Holiday Trip Year 2005
Holiday Trip 2005
Just a little bit of information before we start on our yearly trip away. We decided back in March that we would sell up at Younghusband and move to Victor Harbor to live, it was not that we were sick of our lovely spot on the river it was just that as we are getting older it would be better that we moved now whilst we were able to set up a new home plus the fact that if anything happened to me the garden at Younghusband would be too much for Brodie to look after.
We purchased a block at Chippendale Park which is on the North side of Victor about 3.5 km from the CBD with a lovely rural outlook for close on $100000 which is about the average price in Victor, selected a house plan with Fairmont homes and put the house on the market thinking it would sell quickly but to our disappointment it hung for 3 months and we were preparing to head off to Qld at the end of May when a buyer bobbed up and offered us $265000 which was about $10000 less than we really wanted but as it was a cash sale with no subject to we accepted it and headed off to Qld on the 30th June.
Headed off to Mildura on the first day out and as we were traveling very well we went on to Euston to camp the first night . Very nice spot here down behind the bowling club on the river but I believe that it will be closed down eventually as they are extending the club.
Next day was on to Hillston which is N of Hay and then on to a spot about halfway between Bourke and Cunnamulla for the next night and on to Wyandra in between Cunnamulla and Charleville for the next 5 days.
Nothing much here but there is always a nice lot of caravanners turn up here and as there is free power TV and phone reception and water, why move on!!
From Wyandra we went on to Isisford where we spent 10 days camped on the Barcoo River, brother Graham and his wife Marion turned up on their way to Cape York and Graham and Ailsa Dayman arrived the day before so we had a great 10 days there with good company.
One of the highlights of our stay here was the OPERA OF THE OUTBACK which was held at Isis Downs Station about 20km from Isisford. This property has the only semi-circular shearing shed in Australia and it was truly a magnificent building, built in 1913 by the same builders who built the Sydney Harbour bridg in 1932 and the technology was simply amazing for those times , all the wool presses were powered by steam and the 53 stands were powered with electricity, they had there own powerhouse etc. Was great to see it all.
Graham and Marion and Brode and I left and went to Longreach ( the Daymans stayed on for another week) where we stayed for 3 days and then went down to Barcaldine where stayed at Lloyd Jones Weir for 6 days, the other Foster’s went to Lawn Hill Gorge on their way to Cape York.
At Longreach we visited the Qantas Museum and the Stockmans Hall of Fame , the Museum was a great disappointment although the tour of the Jumbo was great, we had visited the Hall of Fame in 1993 and was not all that wrapped and we both agreed that it had not improved much in the 12 years since we were last there.
After Barcaldine we went on to Jericho where we spent 7 days at the showgrounds where there was power and only $50 a weekend it just happened that there was a Camp Draft on so we saw that which was very interesting, it was over 3 days.
From here we headed for Rockhampton calling in to have a look at Sapphire and Rubyvale, fossicking towns, and I would not go there again obviously if you are into fossicking for gems it is the place to go but that is not our scene.
Stayed overnight and then went on to Gracemere C/Park where we stayed for 2 weeks, very reasonably priced park $80 a week and even though the facilities are basic they are adequate.
Graham and Ailsa turned up and stayed there with us which was great, Done a bit of driving around the area and visited ALL the shopping centres for Brode!!!
From here we went down to Calliope and spent another 5 days there before heading over thru Monto to Eidsvold where we spent 3 days at a Park on the outskirts of the town, then we moved on to Munduberra where we met up with friends from Victor Harbor Ken and Janet Shalders , great couple and very good company.
We left the Shalders just before Chinchilla, we went on to Cecil Plains and they went on to Lightning Ridge and we went down to Split Rock Dam for 6 days and then over to Hay for 3 days before going to Mildura for the Country Music Festival, we arrived a week before it started and then stayed for the full period of the Festival and once again it was terrific.
After the Festival we went down to Mannum and helped brother Graham do some concreting, this job lasted 9 days and then we went down to Diane”s where we still are now 6 weeks later.
Now the 9th Dec and a little bit of bad news to finish off the year with, about 3 weeks ago Brode had a breast scan and a few days later they rang to ask her to come back in for a further examination as there was something on the screen that they were not happy about, well she went in 13 days ago and they took a biopsy and then told her that she had cancer and to go to her doctor who would make an appointment to see a surgeon, this happened 4 days later and this doctor made her a immediate appointment the same day to see a surgeon, he in turn booked her in to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for 2 days later and on the 5th Dec they operated and took a quarter of the breast and today the 9th we went back to the surgeon who told us that unfortunately there was signs of roots going out in the milk ducts from where they had taken the cancer and the best treatment would be to have a masectomy and remove the whole breast and he is very confident that that will be the end of the problem, if she does not it could turn in to an invasive cancer and who knows where that could end up, well Brode opted to have the operation as soon as possible and it will happen on the 19th Dec. She is handling it very well and is thankful that it is not terminal, obviously she will have a few physiological problems down the track then perhaps she won’t, can only handle that when and if it happens.
One of our very good friends Joe Kerin has cancer and whilst we are hopeful that his treatment will work there is no guarantee that it will and this has helped Brode realize that she is very lucky in that there is a 98% chance that she will be OK.