The Journey Begins

Wow! What a start to my new adventure.  My Bible Study group was praying that I would have a safe trip and that I wouldn’t get any leg cramps, which often grip me when I’m sitting for an extended length of time.  Praise the Lord all went well, even on the longest stretch.  Although we wore masks, we were not permitted to stand in the aisles other than for two persons to queue for the toilets and we were only permitted to remove them to eat and drink.  Arriving in Sydney, my connecting flight was scheduled to depart within minutes of the Perth flight arriving.  As we all stood in the aisles, there were several people ahead of me who were not moving, blocking the flow.  I politely excused myself explaining I had a connecting flight to catch and pushed past those in the seat in front of me.  One lady was not impressed and exclaimed “Oh yer, right!” meaning she didn’t believe I had a connecting flight. Previously during the flight the airhostess and the passenger beside me had kindly looked up the details noting that we arrived at gate 7 and my departure was at gate 9 so at least it was very close. I still rushed when it was clear to do so, as I needed to visit the ladies en route.  I arrived at gate 9 only minutes before boarding was announced.

Although it was quite hazy flying in and out of Sydney I enjoyed the familiar view, places I had lived and travelled during my nearly 20 years of living here.  We were flying over the arteries into the city, Bondi Beach and the Watsons Bay area, could be seen clearly from the right side of the plane as we flew north along the coast.  This second flight wasn’t so strict about standing in the aisle, enabling me to stretch and jog on the spot at the rear of the plane.  While I was there, the drink trolley did its rounds.  When the cabin crew drew near I requested a small bottle of red, helping myself to one.  “Are you wanting to take it home?” the hostess asked. When I said yes, she asked me to put back the one I’d taken, as she had a bigger one to give me. I told her I was happy with this one but she insisted, asking me to return to my seat.  When she passed again she instructed me to open my bag so she could slip it in on her return.  I wasn’t sure if I should have accepted, but felt a bit embarrassed refusing.

I’d messaged Jen from Sydney to say the flight was on time and again when I arrived at Maroochydore airport. I had to message her again when I was told my luggage had not arrived.  I wasn’t the only one, a couple who had flown down from Carnarvon were also missing their luggage.  We later found out it hadn’t left Perth.  I think we were both so early that the bags had been put aside and forgotten.  Seems ground staff were contractors and probably were out of practice, due to the long shutdown because of Covid. The Qantas assistant dealt with them first, then instead of helping me, she turned to a family who had just arrived.  She obviously knew them and was having a lovely long friendly catch up chat.  I butted in, explaining my sister was waiting for me and eventually was attended to. Unfortunately she gave me an incorrect reference number, which meant the following day I was unable to track my baggage online.

Finally I was able to message Jen again to say I was ready for pick up, as she had been waiting a few minutes away so as not to pay the exorbitant airport parking fees.  It was lovely to see her and catch up on all her busy preparations for our trip north in three days.  En route to Eumundi we stopped off at the shops to buy me a toothpaste, undies and a few things needed before my luggage arrived.

Finally, I arrived at Jen’s 10 hrs after leaving home.  Not a bad trip despite all the challenges!  Jen was off to bed early, like I am usually early but my early wasn’t for another two hours!  So I retired to my room to read and catch up with messages to a few friends in Perth to let them know I had arrived safely.

The next day, Tuesday, Jen had things planned so I needed to be up early.  It didn’t help that I hadn’t slept well, waking for three hours during the night. We had a busy day ahead of us and headed out first to see Jen’s partner, Dave’s, new house in a neighbouring town.  Coming home we stopped off to do a quick shop where I ordered a coffee, explaining how to make a Piccolo.  The rest of the day Jen, Dave and I worked on the ute; I cleaned while Jen and Dave made some alterations. Jen and I packed stores into allocated boxes and drawers in Jen’s custom-made ute for camping.  Unfortunately the guy had no idea what he was doing and botched things up terribly.

During this time I tried contacting Qantas to find out where my luggage was.  Could I find a contact number for lost luggage on their website? No! And what’s more, all the numbers I rang were just automated so that wasn’t much help either!  Finally I called Maroochydore airport and was able to speak to Qantas staff.  It was then I was told I had been given the wrong reference number. The plane it was on had just arrived and I’d get a call soon to let me know if it was on it and when it might be couriered out to me.  I also asked where I should send the receipts for the things I had purchased as I couldn’t find that on the website too.  She was unable to help.  I eventually logged into my frequent flyer page and found a form for lost baggage.  It wasn’t lost but I filled out the form anyway adding the information to a description box and uploading a copy of the receipts, praying it would find its way to the right department.

That night, once again I woke during the night, this time I decided instead of just lying there I’d update these pages while they were fresh in my mind. On hearing the kookaburras at 5:15am (3:15 Perth time) I decided it was time to try and sleep a few more hours, hoping Jen didn’t need me early again.  I woke three hours later feeling rather washed out but determined to get a day’s work done helping Jen to get the ute ready. There were still things that needed attending to.  We packed food boxes, a bag for swimming, one each for toiletries, our suitcases would sit in the cab on the backseat. Then all the camping equipment either on the roof or in the back of the ute which had a cabin built on the tray.  We did another two loads of washing before heading to the infamous Eumundi Markets.  I wanted a coffee and Jen wanted another small bag for her water bottle and a few other things. I was impressed with the bags, especially as I found a small backpack to replace mine, which was wearing out. I’d tried to buy one the same size last time I was in Asia but none were small enough.  This one was perfect.  As my birthday is coming up in June, Jen said she and Kat would go in together to buy it for me.  When we arrived home I noticed one of the zips had no pocket. I wondered if that was how it was supposed to be, so rushed back to the stall as the markets were about to close.  My suspicions were correct; it was an error.  Unfortunately there wasn’t another one with the same mermaid pattern, so I had to take the next best thing, hippos.  Very cute but you know what it’s like when you have set your mind on a particular thing.

That evening Jen wanted to start cleaning out the fresh food from the fridge, so along with fresh herbs from her lush garden, we put together Vietnamese rice paper rolls, followed by ice cream and frozen fruits also from her garden.

I then called my childhood friend Deb, to let her know we would be at her place around 5pm the next day.  She had forgotten we were coming.  I reassured her we would bring pasta sauce, stay for dinner, then leave, as Jen’s friend had also invited us to stay.  Deb drives big logging trucks so is up very early and her partner starts work at midnight.  They welcomed us to stay but didn’t want to disturb us when they needed to get ready for work. 

That night Dave, who’s a musician, played a few tunes on his guitar before Jen was called away on a phone call.  I then excused myself, taking a quarter of a Restavit to try to get my sleep back on track to EST.  I was able to get to sleep quite easily after a small glass of red, then at 10pm I heard a car door slam and wondered who was getting into the ute as I thought Jen was asleep.  I peered around the end of the building and saw the guy who was renting Kat’s place wandering around; it must have been him I’d heard. The rest of the night I slept well, waking at 5am (EST) for my morning jog, before once again helping Jen, who was now awake, to empty the fridge and freezer into piles to give away or take with us. Then we vacuumed the house. Hummm haven’t I just done all this recently? It seems I’m on a bit of a merry-go-round! Three more loads of washing. Load up the ute and we were ready to go. We headed out, with me driving Jen’s Toyota Rav to Dave’s, which is 45mins to the north, weaving through the meandering hills. Then together we drove through the small towns to Hervey Bay, and arrived before my friend Deb got home, after a day of driving logging trucks.  Her partner Paul invited us in, with our offering of spag sauce packed full with vegies from Jen’s garden. Dinner was ready in time for Deb’s return.  Without rushing, we left them for an early night before arriving at Jen’s friend’s Greg‘s place, where we stayed with his sister, Shirlie and partner Phil. They were waiting with dessert and a bed.

The following day I was up early, so when it was light enough, I went out for a jog along the waterfront. Then back down for a quick dip in the ocean to start the day.  Queensland beaches are not like our beautiful western beaches, here they are tidal which means there’s quite a walk out before you can get thigh deep.  Still it was wet and cool. Greg then took Jen and I for a tour around the area.  We started with a coffee at the boat club.  As a barista I was very disappointed, it definitely tasted burnt. The next coffee was further up the coast at Goody’s On the Beach at Toogoom. I asked if they made frapes, and was told “no, but they could make an ice coffee with ice cream and whipped cream zoozed in an old milkshake maker”.  It was delicious! We had an interesting day, which ended with dinner at the boat club. It was early to bed for me, as I wanted to get up early again for a jog.

This was now Sunday, the day our camping started.  I was up early and out for a jog before joining Jen and Greg on a walk in the opposite direction, to the Saturday markets. It was about 2km there and back. We wanted to buy fruit for our breakfasts on the road & then back for our breakfast before packing the ute and heading out, leaving Hervey Bay by 10am.

It was on Saturday that we also heard that Perth had gone into a three day lockdown.  Praise God I had managed to escape!

Photos:  1.  Sea eagles nest Hervey Bay   2. Flying over Sydney    3. Jen and Dave our last dinner in Eumundi    4. Jen and I at Dave’s place ready to leave    5. Me, Paul and my childhood friend Deb     6. Greg and Jen Hervey Bay

Prayer & Praise Points:
Praise the Lord for a safe flight over and for my luggage which eventually caught up with me in Eumundi.  Praise the Lord no lockdowns before I left.

Praise the Lord for Jen who has organised our trip and for the Lord going ahead of us to sort things out when we need it.

Please pray for all those who are in lockdown across the world that soon the vaccinations will be helping us all get back to a new kind of normal. 

Please pray for Jen and my journey up the coast of Queensland that we will remain safe, both on the roads and as we camp along the way.