Adels Grove and Lawn Hill July 2008

Mum came to visit - to see where I lived and to see some of the country that I covered. She flew from Townsville to Richmond. We stayed at Mary MacKillop House with lovely views of the lake. They have put in a native food garden interspersed with "moon rocks"- these can be collected on the side of the roads and often contain fossils.









We spent a morning at Kronasaurous Korner - an amazing, informative exhibition of world unique fossils.
We then travelled the 600km back to Mt Isa through Neilia, Julia Creek and Cloncurry. I work in each of these communities. Mt isa was impressive from the lookout.

Mum's visit co-insided with a team meeting we had organised at Adels Grove, as a team we cover over 1,000km and this is a central point for us to meet. Adels grove is unique and about 400km n-w of Mt Isa towards the Northern Territory border.

the journey getting there was interesting - and i got a speeding fine - my 3rd, all since i've been working out here, the first going out of Cloncurry on my 55th birthday, the second, about 3 months agao coming out of Julia Creek on the Dirt and Dust weekend and the third going into Cloncurry to pick up Milton, a co-worker in Cloncurry to go to Adels Grove. The policeman asked me if I'd been booked recently, yes! and said that was him, so what are the odds? 3 tickets and 2 by the same policeman! He said we'd have to stop meeting like this because I'll run out of points. I was VERY careful to stay within the speed limits on my last visit to the Curry.

Adels grove is so lovely and the facilities are fantastic - even the long drop toilets - they have great views! and the showers are wood heated, it's certainly an outback experiance in the most beautiful setting. Adels grove has a facinating, and sad, history.

Adels Grove and Lawn Hill July 2008

and change happens.

and change happens!

again it seems forever since I did this, but now I'm in semi-retirement I hope to catch up - along with major packing. My house went on the market on Tuesday, the removalists are booked for the 4th September, I resign on the 5th September and I'm on the 6pm flight out that evening.

change is scarey - I don't know what comes next, initially I'll stay with Mum at Ashmore ( on the Gold Coast) sort out some medical stuff, find somewhere to live and get a job.

The estate agents valued my little house at $329,000. That's a good profit in 18 months, and so far there's been lots of interest. Yesterday I went into the office to get the wireless broadband sorted on my new laptop - my old one crashed, and everything was lost, and when I got home the agents had been, as arranged, and they locked up so securely that I was locked out, a locksmith was called and I hunted for more keys - seems I was only ever given a key to one lock - and there's four!

Packing gets no better, I'm trying to take just what I'm sentimentally attached to, it seems I'm sentimentally attached to a great deal, how can I part with all the memories attached to so much that I own? I keep muttering " do I want to pay someone to move this?" usually the answer is yes! But I am creating a pile that will go to the homeless program- a fridge, my twin-tub, it was always intended for tank water, but I now have a front loader that does all the work. There's the bed ensemble from my guest room that was bought when Dan came to stay, and I'm managing to add other "stuff"- that I'm sure will be valued by families who have very little.

Then there's books and fabric - I'm looking at that as my retirement fun though the local secondhand book shop is doing well, and a couple of quilt making clients out on remote stations will get a box or two of fabric.

This is an example of Dan's work - his trip to Darwin was a great succes and they have been invited back to repeat the workshop and extend it into other communities. I'm not sure he should give up his day job just yet but it is a great oppertunity for him and for Dan who did the HipHop music side of it. Dan is currently acting in a team leader position and says he's coping with the challanges that involves.

Jess is also doing well and has just been given permancy in the Public Service. So they do eventually get their acts together, and I'm proud of them both.

and Happy Birthday my Jess for the 4th August, I was glad to hear that this year the guys got their act together and you managed to party for a week.