It was almost accidental. I walked into the
Birdsville caravan park and asked for the cranky woman that everyone was frightened of. "That must be me" said Ruth.
"I'm Footy from ExplorOz" I say.
I can't remember if she said "Oh" (as in what are you doing here) or "OH !" (as in I thought I was having a bad day till now !)
Ruth was very nice by the way.
Much nicer than another
park owner who didn't appreciate my bro being in the loo after 10am (having your insides in a bag will do that to you)
We met many more nice people on our trip a couple of months ago. All shapes, sizes and ages and all nice. I even got caught up in a couple of "Happy Hours". ( which might not seem strange to you but I don't drink !)
Some were retired, but some had interesting jobs. A policeman, stock inspector, teachers etc etc. My bro tried to convince a German nurse to stay here. "We need nurses, " says he. He was old enough to be her grandfather, but her boyfriend still wasn't amused.
I have to admit, the most surprising were a couple of kids in the TV room (it's the internet booth also) at 80 mile beach. Now they could have been Exploroz members for sure.
I poked my head into the TV room to be met by a couple of kids about 10 and 12. "Oh, come in and pull up a chair, " they said with a smile.
No stranger danger here. I would have run away screaming "monster, there's a monster in there !"
They asked where I'd been, how I liked it and told me their story.
After they'd politely explained how fake "Home and Away" was, I left quietly.
I suspect that their parents would have been proud of them.
I'm pretty sure that the world is safe in the hands of the next generation.