The Journey up to Roebourne:
On a bizarre and chaos filled journey up to Roebourne, the trouble started even before the trip begun. On delivery of the mini-bus at the Kingsley WPC Church (our venue of departure), it was discovered that the bus battery had gone dead and the engine wouldn’t even start. A service technician had to be called in and after a long delay, he finally was able to replace it with one that worked. And so it was hugs and goodbyes all round as the team pulled out of the carpark more than an hour late at about 12:00am on 28th September. All the team members were relatively tired as it had been a long wait and most settled down, catching a bit of sleep (if at all possible!). The first part of the journey passed by relatively smoothly and by about 5:30am, we arrived in Geraldton where the bus was refuelled and what was available to buy at the only shop open in the town at that time of morning was had for breakfast. It was then that the hired mini-bus started giving problems again. About 45km out of Northampton, the engine overheated, sending steam everywhere. It was there that a small group of guys decided to take a walk along the road, coming to the signboard 45 NR, therefore the whole commotion about the band up at Roebourne being named this. When the engine had cooled down and nearly everyone’s drinking water poured over it, we climbed back in the bus hoping for the rest of the journey to remain hassle free. Unfortunately this wasn’t to eventuate. About 50km out of Billabong, the mini-bus lost sight of the van with Amanda-Sue Markham and her four children. At first this was just thought to be because of the distance between to the two vehicles. However after arriving at Billabong and waiting half an hour for them, it was painfully obvious that they had broken down. So the bus, with everyone in it, trekked back the 50km to where the occupants of the van were worriedly waiting for someone to come pick them up. After squeezing another 6 people and a whole lot more luggage into the mini-bus, we, for a third time, made the journey to Billabong. There it was decided, after countless frustrating phone calls to the Hire Company Apex Rentals and to the Ministry of Fair Trading, that Chuck Linkston, Jason McNamara and John Rowlands would stay back with the van and wait for a technician to come down from Shark Bay to fix it. All other team members went into the mini-bus and made the rest of the journey to Roebourne. The next stop was at Canarvan for lunch and it was there that the team enjoyed a well earned break from their 12 hour nightmare, eating at a local restaurant set in a lush, green setting. Fortunately, the rest of the trip eventuated without incident and the team finally arrived in Roebourne at around 11:00pm on 28th, almost 24 hours after leaving Perth and more than 7 hours behind schedule. Most headed straight for bed and crashed instantly apart from poor Campbell, who sat outside the church door all night waiting for any sign of Chuck, so as to direct him to the right place. All in all, he stayed up about 60 hours without any sleep and unfortunately his efforts were kind of wasted because Chuck only arrived at about mid-day the next day more than 16 hours behind schedule after he camped for the night on the side of the road. The moral of the story……..NEVER hire from Apex Rentals!

Saturday 28th September:
At about 9:00am, the team started getting up, apart for poor Campbell that went straight to bed! Breakfast was a self-serve affair and the team finished eating at around 10:30am after all the girls had come across from their house accommodation. Being the first day and recovering from a long and hard trip the day was taken in a relatively relaxed mood with the team spending most of it familiarising themselves with the area. Brad Markham took the team on a tour of the town which included a visit to the local historic prison, a view of the river (almost dry), seeing the out of town area named Cheeditha and the view from the top of Mt Welcome, the hill in which the town in built around. Being AFL Grand Final day and being in a footy mad town, there wasn’t much action happening and not many people walking around. On return to the church, the rest of the day was mainly spent on playing games such as Taboo, Uno and President. Amanda-Sue and a few others also took a quick trip to Karratha, about a 40 minute drive away to pick up Diane McCabe who had to fly up instead of take the bus. (Have your say on this issue by voting on the corresponding poll!). The team went to bed that night thankful that everyone had arrived at the destination safely and looking forward to really getting into the mission the next day.

Sunday, 29th September:
Sunday was a more organised affair with the team getting up a little earlier than the day before so as to make it in time for the service at the Pilbara Aboriginal Church. After breakfast, the team started heading over to the church hall waiting for it to begin. The experience was different for many to say the least but other than a slightly different setting and a few noisy kids, the service was not really much different from that of a typical Presbyterian one. The team was officially welcomed to Roebourne and called up to the stage with each team member introduced individually. After the service, the team put on a Sausage Sizzle for all the church members which gave many the opportunity of mingling with the locals and gaining a knowledge and an understanding of the area if they were new or re-acquainting themselves with the culture if it was their second or third time. After this, much of the afternoon was spent as free time but some of it was also spent getting a briefing about how the kid’s club for the next few days was going to be structured and run. As well as this, some members found the thought of a service station 40m up the road in 36-degree heat irresistible and many grabbed the opportunity to grab an ice cream or drink during the course of the trip. Steve McDonald found a hard-time getting rid of his adoring fan club that day which followed him to almost everywhere he went, begging him to come and see them. They eventually did go away and that evening, a service was held at the church which was a very moving evening for many that attended. Much of it was spent teaching the local people some of our songs and the locals teaching us some of theirs. But what was truly inspirational was the amount of testimonies shared during the course of the night. Marija, Adam Hetebry and Diane McCabe all shared theirs and some of the locals told us all of how drugs, fighting, alcohol and abuse had tormented and wrecked their lives and how they became to know the Lord, turning it around a complete 180 degrees. As well as this, it was also another great chance to get to know some of the townspeople and learn some more about the people up in Roebourne. That night, a final briefing was held for the team about the Kid’s Club before going to bed knowing that the full physical impact of the mission would be felt as of tomorrow.

Monday, 30th September:
We began the day with a bit of breakfast, and then got into our Philippians Bible study from 7 to 7.30. After the girls had their brekky the church bus departed about 7.45 for the Village and Cheeditha to pick up kids. Other kids started arriving at about 8am, and by about 8.20 we thought that we might only have about 20 kids, but by 9am we had 68 kids running around. After feeding the kids weetbix and cornflakes we had a Bible talk (“Jesus is King”), Scripture classes, and then some singing. The kids responded really well to the songs, particularly Chuck’s new ones: I’ve got a River of Life, and My Father’s House. Then craft with Jen Jen: where the kids made miniature stained glass windows of cows, butterflies, flowers, fish, and whales. (Truly!) After that, some morning tea: a muesli bar and cordy, before heading over to Wickham pool for a swim. Pool lady flipped a bit with so many kids, but we restricted the fatalities by drowning to zero—some leaders came close though. After getting back we had some lunch, and tried to get the kids to sit and listen for a bit of a recap of the day’s lesson. Not successful, and we decided to alter our approach for the next day. By 1pm, a deathly silence around the church, as exhausted leaders began a clean-up. Afternoon: challenged Brad to a run up Mt Welcome. Stupid really. The temperature was 38 degrees. Returned mostly dead (Brad could have done it twice more) and John kindly hosed me down. After dinner we visited the basketball courts for chaos-ball with the kids (girls verses boys, about 20 a side, with minimal reffing). Later some adults from the town turned up and challenged the guys to first to 30. We lost 30-28, but then regrouped and won 30-28. (Without Brad, who sprained an ankle.) An awesome time, but, after my suicide run earlier in the day, I returned to our barracks 99% paralysed from the head down. Crumpled into bed. Never again.
by Campbell Markham

Tuesday, 1st October:
After the events of the previous day catching some team members relatively unprepared, many awoke with at least an understanding of what was to expect that day. After the usual procedure of breakfast, devotions and then preparation for the Kid’s Club, the kid’s started arriving in their numbers although significantly down from the last day. The morning was a great success with both the Bible Lesson by Campbell and the skit from some of the team extremely well done. After another of Jenni’s great craft lesson (I think it was necklaces that day but I could be wrong), most of the children piled onto the buses and made the trip down to the beach. Some leaders however chose to stay back with some of the kid’s who had forgotten their bathers or didn’t want to go to the beach, which proved to be a rather bad move, most of the children not in the best of behaving moods. After arriving back and eating their lunch. Another exhausting day seemed, energetically, to have come to an end, alas, it was only mid-day! Most of the after noon was spent with free-time, some choosing to go to the Wickham Pool, some dare-devils, Brad and Campbell Markham, Tim Robertson and Steve McDonald deciding to take a daring 2km jog to the top of a very steep Mt Welcome in 36 degree temperatures (Isn’t it strange how Campbell offered me water all the way to the foot of the hill but when I got to the top and sat down exhausted and he arrived 5 minutes later, he didn’t offer me a drop!). After dinner which was kindly made by the rostered team members, most of the team went back to the basketball courts to take on a group of gentlemen from the town who promised us a game if we turned up. As probably the worst basketball player on the mission, I was resigned to playing defence with the team of gentlemen from the town. What didn’t help the cause that I was the only defender, hadn’t played a basketball game in years, wasn’t at all good and was the only team member on the team, up against all my fellow team members. The speed and mobility of Steve and the huge bulky frame of Campbell crashing into me all night and the fact that after a full evening of hard work, my team still lost both games by the slimmest possible margin was indescribable and I had to walk home with a bunch of celebrating people whilst I was feeling very dull and annoyed! Campbell must have felt he had definitely got the upper hand against me that day! That aside, it was a great opportunity to mix with the locals and to seriously ask the challenging questions about the gospel to those guys, so I guess it was worthwhile after all. That night, Alison Markham arrived from Derby to join the mission trip and her skills as a nurse were well worth having during Kid’s Club.

Wednesday, 2nd October:
Another hot, sticky day dawned upon us again and following our alf and hour time of devotions and breakfast, the team members got to work preparing for the day. Brad took the bus on its normal run to pick up the children and those who were rostered for it prepared lunches for the day. After the usual devotional skit (well directed by Jason McNamara this time) and daily Bible lesson, everyone climbed on the bus and took a ride to Karratha to see “The Crocodile Hunter; Collision Course” at the local cinemas there. Following the valuables lessons of last trip where about 100 kid’s all wanted to go to the toilet at once, the numbers this year were restricted to 60 however only about 40 ended up coming along. After the movie, which you could say was what everyone expected, we moved to a local park to eat lunch. We then headed back to Roebourne and dropped off the kid’s at the church and completed the usual post Kid’s Club tasks. That afternoon was mainly spent playing games although a few did make the trip to Wickham again to buy more supplies and have a swim. That evening after dinner, we were invited by a local gentlemen name Bob to go Roo Shooting with him. Chuck took up the ammunition and after nearly two hours of travelling around, we finally came across a Kangaroo. Chuck unfortunately missed with his first two attempts and during one of them almost got Stephen McDonald instead. But in the end after three previously missed attempts, he managed to kill one with a relatively easy close range attempt and take it back to Roebourne. John Rowlands then got the opportunity to show off his skills as a Medical Student by dissecting the insides of the Roo and expertly identifying all of the major internal organs. After arriving back in Roebourne, the team spent the rest of the evening playing games and talking and got to bed and around 10:30pm although some did stay up watching TV till the early hours of the morning?!

Thursday, 3rd October:
By the time Thursday was upon us, most team members were well into the swing of things and the routine of having breakfast, then quiet time followed by assisting in the preparation for Kid’s Club wasn’t a real problem for anyone to remember. What was, was trying to muster the energy required to do another full on day on the mission trip. The day started off as usual with all members and kids participating in breakfast. This was followed by a rather unusual devotion with Adam Hetebry as Wandala Fruitman and myself and Corn Holio taking part in a rather lame attempt as an imitation of the a professional Wrestling match. The letters WWF were replace with the WWW which stood for World Wrestling Wandalas (Wandala meaning “crazy person” in the local language in Roebourne). Jason McNamara poised as the referee of the fake contest and insisted that if I was to take part, I must be the losing wrestler. I grudgingly agreed and suffered my second humiliation of the mission. It was all for the fun of it and also to demonstrate Jacob’s wrestle with God. This was followed by another fantastic craft activity, which I believe was bandannas. Our excursion for the day was at the beach and learning from the events of Tuesday, I came along and it was good fun. Kicking the footy on the beach and swimming, although Chuck did have a bit of a problem kicking a ball a little more rounded than a Gridiron Ball. What the children also found quiet funny was that some team leaders found it difficult walking on the hot sand and had to walk on their towels to keep their feet from burning in weather described by the kids as “cool.” (36 degrees!!). After dropping off the kids at the church again, many spent the afternoon at Wickham both shopping and going for a swim in the pool, the only real way to get cool in the town since the local pool was closed. That evening, the team attended the house of Bob and ate the Kangaroo, which Chuck shot the night before. Once again, Steve’s fan club tagged along and took a lot of pestering to go away. The evening was well worth it and the Kangaroo meat could only be treated as first class.

Friday, 4th October:
After an exhausting week, the final day of Kid’s Club finally arrived and while for many it was a relief for it to be over, for others, it was a sad time to say goodbye to the children they had so closely bonded to in only a short amount of time. After the usual early morning procedures, the Kid’s Club began for the last time most of the regular kid’s turning up. The final day was spent at the Wickham Pool, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all not only as a relief from the heat but also as a fun time with the children to say goodbye for another year. After the swim, the children ate their lunch at the poolside picnic facilities and went back to the church to get dropped off. In the afternoon, most team members were very tired but most found that extra bit of stored energy to help tidy up the main hall and the mechanical workshop. I however must admit I was to tired to care less and I just crashed on my bed and didn’t wake until about 5pm so I apologise that I cannot document what happened in that time period. (Maybe someone else can write a diary entry for this day and tell us what happened). That evening, the team went to a disco at the local PCYC which was nicknamed fifty cent hall because it is shaped in much the same way as a fifty cent coin. After walking all the way there, we discovered that you required money to get in so we had to walk all the way back to get money. After getting in, this is where many members had the highlight of the mission, as it was a great fun evening with the children of Roebourne. Most people there would think those participating in the dance were on drugs with some of the weirdest moves such as crab walking and somersaults attempted on the Dance-floor with no skill whatsoever involved. After the disco, most were absolutely flack and were looking forward to a well-deserved break in a much cooler Monkey Mia.

The Journey to and Including Monkey Mia:
Being forced to wake up relatively early was a normal thing on the Roebourne Mission Trip and so most team members had no trouble getting up around 6:00am to load the bus and trailer for the trip to Monkey Mia. After picking up the girls and saying goodbye to a few children who’d got up as early as us to wave us off, we departed on a trip which had a vast contrast to the one up to Roebourne. Both vehicles thankfully arrived in Monkey Mia in good shape at about 6:00pm that evening with each person assigned to a twin-share room with someone else on the mission of their own gender. The next morning, some people, after the long and hard weak just gone by still managed to get up at 7:00am in the morning and catch the Dolphin feeding time at about 8:00am. After that the team had free time until about mid-day when most people came on a Pearl-Farm Tour which took us to a floating building in the sea only a few hundred metres off the coast. This was venue of a demonstration from our tour guide on how the Pearls in the area were processed and the pearls extracted from their shells. We then had a chance to browse through the display gallery of lots of different pearls with vibrant colours. Alicia Broomfield loved one so much she nearly even ended up buying it! There was even a necklace on display worth $10,000 that anyone, at will, could hold. When asked about security, the tour guide simply said that they trusted the local people and that it wasn’t an issue for them! On return to the mainland, Myrna Out was kind enough to hire out a volleyball and the team enjoyed a game on the beach as the sun was going down. In the evening, the team headed out to Denham, a town not far from the Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort and to the Bayview Cafe, which hosted the end of mission function for the entire team. After a delicious dinner, Ali Markham celebrated her 21st birthday in style, a night which all enjoyed very much, except for me because I’d forgotten to wear long pants and my legs were nearly dead with frostbite when I arrived back at our accommodation. After some talked over coffee, the team settled down to its final night of the mission.