Easter at Roxby Downs & BCA Nomads

Somehow this email didn't send at the right time. so it is out of sequence. It really comes before the Hard Graft entry. So here goes. Lets hope this works this time. 
Roxby Downs is the venue of our first stint at volunteer BCA Nomad ministry work. I half expected it to be similar to Woomera but it is so different. There are lots of trees in spite of the dry sandy soil and this make such a difference and thus makes Roxby is an oasis in comparison. It is a modern good looking town. Shortly after our arrival at the RD Community Church, the minister, Mary Lewis welcomed us and we soon set up the Robbiebago in its new temporary home and relaxed. On Easter Friday there was a combined churches ‘Stations of the Cross’. We had first heard of the Stations just last year for the Catholic World Youth Day in Sydney. We started at the Catholic Church with a short bible reading and a song before walking behind a hand held crude cross on to 8 more sites where there was a reading and song at each location, concluding at the Community church where we concluded with fellowship over Hot Cross buns. It was also covered by the local paper with a front page story about the unity of the churches and “it’s all about Jesus’-a quote from a 5 year old. It is great to get Jesus mentioned favourably in the media. However Bob decided that he had enough of my cooking and decided to visit the local hospital which is just 300m down the road and get himself admitted with possible Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT). He reports that the hospital meal was good and huge, he had ribs and mounds of chips and vegetables, followed by a gigantic apple pie. Apparently the meals are cooked by the Worker’s (miners) restaurant and they are really good... no such thing as boring bland hospital food here! He is discharged the next morning as his leg has gone down and he is allowed home with very little restrictions, though he has to report every 24 hours for further injections and to await the results of blood test.

After church on Sunday morning we decided to visit Andamooka, a opal mining town just 30 km away. Dusty, old for the most part and seeing all those mounds around the holes is quite ugly really. The people that attended the afternoon church were very friendly. One guy, Con, offered to take us into the historic cottages and show and tell us the history of the town. This guy has a interesting history all his own. He has basically lived here since his teens, with a few breaks such as army service etc. He has been the Mayor of Andamooka. Con. The history tied up in the 3 cottages are very interesting on their own and doubly so when related to the personal history of Con and the way he tells of these characters really brings them to life. It was a tough life but one that he or ‘they’ would never have swapped for anything else. The rooms are basically made of local stone with a dab and wattle roof. They are dug into the side of the hill and very tiny. Often not much more than a cot (narrow bed) , a chair , maybe a table which more often than not is a recycled packing case. There is a small window and it is surprisingly cool in the cottages.

On Monday, Bob was told that he has to go back to Port Augusta as soon as possible for further tests. That is a bit of a worry. We managed to get an appointment at 12.30 on Tuesday. The tester was able to tell us that it is NOT a blood clot....so now what is it??? Bob went straight to the hospital on our return. He has Bakers Cyst. We don’t know much about it. Apparently if it gets bad enough the only treatment is to have a knee replacement. In the meantime it appears it is just a waiting game. We thank God that it is not potentially fatal.