Our side trip to Mildura…

Have you ever made plans and then something happens…and you find yourself doing a complete about face. Well we planned to head for Halls Creek (W.A) immediately following Easter. Our plan was….starting from the Mann’s block, just south of Canberra at a place called Shannon’s Flat we intended to drive North through western NSW and Western Qld, duck across the Territory and pop into W.A. Well things didn’t exactly turn out that way. We didn’t receive any phone calls over the Easter weekend owing to the fact we were camped out of range. However during our quick trip into experience ANZAC Day in our nation’s capital…the phone rang. It was Ruth, a.k.a ‘The Old Girl’, it turns out she was in Mildura for Easter with good friends. She asked us to consider popping into Mildura on the way to Hall’s Creek to do a little side project. We told her we’d pray about it.

Long story short….we drove out of Shannon’s Flat and headed south the next morning. Bound for Mildura. Through a quirk of events Daniel’s parents had ended up staying in Mildura with these people as well, due to Bus trouble. It seems we missed Ruth, Paul and Lincoln by 24 hours….they had returned to Townsville Never mind. We had Ruth’s assurance that these people were lovely and just the fact they were good mates was all we needed to know. We drove into Mildura mid afternoon on the 28th April. We introduced ourselves to Jodie and Andrew, their children Beau, Summer and Storm…and it was like meeting old friends. Strange how sometimes the people you meet, make you feel so welcome it’s like you’ve known them forever!

The story is…Andrew is pretty crook, and they’ve been putting together an outdoor living area. Jodie and Beau had laid the slab….It’s my understanding that Ruth and Paul helped put the corrugated iron up and we were here to roll up our sleeves and lend a hand with the odd light switch and power point. My hunk a spunk quickly set to work…. 2 ten hour work days later he had power to the shed! We drove out of there feeling very blessed. It is such a privilege to help others. To lend a hand, extend a kindness.

The Askey-Doran Family and most of the Martin Family	Back: Summer, Jodie & space for Beau Front… Storm & Andrew	Daniel’s Mum, Jenny, and Jodie enjoying The Lounge area…
We affectionately called this, the Bus shelter! It’s the walkway between the main house and the outdoor area.	The very classy toilet! Note the water tap sticking out the top!	Jodie’s Witches Hat (lights)
Connor making good use of "The Reading Nook”	Jodie honey…Proof I shut the gate on my way out!	Sunset over the back paddock!
The lights fit in beautifully, very rustic!	Life revolves around the wood heater!	This will eventually be the bar area! Love the witches hats Jodie!

The outdoor living area is seriously cool! I hope you get a sense of the personality of these guys through the photos. We are looking forward to popping in on them again somewhere down the track