So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!

Sorry, that was from the Hitchhiker’s Guide series.  But, it fits!

To recap, the post that was never posted talked about our departure (escape?) from the Carnarvon campground and our arrival at our Farm Stay.  It rained the rest of the day and all night and remember that the road in (the one with the cows) was dirt.  Well, rain and dirt make....that’s right--mud!  We had to try to slide through each bit of mud then slow down to make the creek crossings (those were higher).  The car kept flashing the no traction light and beeping at us--I think we know that we have no traction when we’re sliding sideways in mud!  But we prayed--me especially because I had a vision in my head of me knee deep in mud, sprayed with mud, trying to push the car out--and crying.  So eventually we made it to the paved part, cheered, told Randy how wonderful he was (he was driving then) and relaxed.  I could see Randy’s shoulders drop down when we reached the asphalt--even when we encountered the cows (only a few).  

When we reached Bonus Downs (the farm stay), the drive from the road to the house was also that red dirt--we slogged through and almost were stuck--it was very close.  There was another family with 2 children camping in a camper.  The boy was 8 (yay for Joshua) and the girl was 6 (she could still play with Shelby).  The boy (Hamish) and Joshua were instant friends and ran all over together!  They played with the yabbies that were caught (like blue crayfish).  All of them had fun playing in the bottle tree which had a ladder into it and ropes to swing from.  

The other family left the next morning.  We spent time outside reading, hiking, and spending time together.  What a nice way to end our vacation. 

On our way this morning, we stopped in Mitchell for Annie to get her Harry Potter wand from the newsagents and we mailed our postcards(!).     

Tonight we arrived in Brisbane (many hours later), returned the car, and carried our bags the mile or so to the youth hostel we were staying in.  We walked around the corner to eat pizza for dinner and across the street to watch the final Harry Potter movie.  Good last night memories.  The hostel ran out of blankets so we hopefully will be warm enough tonight.  Up early tomorrow to take the train to the airport.  

So, thus the title--So Long Australia/New Zealand, thanks for the memories (and the fish!).   And thanks to anyone who has read this and lived our holiday with us.