11 May 1981

Getting ready for Murray Island

1. Wedding



It was a smallish family wedding at Caversham House, right by the Swan River. Sounds great, but it was summer, the gardens were crackling dry, and the flies were in abundance - making photography tricky.



This is where I was getting into the car to go away, and someone said I had to get back out and throw my bouquet ... and I was just saying "I can't! ..." But I did anyway, of course.

We both had jobs in Rockingham, and we rented a little flat right on the foreshore at Parmelia Close, at only $25 per week.



So we lived and worked in Rockingham for three years, and then we went off to get trained.

2. Bible College



We had a couple of wonderful years of studying, and then concentrated linguistic studies during the summer holidays.

And then we had to do field training. They called it

3. "Jungle Camp"



I was already pregnant with James when we went off to Papua New Guinea for our final training.

PNG men can't grow long beards unless they work at it for years - so they presumed Peter was very old, and they were very impressed that he had a young pregnant wife.

We lived in a tiny village house, and found this wonderful spot in the river where the water got deeper than a few inches going around a bend - the water was always very warm, and no pigs nearby.

4. The Darwin SIL Centre



Darwin can be a bit hot, so one of the best things about the SIL centre was the swimming pool.



James loved it too, he was such a happy little chappy.



So then it was time to move to Townsville. There were a lot of Islanders there and we would start getting to know them and learning the language.

5. Six Months in Townsville



Sunshine and sea and all that grass to run around on.