The house we are minding now is in a suburb of Hervey Bay,
called Eli Waters. Saltwater canals fed by the Eli Creek, wind between immaculate
houses. There are walking/cycling paths along the edge of lakes where we walk each
morning for about 5.5 km.
The area is a mangrove wetland. We have been warned to look out for snakes,
yes, but also for sand flies, aka, biting midges, aka black flies. 😣
The locals could use any one of the three names for these pesky creatures, but
they are one and the same. They are especially prevalent when there is no
breeze. Tinier than a mosquito, they pack a nasty punch, which begins to itch sometimes
only 24 hours later. We were told that
if we wanted to sit on the patio, we would need to put the fan on to blow them
away. Sunrise and sunset are when they appear the most. They are worse in rainy
weather (thankfully it’s been dry) and at full moon or new moon. A complex
insect if ever there was one. The smaller ones are able to fly through the mesh
of fly-screens … 😖
In Tandur I was bitten by what I thought to be mozzies on
the one occasion that I didn’t spray my feet and ankles and went walkabout in
the garden. I was in agony for days, and I’m beginning to wonder if they weren’t
biting midge wounds. Yes, I call them wounds! 😣 I am allergic to mosquito bites, but this
was so much worse. They have left scars on my feet and ankles that I’m hoping
will eventually fade. We are constantly spraying ourselves with Sandy’s
Essentials' Peskies-Off spray when we step outside. It seems to work, and that
makes me happy; I’ve had one bite since we arrived, and it was the day I relied
on the wind to stop them and didn’t spray myself to hang up the washing outside.
AJ, who never gets bitten, is suffering from multiple bites because he thought that, like
mozzies, they would not bother him and chose not to spray himself on the first two days. He quickly discovered otherwise, poor guy.
 |
| AJ's legs showing midge bites |
😬 The thing is, as soon as one sees or feels a
bug, you feel as if your skin is crawling all over with them! 😅 There'll be no relaxing on patios while we are here!
Remedies? We have been given all
manner of remedies … the most popular local remedy is a spray made up of equal
parts of Dettol and Baby Oil. Another remedy the locals believe in is consuming
large amounts of Vegemite. It's the Vit B, they say, that the midges don't like. 😅 (... one midge to another, "Ugh! Don't bother with that guy, he's on the Vegemite bottle!" 😂) This Aussie staple is Australia’s version of the
beloved UK Marmite … except that it honestly has a more medicinal, albeit salty
taste. 😄 Believe
me, you can buy Vegemite flavoured Baked beans, Vegemite Pizza, and more. There are
recipes for Vegemite hot cross buns, and Vegemite roast potatoes. The Aussies
are crazy over their Vegemite. We’ve started eating it on toast, but vast
amounts… nah! 😅
© CC BY-SA 3.0
Heavy-duty insect repellents
for tropical areas are sold in the stores, but these are no joke – they have a high
concentration of DEET (diethyltoluamide). I can’t imagine long-term
use of that yellow goo and what it could do to a person's system. Natural repellents sound far more appealing of which
there are many on the market here. Especially when you're practically bathing yourself in the stuff all day long. 🥴 We’ll continue to test my mix to make it
effective. I perfected a spray to repel Qatar’s flies 😄 … I’m hoping to
beat this annoying midge as well. In the meantime, it’s a running joke that we hear from everyone ... "midges love
international tourists!" The locals have seemingly become immune to them. 😄
God’s grace and mercy
People
call us lucky!
“You're
so lucky”, they say. We disagree.
Why? Well, six years of planning have come to fruition. We sacrificed a load of things
over those six years to save for this. We worked our butts off and were content
with staying home when others went away or had fun times out. We planned
carefully and asked our Father many a time for His will to be done in our
lives. Not lucky... blessed. Blessed by pure Grace. We are amazed at how God has
facilitated things for us. How many times did we run to Him, put things before
Him, ask for His will, and beg Him for guidance along the way. Pure grace! Grace
and mercy. No, these two concepts are in no way similar. Here is a lovely explanation of their difference.
We
pray that we will never take his kindness for granted. Yet, there are times
when we stray, stress, and rush, and forget to ask for His guidance. Sometimes He
says no. Sometimes He’s silent. But mostly, we are gobsmacked at how He has worked
things out for us. For weeks on end, before we left Doha, we felt that He was
giving us the same promise of protection from His word. Our blog
post in July discussed this. Eventually, we sat up and took notice, but our
stress levels ran high regardless.
Upon
our arrival, our family facilitated our stay with a warm welcome. We launched
into getting the equipment for the van and the Ute. The cost of everything caused
us to break out into a sweat. But because the van will be our home, we pressed
forward with what we needed. Thankfully, AJ was retained as an instructor by his
company in Qatar. What a help and what a gift from our Father! More mercy and
grace.
After
2 weeks AJ began to work. A routine that has taken some getting used to. His ‘workday’
starts at 13:30 and ends at 21:30. The first week of training was a struggle in
the family home because of the busy, playful, children. But then came the first
house sitting. There we were, in beautiful quiet surroundings, with ample space
in a large home and AJ ensconced in a study. Caring for the dogs was a joy! Towards
the end of the week, the homeowners called and generously offered their home to
us for an extra 2 days to avoid having to move in with our family for only 2
nights. They remembered that we had said we were leaving for the coast on the
Monday after they collected the dogs. (That house is their weekend home – they
live elsewhere full-time.)
‘That
would make things easier’, we said, ‘thank you’!
Two
hours later our daughter called to say they were all ill with a mystery virus. It
had hit some of them in the family harder than others. We were amazed at God’s
provision and protective hand, as we could not afford to be exposed to a virus
and then move on to meet the next homeowners directly before they travelled
abroad, possibly infecting them too. Also, we do not have a medical card or
cover yet. Our application was delayed in the mail due to some unknown factor. God’s
timing and goodness left us speechless. Mercy! Grace! (The family in Gympie are only just recovering from the nasty virus, almost 10 days later.)
In
Tandur the dogs were collected as planned. The last two days were spent packing
up, cleaning the house, and catching up with online tasks. AJ was given an
unexpected course to teach and was able to spend the last day preparing material,
well into the night. Early
on Monday 3 October, we departed for Hervey Bay. The drive was pleasant, along a
different route to the last time when we came up to meet the homeowners. We
arrived early enough to do a quick walk along the esplanade in Hervey Bay. It
was so good to finally see, and smell, the ocean.
We planned to stay the night
in a motel, as we needed to be at the new house sitting early the following
morning. We had to be at the motel and checked in by 14:00 so that AJ could begin
teaching a group in Doha. A few minutes before the time I went to check us in, while AJ used a hotspot from his phone to connect his laptop to the internet, in the Ute, to link up with his students.
In true digital nomad style, he transitioned from the Ute to the room like a pro.
😊 He settled himself into
a corner of the room to teach, while I went off in search of some supper. Fresh
fish and chips sold from the nearby Marina.
The
next morning AJ was up at 05:00 to continue prepping for the new course later
that day. We had to be at the house-sitting venue by 09:00. We gobbled down a
small brekkie with coffee and rushed over. We had offered to give the homeowners
a ride to the station in Maryborough, the town where Mary Poppins was born! 😊 (Yes… I sense a blog
post in the making … 😉). From there they
would take the train to Brisbane International Airport. Before they left, we
were given the rundown of instructions, acquired the all-important Wi-fi
password and were presented with a fabulous lasagne lunch, along with salads no
less, to enjoy later in the day! They had catered a delicious meal for us, at a
time when they were packing and preparing for a major overseas trip!
“The
pantry is yours; the wine rack is yours”, they said. “Use the meat in the
freezer! Please help yourself to anything you need. The vegetables in the
garden are yours. We bought you brown sugar.” (They remembered, from 3 weeks
ago when we came to meet them, that we preferred brown sugar in coffee!) They
moved all their tools around in the garage so that our Ute would fit in. What
an amazing couple! Such a blessing for us.
Grace and mercy abound.
Returning
to the house after the ride to the station, we went into unpack mode and well
and truly moved in. We were speechless at God’s care, evident through this secular
couple. As we had no groceries yet and were feeling a little lost and strange (and
hungry!), we were overwhelmed with gratefulness for the lunch. AJ had to begin
teaching at 14:00, and once again the space was just perfect for his use – well
away from the hub of the house and the noise I might make in the kitchen. Later,
I did my first solo shop for groceries. I took a wrong turn and got lost. Only
then did I decide to activate google maps 😆. Arriving at the
store, I felt jitterbugs… strange aisles, strange faces, strange names for
things, strange brands. Strange checkout methods too -- vegetables are weighed
at the till and the till operator packs the bags. It all felt so unreal. And to
cap it all, I had had to park the Ute for the first time, in a very small
space, under pressure, with a queue of cars behind me waiting to pass. 😅😆 And the jolly thing
felt huge – I was expecting a bump or a scratch at the very least. Lol. Before
we could blink, our first day in the house in Hervey Bay was over.
There
is more pressure to take care of this property. They are clearly very
particular, with absolutely nothing out of place! Everything was sparkling
clean and neat when we moved in. The lady of the house used to be a nursing
sister, so the house shouts clinical cleanliness, all in white, minimal style. The
kitchen has white stone benchtops. Gulp! But so far (a week in) so good. There
are strict instructions on how and when to water the plants, with specific
plants mentioned. After 21 years of not having a garden worth mentioning,
there’s me, running to Google to find which is which. 😊 No animal to take care
of this time … their beloved dog died 2 months ago before we arrived in Aus. His
name was Jack. On the list of plants is ‘Jack’s Gardenia’, with a note that
‘this plant is very important’. (Jack’s ashes are in an urn on a shelf in the
study. 😧) Trust me – I cannot
see a Gardenia in this garden. Not for the life of me! And I know what a
Gardenia looks like. 😖😬 I even checked that I
had it right by googling Gardenia images. 😯
They
return on 5 November at 7 in the evening. After handing over the keys, we’ll spend
the night in a motel nearby to avoid driving at night. The next day we make our
way to Brisbane to take delivery of the van on 7 November. The time is getting
closer. Not once have we practised what we were taught in the towing course
😣… we had better get our
noses in those course notes. 😅
Andries
is teaching 5 days a week. While he teaches I write, plan, budget, and catch up
on correspondence. I’ve managed to put a bucket list together of things to do
and see while we are in Hervey Bay. After a week we’ve managed to cross off 4. Three
weeks to go. Grace and mercy sustain us.
 |
| My workspace in the kitchen |
Last
Sunday we visited the local Baptist Church and received a mighty blessing. So pleased
we went, even though that age-old enemy tried to keep us away. We pray grace and
mercy over them as a congregation. We pray over you as our followers and prayer
partners; over South Africa, our birth country; over Qatar and our children and friends there, during this difficult time of the FIFA World Cup event; over Australia too, that
is fast becoming a secular, Christian-averse country. 😕 Over our children and
grandchildren who live here, for a future in the Lord, and for many chances to witness to
them of God’s beautiful plan for salvation for all mankind.
Friends
and family, we appreciate you. We pray for each of you. May God extend His
grace and mercy over each one of you. In Jesus’ name.
Until
next time. 🌼 Blessings from us. ♥
