YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW

It sure was great tripping around Victoria, Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia for 5 months this year. We saw some magnificent country and people. It is a big country and over 4,000 km (2,400 miles) from the west coast to the east coast. We have many great memories thanks to our digital camera and laptop computer as we journeyed north and then west.
We enjoyed driving our 4WD through some challenging country, towing our trusty Avan, which had to be left on occasions as we resorted to “old fashioned” tent camping when the way was too rough to take caravans and trailers in. We have photos of the MacDonnell Ranges, Kakadu, the Kimberleys, Bungle Bungles, Ningaloo, Tom Price, the Great Australian Bight etc.
We arrived back in NSW in Sept in time for me to do my 9th Bike for Bibles ride (even though I was a fair bit under-prepared.) This ride went from the Blue Mountains to Dubbo and back again. We cycled over 1,000 km (600 miles) in the week and the team raised about $100,000 towards literacy development in Kenya and Uganda. Bike for Bibles has been a passion of mine since my first ride in 1994. In just over 20 years BFB has raised in excess of 10 million dollars (AUS) for literacy development throughout the world. This ride may have been my last one. (What are you laughing for Kingston?)
Since returning to Dubbo Fay's got stuck into sewing and home improvements, and I've got into cycling, tennis and mowing. Also great opportunities for morning tea at local coffee shops!! I have become involved in a youth group outreach in Dubbo called publicDOMAIN. It was (and is) certainly a challenge in reaching out to many unchurched youth.
We have stayed with some Servas folk over the last year (thanks heaps guys) and since returning we’ve had some Servas folk come and stay with us.
It’s been beaut to catch up with ex WWTC folk in NT (Bernie/Janice F), WA (Barb C, Cynthia R, Sue U, Marion S), SA (Di Di E), VIC (Graham B) and back here in Dubbo (Bernie/Janice).
O/S 06 – We’ve got a big trip coming up. (Yes, Peter H, I think it might blow the budget!) On 1 Feb we depart with daughter Peta (28) and son Jeremy (27) for South America. When we reach Brazil we’ll also be joined by our other daughter Debbie (she lived there for a year - she's 30). At the end of our 6 weeks in SA, we fly from Colombia (where Jeremy spent a year) to Miami, Florida. From then on we’re on our own. We’ll have 22 weeks in North America before flying from NY to London for 14 weeks on the continent and then a brief visit to China and Hong Kong before returning to Australian soil on 7 December.
If you’d like to keep track of us, check out this blogsite as often as you wish:
www.granomad.blogspot.com/
The 06 ITINERARY will be posted here plus any changes.
If you’d like to make any suggestions, go right ahead – we’re flexible.
Hopefully we’ll be able to update it regularly. Why, you can even have a read and LEAVE A COMMENT so we know you’ve had a look.
Hey, what a great opportunity for me to add to my licence plate collection!
We pray for a blessing on all who read this 05 EPISTLE. May you have a safe and happy time at Christmastime and a great 2006. God bless you all.
PS Currently at our Retreat at Cudmirrah, 2.5 hrs south of Sydney – relaxing near the beach.
PPS I’m recovering from Hay Fever, side effects from inoculations (Yellow Fever, Hep B etc),
burning my thumb on the barbecue and having “restless legs” for a couple of nights, making it extremely hard to sleep. Fay gets this a fair bit… but it NEVER happens to me… until now. Any of you get this?
PPPS Gotta get back to the caravan as the 1st cricket test against Sth Africa starts at 1 pm!