Adelaide Sunday Mail, May 12, 1985, pages 22-23

I WALKED THE ROADS WITH GOD'S CHILDREN... And believe me� they believe!
by Tom Menzies.

I walked with the Christian walkers for a day, three days after they started their walk from Port Augusta. And their spirit talked to me. With tired legs and sore feet I learned that this walk is not a trick. These people really believe in a loving God who can feed his children.

I walked 15 miles with them from Iron Knob, stopping on Wednesday night to make two fires for cooking and for heat. Food came from people going by in a car, who had been reading about the group in the newspaper.

At 6:30am on Thursday we were on the road for a 38 mile walk to Kimba. At the first rest stop, two Christians stopped to give us coffee. They said they had been praying and God had said to bring drinks to us. They left when we finished the coffee and returned an hour later with food. They said that when they tried to eat, God said, "How can you eat when my children are hungry?"

Other cars stopped to talk to the walkers. In the middle of the day a leader from the Lions (a group that helps people) in Kimba, stopped to say they could sleep at his house when they arrived in Kimba.

At 2pm the group was almost out of water and had nothing to eat. A woman from Kimba stopped. She said she saw the walkers in the morning on her way to Port Augusta and had a feeling she should buy them food and drink on her return trip. They happily gave some of the food and drink to me without keeping any of it for future use.

The youngest walker, 12-year-old Rachel Sukumaran from India, was often carried on the shoulders of Malcolm or Roland. The effect of her spirit on the group is surprising. When she is happy and enthusiastic, the others are too. When she becomes tired and stops asking questions, the group becomes quiet and loses enthusiasm.

Protecting Rachel is the group's first interest.

When cars stopped to ask questions about the group's beliefs, they were happy to take time for answers. Because of this, it was after 10pm when we arrived in Kimba. My legs and hips were sore and my feet were burning.

I returned to see the walkers over the following three days, and talked with the oldest walker, Dane, who joined them at Iron Knob. We talked very early in the morning, when the others were sleeping and he was taking his turn to look after the fire.

I asked if he believed the others were able to understand how dangerous the walk could become. He did not answer my question.

"The most difficult thing is to find out what God wants," he said. "If Rachel was in danger, that could be a sign from God. But for now, he is feeding us and leading us very nicely."

Part 6:     EUCLA TO NORSEMAN

DAY THIRTY-THREE: Friday, June 7.

(Walked 21 miles from Eucla)

GARY: We were awake by 6:15am, put our things in the pram, then went up to the petrol station to buy some food. We have about $20 now.

CHRIS: When we were walking out of Eucla, a "born again" husband and wife stopped to take our pictures, and then gave us $5.

ROB: It was a nice walk down the road from Eucla. You could easily think you were living 100 years in the past. This land is not touched by time. Before we had walked three miles, we saw a big male cow on the road far in front of us. He did not look very friendly. We talked for half an hour about what to do if he started to run at us. But in the end he just watched us walk by him!

I had a talk with Mal about his feelings toward David and Cherry. Leaving the group after the walk is one way to get away from the problem, but I said it would be better to fix it. He just bottles it up inside.

The Western Australia roads are very poorly fixed and the mile signs are different, so we can't tell clearly how far we have travelled. The head policeman from Eucla just went by in his car. We do not want problems with him, so we are going to try to sleep without a fire tonight. We have all been eating lollies that a man from Victoria gave us.

DANE: A Christian family from Victoria stopped late in the morning. The father is head of a school. He thanked God for what we are doing. He and his family gave us food too.

RACHEL: There are many hills near Eucla. I have been looking for chocolate papers to make flowers out of them like we do in India. Malcolm is doing well in learning Kannada, but he has a difficult time trying to say Indian R's.

ROLS: Rachel was hurt in her spirit when I laughed at some of her mother's beliefs. It was not very kind of me.

CHRIS: At 12:30pm Gary did not think we needed a rest because we had stopped for half an hour with the family from Victoria. Most of us disagreed, saying the people who were tired should rest, so we stopped. After the rest, we had a few lollies, so I wasn't too sad about going to bed without a meal.

GARY: We stopped walking at 5:15pm. We had no food and there were some rabbit holes, so Rob and I had a go at smoking them out, but were not able to catch any. We went to sleep without any food.

CHRIS: The wind was very strong, blowing the tent around all through the night. We were not able to sleep well because of the noise of the tent hitting against itself in the wind. Next time we'll try to find a place that is protected from the wind. There are many deep channels where the rain water has cut into the ground. If we sleep in one, we'll have to pray that it doesn't rain. After losing our toilet paper, some of us were forced to go to the toilet the way the Indians do. It was not very nice!

DAY THIRTY-FOUR: Saturday, June 8.

(Walked 20 miles to Mundrabilla)

RACHEL: We were awake at 6:45am. We do not have any food so we started walking at 7:30am. After finding some powdered milk in the pram we mixed it and ate it because it was all we had.

CHRIS: At 10:30am a van stopped and a man gave us a small bag of dried fruit. Thank God! Then a man and woman gave us a small bag of lollies. They tasted very good! And then a family dropped off some fruit. That was all the food we had for the whole morning.

ROLS: Through the middle of the day all that we had to give us strength were five tins of beer and two tins of soft drink.

CHRIS: The men who gave us the beer were surprised that we would drink it, being Christians! I can't think of anything Jesus said against beer� The danger with beer comes when people think it will fix all their problems.

When we were walking, I learned a Tamil song from Rachel.

ROB: We listened to Acts 5 (Chris was reading). It was good to remember that when God was behind the Christians nothing could stop them. They didn't stop talking about Jesus when the leaders in their religion said they must stop, and we too should not stop. This reading was like a dream that Gary had about standing up for the truth.

GARY: At one time today we were thinking that Mal was going crazy from the sun or that he was talking in another language, but he was only doing exercises to himself trying to say Indian R's! We had a good laugh about that.

We did not take time for a long stop in the middle of the day, because we have no food to eat.

ROB: We arrived at Mundrabilla at 3pm because of short rest stops today. Not a bad day's work; we only walked for 7.5 hours. I talked to a family at the petrol station, and when they left, their 12-year-old daughter gave us a few chocolate biscuits.

GARY: We used our money to buy bread, cheese, and meat for today and fruit, milk, and wheat flakes for tomorrow. The man in the shop cut $5 off the price. He said we could sleep by the petrol station. I made a small tent by putting a long piece of plastic over a bench. It worked well. Rob and I used it and the others used the big tent. A man from Japan who is going around Australia on a motorcycle, put up a tent next to us and gave Rachel some chocolate.

RACHEL: The man from Japan is playing chess with Roland. Robin was teaching me a song today and Robin and I were teaching Chris a Tamil song.

CHRIS: We were reading Matthew 18 together before going to bed. We all feel that what it is saying to us at this time is to think of others as being more important than ourselves. MAL: Again we are not eating. We are not dying, but we have been hungry. I believe God wants us to be happy with what he gives (or does not give) and still we should be confident about telling others of his love. But we should do it without hiding the full truth, and that is that he does not always give us what we want.

DANE: Two or three times today some angry words were said. Being without food could be one reason for it. Robin has been telling us that being without food could be good for us, because it should make us more hungry to know what God wants us to do.

DAY THIRTY-FIVE: Sunday, June 9.

(Walked 21 miles from Mundrabilla)

GARY: We were up early this morning, at 5:30, but it was good that we had an early start, because it was 7:10 before we were ready to start walking. We used the last of our money before we left, on chocolate bars and tinned fruit.

ROB: Gary and I filled our water containers from tanks by the road a few miles out of Mundrabilla.

CHRIS: The wind is blowing strongly, and it is against us. You wouldn't think it would make much difference, but it does. We saw a van beside the road after it had hit a big kangaroo. It had turned over on its top, breaking the front and back windows. It was a very messy accident but the people were not hurt. They were waiting for someone to return with a wheel.

DANE: A dead kangaroo was beside the road. Gary believed it was the one that had been hit by the van a short time earlier. He, Rob, and Mal wanted to get meat from it. Chris, Rachel, Roland, and I walked on after our rest stop, and the others stayed to cut up the kangaroo. At the end of our next stop, three miles down the road, Gary, Robin, and Mal arrived covered in blood and carrying a bag filled with meat. By running in front of us they were at the next stop well before us. They cut up the meat and started cooking it before we arrived. In all it added an hour to our trip, but it filled our stomachs, and I think the meat tasted very good.

ROB: By taking off most of their clothes, Mal and Gary were able to cut up the kangaroo without getting blood on their robes. After cutting up the meat, they ran in turns carrying the meat. I ran beside them carrying their clothes.

GARY: When we were cooking and eating the kangaroo, two groups of cars stopped. They believed we must be very smart at living in the wild, because we had killed and cooked a kangaroo by ourselves. We played like this was true. The first car gave us fruit, fish, and salt. The next one gave us soft drinks, fruit, and some sweet food in a tin. They were part of a church group.

The motorcycle drivers who went by us on their way to Perth have just stopped again on their way back. Another group from the same church stopped. They gave us biscuits and oranges.

A man gave us a report about the walk from a Perth newspaper. It was a full-page report about our past, and it was very good.

RACHEL: Another kangaroo on the side of the road had been hit by a car. Its back legs were hanging and it was in much pain. So Robin ran after it with a big stone. He hit it and used the pocket knife to cut its throat and stop the pain.

GARY: It was dark when we finished walking 21 miles. We had some meat left to eat before going to bed. Rols, Dane and Rob ate it, but some of us were afraid that it was going bad because it had a strange taste. We all went to sleep feeling a little hungry.

ROLS: Nothing much happened today.

DAY THIRTY-SIX: Monday, June 10.

(Walked 27.5 miles toward Madura)

ROB: Five weeks into the walk and God is still with us. We were up at 5:30am.

RACHEL: We didn't have any food to eat this morning before a car stopped and gave us a little cheese. That was all we had between seven of us.

DANE: This morning I disagreed with Roland about greed. We talked about the ability of a group to judge other groups or to judge other people. We agreed that a group must say what it thinks is right and what it thinks is wrong, but it cannot say strongly that anyone outside of it is bad.

A car was stopped by the road and we were hungry. Someone asked if we should walk up to it and give them one of our leaflets. (Up to this point the walkers only gave leaflets to people who came to them first.) Mal and Rob said they couldn't do it without mixed reasons for doing it. (They were hungry for food and they would be thinking that the people in the car could give them food, when they should be thinking only of trying to help the people through what the leaflet was saying.) I said I could give the leaflet without thinking about food, and Chris said she could too. We gave them the leaflet and started to walk away. They asked us to come back so they could give us some food. From that point on, food started to come in from people in cars again.

RACHEL: In the middle of the day many cars stopped and gave us mountains of food. All of our stomachs were full. We were not able to finish all of it, so we had some to eat tonight. Dane is teaching Chris and me a song from Thailand. It is a nice song.

MAL: I believe God has been testing us to see how easily we would become discouraged. I was happy that I did not become angry or worried when the food was not coming in. We were all feeling some pain.

ROB: We had a group talk about greed today. Dane believes the greed of very big companies is the reason for most of the world's problems; but we disagreed. We said that we believe it is the greed of little people like us, who put our money into the big companies planning to receive more money back in the future. In the end we both agreed that greed in one shape or the other is the problem even if we could not agree about whose greed is worse.

CHRIS: I was talking to Dane about how I was not able to sleep well without a pillow last night and just as I was saying it, there was a pillow by the side of the road! But I later learned that it wasn't really what I wanted, as it was too much to carry; so I left it. It is good of God to teach me in this way.

ROLS: Mal, Rob, and Gary ran six miles in front of us tonight to put up the tent under a little metal roof with no walls under it. In the past the roof was over a water tank, but the tank is not there now.

GARY: It's just a roof, but the tent sides will keep the wind off.

A truck driver stopped today. He had a man with him who wanted to talk to us. This man said a newspaper had said that Rachel had died and we were carrying her body on the pram! Can you believe that? He gave us $5.

DANE: Some people who are against greed and who dress differently stopped today. They had two dogs with them. We talked with them about how the police often make problems for anyone who is different. After a good meal tonight, we rested by the fire before going to bed.

DAY THIRTY-SEVEN: Tuesday, June 11.

(Walked 23 miles to Madura)

CHRIS: Rob was up at five to start the fire. He called us at 5:30am.

GARY: Robin, Mal and I did not sleep in the tent last night. I don't know what has happened to the freezing weather they said we would have. I had a beautiful night's sleep. Again we do not have any food, so we'll just put away our things and start walking.

DANE: We were off early in good spirits. A family from Asia stopped and Mal tried saying some of what he plans to say at the end of the trip to them. They returned a few minutes later, as we were saying to Mal that he should use easier words when talking to people who don't know English well. When we ran up to the car, they handed us $100!

RACHEL: When Robin was teaching me about different countries today, three cars stopped at the same time. They wanted to take our pictures and they gave us food.

I had a difficult time walking in the strong wind today. I had a pain in my head too, so I had a ride on the pram.

CHRIS: Each time someone stops and helps us, by feeding our bodies or encouraging our spirits, it pushes me on. I feel that the love these people are showing us is really God's love. I've learned to thank God for people more on this trip.

ROB: Today we talked about things to say at the end of the walk. We want to say some serious things, mostly about obeying the teachings of Jesus.

We arrived here at Madura at 3:30pm today. When we were in the restaurant at the petrol station, a man came in and gave us $10.

After eating tonight, we were sitting around our fire and some men came and talked with us. They gave us a tin of pasta and some rice. We made them coffee using empty milk containers for cups.

ROLS: We learned today that workers at some of the Western Australia petrol stations are against us. We can see that this is true here at Madura. It must be why God gave us $100 � enough for tonight's meal and tomorrow's food, if we are to rest here tomorrow as planned. We put up our tent a stone's throw away from the shop, then gave each person $3.30 for each of four meals.

CHRIS: After eating I telephoned my father. Howard Sattler, a Perth newspaper writer, is putting false reports in the Sunday Times about us not helping poor people, and about us being part of the Children of God. People who do not like us often say that we should do more to help the poor, but they won't do much to help the poor themselves, so David wants to take Sattler to court for saying we are part of the Children of God, and to show up the other lies in what he was saying. The plan would be to force him to give money to the poor for what he is doing to hurt us. We would be doing it to show up the lies and not to hurt him, but most people would think we were not showing love toward him. I feel, too, that if we forced Sattler to give the poor any money that the court says he should give to us, it could look like we were giving our own money to the poor, and Jesus says we should do things like that secretly.

ROLS: Dane, Gary and I are strongly against David's plan. Christ had people telling lies about him, but the way he showed up the lies was with his life. We do want to show up the lies and help people to see the truth, if we can do it in some other way. I know that is what David wants too.

MAL: If our reason for taking action against Sattler was not to protect ourselves, but to use the action as a way to point people to God, then we would have the right spirit. But I am not clear that it is our only reason. On looking back, I believe the money we gave to the poor in Penong (see day eighteen) was not what God wanted from us.

GARY: When we gave money to the poor in Penong it had a good reason behind it too (to show how well God was helping us), but I now think it wasn't a good enough reason to go against Matthew 6:1. ("When you help the poor, do it secretly.") Last night I had a dream about giving the other side of your face to anyone who hits the first side. By doing that with Sattler's lies, we can say more than we could by hitting back. I think the "sheep" in Perth will see through his lies.

DAY THIRTY-EIGHT: Wednesday, June 12.

(Rest day In Madura)

CHRIS: Mal was awake at 7am and went for a walk up on the hill near here.

RACHEL: I was up at 7:45am. Robin had started a little fire so that we could sit around it to be warm. I finished a letter to my parents in India. Madura is a beautiful place like Eucla. We are by the mountains. I was happy to have a wash, because I was very dirty. I stayed under the water for half an hour!

ROB: The woman who owns the petrol station would not sell us stamps after a man who works here said we could buy some. She says the stamps are only for her workers! She didn't know Gary was listening when she was talking to a man about running us over with a car and then saying it was an accident. She was laughing when she said it.

It's interesting doing our own shopping and looking for the cheapest things to buy, because prices here are very high; $3.30 doesn't go very far at all.

As we were sitting around our fire today, three separate groups of people came to talk. Two were bringing food for us, but all of them were interested in finding out why we are walking. They said that in their circles of friends they had been talking about us. That was very encouraging to me-that people are thinking and talking about what we are trying to say. I've been going spiritually at about a five out of ten most of the time. I'm becoming a little tired of walking day after day, but it's been good to be in on this. I wouldn't have stayed out of it for the world. I've dropped out of talking to most of the reporters now, but I do an interview or two from time to time.

GARY: A young man and his mother came to see us. They don't believe in God, but the son said he wants us to finish, so we'll make more people think.

One problem I can see coming up is a soft place on one side of one of the pram wheels. The rubber from the tube is projecting out through it. Surprisingly, I have not had one sore on my feet on this trip. Dane and Mal are the only ones who have had many problems with their feet and they are both almost 100% now. They have been airing their feet at each rest stop and this helps. We are all in good spirits and growing stronger each day. We are looking forward to doing free work in Adelaide when we finish.

ROLS: Two poor families travelling around Australia in two buses stopped to talk with us. There were some sayings printed on the bus sides, like "Why are you going so fast?" They were very friendly and said they wanted us to do well on our trip.

GARY: Alex, a truck driver from Greece, stopped to talk with us. He said he would give two of us a ride back to Adelaide in his truck when we finish the walk.

DAY THIRTY-NINE: Thursday, June 13.

(Walked 19 miles from Madura)

GARY: Chris called David again. He said he wanted to take court action against Sattler by himself, even if we disagreed. Mal, Dane, Rols and I believe that he shouldn't do this, and Chris and Rob did not take a stand one way or the other. So I called up Sydney for the others of us, to tell Dave what we were thinking.

DANE: Not long after leaving Madura, a fire fighter and his family stopped, said that they agreed with what we are doing, and gave us some food. We encouraged Rachel to receive lollies from his children as it was good for them to give. They are going to send our letters for us.

A short time after that, another husband and wife stopped. The woman said she is a Christian (Pentecostal) and her husband is not, but she acted less Christian than her smiling husband.

A few more cars stopped to encourage us and some gave food.

RACHEL: Some people gave me three story books to read as I am walking.

CHRIS: After we had a meal in the middle of the day a woman stopped and asked what our reason is for walking. We said that too many people are killing themselves worrying when they should stop worrying about where their food will come from and do what they can to help other people, and God will protect and feed them. She gave us thirty cents. Two reporters who stopped to take pictures of us for a Perth newspaper earlier in the walk (See Day Twenty-eight), stopped again on their way back to Perth.

ROB: One motorcycle driver shouted at us as he went by, but most of the people are very friendly. I think the truck drivers have separated into two groups, one for us and one against us. Some of them drive off the road on our side when coming toward us, to make us afraid, and then tell reporters that we should not be walking on their road; but others have been very friendly, and happy to help us in many ways.

GARY: A truck driver stopped and gave us fruit. He was very friendly. An old man and woman gave us a kettle to make tea or coffee in, so we can have a real coffee break now. We had a group of actors stop. They were a mix of Christians and people who were not interested in Christian things. They were very friendly and gave us food.

ROLS: We put up the tent at 5pm and made a big fire, the biggest so far. I tried to have a quiet time but my head was too full of myself. Many times foolishness has filled my mind. Believing that what I think is more important than what others think is just foolishness in another shape.

MAL: Something I have learned to like much more through the walk is the stars. Each night I stay awake on the ground just looking up at them.

DAY FORTY: Friday, June 14.

(Walked 17.5 miles toward Cocklebiddy)

RACHEL: I was too lazy to get up at 5:30. All the others were up early, but I was still in the tent half awake. DANE: We are getting faster and faster at putting up and taking down the tent, but we still argue as much as we always have. It makes me think the anger has a deeper reason.

ROB: We walked six miles before finding a dead kangaroo. Gary, Mal and I stayed back to take the skin off. It turned into a bigger job than we had planned and the others were worried about us. There were some problems that came from that� mostly between Gary and Chris.

RACHEL: There are many dead kangaroos on the road. The smell is very bad. No one stopped to talk to us when we were walking today. It was a boring day. You don't feel like it is boring when people stop to talk.

GARY: The pram wheel has a hole in it, so we stopped walking at 2:50pm. Just as we stopped, some Christians pulled up in two cars. They gave us another two man tent, two sleeping bags, food, a knife, and some teaching on how to dry the kangaroo skin. They were from Canada and New Zealand.

DANE: The Christians said that they would never try walking across the desert; but they really wanted us to finish the trip.

CHRIS: Not long after they left, a truck pulled up and the truck driver, a Christian too, came over and talked with us. He gave us some fruit, bread, jam, dried fruit, milk, toilet paper, butter, and a box of corn flakes. His name is Nick.

DANE: It turns out the truck driver is not a church going Christian, but he believes in love as the force of God. He stayed with us all night, sleeping in his truck. He ate with us the next morning before leaving. The feeling between us was close as we separated.

DAY FORTY-ONE: Saturday, June 15. (Walked 20 miles to Cocklebiddy)

CHRIS: Gary was not happy about people leaving all the work of putting things away each morning to him, so we agreed to try to do more to help him.

RACHEL: Last night Dane and Malcolm did not want to sleep in the tent; they wanted to watch falling stars. There were many stars in the sky. When we were looking at the sky before going to bed, we were able to find three satellites.

A few minutes after we started walking this morning we saw a kangaroo on the road that had not been dead for long. Robin and Malcolm wanted to skin it and Chris wanted to watch and learn how to do it. We said that they could stay back to do it and the others would keep walking.

ROB: It was three hours before we were able to join up with the others after taking the skin off the kangaroo. We ran some of the way and running made it difficult for Chris to breathe. At our meal stop Gary put salt on the skin. It rained for five minutes after we finished eating. We were wet, but we covered the blankets and things on the pram with the space blankets and they are dry.

MAL: Rachel and I both had problems with my language learning today. Some Kannada words must be said perfectly, or people cannot understand them. For the life of me, I couldn't hear the difference between Rachel's way of saying it and my way.

GARY: Almost no cars stopped today. Toward the end of the day, some people stopped who had been drinking far too much wine. They were friendly and wanted us to have a drink with them so we agreed. But when we finished the drink and it was time for us to start walking again, one of them wouldn't leave us and he wanted to argue. He followed us for three miles, all the way to Cocklebiddy!

DANE: In Cocklebiddy, some men who fish for a living wanted to talk with "the man with the beard". They gave us beer after beer. One man liked me; and he asked me, Gary, Rob, and Roland to spend some time in his caravan smoking drugs and listening to music. They were happy that we were not too good for them.

(When David learned by telephone that some of the walkers were drinking heavily and smoking drugs to show they were not "too good" for someone, he was angry and said the young people should not follow Dane when they could see that his actions were not right. After this, Dane, who had been arguing that the group followed David too much, started taking a stronger stand against David. The group rule is that they must not use drugs, and each person can have one or two drinks, but no more.)

ROB: Mal went to bed, and Chris and Rachel had a wash when the rest of us were drinking. One man liked Dane's long hair and beard and his interest in drugs.

RACHEL: One of the men was talking to me about India. Chris and I washed ourselves and then washed some clothes before going to sleep.

DAY FORTY-TWO: Sunday, June 16.

(Walked 16 miles from Cocklebiddy)

ROB: The fishing men came to see us before we left this morning. They gave us three big fish that we'll eat tonight. I'm still having arguments with Mal and Gary, because I am not against David wanting to take action against Sattler. A meeting just ended with Gary going off crying and calling me a "goat". I don't know what to do to work it out.

DANE: We did more talking about why David tries to think for us when we have said that we disagree with him. Four of us are going to answer any newspaper or television questions by saying that we do not want to be a part of what David is planning.

(David had, by this time, changed his plans and had not said anything to reporters about taking action against Sattler.)

GARY: When we stopped to eat in the middle of the day we had a good talk about taking action against Sattler. Rob and Chris still do not agree with us, but now they can see that we are not trying to fight against David; we are just trying to do what we believe is right. Kevin is meeting us at Balladonia, and he will tell us what David is thinking. There are now no bad feelings between any of us.

RACHEL: When I was walking I saw twenty cents (five rupees) on the ground. Before we finished walking another mile I saw another twenty cents. I want to use it to buy a picture to send to my friend in India. The wind was blowing strongly today. It was difficult for me to walk into it, so Gary and Rob were walking in front of me to protect me from the wind. I had a sore head again.

CHRIS: A husband and wife stopped and gave us food, and some oil to put on our kangaroo skin. At 4pm, a man and woman stopped to talk. They were not happy with the Christian religion, but believe in God. They agreed with our reasons for walking across the Nullarbor. We stopped for the day by a hill of stones that workers use for fixing the road, about 25 miles from Caiguna. I put onions inside the fish and oil all over them before cooking them in hot stones from the hill of stones beside the road. Mal cooked some rice and vegetables. It was a beautiful meal.

DAY FORTY-THREE: Monday, June 17.

(Walked 25 miles to Caiguna)

CHRIS: This morning we ate up the food that was left from last night and started walking at 7:30am. A few cars stopped this morning and gave us a little more food.

GARY: We had small measures of bread, beans, and oranges to eat by the middle of the day. We're all hungry still.

We just had another hole explode in the pram wheel from the part that was projecting through the rubber. We've fixed it for now but it's not very strong. We may be carrying things on our backs before long. MAL: The wind today was very strongly against us. It made walking very difficult. We are all very tired. At one stop I left my glasses behind. I remembered them five minutes after we had started and walked back to get them. I was angry at myself and at God because of it.

DANE: Rachel walked part of the way without shoes today, as she has foot problems. After a small meal, with the wind still blowing, Chris is singing happily� It makes me think of St. Francis. Alex, the truck driver from Greece who stopped to talk to us at Madura (See Day Thirty-eight) stopped and gave us enough potatoes to fill up on tonight.

ROB: Caiguna is the first place for a long time that we have arrived at without money and with almost no food. We have sixty-four cents that we will use to buy a stamp to send our writings. It must be a sign that this will be a friendly place.

DANE: When we arrived at Caiguna, Rob, Chris and Rachel asked for a few things to make the potatoes taste better (salt, butter and a little milk), and the people from the petrol station gave them to us. They said we could use their hot water to wash ourselves with too.

ROB: We have tried not to ask for things, but we think it is something Jesus said we could do (see Matthew 10:11). This is the first time we have come straight out and asked for something to eat (salt, butter, and milk), and the people at the petrol station were very happy to help. We had potatoes cooked in water, potatoes cooked in oil, and potatoes cooked on hot stones for our meal tonight, so we all ate well.

CHRIS: The people here at Caiguna are friendlier and more in agreement with what we're doing. I went to sleep not long after eating because I was tired and cold. After I went to sleep, the owner of the petrol station said we could sleep in a bus that has beds in it. Roland and I were asleep in the tents by this time, but the others moved to the bus for the night. It was wet and cold outside, but it was warm and dry in the tent. The days are growing shorter. The sun is only up between 7am and 5:30pm now.

DAY FORTY-FOUR: Tuesday, June 18.

(Rest day in Caiguna)

RACHEL: We did not wake up before 7:30am. Every rest day we wake up late. When we were up, a man who works at the restaurant in the petrol station came and said that we could have some hot food this morning. It was nice of them to give it. They gave us three different meals today. Most times I really like rest days, but at times I get out of the Spirit because I want to rest the whole day when the others want me to help with some of the work.

CHRIS: We talked about our plans for after the walk. Some of us would like to go to Perth for a short time before returning to Adelaide, where we would try to work for people for free.

ROLS: The argument about Sattler was on again today. Having received a letter from David, I now have a better understanding of the reasons behind his thinking, but I still feel against it. It is too bad that we cannot agree on this. (David had sent the letter before his change of plans.)

ROBIN: Things are not good between us because of this plan to take action against Sattler. The others are very strongly against the plan and say that if it wasn't for the walk they would leave the group over it. I feel that a big part of the problem is coming from bad feelings in the past on Mal's part. He strongly disagrees with me on this and feels hurt and angry that I could say a thing like this. I still think the others need to learn from his past problems and not follow him in this. We should not forget that it happened very much like this before. I think that taking action against Sattler is a good plan that would have the effect of showing up some lies that many people are using against us. I can see how people could take it the wrong way, but that could happen with our disagreeing too, or with anything that we do.

ROLS: I am not angry with David and I have not said anything against him. My belief is not strong enough to leave the group over it.

GARY: Dane, Rols, and Rob used part of their rest day to do some free work cleaning up papers in front of the petrol station. I made a bag out of part of the kangaroo skin. Mal did some washing. Chris and Rachel worked on writing letters.

MAL: At last I started making a hat from some of the kangaroo skin. I'm making it like the hats they wear in Russia. Gary has been helping with plans for it.

CHRIS: I started out writing letters but I ended up talking to people from the buses. Four buses stopped at one time and many of the people were interested in how we are going. Because Rachel and I were sitting outside the restaurant at the time, where I was trying to write, they asked their questions of us.

Malcolm has made a hat. With the cold wind, a hat will be a big help in warming our ears.

ROB: I went to buy some stamps with $2 that a woman gave to Chris today and the people in the petrol station said I could keep the money; they gave me the stamps for free. I said we should spend the money for something, so I ended up buying chocolates, because I know we all like them.

The water here does not have salt in it because of the latest rain, so we were able to use soap to wash our hair.

I fixed up the wheel of the pram using some cloth covered with strong paste. Holding the wheel together now are tape, old belts, and pieces of rubber. But the rubber on the wheel itself is still breaking apart in places. We could finish up carrying our things into Norseman.

ROLS: Some of the workers here are able to see through some of the false thinking that most people have about money. One worker said he knows it is not good to use his time working for money, but he sees growing food as the only other way to live. He was friendly and liked what we are trying to say through the walk.

GARY: The walk is becoming more and more difficult, but I think we are becoming stronger each day too, so that it is having less effect on us.

DAY FORTY-FIVE: Wednesday, June 19.

(Walked 23 miles from Caiguna)

CHRIS: We were awake at 5:30. I telephoned Sydney and was very happy to hear about Kevin winning the $5000 Young People's Year art award.

At the same second when the telephone call came through in Sydney telling Kevin about the award, Kevin, David, Cherry and Ross were talking about the need for $5000 to print a book about the walk. That is how this book was first printed.

Rob sent off some letters and then thanked the owner of the petrol station for being so kind to us. The workers gave us seven apples and seven oranges for our first meal today. We walked by another kangaroo that had been killed by a car. A dead baby kangaroo was next to it. I talked to Rachel about how kangaroos have babies. From this we moved to talk about how some women kill their babies because they're too lazy or too greedy to stop working for money and spend time with their children. We finished today's school time by learning the most important towns in some countries, and by talking about the equator and how weather changes when you move north or south of it.

RACHEL: Today I was feeling happy and I was not tired at all. I was telling Malcolm an Indian story. The story teaches an important truth.

MAL: Dane was reading out parts of the Bible for me today as we were walking. Hearing him, and what the Bible was saying, made me forget the miles.

DANE: We're having a problem with a wheel on the pram. Gary and Rob have been behind most of the morning fixing it and trying to catch up.

It looks like rain, but our spirits are high. We feel like we can see the finish line in our minds now, and that makes a big difference.

GARY: Rob and I pulled the old rubber and tube off the pram wheel, and we made a solid rubber covering from an old piece of rubber from a truck wheel. We hammered it neatly into the border of the wheel. Then we used wire to hold the ends together. It was 2:30 before we were back with the others.

A police car raced by and one of the policemen shouted out "Get f---ed!" as he went by.

CHRIS: A woman gave us $3.50 and said to use it for some special medicine to keep us healthy if we don't eat enough oranges. But the next place where we could buy this medicine is in Norseman, and by the time we arrive there we won't need it! Her husband must have secretly put some food on the pram without us knowing because it was there after they left.

A police car pulled up and the policeman asked (nicely this time) if we had any problems. We said no, and we walked on, stopping at 5pm today.

ROLS: Very few cars stopped through the day. We did not have a full meal all day, but I think we're growing stronger spiritually through this walk, and we are now confident that it is all under God's control. We went to bed hungry, but we were in happy spirits.

GARY: When we were putting up the tent, a car stopped. The young man in the car was the son of the brother of the owner of the hotel near where we lived in Casino. (See page 13) Kevin had painted a big picture on the wall of the hotel as part of our free work when we were living there. (See page 23) This young man saw it after we moved away and had wanted to meet Kevin. He was thinking that I was Kevin.

DANE: Roland and I are still playing chess on rest days and on long breaks. He is getting better or I am getting worse, because he is winning with less and less chess pieces to start with.

Malcolm and I are planning to sleep out again tonight.

DAY FORTY-SIX: Thursday, June 20.

(Walked 21 miles toward Balladonia)

RACHEL: This morning when we were getting up there was ice on the tents. It was very cold last night. When the sun was up, we started to walk.

ROLS: I had a dream that I was sleeping in a park with some friends. We didn't have any money. Then we saw a boy who lived with us in the past and he was not very friendly. Across the road there was a building. I went in to ask for some food. I had the feeling that no one liked me. When I went into the building I saw many past friends who were eating mountains of beautiful food. I tried to talk to them, but they acted like they could not see me. A policeman shouted, "You there! Get out!" I think the dream says something about my feelings.

DANE: We had food in the morning from people in three cars. A man from Germany was in one of them and he gave us some dried kangaroo meat. It was a little hard to stomach because it was not cooked. For our meal stop in the middle of the day we had mostly spiritual food� a Bible study of Matthew 20. No one was worried about not eating. When we were almost ready to leave, a man and woman pulled up and gave us food for our stomachs and oil for our skin. They asked if they could pray with us. The man said that in his mind he could see a tall cylinder of fire leading us across the desert.

MAL: I was really encouraged by these people praying for us. Often between ourselves, I feel that I am by myself in my walk of faith. I do not tell the others about my worst problems because I think they will all use them to believe the worst about me. It was a big help hearing someone say that they believe I am a Christian.

GARY: The fishers we had a drink with at Cocklebiddy went by again on their way back to Cocklebiddy. They had not been able to find any fish.

CHRIS: The leader of a big Pentecostal church in Perth encouraged us by saying his people are praying for us.

A truck stopped and the driver gave us food and matches. Another truck driver who had stopped before (see day thirty-nine) gave us some water, and promised some food on his way back in a few days. A family in a van talked with us when we were resting. We played a few songs on their guitar. It was nice to be able to sing and have an easy time of resting with them.

RACHEL: It was nice playing and singing, but I didn't play the guitar myself. At times when I am tired, I think of The Never Ending Story, where the boy was a prisoner in the mud. He was trying to help the world. I think the same. This is what I will say to the reporters when they ask me what helped you to keep going when you were tired. It was a nice day today. It is really good when people stop to talk.

ROB: We did not sing well together because we haven't played together for six weeks. We stopped walking a mile short of our plan for today because of that long music break. When we opened out the tent, there was still ice in it! That shows how cold it is. We are doing all we can to stay warm tonight.

DAY FORTY-SEVEN: Friday, June 21. (Walked 25 miles toward Balladonia)

CHRIS: Generally we find enough timber to feed the fire all night, but we do not keep it going if it's not a really cold night. Last night was a very cold night. In the middle of the night, Malcolm and Rachel were too cold in the tents, so they moved out by the fire.

ROB: I was up at 4:15am. I called the others at 5:30. All we had left were a few biscuits. The last few meals have been very small. We could be getting too confident that we'll make it. We walked on and had very little food all day. When doing difficult work in cold weather, the body needs more food, so we are finding it more difficult to push our bodies on now.

CHRIS: A husband and wife who have been living by faith and writing the Bible in the languages of Papua New Guinea gave us some biscuits, and a sleeping bag for Rachel because she was cold last night.

DANE: As we were walking this morning we talked about using money. I disagree with the others because I think it's better to not use money at all.

GARY: Rols and I had a talk with Dane about Jesus saying "You can't work for God and money. You will love one and hate the other." Dane said it is saying that we shouldn't use money at all. I said that the word used for money here is talking about all the things that money can buy too, and we would have to stop wearing shoes or eating food if hating it is the same as not using it. I said that I understand it to be saying that we should hate the control that money has over people. I think we can use money, but it is wrong for it to use us. He doesn't agree with me and he thinks the others should not agree with me too. There's still a little bad feeling between him and us.

We have now walked seven miles. My hands have warmed up and I can write more neatly now. This morning my hands were too cold to write. I am very hungry too. It's hard to stop thinking about food.

RACHEL: At twelve we stopped to eat. All we had was butter, sugar, and some black tea. We mixed the butter and sugar together and ate them. Tonight, a truck stopped and the man in it gave us a few potatoes. We cooked them in the fire and we each had two. We are getting short on food. Yesterday we had a Bible study from Matthew 20:11. It says when the workers received their money they were not happy with it. It says we should be happy with what God gives, so I will try to be that.

MAL: I am not very hungry, but it is much more difficult walking on an empty stomach. I tried thanking God today for many other things that he does for us, to keep up my spirits. It helped. Tonight for the first time, Rob and I tried to get some cars to stop so we could buy food from them with $7 that we had, but we could not get anyone to stop.

CHRIS: Many cars went by without stopping. This worries me a little. All through this trip we have been thinking that if we had a serious problem, we could get a car to stop and help us. But these drivers wouldn't know if one of us was dying or not. They are not interested in our problems, so they are not going to stop. It helps us to understand how much God has been helping us by bringing the right cars at the right time. In the end Rob and Mal stopped trying, thinking that it must not be what God wants us to do. Just after they stopped trying Alex the truck driver from Greece (see day thirty-eight) stopped with more potatoes and water. He talked with us around the fire.

DAY FORTY-EIGHT: Saturday, June 22. (Walked 22 miles toward Balladonia)

DANE: No food this morning, and we're still trying to stop cars. Mal and I are against this for ourselves, but the others are not willing to go hungry.

CHRIS: We talked about the arguments for and against trying to stop a car. Most of us believed it would be stupid if we went really hungry just because we were too proud to ask when we had money in our pockets that we could give for food. At the same time, people could say that we were putting our faith in people and not in God. Most of us wanted to try stopping a car to see if we could buy some food with the money we had. One car stopped and gave us six thin pieces of bread, a tin of peas, and half a bottle of soft drink. It was all we had all morning. By one we were all feeling weak because we had had little to eat for two days. Then Robin stopped two cars travelling together. They gave us six tins of vegetables and some powdered potatoes. Malcolm and Dane ate with us.

When we stopped trying to stop cars, one stopped without us asking. The woman in it gave us some biscuits, bread, and cheese. Her husband argued with her that they needed the food for themselves, but she said, "You never give a cent to anyone." That was nice of her. Then a truck driver pulled up without us asking, and the two men travelling in it talked with us and gave us orange juice, apple juice, bread, two tins of food, a little cheese, eight apples, and two cabbages. Thank God!

We have learned how much we need God's help even to make other people help us. I think that is why God wanted us go hungry for a few days.

ROLS: The truck driver was very smart in spiritual things. He said things about the danger of the walk going to our heads; that we have an important job because all of Australia is watching us;and that we should take our time to think through things before giving answers to reporters, because they can use one little wrong word or action to destroy all that we are trying to say. He said that so far we are doing well. He said too that almost every religion follows their group's teachings more than they follow Truth, and we should look out for that happening with us. He will be coming through with more food later.

GARY: We are all in much better spirits now with a little food inside us. Rob, Rols, Dane and Mal are into the white on the bottom of their shoes, but the girls' shoes are almost like new. I still have not had one sore or other problem in my body from the start to now. Not bad, is it?!

ROB: There is a big difference in how much strength we have now after eating. We were becoming very tired walking on empty stomachs. We put up the tent and went to sleep at 7:30pm.

DAY FORTY-NINE: Sunday, June 23.

(Walked 22.5 miles to Balladonia)

RACHEL: Last night I wasn't cold, because I had three blankets, a sleeping bag, and a quilt. Mal and Dane stayed out by the fire all night.

GARY: We were awake at 5:30am. We had tea and cabbage before starting to walk. There was no ice last night, but the ground is very wet. Today we are thinking that we could see Boyd, Sheri, Kevin, and Elizabeth (Rachel's sister), because they said they would be driving out to see us at the end of the walk. We can't say when they'll arrive, so we'll try not to count on seeing them.

Another truck driver stopped and gave us a big box of food. We had a very big second meal of corn flakes, muesli, milk, dried fruit, bananas, and other things. As we were eating, Janet, a reporter from a Perth newspaper, dropped by. She is going to walk with us today. A man with her agreed to take some of our bags on to Balladonia.

ROB: Janet is very friendly. She did a good story about us earlier in the walk.

We're all happy to be so close to the finish. It's not easy to be humble and point people to God when so many people want to say nice things about us.

CHRIS: We all talked with Janet in turns. Today I was teaching Rachel about the names for different government leaders and about how different groups argue to become leaders of some countries.

MAL: About 115 miles is all we have left to walk now. Norseman is so close. We are all very enthusiastic. It was very quiet walking toward Balladonia today. I was in front of the others, pushing the pram. The others were singing, and there were no cars. We were walking through a place with many trees on both sides of us. It's very different after a long time without seeing trees. I could hear a bell bird as I was walking. It sounds just like a bell.

ROLS: It looks like we are through the worst part of the walk and still alive. On the way into Balladonia, two young men stopped and gave us a cup of coffee and a song on their guitar. The younger man was very happy to see us.

CHRIS: The two men were very surprised to see us still walking after seven weeks. They had listened to reports saying that we would not be able to make it when we started and were happy that the reports were wrong and that we had made it this far. We talked for a long time before walking on. We've been worrying about our shoes not making the distance, but really Roland's are the only ones showing any real signs of wearing out, and I think they'll get him to Norseman easily.

ROB: We had received some bad reports about the owner of the petrol station here but he was very nice and tried to help us. We received a nice letter from a friend in Sydney who said the walk was teaching him much about faith. We telephoned David and he encouraged us to drop plans to send a few of us on to Perth when we finish. We agreed with him and dropped our plans of going to Perth. Dane was very surprised that we agreed, and believed that we should have argued more with David.

DANE: We were sad that Boyd, Sheri, Kevin and Elizabeth were not in Balladonia when we arrived.

At last I had a win against Roland at chess, after he gave me his two biggest pieces at the start. In the middle of game number three, our friends and family (Boyd, Sheri, Kevin, and Elizabeth) showed up. It was a very warm happy meeting.

GARY: We talked for a long time with the others, laughing about some of the things that have happened on this trip.

DAY FIFTY: Monday, June 24.

(Rest day at Balladonia)

RACHEL: Janet tried sleeping with us last night and in the middle of the night some people who had been drinking came and tried to wake us up. They were kicking Janet.

Today is our rest day. I was happy to see the others. Elizabeth and I were talking in Kannada and Tamil.

DANE: I called my wife and learned that my letter to the Townsville newspaper was printed. It was talking to churches and others who help the poor.

ROLS: Janet left this morning. She thanked us all and said it was good being with us to help her get a true picture of how we are living.

After she left, we talked about taking action against Howard Sattler. We ended up understanding each other much better. I agreed that I was too ready to see the worst in what David was saying. It was good that we could talk it through, but there was still some bad feeling with Dane. He thinks that we are making David a god by agreeing with him too much. We have been over this with him many times but he won't change.

ROB: Dane said he thinks David is controlling us. He changed his arguments many times, always making David out to be bad. His arguments didn't do much for his ability to make us believe him on other things. Mal was the only one who did not disagree with him when he was talking against David. GARY: We worked out the Sattler problem, but then went on to talk about my father, because Dane was saying that he is a very bad leader. We all showed him that we disagreed.

DANE: We finished our often heated talk about Sattler by Kevin asking me what I think we should do. I said that I feel the end of the walk should fix the problems on its own. God is my Father and all others my brothers and sisters.

MAL: There are many big black and white birds in Balladonia. Two of them confidently walked up to where we were sitting when we were talking. They came very close and then started singing.

GARY: The truck driver who stopped on Saturday and said many good spiritual things returned with three boxes of food! We talked with him for about two hours about the Bible. Much of it was about people getting married and then breaking up. We've had another group of reporters from a Perth Sunday newspaper come by. We were not very enthusiastic about talking to them, thinking they were from the same newspaper that Howard Sattler writes for, but they said they were not from that newspaper. The one taking the pictures is trying to do a perfect job of it. It takes much longer this way but it's good to see he is taking so much interest in his work.

Sheri is cooking some of the food that the truck driver gave to us. We've been feeding the others today, so people can't say they came here to help us! Kevin will take a bus back to Sydney tomorrow, and the others will be going to Koolgardie to hand out some of our leaflets. They'll return to see us closer to the end of the walk. Kevin is taking our writings with him to print up a book about the walk. ROB: We have so many things and so much food that we're trying to put it all into the pram tonight so we can start more quickly in the morning. We put the tents in the pram and will be sleeping in a big building near here where small planes are parked.

DAY FIFTY-ONE: Tuesday, June 25.

(Walked 22.5 miles from Balladonia)

MAL: The building was warm without a fire last night. Some old mattresses in the corner were beautifully soft to sleep on too. We were up at 5am today.

RACHEL: At 6am, Kevin left Balladonia on a bus to Sydney. The reporters followed us for three miles out of Balladonia. They didn't sound very friendly, but when they finished taking pictures, they gave us a box of food too. Some people stopped and gave us some chocolates. We all like chocolates, so we were very happy about that.

GARY: Mal said he doesn't want to stay with us after we finish the walk. He wants to go to Perth on his own, and then return to help with the free work in Adelaide, without living with us.

MAL: I talked with Christine and Robin most of the morning about spiritual problems I was having and they were trying hard to help me.

CHRIS: Robin and I talked to Mal about his plan to leave, and he is going to think it through more. I think he's going to come with us to Adelaide now.

GARY: I've been teaching Rachel about the first part of the Bible and how it goes with what we know about the past from other writings.

ROB: Gary says I take things wrongly when he is trying to help me. I could be getting a little proud, so I'll try to work on that. Gary cooked a nice meal at our rest stop today.

DANE: Two cars stopped and said the people in their Sunday school have been talking about us for their study each week. I left Roland's Bible in the trees, and had to run back almost half a mile to get it. The run did me good. We used most of the vegetables for our meal in the middle of the day, knowing that they would go off more quickly than the other food. And we ate celery and carrots as we were walking. Some of us had stomach pains because we have not had many green vegetables on this walk and our stomachs are not used to them.

CHRIS: A truck driver stopped to take a picture for his daughter, who works with a Christian group that helps poor people in Sydney.

Today we had to say "No, thank you!" when some people wanted to give us food, because we have no more space in the pram; it's full of food!

A big bottle of lemon soft drink that had not been opened was at the side of the road. A knife and a big book of writing paper was beside the road too.

ROLS: The days are hotter now. A man today said he was surprised at the strength we are showing. If I didn't believe God was with us, there's no way I would be here. When God leads, he never gives us more than we can handle. This one truth has helped me more than any other on this walk.

Reporters from a Sydney newspaper pulled up after we put up the tent. They wanted to take pictures of Dane and Mal playing chess, and one of Mal's hat. They were two older reporters, who were very friendly.

MAL: The land around here has changed surprisingly from what it was like for most of the trip. The red dirt is strange against the strong green colour of the trees. The trees are mostly young, and not tall, but they look big to us after seeing nothing but the little bushes in the Nullarbor for so many days. There's much more bird life here too. Kangaroos are not as easy to see because they have more trees and grass to hide behind here.

ROB: We are seeing many more hills now, too. The hills make pushing the pram much more difficult.

DAY FIFTY-TWO: Wednesday, June 26.

(Walked 22.5 miles toward Norseman)

ROB: I was up at 5am and saw that Mal had been up for some time before me. I can see that he has much to think about.

RACHEL: The Sydney reporters walked with us for a short time today.

We saw some bicycle riders who are trying to ride all around the border of Australia in 100 days (to make money for people who have a sickness where the body does not use sugar well). There were two cars with their helpers in them. The cars will be following them all the way.

GARY: The reporters gave us a meal today. Reporters often help with food now. I think they now believe we'll make it, and they don't think it'll make any difference if they help. We were out of water, but when I looked behind some trees when I was going to the toilet, there was a water hole. So I filled up all of our containers.

The reporters later said that they did not remember to bring water with them and the walkers gave their last water to them. They had been watching to learn how the walkers were getting their water. They studied maps and learned that there were no water holes in that part of the country. So when Gary reported finding one, they believed that it was a miracle.

ROB: At our meal break we studied Matthew 23. From this we learned that it's easy to look good on the outside, but God sees our hearts. Mal said he learned something from Matthew 23:12, "Anyone who lifts himself up will be put down, and anyone who puts himself down will be lifted up." This could be a sign that he's working on his pride problem.

GARY: A Christian man and woman stopped and asked if we needed money. We said no, but they wanted us to take $10.

CHRIS: I don't see how we're going to use it, but God knows. Mal left the pocket knife at the parking place half a mile behind us, so he started walking back to get it. Just then a police car came up and agreed to take him to the parking place. The police were leading 70 cars that were travelling together toward Norseman. The police called the people in the cars through their two-way radio to say that they would be seeing us on the road in a minute or less. Now the road looks like a big road in the middle of Sydney with all these cars going by. About five stopped, giving us fruit and honey. Almost all of the cars were taking pictures of us as they went by.

DANE: Mal and I talked about good points and bad points of living in a group and living by yourself. We agreed that what is most important is where we see the most love at work. We put up the tent near the road, because we believed Boyd, Sheri, Elizabeth, and more reporters were coming and we wanted to be easy to find. I had a feeling we were not as close and happy tonight; I think it is because we are all tired.

ROLS: A group of dark-skinned Christian singers from New Zealand stopped to give us a song.

DANE: Boyd, Sheri, and Elizabeth arrived in the middle of the night. They did not wake anyone.

DAY FIFTY-THREE: Thursday, June 27.

(Walked 22.5 miles toward Norseman)

DANE: We are all happy to be back with Boyd, Sheri, and Elizabeth this morning. The four sisters are walking two by two hand in hand. Even the birds sound happier today. The trees are taller now. And real grass is growing beside the road.

GARY: A car stopped just after we were up this morning. The people in it had stopped before on their way to Adelaide. Robin and I had a deep and serious talk about our problems. It went very well.

ROB: Rachel was showing off to Liz a little. Liz returned to Norseman with Boyd and Sheri after walking with us for an hour. It was my turn to find a sleeping bag by the side of the road today. It is a very expensive one, filled with feathers.

MAL: I talked for an hour with Roland this morning. What he said was very good. Much of our talk on the road is not deep and serious. You must force talk around to something Christian. I walked out in front today, pushing the pram. The land around us is beautiful. When we walk through beautiful places, it's easy to not see it. We, as much as anyone, can be prisoners in the nine-to-five jobs that rob us of the beautiful things around us. It's all in our spirit.

CHRIS: We walked by a big water hole, so we filled our water bottles. We used chemicals that we had received to make dirty water clean, because the water was very dirty. The rubber on another wheel of the pram has a hole through to the tube. We cut rubber from a truck tube on the side of the road to tie around the pram tube. It is working very well.

GARY: I said to Rachel that Elizabeth's feelings were hurt because Rachel had put her down a few times when she was here, and because Rachel was showing off. Chris, Rob, and I all agreed about this problem, but Rachel would not listen to any of us. She finished off by saying, "Don't talk to me." We said that if she was going to act like a child then we would think of her as one: We would tell her what to do and not talk things over with her if she wouldn't listen. She was angry and started walking on her own, half a mile behind us. At our meal break she said she would not sit with us. We agreed that we would hit her if she did the same thing after the rest stop, and she did. Robin hit her and she exploded in anger. The same thing happened three times. After that she walked with us with no arguments.

RACHEL: Robin and Chris said I was acting like a child. I said I wouldn't walk with them. Robin gave me a hit on the bottom. I ran away. He ran after me and give me another hit. I walked with them in the end. They said I could walk with them for now, but when Boyd and Sheri come, I must go back to Sydney. Boyd, Sheri and Elizabeth came when we were putting up the tent. Robin, Chris and Gary talked to the others about my problem. They didn't say anything about me going back to Sydney. I talked to Elizabeth about it. After talking to her, I wanted more to follow God. It was nice talking to her.

DANE: I think the others did a good job of fixing the problem with Rachel. If it becomes worse, it could lead to Rachel dropping out of the walk, and it could hurt what we are trying to say. A television reporter did a good interview with Chris earlier today.

CHRIS: The television reporters returned, and a radio reporter arrived too when we stopped walking for the day. The radio reporter asked me to sing the song "Where Are You Going?" Roland played a game of chess with one of the reporters. He's always trying to find someone who will play chess with him!

ROLS: I was interviewed by the television reporter, but my answers were not as strong as they should have been. I was feeling a little sad because of it.

MAL: I was happy spending time with the television reporters tonight. They are good people, and interesting to talk to. They are sleeping out on the other side of the road.

DAY FIFTY-FOUR: Friday, June 28.

(Walked 22.5 miles toward Norseman)

CHRIS: Robin was up at 4:30 and a man who had received a lift with the television reporters came over to the fire and talked with him. We're out of water, so we'll need to look for some more today.

DANE: Boyd, Sheri, and Elizabeth stayed the night with us, ate with us this morning, and then left to fix the car and to make a big flag with writing on it for the end of the walk. The television people left after taking a few more pictures of us.

GARY: Boyd and Sheri have been eating our food up to now, but our food is getting low again. We gave them $50 from the money we have received. They will use it to buy food in Norseman. Rachel's spirit is very much better.

RACHEL: I was talking to Gary this morning about the problem we had yesterday. I am feeling much better from what happened. I am still feeling left out and I get the poor-me's, but I am working on it now. All my problems are teaching me things. Many important talks happened today. We are all happy because it is not very far to Norseman. We won't even want to go to sleep tomorrow night.

ROB: The devil has been trying many little tricks to turn us against each other. It shows that we are having a good effect in what we are saying and he's getting worried! Rachel is very happy now and wants to talk and talk. She said she thinks it was good that she was hit yesterday.

I am the leader today, but a few times this morning others have had to tell me to do my job. I must pull my socks up! It was not easy for me to receive the truth from Chris, but we talked it out.

CHRIS: We walked by another water hole and, because we're out of water, we tried to get some; but we were not able to because the water was just mud. Then we came on an old bottle of soft drink on the side of the road. It was old but very good. After that, two caravans stopped and gave us potatoes, biscuits, bread, honey, and they filled up our water bottles too. We talked with them for about 25 minutes and washed our very dirty hands. A farmer talked with us when we were having a break. He showed us where we can get water tonight and he gave us some bread and a little fruit.

GARY: At our meal stop in the middle of the day Boyd, Liz, and Sheri arrived with some food, and fruit juice. Elizabeth walked with us for the second half of the day, and Boyd and Sheri stayed in the van beside the road, making the flag they plan to hold up at the finish. It'll say: YOU CANNOT DO IT� WITHOUT GOD!

DANE: Many cars have been stopping today, talking to us like we are finished now and saying that they are happy for us. Some have been giving us food too. I've been feeling a strong calling from my wife and son and I talked to Boyd about that.

GARY: Boyd and Sheri returned when we stopped at the end of the day and we all had a meal together. Sheri cooked some fish from some tins we had received. After eating I was feeling a little left out because I did not have time to talk with Boyd or Sheri. They left for Norseman after the meal to telephone Sydney. Elizabeth stayed to sleep with us tonight so she can walk with us tomorrow.

CHRIS: We went to bed at 8:30. At 9pm television and radio reporters came. The radio reporter did a short interview with Roland, who was still awake.

ROLS: Strangely enough, some of us started getting sores on our feet today, and pains in muscles and bones. I'll be a little sad when the walk finishes.

DAY FIFTY-FIVE: Saturday, July 29.

(Walked 23 miles toward Norseman)

ROB: I was up at 5:30am. Mal and Dane were up before me. We are feeling very high in our spirits as we get closer to Norseman. The television reporters did an interview with Roland. They did one with Boyd about him writing Christian sayings on money that he spends in Norseman. Boyd did not think anyone would want to talk to him, but he did well. Chris had an interview with a radio reporter.

DANE: After one of the warmest nights of the trip we were happy to start the last full day of walking. Elizabeth is walking with us again. Many church people are stopping; some are even kissing us!

ROLS: The television reporter asked some difficult questions and tried to push me into saying that we need money. I handled the interview much better than the last one, and this made me feel much better. Dane was interviewed too. It's difficult to believe that we have almost covered the distance.

RACHEL: We were all very happy this morning because we have only 30 miles to go. Chris was teaching Elizabeth a song today. Robin gave me some teaching about how plants and trees get water when it doesn't rain. Boyd and Sheri finished making the flag. It looks very good. We will be walking under it at the finish. Chris and I will each give a talk before the reporters asks us questions.

GARY: We saw Boyd and Sheri again at our meal stop in the middle of the day. An older man and woman who had stopped just before Eucla, gave us some bread and other things that we ate for our break. After the reporters left, we had a talk on how to handle difficult reporters and about being more together when reporters are around.

ROB: Strangely, we are having more problems with our feet. Christine has some bad sores on hers. Chris put in something about living by faith in a radio interview today. It is difficult to believe that we're going to finish after walking for so long.

CHRIS: We had enough food for Boyd and Sheri again, and I gave them $78 that I had in my pocket from money that people gave to us over the last few days. Elizabeth still feels enthusiastic about walking with us, so we agreed for her to walk with us all day today. When we stopped for a meal break, a policeman came out from Norseman to see how we were doing. He said he had received many telephone calls asking about us. After the meal, a family from Norseman came out to ask how we were going. A newspaper reporter from Norseman came to take a picture of us just before we stopped walking for the day. He said six radio stations are waiting for us in Norseman.

GARY: After we put up the tent, seven miles from Norseman, I talked with Sheri in the car as I helped her stitch the flag. For entertainment we turned the car radio on, but we left that when some television reporters arrived with tins of drink and dried fruit. I was talking to Boyd and he asked me what I was thinking about the walk. I am very surprised that we have made it. I find it hard to believe that we are only seven miles away from Norseman after so many days of just walking on and on one day at a time without thinking about the finish.

RACHEL: Gary washed his shoes tonight, and helped me wash my shirt. Dane washed his hat. It was really dirty. Now it is nice and clean. And my clothes are clean too. When we were walking today Malcolm saw a fox tail on the side of the road. This tail looks good. It feels nice too. Malcolm was going to make something out of it, but we think it will take too much work and time. This should be the last night that we will be sleeping out on the road. It is time for me to go to bed. Good night!

MAL: At last I have finished the kangaroo skin hat! And I had been thinking that taking the skin off the kangaroo was the difficult part! I was a very long time tying it together with string. We don't have much free time for things like that.

I used much of my time today talking with Dane. I really liked talking to him and I feel closer to him now than I have on the whole trip.

Reporters often ask me what my feelings are now that the walk is almost over. The truth is that my emotions are not very high. I was feeling high at Caiguna and at Balladonia, but now it's just the job of finishing. On top of that, I don't feel like the walk will be over when we arrive in Norseman. Many reporters are waiting for us to get back to Adelaide before they talk to us. After that, THEN I can rest!!

DANE: I said to the others that I plan to return to Townsville at the end of the walk, without stopping in Adelaide. They received it well.

(David had asked to meet with Dane and the others in Adelaide, so that any problems between Dane and himself could be fixed then face to face.)

Nick (see day forty) pulled his truck up tonight and ate and talked with us. He was very quiet, but so were we. He later quietly gave Mal $100 without any of the others of us knowing about it.

The television reporters showed up again and did a few pictures of us around the fire before the others went to bed.

It's now after 10pm. All the others are asleep. I'm thinking back over the most important thing I've been a part of in my whole life. I'm both happy and sad that it's about to end. I feel that changed lives are what it's all about and that people we saw on the trip received a strong word from God through us and we through them.

ROLS: The interview the television station did with me this morning was not used. They said it was because what I was saying was not important to the walk. I feel a little angry about it because the interview went so well, with me pointing each thing back to God. If God is not an important part of the walk, then why did we do it?

The reporter left, saying they would see us in Norseman tomorrow. Because this is our last night on the road, he must understand that we need a little quiet time to bring our minds together for the big finish. For a short time today I had a fear that reporters would try to say that what we have been doing on this walk is not important; but I was able to fight off this fear.

CHRIS: A husband and wife from America came out from Norseman and said we could use their water and washing machine to clean ourselves and our clothes when we arrive. They later returned with some food for us to eat in the morning.

Before going to bed, most of us talked separately to each other about how we are feeling. We're all tired from all the emotions we have been feeling today, but it is still difficult to get to sleep, knowing that tomorrow morning we'll arrive in Norseman (if it is what God wants).

Just after going to bed, some young people from Norseman came out to see us. They talked with Robin and Dane (who were still awake) and were very friendly� but they were a little loud.

DAY FIFTY-SIX: Sunday, June 30.

(Walked 7 miles to Norseman!)

RACHEL: It was a really warm night with clouds covering the sky. More television reporters are here now taking pictures of us. Last night I had a dream that we were still walking and we had a long way to go. But the truth is that it is only seven miles. Isn't that good! We will read out Matthew 6 before the reporters leave.

ROLS: We arrived at a place three miles from Norseman an hour before we had planned, so we had a break of 45 minutes. I had a good radio interview there, and Chris handled two other interviews well. One woman reporter was against us. By accident she left behind the book she was writing her report in, and we were able to see some of the lies she is planning to write about us.

ROB: The book was full of lies! For one thing, she said that Boyd and Sheri were travelling with us in a van and feeding us, and so we weren't living by faith at all. (We should have been able to see the danger in eating with them when we were still on the road.) We agreed that when we arrive in Norseman, we will pull out the book and show how some reporters are not looking for the truth, but are looking for a way to fight against us because they hate what we are trying to say.

RACHEL: Reporters from all over Australia were waiting for us in Norseman. When we walked into town, we were singing "God is Walking On". Chris and I did our talk, and one television station interviewed me after that. It went really well. The people in Norseman were very friendly. One of the girls there gave me a little plastic Jesus.

ROLS: We separated into smaller groups and did a few interviews at the same time. Rob ended up with the woman who was against us. I came over and helped him. There was an angry church man saying we aren't following Jesus because we follow David. They always take that line when they don't like what we are saying. One reporter encouraged me by saying that reporters do not take arguing church people very seriously.

CHRIS: It's very good knowing that God helped us through, and that many people are thinking about putting their faith in God and not in wealth. But I still feel that too many people want to look at us as a group more than Christ and what he and we are trying to say. The sad truth is that people won't receive you if you come in the name of God, but they will receive you if you come in the name of a church or in the name of a religion.

A young woman who had just become a Christian thanked us for encouraging her to keep making a stand as a Christian in her family. She was mostly encouraged by Rachel. She cried in front of the camera.

MAL: Norseman and it's over!