Journeys End and the Start of a New Journey

Well it seems our Phillip Island Journey is over for now and what an adventure it was. There will be plenty that say that it wasn't meant to be because it was only for such a short time but I have to disagree. When we left Qld we had no home or job to go to and we weren't even sure where we were going to end up but we were definitely meant to go.
We began with a trip down the Newell Highway which runs from Queensland through Western New South Wales and into Victoria. It was so very dry through until about central NSW and then green the rest of the way. We enjoyed roaming about the Dubbo Zoo. We worked out that we walked about 10 kms and the boys didn't complain once. The cats stayed in some lovely catteries (better than some of the motels we stayed in).
We house sat for some friends on Phillip Island while they went to Qld for nearly a month and decided that we liked the area. We found that homes on the island were quite affordable and were able to purchase a 3 bedroom home in the main town on the island for $180 000. We are very fortunate and one of very few people our age who own a house outright with no mortgage hanging over our heads.
We met with a couple very early in our stay who visit China 2 or 3 times a year and smuggle Bibles across the border from Hong Kong with a group called Autumn Rain which was set up by a guy from Melbourne. We felt led to join them on their next trip. We also made friends with a family who were heading to Laos for a year with Interserve. We decided that we would also visit them and check out some of the other countries in Asia while we were at it. And so we headed off for nearly a month. We visited Darwin, Singapore, Shenzhen (southern China), Hong Kong, Macau, Bangkok (Thailand) and Vientienne (Laos). This was definitely the adventure of a lifetime and you will find more details about it on blogs from October 2007 in the Archives.
We also made some good friends while we were there who I hope to keep in contact with through the wonders of the electronic age (blogging, email and webcam).

We struggled with finding a Church in the area and this was one of the driving factors to us looking to move on. David was also struggling with the cold. We looked at many different options for where we were meant to go next. Magnetic Island and Alice Springs were both seriously looked into as well as internet searches of the rest of Australia. But after much thought and prayer we decided to head north to South East Queensland and see what we could find. So we headed up the east coast of Australia. There are so many gorgeous little spots that we would love to explore further (preferably without 2 whinging teenagers.) We dreamt of the possibility of having our own trailer/sailer and wondering down the coast stopping off where ever we please. Some thing to look forward to when the boys have grown and left home.

We have rented a house at Moodlu outside of Caboolture and moved in last week. Dave has been going to Gympie (our old home town) and checking out a mowing business he saw advertised on the internet. It only operates about 2 days a week and he would just run up for the day. The boys have started school this week and once I have finished unpacking and sorted out the house I will get in and contact everybody and let them know what is happening. Don't have phone or internet at home yet.

Hope this finds you all well.