Pt Broughton

Greetings to one and all

When we were told at Meredith Park about someone here in Pt Broughton who allowed campers to spend a few days at his home with a charge of $10.00 and allowed you to connect up to power and water we phoned through and booked our two vans in for 3 nights. The chap indicated that there was no one there currently and gave us the directions to get to his place.

So after arriving we followed his directions and kept our eyes open for the two story red roof house just on the outskirts of town. There was only one two story place so we drove in half expecting it to be the wrong place because we could see nowhere suitable for our vans. We had a picture in our minds of a nice grassy area where we could set up and relax. And this was not that. With no one home we decided to head back into town and make some enquiries as to exactly where this place was. Pt Broughton is a small place with about 1,200 people so we figured someone in town had to know if this was the place we were looking for. So Ken and Colin headed into a local store to enquire and when they came back they said we did have the right place BUT it had just been closed down because he didn't have the facilities that were required by law.

It must have just happened because when we rang to book in he was very happy for us to come.

That changed things because we were now three days early for our Travel Auction 5 nights stay at the Pt Broughton Caravan Park. Only one thing to do and that was go in and see if they had any vacancies for us. It seemed quite crowded when we drove up to the entrance so we half expected to be told no sites available.

Wrong again, they did have vacancies so we were put up at the back of the Park where we were virtually on our own. it was great. We were literally on our own and it was like having an ensuite of our own because I never saw anyone else but Pam and I only saw her once. The facilities were great, they were cleaned every day and the laundry washing machines were spotless.

Late yesterday a couple of vans and one tent came into our section so we lost our privacy.

It meant we have to be quieter when we are playing cards. John, if your reading this we mostly spend our evenings playing Golf and Schnouwzer ( no idea how you spell it) and Ken is definitely the champion of golf. We are desperately trying to catch him with a Queen and a Jack on the top.

Sunday morning we went to church at a little Uniting Church which I think was more a Community Church than any particular denomination.

The only other option was Catholic. It was led by locals. We were warmly greeted at the door and when we entered it would have been about 80% full if not more. There was a wonderful spirit of friendship with plenty of chatter happening. Bar two other people we were definitely the youngerst and women greatly outnumbered the men. It was probably an indication of the local community.

The scripture reading was of the parable of the Prodigal Son. The speaker, Kath focussed her message on the elder son rather than the younger son. she said it was so easy to let negative thoughts such as jealousy, bitterness, envy and anger creep into our minds and before you know it we have severred our relationshp with God. She said she had a saying which had helped her when she had bad thoughts. She said whenever bad thoughts happen Satan has an open doorway in which to enter our lives. So whennever we have those thoughts then quickly say "Abort the thought" She also said this is the one time God condones abortion. "Abort the thought" and in doing that we shut the door on Satan. She closed her address by giving us 5 points to ask God about. They were

1. Have I been truthful and honest

2. Have I been impure

3. Have I allowed bitterness to take root in my heart

4. Has love been my motive in everything

5. Have I sought God's glory - or my own glory.

I tend to think that we should be asking God these questions daily rather than weekly.

Pt Broughton has a small local school, presumably primary rather than secondary. The shopping centre includes the essentials. Small grocery, chemist .butcher, baker. One petrol station, one pub, small hospital which seemed to have an few independant living units and a nursing home as well. Also a footy club, a bowls club and golf club.

We drove around town checking out what was available before going for a drive to Fishermans Bay which was quiter than here in the off season. Fishermans Bay was mostly little holiday shacks that were closed up waiting for the next long weekend or school holidays when it must swell with holiday makers. The same would happen here at Pt Broughton as Paynesville and more than double its everyday population in peak season.

The water that our vans face onto is tidal but not sufficient to swim in. Crabbing again seems to be the draw card as there are people at night cooking up their crabs in the open air kitchen designed for that purpose.

bye for now

Lyn and Ken