I was living in Toowoomba when I thought I’d go to Gladstone for a holiday to catch up with my mother and father, so straight after walking in the Carnival Of Flowers Street Parade, I boarded a bus (still in my uniform) and headed to north. My father after having a single lung transplant was booked into Prince Charles Hospital for his regular check up and mum informed me to visit their neighbors to get the key when I got there. That’s when I met “the girl next door” (Lyn). Lyn and I hit off straight away, with both recently coming out of an emotional experience neither of us was interested in anything other than a good friendship. We would sit up until 2 or 3 in the morning talking about our families, playing cards, doing crosswords and word searches out of magazines. My stay in Gladstone was brief but Lyn and I kept in touch while I was in Toowoomba.

After Lyn and Jasmine visiting me in Toowoomba and I visiting them on several occasions I made the move to Gladstone (to cold in Toowoomba for Lyn.) In 1995 after our friendship became a little more, we married. Melissa was born soon after before and as a family we ventured down to Hervey Bay. In 1997 Joseph was born closely followed by Lynda in 1998 (less than a year apart). Soon after Lynda was born, Lyn’s eldest boys, Jason and Ben, who lived with their father came to live with us until they were old enough to do their own thing. Ben is now married and living in Newcastle, while Jason stayed a little closer to his mum and is now engaged.

We were always keen for a camp with our most memorable being at Springbrook, in the Gold Coast Hinterland; Melissa wasn’t even one on this trip and it rained everyday. As the children grew older and our old Ford became too small we purchased an old Toyota Hi Ace van and would get away when we could. In 2004 we got leant a Nissan Patrol for my works National Gathering on the Queens birthday weekend, It was at this point of our life that we realized we should upgrade to something more comfortable and more deserving, We then purchased a GU Nissan Patrol 2.8lt Turbo Diesel. This changed our life so much, we spent more time as a family camping than living in our house. We have joined a four wheel drive club which I am now President of and get away as often as we can. We’ve upgraded again now to the GU 4.2 Turbo Diesel and we are traveling to the Cape in June to experience more of our Australian home and heritage, the kids are excited about exploring more of our great outdoors as are Lyn and I. We believe the children can learn so much by experiencing the wild and want to be responsible in sharing the knowledge and experience that we will all receive on our journeys around Australia. Not only for the experience, but also for the responsibility of teaching our children what they have to look after when we are gone.