Yesterday the band had an interesting ride of about 600 km (375 miles) from the country town of Mildura down to the southern port town of Portland. It was a very interesting ride through very different kinds of land. We started out passing through vineyards, quickly came into a very dry area desperately in need of rain, then into the base of the mountains which is sheep country, through dairy cattle areas and finally to the coast. As we went I was reminded of the scripture found in Psalm 50:9-12: "I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine." That scripture is a healthy reminder as we have had opportunity to look out the window of the bus at the rich diversity of the creation.
Early on in our ride the bus driver beeped his horn and those of us that were awake and alert looked forward to see a rather large kangaroo jumping across the road in front of our bus. The front of the bus is equipped with a cage to minimize the damage should a kangaroo be hit. Quite of few of us had our first kangaroo siting but a number missed the chance.
En route we stopped in a couple of small towns and had opportunity to explore. I do mean small towns with only a handful of shops on a main street. We also were privileged to stop at the Army in Horsham where they provided us lunch. Captains Cameron and Trudy Horsburgh and their team were gracious hosts providing lunch in their soup kitchen. Their soup kitchen is a relatively new ministry to the people of their community that drop in for a soup and slice lunch, have the opportunity for a reduced price haircut and a chance to learn of other Salvation Army ministries that are available to them. We quickly made friends and were pleased to meet them again when the Captain brought a bus load of people down to our concert in Portland. Before leaving Horsham some members of their local Army band played for us and Bill Himes also got to conduct them!
We continued on down the road to Portland after a quick stop for coffee at McDonald's in Hamilton. Upon arriving in Portland we checked into a hotel, quickly changed our clothes and then set up for our concert. A delicious dinner (is that getting redundant?) was provided for us by the Portland Salvation Army and a number of other churches that helped them prepare and clean up. It was noted that the food was provided gratis by the local Safeway and IGA stores which helped keep the costs for Portland to a minimum. They also had an official sponsor for the concert.
The concert itself. was well attended, particularly in light of it being a Tuesday evening. About 300 people were in attendance. It continues to amaze me the distances people in Australia are willing to travel in order to hear the band.
Following the concert the entire audience was invited to supper (coffee/tea/sweets) and a time of fellowship together. Even though it was late (after 10:00 pm) many people stayed and we didn't walk back to our hotel until just after 11:00 pm having had another wonderful day in the land down under. Thankfully our day on Wednesday doesn't start until an 8:15 am breakfast call followed by a 9:00 am bus departure.
Once again, we could not have been better taken care of than we were by Captains Christine and Warren Holman. They put together a fantastic team in their town to handle all of the arrangements which were superb. It was great to get to know them a little bit and to meet their six children!
That's all for now. We're off to Geelong and will write more later.
Mildura to Portland06/20/2006 06:48 PM
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