Mapoon Letter

 

30 January 2007

 Dear Marcus and parents

 Thanks for your attendance at our last Mapoon meeting, with James Hughes.  I hope you came away feeling excited at the opportunities the trip will provide to experience a variety of cultures, lifestyles and of course the native wildlife of the far North of Queensland.

Flight Details:

Cheapest available as of today:

Flying Virgin Blue return Brisbane to Cairns - $129 Each way = $258

Flying Qantas (because they are the only ones who do)

Weipa – Cairns $168 ($2 each person for credit card booking)

Total flights $426

 Please can you deposit this amount of money per person, into the account on the attached, separate page by Thursday so that flights can be booked.  Please then destroy account details page by either shredding or tearing into little pieces if you make a hard copy, deleting if only email!

The urgency is so that we can make sure we can get seats on these flights or we will have to pay more.  Flight times I am planning on booking are as follows:

Flying Virgin Blue from Brisbane to Cairns: 5.15pm 20 June ’07

Flight No. DJ 783  Price quoted = Blue Saver fare

 

Flying Qantas Weipa to Cairns:  1.10pm 3 July ‘07

Flight No. QF2481  (no seats available the next day in time to make Cairns – Brisbane connection)

 

Flying Virgin Blue from Cairns to Brisbane: 1.25pm 4 July ‘07

I am hoping to speak with UC minister in Cairns about us staying in church/hall/etc for both our first night, and our last night. 

 

Other budget considerations:

Food - $200 ($14-$15 / day / person)

Fuel – exact cost unknown, depending on Weipa and Cairns diesel prices at the time.  Allow $150 max. – I would hope this has some fat in it.  We will however be doing a lot of miles.

Accomodation – Cairns : I would expect to at least pay a donation to a church if they were able to put us up.  Other options could be a youth hostel.

                    Laura : There is a fee to stay overnight at the Laura Festival, unfortunately the website is not up yet but you can register for newsletters.  I haven’t received one yet.  This will not be a huge cost.  I hope to find a phone number to investigate this week. 

                    Weipa : James and Michelle are happy to host us in their house and yard, and will provide tents.  This means access to cooking facilities, bathroom etc. 

                    Mapoon : James has accommodation in Mapoon, this will be a similar arrangement to Weipa as above. 

 

 

Spending Money – Parents and participants own discretion. 

                   

Other items discussed at the meeting, to remind you, were the expectation that all participants would do some research on the area.  To this end, check out the Mapoon website at www.mapoon.com and your first task is, after reading the info available on the website, what did you find most surprising about the Mapoon community?  Question 2 – see if you can track down a map area of Nth Qld, and plot our route from Cairns to the Daintree Rainforest – if you are extra tricky, jot down how many kms. 

 

From the Daintree to Laura, Laura to Weipa and into Mapoon, then back to Weipa.  Can you get a total of the kms we will travel?

 

As a final note, now that a costing of sorts is available, it is abundantly clear we need to get on with our fundraising.  At the meeting, I asked for each family to take responsibility for a fundraising event ie to organize that event, expecting participation from others.  Some ideas for events given were:

A white elephant stall held at the church

BBQ’s outside Oxley Foodstore (or anywhere else we can get a date)

Selling chocolates or something similar

A bus trip where we might cater lunch as well

Some people discussed car washes (not sure on water restrictions details)

Slave auction where young people do yardwork etc for a fee

 

Could each family let me know what fundraising event (either from above or other idea) they would like to take charge of, and when they would like to hold it? 

 

If there are any further questions that I haven’t addressed, please contact me, by phone will get you the quickest response, on 3201 8378.

 

NEXT MEETING 18 FEBRUARY 11AM (AFTER MORNING CHURCH) TO DISCUSS FUNDRAISING, AND INFO GATHERED FROM WEBSITES. 

 

 

Current Itinerary:

Wednesday 20 June  Fly out Brisbane – Cairns. 

Meet up with James Hughes.

                    Stay o/night in Cairns

 

Thursday 21 June

                    Travel to the Daintree Rainforest in James’ car.

                    Meet the Wujal Wujal community.  Stay o/night - tents.

 

Friday 22 June

                    Travel to the Laura Festival with James. 

Experience indigenous culture, meet friends of James. Stay o/night at Festival – camping out or in tents.

 

Saturday 23 June

                    Continue at Laura Festival.  Stay o/night.

 

Sunday 24 June – Tuesday 26 June

Travel to Weipa with James.  Stay at Weipa at James and Michelle’s place.  Explore Weipa, meet the aboriginal community, Napranum.

 

Wednesday 27 June – Monday July 2

Travel to Mapoon.  Stay at James’ house.  Visit Janie Crk Turtle protection project.  Participate in local children’s  program.  Visit Pennefather (coastal spot – maybe camp – croc proof fence).  Meet Tjunganji community, spend time with elders.  Participate in, prepare and help lead worship times where appropriate. 

 

Tuesday 3 July (or maybe Monday afternoon)

                    Travel to Weipa, fly to Cairns.

                    Stay o/night in Cairns.

 

Wednesday 4 July

                    Fly home to Brisbane

 

There will be a debriefing session held later this week, and also discussion on how to share what we’ve experienced with the congregation and others. 

 

Thomson Family Bike Collection

 30-12-2006

 

Hi All,

I am bringing some bikes to discoveries camp for the bike hike elective.

The attached photo shows the Thomson bike collection.  Not all of which are suitable for kids of discoveries camp age.

In the photo toward the left, you will see Marcus who is in grade 5 going into 6.  So he is in the middle of our age range.  He is average height for his age.  To the right you will see Chris.  He is tall for his age but only just going into grade 3 so he will not be on camp.  However as he is taller than some of the younger kids that we get, I will bring his bike.

So this means that I think we have 4 bikes of suitable size.  That is the red bike Macrus is holding, the red bike and the black bike near chris and the red and silver bike to the right of chris.

It would be nice to have a few more.

Anyone have any bikes?

Frank

 

Marcus

Chris

 

 

 

 

 

 

Depart BNE

 27-08-2006 (I think the date is wrong)

 Falls Ck Ski Trip

Well we made it out of Brisbane on Sunday.  Right day but a bit late time wise.  Mind you we had a few lucky breaks.  For the last couple of weeks I have been looking for our digital camera.  Last seen at the City Hall shindig.  Found it at work tucked into the CD folder thing.  Interestingly while I had been tidying the house in preparation for Mel moving in, I had found the lead that is used to connect the camera to the pc (missing since January).

After a great church service this morning organised by Cybele and Paul which included incense and communion with real bread cooked on the premises, we went home to start packing. Finally pulled out at about 5:45pm. 

So now we are encamped at mums place in Toowoomba.  Log fire. Home cooked dinner.  Internet access. 

Wondering vaguely how we will re pack the car tomorrow but I guess we can leave anything that wont fit behind.

Frank

Falls Ck - Snowgums

 Wednesday 25

We are at Falls Creek staying at a chalet called Snowgums. The kids have been taken away and fed along with all the other kids. The adults are sitting in the lounge room, the kids have started arriving from their meal and most have gravitated into the games room. Jemma has come over to see the photos as I select one for this email. The chalet is supposed to be ski in ski out but this is a bad year and so we have walk in walk out. Luckily it is only a short walk to the ski lift that takes us right to the place where the kids have ski lessons. Makes it very easy in the mornings. Henry (Frank's Brother) has been a God send. Henry takes Marcus and they get a few runs in before ski school. Frank tries to get Dan and Chris ready while Megan takes Jemma to child care.

Today we had great news. Dan, who yesterday could hardly stand up on his skis, went down a green run called Drovers Dream and took a ride back up on the chair lift.

I am surprised by the quality of the skiing. They have had very little natural snow this year. We have been saved by the extensive snow making that goes on each night. There are plenty of green and blue runs available for the average skier. The pro skiers amongst us (Andrew and Catherine) would of course turn their noses up at the lack of black runs but for the rest of us there is quite a bit of variety.

Should you consider a skiing holiday you need to prepare yourselves for a few surprises and all of them involve money… lots of it!
Chicken burger $16.50. Milo bar $2.60. Doughnuts $2 each!. Basically if you go out for meal, entrée's around $15 and mains at $30. There is one thing that is free. That is the curtsey bus that takes you from one establishment that has relieved you of cash to another that will happily take the remainder. 

Depart Falls Creek

25-8-2006

 Well we leave tonight.

Thursday was a shocker. Rain and fog. Couldn't see more than a few meters Col and wet. Bailed at 3:30 as soon as we picked up the kids from ski school. The only good news was Dan went down a blue run called highway 83.

Friday - we woke to four inches of fresh powder. It has continued snowing lightly all day. The clouds are higher so we can see. A bit windy But basically a great day.

Saw Dan who was crying because the wind was so strong and cold. A bit later we saw his teacher carryu him as she skied. About to go and pick him up so we will see how he is.

frank

CBR-> Falls Ck

 (19-08-2006)

 We spent Thursday and Friday in Canberra.

The primary objective today, Saturday, was to get as close as possible to Falls Creek in preparation for the final dash to the summit. We are now staying in Tawonga South which is basically an outer suburb of Mt Beauty.

Lunch was at McDonalds off the freeway at Yass.

For afternoon tea, we took the road to Gundagai.

After afternoon tea, we took the road from Gundagai. You can imagine our surprise when as we passed through a small town called Holbrook, when we saw a submarine moored at the side of the road. So we stopped and bought a coffee and had a look around. Obviously if you are a town with no visible means of support, you need to find a way to get tourists to stop and what better way than to get a sub.

Now you may be astute enough to realise that Holbrook is not a port. Those with an extremely acute sense of geography will of course know that Holbrook is not even a coastal town. So you may be curious to know how they managed to get a sub moored beside the highway. Well the story goes like this. In the great flood of 1963, in the middle of the cold war, the sub became disoriented and sailed up the Murray river and then was sucked up into the snowy hydro system and then slipped down through a series of creeks all called “deep creek” because they are. As the flood waters receded, the sub became stranded. Eventually after several days of towns people hammering Morse code messages on the side of the hull, the captain peaked out of the door in the conning tower and realised that he was not in Russian waters. The crew all hopped out. To cover their embarrassment, the Navy sent a man with plaque to stick on the side proclaiming it decommissioned and a gift to the people of Holbrook. Now you can walk around it and on it. You cant get in because the captain locked the door and took the keys.

Tomorrow we ski.

Western plains Zoo, Dubbo.

Tuesday 15-AUG-2006
Western plains Zoo, Dubbo.

Had a great day at the zoo. We arrived just after opening time and signed up for a tour. Got to feed giraffe and rhino and drive past some cabins where you can stay the night. If only I had known. We could have signed up to stay in what turns out to be an up market tent with lions on one side and cheetahs on the other and if you are still there in the morning you get a free breakfast and your entry fee refunded.

Now it seems that these animals are smarter than we think. At exhibit after exhibit we heard how this animal or that animal slept up to 18 hrs per day and just wakes up to receive its meals. We also learned that at 4:30 they know that it is time for people to go home and so the animals just line up near the back doors of their enclosures just waiting to go to sleep. Sure is easier than getting a ranger to go round and shoo everyone out. In fact everyone is so keen to go that we were almost last out and had to press the special late departure button at 2min past 5pm in order to get out the gate.