This morning while packing up, the man next door to us came over and started talking.

He was a Vietnam Veteran in town for a reunion. He was telling me that as a part of the reunion preparation he was asked to prepare a list of the four most influential people in his life. Three of them were related to his army life but he said the most influential was his Year 6 teacher. She worked with him to overcome his dyslexia (he was 15 years old and had been held back) and it wasn’t until he was an adult that he realised just how she had changed his life. He tried to contact her, to thank her all these years later, but unfortunately she had passed away. With a tear in his eye, he asked if I would receive his thanks on her behalf. (As I was most recently a Year 6 teacher for a number of years before travelling). I said I would if I could share his thanks with my colleagues.

So, thank you to all the teachers…Teachers make a difference, a real difference to kids lives. Sometimes it’s just lovely to hear these kinds of stories. It goes towards making everything we do worthwhile. Teaching is such a unique profession to be a part of. It changes lives and it’s not just a job or profession. You are a part of the lives of every child who you teach and interact with, never quite knowing the impact that you are having on them. It really is a privilege to be a teacher and have this influence.

I was quite moved by this meeting with my neighbour.

The stretch between Rockhampton and Proserpine is over 600km. We decided to head for a free camp in our “Camps 6” book. This book lists free camps, low cost camps and places to stop for lunch in towns (parks, rest areas). It is literally called the travellers Bible and we haven’t met anyone on the road who hasn’t got one. The book’s concept was developed by two campers, Philip and Carolyn Fennell, Queenslanders who travel around Australia updating each edition. It has now been sold to other avid travellers and digital editions are now available and really handy to have. It includes reviews by other travellers and the ability to filter according to your own travel preferences. I think our paper copy will become obsolete very soon! Check them out here.

We have edition 10 and the 11th has just been released with over 200 more entries. Councils are putting on more and more stops to encourage the “Grey Army” to spend their dollars with them. With over 100,000 caravans and motor homes on the road at any one time, some councils are getting smart and providing facilities free or low cost. There is an honoured rule amongst travellers. If you get to sleep somewhere for free, you always spend money in the associated town. This might be petrol, a meal at the pub or in the supermarket. No one minds paying the slightly higher prices small towns have to charge when they are provided with a free stopover. We share this information on the road, so some towns are really benefiting, whereas others are bypassed. 
Anyway, we were turning into a toilet stop this morning when we spotted the “Camps” car and 4WD trailer there. We ran over clutching our weathered and much used book and got an autograph while Caleb made friends with a cocky and a bus load of Year 6 kids who had stopped on their way to a school camp. We gave Philip and Cathryn some feedback about their book and we all tut tutted about how caravan parks are pricing themselves out of the travellers market. When we think about what we have paid for a square of grass and a power pole, its shocking. 
It was quite a buzz seeing them on the road because they are such a big part of our trip, everyday. We were chuffed and really thankful to have run into them today. 
We reached St Laurance, where we had decided to stop for the night. It was a free camp with a $1 charge for a 3 minute shower. The site was recommended to us by someone we met in Esperance in Western Australia and the facilities were amazing! What a camping find. We were so grateful to be spending a night here. We took a walk into town determined to spend some dollars in the town. The general store was open so we went in. We knew it was a store by the battered and faded “Streets Ice Cream” sign outside. There were no other clues. I took a photo of it because it must be the last General Store in Australia like it. It was like walking into someone’s house and looking in their pantry. We bought an icecream each and were at a loss to find anything else we could use. We chatted with the owner for a while, a lovely lady albeit not a business woman. 
Walking back, we discovered the nearby wetlands and strolled around looking at the water birds and water lillies. Caleb wasn’t that interested and keen to get back to the van to play with his toys.

Later, just before it got dark he went to the toilet block. He came back telling us that we just had to come with him to see something. He led us across the campground where we opened his arms to the sunset before him. “Isn’t that just beautiful”, he said. Cute. He was grateful for what nature was providing for him and it was so encouraging to see.
We had no power and a dodgy battery in the van so we conserved what we could and made dinner by torchlight. We were in bed early, perhaps we will wake early!?!