in the Hebrew, they tell me,
they say that peace's lovers never cease,
it's blessings were pronounced by heavenly

bright angels at the birth of "Prince of Peace" -
his way of truth & love is peace's way,
& he told his ambassadors then please
to bless all lovers of peace who will pay

the price to welcome, aid, & abet it,
who put their money where their mouth is too,
they will not talk and then just forget it,
they learn to live it out, as  rare folk do!

They have a kind of hope beyond this world,
they see beyond the biological,
might not be in their life-time when unfurled,
but peace's flag & rule is magical,

yet real as steel, & solid as a brick,
it has a diff'rent pow'r that's based on love,
it's creativity is not a trick,
it does the work, & yet it will not shove!

It truly thanks, then looks, responds, & sleeps
- at peace,  that other hands are working too
(yet if it wakes it is not scared, & peeps,
expectant) banks that truth & love win through.

PW

Leg 4; Day 10 (Thursday 5th Sept 2017)

Leg 4; Day 10 (Thursday 5th Sept 2017)

A very interesting day today. I woke up and my foot was so sore I knew I couldn't walk anymore so thought I'd better go to the doctors and do what I could to get over this gout. We found the new-ish (1 year old) Pakenham Medical Centre with rave reviews on Google & had a good chat with the doctor there who owns it. He gave me enough stuff to get me back on the road a.s.a.p. We went back home, packed up and left our old van site, & Katrina drove us for a coffee to Cranbourn, where i made a sketch of a bloke i found there:

Foot was still not good enough to walk, so we went early to another Van Park in Dandenong. Foot still bad, so had lunch, more tablets,  reassured God (& us) that it was up to him if I was going to be able to make it to a functioning station in the Melbourne system.

Long loo break and write the poemish thingo below. Saw a sign on the way out of the shower-toilet complex, which got me thinking more generally of life (see pic). Booked  flights from Rockhampton next week. Talked with my eldest daughter on the phone. ...

At 4 or 4:30 I thought "I think it's got better enough, that it's worth trying at least to finish the walk to Cranbourne station". Katrina drove us in the car, Grego said yes he'd come (better than staying in his tent) and we headed back to Clyde General Store, where she dropped us off (see pics), I found my sticks where I'd inadvertantly left them and....

We followed the railway line all the way to Cranbourne Station where I put my sticks under a fence so when I come back I might be able to use them when I come again, and rang Katrina. Left a voice-mail & txt,  didn't hear back for ~ an hour. Very cold wind. Number of trains and buses came and emptied their people here. We took a pic (see above), then an old friend rang. I got to write this.

On the way, following the train line enabled some big short-cuts for us (maybe 5km instead of 7.8km) but we couldn't read at the same time to prepare for telling alternately, so I just told the stories of Mark 10 & we reflected as we were able. We got to think about Jesus and "family-authority" - marriage, children, young man, ruling, bringing the kind of clarity that family love, inclusion, & service brings.

The next leg will be from Cranbourne Station to Melbourne's heart, or cetres of authority, and maybe beyond, we'll see...

waifer us..

Oh God we love the way you see, and do.
The way you listen, come down, get involved!
When I grow up, I want to be like you.
Impart your view & love to me disolved

within my food and drink, & air I breathe,
I want to be "connected" - branch in vine.
I now recall that statement (I believe)
that all the food of this world, is divine..

divine love that's made edible for us
to take in freely, yes, it grows on trees!
And this is to display the kind of fuss
you make of us. Caressing in the breeze

[or breath, or wind, or spirit - the same word
in ancient Hebrew (or the Greek) they say.]
You want to give your mind to those who've heard,
& listened to, all those you've sent our way.

To speak of "way", it makes me think of "weigh";
how you want us to weigh up what we hear,
& not to be naive, to know folk say
not only what is true, & good, & clear.

Sometimes we have to exercise our brain,
- but more than brain, to check our motives too,
& exercise your love which comes again,
as varied as the animals 'n a zoo,

and gladder than them not to live in vain.
In fact, your love and view give meaning to
our lives which otherwise have nothing gained,
for meaning-more I turn my gaze to you!

PW

Leg 4; Day 9 (Wed 4th Sept 2017)

It was a very eventful day. We woke up about 7:30 and had some breaky. My foot was increasingly sore for the last few hours of the sleep time, and when I woke I realised it was probably gout not a missfitting new shoe, as I supposed the night before. I'd been without the shoe on all night and it had got worse  So I took a few gout tablets and we headed off.

We started where I had finished off the night before, joined up with the Koo Wee Rup rail trail (see pic) when it finished we went back to a road, then tried the disused railway later on. Many blackberries... but we made it accross 6 creeks/ culverts with water in them (see pic) then back to road (see pic), & rail (see pic) & road.

Meanwhile, after an hour or two I realised "I'm taking the wrong tablets - taking preventative gout ones not the culturzine that helps get rid of it when you've got it, and I switched  to the right ones ... but it didn't fix it. During the day it slowly got worse & we had to pull up at a little place called Clyde. CLYDE General Store & Post Office on Station St., after having done only about 18 kilometres for the day.

Katrina came and got us and we popped into Woolies and got some groceries on the way home. came home, had showers and dinner (lovely Thai chicken, cooked by Katrina). We sat outside for, & after dinner tonight (see last pic).

When we left home in NSW (Orange), without my plane tickets,  i thought i'll just access them from my phone. Now that I am checking it looks like I may not have actually booked the plane trip up to my school reunion this weekend. I was sure I had, but so far there's nothing coming up for it. Eek! (Jetstar is out, got to check with Virgin)

Today in our meditation - we read through and listened to Mark 9 - well, we got about 4 stories into it and we've got 3or 4 to go. But Greg is going to sleep now, so we'll try to finish it in the morning. 

An amazing chapter that seems to be largely about "prayer" - well learning to see life, this world, & especially difficulties (yes, i saw the irony or amazing applicability to me with my gout) from God's point of view. Learning to have God's creative, overviewing mindset.

I think of that phrase God used with Jeremiah (ch 23) about the false prophets of their country, God said "~Which of them has stood in my council to see and hear my word?... if they had stood in my council to see and hear my word they would have spoken my word to my people and turned them from their wicked ways."

An interesting phrase... "stood in my council" - especially looking at the first story in Mark 9. Is this "prayer" or something else? Luke says it was. Mark 9 hardly says the word "prayer", but it does once, at an important point. The previous 2 chapters each describe an instance of Jesus praying, without saying that word.. is it this that is aluded to in the first 2 stories of Mk 9? Got me thinking ... more.

PW

Leg 4; Day 8 (Tues 3 Sept 2017)

Leg 4; Day 8 (Tues 3 Sept 2017)

Today was pretty special we slept in till about 7 then had brekkie and left by 8:30 and got to our starting point at Loch by 9am. We took the abandoned train line at first (see pic), to a little place called Nyora.  Greg walked between the tracks, I walked on a rail, with two sticks helping me ballance, and it got us there in good time. Bought a nice coffee from the general Store. (Concreting their floor, because of white-ants).

Then we took the road from Nyora along McDonald's track to Lang Lang (see pic), bought a cold drink at IGA, and tried the train track out to the highway but was stopped by blackberries so we had to treck through neighbouring empty cow-fields to get back onto the road, just as  Katrina rounded the corner of the highway to pick us up. Coffee to end the day at yhe Lang Lang bakery, where we heard the first installment of Katrina's second story (the first being Newcastle Street).

Bought some butane on the way  "home" to air a damp matress, and early showers, dinner, and got ready for bed. Now Katrina & I are back to TWO skinny foam mattresses! Looking forward to a nice night's sleep. 

After tea I asked Katrina and Grego if they would feel like I was double-crossing them if I walked a further 10km in the cool of the evening to make it less to do tomorrow (or more possible to make it to Melbourne at the end) - and they were both ok with it. So - Katrina drop me back to Lang lang and I walked about 10 km, up to the pub over the road from Woolies at Koo Wee Rup, while I caught up with Sam on the mobile phone. I ran out of battery not long before the end, and hsd time to recharge the batteries before ringing Katrina to pick me up. I kept walking till she got to me and took a photo (or 10; our cameras wouldn't adjust to the reflective vest I was wearing - we think.... see pic - best we could do)

Got home again into bed by 10:30 so that's good!Today we talked as we went about Mark 8: "Jesus and the dud's!"; Dud disciples who didn't learn & take up their second chance opportunity to learn to feed people that God had brought into their lives;  the dud leaders of the People of God who're just looking for keeping theological prominence & their  positions of power & influence (sounds familiar), under the guise of responsibly looking for signs of authenticity in this new Rabi (yhey were jealous of); the dud healing of the blind man (Jesus shows how he handles it); and then finally someone gets it right - Peter  recognises Jesus as the messiah (!) but then really "duds it" by  bringing his ideas of Messiah into his statement over against  listening to the Messiah himself (!)... Jesus says to Peter "Out of my way Satan!", then calls all his followers together saying if you want to follow me you've got to be a bigger dud in the eyes of this power hungry system... "You've got to deny yourself, take up your cross (Rome's best attempt at humiliating,  shameful,  suffering, painful death), and follow me - I'll show you how it's done."Interesting stuff, got us thinking.  Great to talk and think about it as we walked together.

Walking through such beautiful countryside, I remembered Luke 12 "look how the Wildflowers grow! They don't work or make clothes for themselves, yet God clothes them. I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers (see pictures).

PW

Day 7 (Monday 2 October 2017)

Day 7 (Monday 2 October 2017)

Roadside travelling today . Up and down rolling hills, through trees out again beside pastures (see Pics). Along the highway, but there was a good verge or shoulder along the side of most of it. We travelled from Leongatha to  a little place called Loch. I was hoping to make it the extra 7.5 km to Nyora, but Grego's feet weren't up to it. As it turns out mine might not have been either...

The (spider?) bite and growing infection are diminishing as I finish the antibiotics. But I tried my new walking boots for half of the day yesterday. ...
Then swapped over at 12noon... along with some new socks.. my ankles were showing a (slightly itchy) rash that arvo when I took the socks off... the boots, or the socks, or just things hesting up?

On the meditation front... amazing. "Chapter 7" - we started with the last story-let in ch 6 as the "overlap story" (beautifully ending of the story cycle before it, then beautifully leading us into the next cycle of stories.

Unclean and clean amazing! The stories sprang out at me freshly as I hear Grego tell them, as we walk along, with some solitude just before or after it... Seeing this world and our social structures, & cultural uses of it freshly...

Then Greg told me bits and pieces of his recollections as a child, & in and out of trouble. GOD "showed up", Grego woke up, & he had a chance... but difficulties continue...

Grego shouted us Fish n Chips for tea. We sleep tonight at Parkham Caravan Park... Paul.

Rest Day (Sunday 1 Oct 2017)

We slept in, had brekkie at 8 then put the clothes on to wash and went to meet with the Leongatha Anglican Church which started meeting together at 10am. They sang and had various annoucements & a long sermon led by a minister call Graham.  It was great. Graham was tuned into God's purposes being bigger than keeping structures going. They asked us to join them for morning tea and then to stay for a beautiful lunch with a good bunch of people (even though they appologized that many were away on holidays).
We felt welcomed and shared life at  a bit deeper level (because of our committment to God's chosen Leader of Humanity?) with Graham (the GP), Hugh, Tim & Jacquie, & many others like the two Helens etc

The poemish reflection (on day 6) started with 7 verses, then last night i added the first two verses, & this morning after the time with the Leongatha Anglicans I  added the last 3 verses. And tonight, after I went to bed,  considering what Yeshua had said about his mother & brother and sister were they who heard God's will and then do it, & the story of the disciples panicing and the wind and waves immediately obeying Jesus' word to them (the beginning and ending stories of a set of stories on Jesus' teaching on the kind of rule God has, the kind of kingdom God has, what his leadership is really like).

It does reflect my reflections as a reflection of Yahweh - the Great Creator Spirit! & it was fun...

Day 6 (Sat, 30 September 2017)

Day 6 (Sat, 30 September 2017)

Today we were up about 7 a.m. we had some brekkie we're staying in this caravan park so we didn't have to pack up. Then Katrina drove us to Stoney Creek and walked with us up to Meeniyan, where we all had a coffee together in a coffee shop, and we left her to return to the car at her leisure. We walked on to Leongatha, & our Caravan Park (21km) most of it along the Great Southern Rail Trail (the old now-abandoned railway line to Port Welshpool, set up for walking, push-bike & horse riding).

(see pics of the trail going between cuttings, under main road, beside breathtaking farmland and crossing country lanes that criss-cross it. There was a heard of black cattle with name tags in their ears... Grego said something like "They're having trouble with their colours"... can you read the nametag?)

Greg and I walked on from there. We had our 1 hour of solitude and then we had a cuppa tea, looked at Mach 6 together - that was pretty big, there were 8 little story-let's to do the last 2 in chapter 5 and is 6 in chapter 6.

My shoes were breaking so we went and bought some synthetic (to my disgust, but the best fit and size) hiking boots from Target (who else would be open at 4:30 pm on a Saturday arvo), then some chicken for dinner. Yum... sate' chicken. Katrina cooked, so we do the washing up.

Greg: I spent an hour listening to Genesis and the first half of the talk by Zac Poonen, and spent the day freezing.

Katrina: I went to the lighthouse near Walkerville at Cape Liptrap. It was beautiful but so windy that I couldn't even hold my phone up to take a photo.

Tomorrow is a rest day... 8 am breaky.

A PILGRIM'S REFLECTIONS

Some of my reflections on yesterday's meditation on Jesus' disciples' (students/apprentices) panic & lack of a living faith in God,  during a  storm when their boat was  going down in lake Galilee - as they did a job for Jesus. Combined with reflecting a bit on Jesus' example in Mark 6 (feeding five thousand hungry families).

..........,,,,,,,,,,; ********** ;,,,,,,,,,,..........

I see within the mirror of that tale
of Jesus' apprentices on lake,
their dutifull use of their ship at sail,
& "generous" not waking him to take

a part in all the bailing of what "waved
in", making children scared (for they forgot
that they were loved and cared for, so behaved),
quite panic-ey; & blamed him for the lot!

When I've been under pressure doing work
(I thought was what was given for this while),
my faith has shrunk, & disappeared & shirked
and left a hole instead of a broad smile.

I see that I have been quite faithless, Lord.
I watch your students learn to trust in God
but as they "prove their worth" their faith is flawed -
that's even when they go where you have trod.

For when, like them, we do the things you ask,
it can be just a shell without the heart,
I want to learn from their, and my own, past
to grow a living faith - though  "knowing PART".

For "brother Wind" and "sister Wave" did come.

He speaks to them, & tells them of God's will,
and straight away do they obey - and some!
The heir of fam'ly life tells them "Be still!"...

and like a loyal hound, or old grey mare
they stop their jumping and their blustering,
(for though it may be just they're glad he's there,
the younger children are quite flustering).

So though I know I don't know very much,
the other kind of knowing knows the one
who knows all things,  so if I am in touch,
it can be like a father and his son.

My job (to help this kind of knowing grow)
is not to think I have to  "Tell you what!"...
or check you're doing right, from what I know;
but ask for help, be glad for "spanks" I've got!

In other words there's one who knows better,
and I can learn from you. I am lucky!
But knowing you is more of a treasure;
I've found the door, & now I've found the key!

And as the son said "My father is great-
er. He knows things I do not,  but will when
he tells me them. It's he who works till late-
-er,  looking back, we see what he's done then!

I want to learn to quickly share my needs,
& then look out to learn my lessons well,
look up and thank the one who quiets, and feeds,
& smile, because I know I'll live to tell.

I see oh Lord my treasure is often
the smaller things that are your gifts to me
like food and drink and warm clothes that soften
the many storms and harsh realities

But you are treasure greater than your gifts
the focus of my hopes and dreams will be
on you and seeing your goodness that lifts
or stills, as needs, for more reality.

PW

Day 5 (Friday 29 September 2017)

I was up for sunrise(see pic), then snuck back to bed. We slept in till 7:15 then had brekkie, packed up our tents & camper trailer and left Yanakie Caravan Park. Katrina dropped us where we finished yesterday, about 7 km south of Fish Creek and we walked,  through lush grazing countryside (see pic) into Fish Creek where we met Katrina for morning tea at about 11:20am then she walked with us for a couple of km up the  Great Southern Rail Trail. We saw a koals clearly snoozing in a gum tree overhead (but without throwing stones at it couldn't get it to show on the ohoto (see pic), then Grego & I walked on towards Stony Creek. We found sn enormous wombat hole (see pic), and loved wslking in the seclusion, out of the wind and traffic (see pic) with only occasional walkers/riders passing. We made it to 1 km short of Stony Creek. Katrina met us where the dirt road came near the old railway line which we were wslking on, and then that we headed off to  Leongatha Caravan Park where we are now, setup for the night, about to have some sausages, and try for an early night and an early start tomorrow to see if we can make it to the northern end of the Great Southern Rail Trail tomorrow and then have a day off on Sunday.Grego & I walked and talked together on the way to Fish Creek in the morning and covered the first "half"  of "Mark 5" (actually the last story-let of chaper 4 & all of chapter 5) - taking in the storylet (s) we were about to tell (by listenimg to someone read it, or reading it ourselves), then telling it to the other(s) in our own words, before we got to  Fish Creek; and we finished off Mark 5 on the Great Southern Rail Trail when Katrina had gone. Then had our hour of solitude & stopped for lunch,  and got going again to make it to Stony Creek in time, by about 4:15pm.Today brought us 4 stories of impossible situations where Jesus is finally brought into them at the end of people's tethers, when they've done all they can & have not been able to handle it. Firstly there was the disciples about to drown doing a job for Jesus,  (the last story-let of chapter 4) and then the man imprisoned in his body by a legion of demons,  & finally the stories of 2 "daughters" [- one with 12 yr suffering and disgrace, & one with 12 years of promise & priviledge cut off] Once we'd finished ch 5, we had some time thinking of those 4 situations considering whether any of them are similar situations to what we have ecperienced. Grego could think of two of them that were similar to him, I thought of the first one - a time I felt like one of the disciples doing the job Jesus sent them to do (to go to the other side of Lake) and then it looks like they're about to drown and he is asleep. Initially there was a  slowness to get him involved until the very end, because they are trying to handle it themselves, but when they can't,  they end blaming him for the problem they were in. His response was "Do you still have no faith?" A friend (Brad) has reminded me of how good that made him feel - Apostles of Jesus had no faith by that time! It made me think I'm often like that. I wondered "How can I be less like that?" - I want to get Jesus involved earlier rather than later! I also realised how much God the father wanted the disciples to see something of Jesus, to learn something of their place in God's world - as they watched him speak to the wind and waves "Brother Wind" and "Sisters Waves" we named them, taking our impetus from the last story-let of  chapter 3 (where Jesus said those who do  God's will, -who actually act on it - were his brother and sister and mother. Then yesterday we heard this story at the end of chapter 4 (a mob of stories on God's will, and God's reign, and what it's like). Then there's this little scenario at the end of ch 4, with the wind and waves immediately doing what Jesus commands them (in God's name).

Day 4 (Thursday 28 September 2017)

Well, after a late night the night before (going to a couple of hospitals with a bite of some description on my middle toe of the left foot; spreading a red swelling) we slept until about 9 o'clock.

We breakfasted checked the washing & left by about 10:30am to arrive at our Finishing Point from yesterday (about maybe a hundred metres South of the gates of the Wilsons Promontory National Park). Katrina  left and went off to explore for the day we started the walk, about 10:50am, had 10 minutes together till 11am, then had our 1hr. of solitude. I walked ahead singing out loud etc with the trangia & metho to setup morning tea. When the hour was up I could just see the outskirts of a little village ahead of us Yanakie. It had been raining on and off with gusty cold winds so I thought that if we could make it to a warm coffee shop that might be nice. It is Greg's birthday, today he turns 43 so I ordered two cappuccino's and a pizza. They said they would make the Grego's coffee when he arrived. I texted him to tell him where we were and 10 minutes later he sauntered  in & we had our coffees & half a pizza together. We kept the other half for lunch, said thank you and moved on. The antibiotics I have for my toe have to be taken half an hour before a meal, so at 2:15 I had one and then we stopped for lunch at 2:45. Then we walked on until 4-ish and rang Katrina. She picked us up on the corner of Savage Road and the road we were on to Fishcreek. Then we drove into Fishcreek and had a coffee and cake to celebrate Greg's birthday and drove back to the Yanakie caravan park where we're spending the night again.

Katrina: today was very touristy: I saw some waterfalls, a Museum (on the history of Foster - it was very interesting) and Port Welshpool.

3rd Day Wed 27 September 2017

3rd Day Wed 27 September 2017

We packed up the tent and trailer and left Tidal River to head to Yanaki Caravan Park. On the way Katrina decided she could do without having a van for the day-time, so she dropped us at the Darby River carpark and drove off to find a coffee shop, & Grego & i started walking. We had red guideposts telling us how many km to the main National Park Gate. We started just after the 19 sign.

We decided to do our time of solitude first up from 10:10am -11:20am.

Paul found a couple of malaleuca walking sticks one of which was wonderfully springy, & powered ahead with the high viz vest on, & had a wonderful time making up songs etc., Greg listened to some reading on his phone.

We stopped for morning tea at the 13 post, and apportioned our storylets from Mark 3 for the day... then as we walked we took turns telling through parts of that first Century record of the "on the road & around the countryside" life and teaching of that revolutionary  Jewish prophet Yeshua BarYoseph. And then asked each other which (1or 2) of the 14 or 15 different groups or kinds of people in those 5 stories we most identified with, and why. Very interesting. What would forward advancement look like for us?

Then stopped at 1:30pm for lunch at the Sou West Corner track entrance after we passed the 7 post.

Day 2 (Tues 26 Sept 2017)

Pics to follow (when I learn how to upload)

Day 2 (Tues 26 Sept 2017)
Grego & I were joined by Katrina for the first few km from Tidal River around to Squeaky Beach. Then she turned back to the van,  coffee & catching up on texts, shut-eye, & was about to do some work when I called her to see if she could collect us from Darby River Car Park at 3:15-ish. She came, we returned, checked about the possibility of adding Wed night to our powered site (No cancelations, yet!). We had a cuppa and an icecream then Tim rang to say he was in Melbourne with my bag... but he didn't understand how far it was.... we said we'd  drive towards him and he could text us where we could meet. We ended up meeting at Ray's Pizzas at Tooradin, shared pizza with Tim & his children (Jodie was busy), collected my bag and Katrina drove back (again), so I could write up this blog."Home" around 9:15pm. Into shower and bed... hope to sleep in again then work out what camp site the van and Katrina stays in tomorrow, & once again hit the road...

Day 1 (Mon 25 September 2017)

Day 1 (Mon 25 September 2017)

9am, I (Paul) put my right foot into the Saltwater of the tasmanian bite,

then we (Greg Harkness, Katrina & Paul Walker) started from the Southernmost tip of Australia to Melbourne and the Northern tip of Ausralia - Cape York.

Katrina: There was some beautiful scenery.Pics to follow (when I learn how to upload)The vegetation kept changing. It rained off and on. We had to keep a fast-pace to beat the high tide at a little river across the beach. In some places we walked in tunnels under the trees.I rescued the neighbours camper trailer from a scavenging wombat, then we finished the day with a meal in in the van in the middle of wind and rain and a with a welcome hot shower in a powered campsite.

The day before we started

Grego: "We trekked to Halfway Hut, got wet and froze"

Paul: "The Godfreys put us up Saturday night. Sunday, we had a late start with them in Castlemaine, then we traveled to Wilsons Promontory - Tidal River National Park office (where we arrived just before they closed @ 4). On the way we found that I had left my small day backpack at the Godfreys - when they texted us. They might be able to bring it down this week we'll see. Then we drove to the telegraph station car park, left the car and campertrailer, & trekked
(see pic)

 (with sleeping bags, tent and some food) the 7.4km to Halfway Hut, it rained on and off all night. We started telling each other the Backstory to Mark, starting with Genesis 1, (Day 0, 1, 2, 3 etc.). Through the first son of Adam (whom Eve thought would fix up the curse and do battle with snakey), the line of Seth including Enoch (who walked with God for 300 yrs), Noah, the Flood, Babel, Abraham, Isaac etc... Daniel's prophecy. We shared Grego's tent (borrowed from the Flemmings) between the three of us and  then the next morning  left our tent and slightly damp sleeping bags at Halfway Hut and walked relatively freely with just water, the 8.2km to Southpoint where we arrived a bit before 9am.

I scrambled down and touched the water there with my right foot and right hand at about 9am Monday 25 September. And, this leg of the walk began

change meant some arrangements are adjusted

We're driving down to start the walk a-gain,

Paul's Missus' coming with us to help us.

Ol' Grego traveled to us on a plane,

and yet we try to minimise the fuss.

It started spitting rain, a friend has bailed;

we could be disappointed if it was

unknown that "creativity" when hailed,

is more likely to pick up then because...

...'cos we are not in charge, but working with

creative forces bigger than ourselves,

we're learning to respond (with kin and kith),

to seek out hidden treasure as one delves

about and sifts through soil or sand that holds

some hidden treasure from quite long ago...

& more's the wonder when silvers and golds

discovered by our perseverance show...

unlike the secret seed that must stay hid

& undisturbed by prying little eyes,

if they're to grow and make a crop as did

the seed in passing fields which brought surprise.

It seems we're on a pilgrimage of sorts,

traversing this great land from South to North,

it's not that there are very many "oughts.."

or "ought nots" to be followed; we'll walk forth

& look for creativity and truth

(I mean by that a realness, that extends)

among both older people and the youth,

& hope that we can stay & grow as friends!

dislexic learning tricks from an old doG..

Oh will I ever learn to keep first things..

at first .. "place" in this journey - Growing Up.

O God! I'm such a baby and that brings

much that will fall away - as with a pup!

The puppy chews the shoes left there with it,

and leaves its "doggy do's" around the place,

& must be trained with "pain" as well as "treat",

to move into the gains where life is "Ace"!

Pups are mostly concrete in their thinking.

It's true some kinds can meet the twist and turn,

like Pointers who can point out to their king, 

the things they are appointed to, & learn.

Sometimes I seem less able than a pup!

To think, a human babe is just a blob,

we're made to learn more as we're growing up,

our culture's more, unless your Uncle's Bob.

But even if it's true, & Bob's your Unc.

- & everything for you is set in place,

it must depend on who's power is defunct,

& which culture "in lieu of" is embraced.

Which fam'lies on this Earth are tuned to life? -

for timely is our birth in history!

The culture of eternity is rife,

it's roots are those which were in you and me

and deeper down in darkness and alone

they may wake up and harken to the call;

but just for now (as dog returns to bone),

I want my father(God)'s culture installed.

G ' d a y !

Creator, good morning! - & I love you!

I want for that to be my stance right through

this day ahead of me to open to

the open-est "One/We" (who's more a "who"

than anyone who's met by anyone

tho' on this day we'll get closer to some).

I'm still a bit tir-ed - but I'm not numb.

Thanks for the sleep in bed - & dreams that come.

(The unconscious re-hash of yesterday:

hopes we had that were dashed along the way,

or else desires that clashed. What else to say?

Or futures, unabashed - for which we'd pay)

Sometimes I see where I am at just now,

by all these dreams that fly through me somehow,

or I am warned to try... a different bow,

or posture in my life, for this I'm "Wow! -"

"- and thank you!" - The Cre-a-tive One who sees
and get's involved each day as it does please

an artist who's not paid (tho' not dis-eased!)

with gold God can't be swayed, but love is "seized".

And so, I know, as you read this today,

not just some dust or view gets in your way,

if you decided to you'd help me say

what's loving and is true, & then to pay

the price (of saccrifice), that turns these words,

the things that sound so nice, to not be turds,

but living breathing mice, or beasts, or birds

that populate and slice through other worlds.

... chairos moments ...

Some walkers walk,
while marking time,
so not to baulk
at the sublime.

They hope to learn
from Mark, to see
Life (not to spearn
Community)

in common-place
things like walking
(not power paced)
& too talking.

Here's that there link,
might help you think...
- least be knowing
how we're going:

yvalker.blogspot.com.au

Anyone know
how to jig-jog
some audio
onto a blog

-new recordings
of folk we meet
in our minings,
on road & street

(people's pictures
are straight forward;
seems more strictures
with sound recorded).

poorly-el-walker

Though poorly walking, anyway it's on.

Not so much "going down", as "coming up":

from Southern tip of good ol' Wilson's Prom.

into the town of Melbourne (with it's Cup).

On Monday, Twenty-fifth of September,

'bout Twenty-seventeen years from his walk;

the plan's to start, if I can remember

(that's rightly), from the South tip, t'wards Cape York

(I mean the North of that) Peninsula

that's up the top of this the Northern Isle

(of two main Islands of Australia).

I mean to do it all in "walker" style.

The first leg of the journey's from the Southern edge,

with nature's fierce winds and waves that roar.

And though at times we may sleep under hedge -

will journeying help  civilize us more?

This and other questions we'll be seeking

some answers to, as we walk on this trail.

Technology's advances (like the Sea King

those helicopters, & good drugs) avail

to help us up when we have fallen down.

So we are glad of good things that have come,

but much more than the "things", are smile and frown

& learning to live with, who we've come from.

So though we're going slowly, bit by bit,

we're trying to learn from who's been this way,

especially if their aim is peace, to wit

we're one blood, even if not DNA.

Pauly L. Walker

A Southern Victorian Pilgrimage ... 1st leg - on the mainland... of proposed Walkers trail..

.................................................................................................

BACK-GROUND & RATIONALE

Tasmania (South Cape to North Point) Completed 2016

The multilayered rationale for the pilgrimage from South to North (NorthBound=NOBO) is partially described  on the banner on the right of this blogspot:

yvalker.blogspot.com.au

..........................................................................................

FORE-GROUND

1st leg - on the mainland... of proposed Walkers trail..  230-250 km

Proposed for Mon 25 Sept 2017- Thursday 5th Oct 2017

I would love for us to be able to share a meal (break bread) with friends who honour Christ as the ultimate leader, on the Sunday or Monday before the start of the walk, the Saturday or Sunday in the middle of the walk, and the Thursday night (or Friday morning?) at the end of the walk.

We'd probably need to camp down near Wilson's Prom on Sun night 24Sept, to take off from the Southern-most tip of Mainland Australia, 1st thing Mon morning.

[I have an appointment Fri 6- Sun 8 October (in Rockhampton, Qld), so I'd like to finish Thursday night. Else I'd take our time and finish Saturday night]

I propose the same daily disciplines as were used in Tasmania last year:

• An hour of silence at the beginning of the day, spreading out & walking alone along the way.

• Starting with Mark chapter 1, each day to adopt a "chapter" of that ancient story of hope that brought sanity to the insane 1st Century Roman Empire, in order to deeply hear the oral stories that comprise it, as we also practice that ancient art of telling the story (that came to be called The Gospel) as well.

• Listen to the stories of each fellow traveler on the way, and each "fellow traveler" that we meet, even when they can't come with us. Attempt to transmit what we learn from these to others as we go.

• Share meals together with joy, as we share the way together; expecting the present, living, Christ to come out of the story Mark told, and the story told by our lives, and to build (in this day, as in the First Century) his community between us.

A friend (Tim Godfrey), is planning to accompany me for this entire leg. Some others of you have shown interest in joining in on part of this walk.

Please pray for us, even if you don't come.

( Click on the first part of my colourful name below for some reflections on an appalling life, and the last part of my colourful name below for some of the story of a Walker, so far )

( V R, but V R not finished products. 

V R being made, but not just 4 ourselves. 

Nor even only 4 each other. 

Work out Y V R. Then,) 

Remember Y V R!

P L your own banana. 

Then, you can help someone else P L theirs.

P L Y V R

PauLindsaYValkeR

+61419919241