After quitting nearly three months previously, we decided to stay in Ingham based on assurances regarding changes to Steve's work involving helicopters which up until now had been virtually non existent. Steve and I then made the decision recently that we needed to move on if he was going to have any chance of achieving ongoing flying hours. The promises and potential for gaining hours in Steve's current situation just weren't coming off and although we would have been happy to stay on, the balance of flying time versus other work were just weighed too heavily against him.
The girls and I had melded quite nicely into Ingham life but after 10 months, I just didn't realize how ingrained we had become into people's lives. I had been told about the difficulty in becoming a part of the Ingham community but I didn't really find it difficult at all. My friends were all genuinely disappointed that we were moving on and over the coming month it took us to pack up and set off, a series of invitations and outings were organized to say goodbye to us.
Mine and Becca's playgroup friends were the first to organize a night out at the Forrest Beach hotel as a goodbye for me and also to continue a once a month get together for the mums. It was a great night out without the kids although we spent a lot of time talking about them anyway amongst other topics. Caroline was our playgroup liaison and kept us all in the loop about all things playgroup. She and her family had moved from Townsville to Ingham for work and she and her hubby liked nothing better than getting away from it all with the kids in their Nissan GQ 4WD and camper trailer and/or boat. Sounds familiar!! She is also community minded especially since her son started kindy this year. She doesn't mind getting dirty as was evident on the day that we dropped over to their house and there was Caroline digging a hole in clay soil to save a tree from a slow suffering in a tub. They had a border collie dog that became famous for following golfers around the Macknade golf course and picking up their golf balls (only when the golfers needed him to). Macknade was a community that evolved around a sugar mill near Ingham. Caroline visited our house while we were packing to give me a gorgeous laminated poster of all the kids hand and foot prints for Becca and I to keep. She also gave me a framed photo of we girls at our Forrest Beach pub night out and one of all the playgroup kids for us to remember. It was genuinely warming that my friends wanted to give us such wonderful memories of our time in Ingham.
Next was a Mother's Day get together at Lucinda park on the coast. The four or so families that we had been invited to catch up with for the once a month 'hot dish' night got together with us for one last time. It was my turn to host 'hot dish' night but because we were in the middle of packing, it was decided that a fish and chips catchup would be best especially as it was Mum's Day. The kids (all 14 of them) played on the playground while the parents chatted, mostly without interruption. Jen and Michael were particularly like minded and although Jen had grown up in Ingham, they enjoyed travelling and camping like us. Despite their busy lives (Jen would always fly up to the 2 minute drop off zone at school after the last bell in the mornings before rushing to the high school to work as a chemistry teacher) they always had time for a chat or hi! Hot dish night was particularly important for catch ups. That is also where I got to know Amanda who was my exercise motivator. She started walking her son to school to drop extra weight she couldn't lose after her daughter was born a year earlier. After a short time she started to look great (well she didn't look bad before) and so I got motivated to walk Erin to school as well. Amanda loves her family and her friends despite some difficulties and is a great supporter of her church group. We both got excited about 'Jamie Olivers Ministery of Food' classes and had a ball during those five weeks of cooking. Her kids' birthday parties and hot dish nights were really amazing with her attention to detail. She went onto youtube to learn how to make balloon art for her kids birthday parties. Those balloons came in handy for other occasions too. This had been a transformation from a shift working midwife who's speciality was frozen microwave dinners. She certainly put all of herself into everything she did.
The following weekend we were invited to Steve and Linda's place for dinner and one last catchup between their four kids and our two girls. They had all become firm friends and Chas was Erin's knight in shining armour when she started school in his class last year. Becca had also become great friends with Katelyn who was a similar age to her. It was also a goodbye for Brindle who was born there and who's brothers were still living there although much bigger and more boisterous than when they were pups. Linda and I had become great friends too and used to spend extended periods (usually during and after kids activities) discussing all sorts of things. She was very easy to talk to and we had quite similar ideas and interests while finding ourselves separated from extended family. She was always busy with the kids, trying to keep her own dancing and teaching career alive while supporting Steve as one of Inghams' pastors and community leaders. She has a secret passion to be a pilot too and I truly hope she keeps that dream alive because life all too commonly takes over and dreams get left behind. I received a most beautiful bracelet and matching earrings in my favourite colour green on the night of our farewell dinner. Linda told me on one occasion that the colour suited me. She also gave me a beautifully written card thanking me for being a friend which wasn't hard at all. Erin and Becca received some little gifts to keep them amused in the car on our travels and a special drawing from each of the kids from 15 month old Prisca, Katelyn, Liela to the eldest Chas. Although Chas and Erin ended up in different classes this year and Linda and I didn't catch up as much at school, we did manage to touch base at playgroup and kindergym which was great.
Speaking of kindergym, Becca's instructor Rin organized her last kindergym class with fairy themed costumes and cupcakes to say goodbye. I wasn't there for her final lesson as Linda offered to take her one last time while Steve and I were madly packing everything up.
As word filtered through to people that we were leaving, farewell cards and well wishes were given and friends talked about how they had 'clicked' with me where they generally keep to themselves or their small group of friends. The mum of one of Erin's closest friends in class also enjoyed great chats with me both before and after school. Sometimes Lauren and I would find ourselves all alone in the school carpark after school because everybody else had long gone. We were vastly different ages but both loved a chat and realized only weeks before we left that we were both Geminis and had birthdays 6 days apart. When it came to family, we had similar ideas and experiences too. Lauren was Ingham born and bred and still had great grand parents around. She has a long standing family history and support in Ingham for herself, her hubby and the kids. That still didn't stop her making a new friend in me and I received a lovely goodbye card and two hand embroidered Ingham teatowels in my favourite colour green. One teatowel even had a green tree frog on it which is one of my favourite animals. We laughed about how she had guessed what my favourite colour and animal was.
Whether it was someone I had only met a couple of months before or someone I had met and known since we arrived in Ingham, the feeling of sadness which everyone felt about our leaving was humbling. I didn't want people to be sad at our departure and part of me was sad too because these people had all become great friends. It was a great privilege to have met such wonderful people and I haven't managed to mention them all as they had welcomed me and the girls into their lives. I have realized how you can have much in commom with people you only meet briefly and that they can enrich your life and enhance our travelling experience while we live away from our family. Even though Ingham has such a long standing family lineage with many generations of family supporting one another, an outsider like myself can feel supported and befriended in such a short time. I remember thinking when we left Mapleton that I will never quite match the friends I had made there. Although Mapleton will always hold a special place for me and my time there, Ingham will also hold special but different memories because although it was a totally different community, the people became great friends to me and my family.
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