After my Sapphire Sojourn of a couple of good months and my visit to Stephen and family in Hervey Bay which lasted two weeks, I am now back on the road and heading south. Tonight I am at Kumbia for a much needed shower, and doing some washing.

This poor town, there's not much left of it, café gone, gift/craft shop gone, lots of empty buildings. After my shower Daisy and I walked up to the butcher to get her some bones. What a lovely man, he cut them up small for me then wouldn't charge me for the bones. Daisy and I were both very happy.

Heading further south tomorrow and meeting up with a friend on Sunday at Lightening Ridge. I met Cheryl in Sapphire and we have kept in touch. She is travelling with her two Staffy dogs Mother and son, Gemma and Mack. Daisy adores them and thinks they are her family. Gemma keeps her in line like a mumma should.

We will be heading inland south west taking in Bourke and down to Broken Hill, Silverton before crossing into Vic at Mildura.

How Much Can One Family Take: Stephen and Jacinta and the kids are going through a terrible time at the moment. Jacinta, having lost her dad in a flying accident just 3 yrs ago just out of Bundaberg aged in his 50s, is now going through losing her mum aged 55 to cancer. She has been through all the usual Chemo and Radiation. Since the beginning of the year Jacinta has been run of her feet between Gladstone, Hervey Bay and Brisbane. Stephen has been left to manage the household which he has done very well, cooking the meals, doing all the washing, sorting the kids to get to school and after school activities.

Although the doctor gave Jacinta's mum a short time I fear this might be shortened as she goes down hill very fast. She is now living with Stephen and Jacinta and Jacinta is now her mums full time carer. When I first met her mum only this year, she was a vivacious 55 year old riding a Harley Davidson as all the family have done for years. Now she is slowly getting around with a walker and needing to be picked up off the floor when she falls.

How can this happen, it's cruel and to lose both parents in their 50s is so sad for 3 young families.

To top it all off on Monday night they had to call an ambulance to Stephen whose leg sprung a leak once again and was bleeding all over the bathroom. They managed to stop the bleeding this time without a trip to hospital, which happened only a few months ago. He now has an appointment with a vascular surgeon in Bundy to see about having that vein stripped.

Then Jacinta came down with a very sore hip and couldn't walk very well, in so much pain. I thought it might be sciatica but it turned out she had all but dislocated her hip some how. Has been getting it fixed and on bed rest with lots of painkillers.

I did what I could while I was there and looked after her mum for the weekend just gone so they could have a break and fun as a family out at a friends farm, riding motorbikes, horses and having BBQs.

As soon as I left all this other stuff happened but I was told not to worry, her brother came down during the week from Gladstone for a few days to help her get their mums affairs in order and her sister in law has arrived today for the weekend to lend a hand.

I know this is longwinded but I haven't up dated for a while so that's where we are up to now.