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Day 36: Saturday 28 April (8pm, Baulkham Hills)

Yesterday and last night, my last evening in Ayr, was surprise after surprise!

You already know about the didgeridoo. I’m embarrassed to admit that I was also undeservedly showered with gifts from many of the beautiful people I’ve met in what feels like a lifetime, in Ayr. Lynette’s family is especially generous, so I’ve brought home some very treasured items including a mug, bowl and plate decorated with the traditional Torres Strait Islander headdress and a travel pillow in the Torres Strait colours – they really are special people to be giving so much.

So we finished the farewell celebrations by dining at the Ayr Anzac Memorial Club. It was a perfect finish to the weeks of working in the Gudjuda office. The whole team had managed to make it for dinner so I was surrounded by the people who’d spent more time than anyone, either in or on that building - Eddie and Diane, John and Lynne, Jardine and Tracey, Michaela, and of course, Lynette. Next surprise was that the girls had made up a certificate of appreciation for me and if you knew how highly regarded certificates are in FNQ, you’d really appreciate the care they’d taken with the words they’d chosen and how it was printed on a gorgeous piece of parchment too – another beautiful treasure of my time in Ayr.

We ate our meals but didn’t need to order dessert as the girls had one final surprise – a birthday cake! And not just any cake! How gorgeous is this?! How many cakes have you ever seen that celebrate exactly how old you are?! I laughed so hard about that number being on there, because it just perfectly typifies the way that place was – no point in getting too big for your boots, because for every piece of accomplishment, there was always a bring-me-back-to-earth moment - I loved it and it really was a perfect finish to the evening and the trip!

In a funny twist, maybe I should actually count the final surprise as being from Mother Nature, who gave me the only rainy evening of the whole five weeks so that I couldn’t walk home from the club. Probably for the best, but I put it down to even the Burdekin feeling sad about my leaving!

All packed by 7.30am this morning and picked up by Shelley and her boss from Bowen, Michelle, just after 8am. I couldn’t get the words out to Ray that I wanted to say to thank him for all the care that he took of me, but it didn’t matter – he knew.

Arriving in Townsville about three hours before the flight actually worked out really well for us. It gave us some space to reflect on the program, our input and achievements, the people, our learning and all the various aspects of our time here that I haven’t mentioned. I’ll work on refining the notes to a simple summary, so the posts don’t end today – there’ll be at least one more, attempting to summarise an amazing experience into a few lines.

I don’t know how I’m going to tell people about my time in Ayr without feeling like I need to catch my breath, as there is definitely a little piece of my heart up there now. I’ll be back again one day to see how that kitchen got kitted out and how the chairs and tables look on the deck and who they hired and what’s on the menu and whether they could use it to celebrate the launch of the RAP and a million other questions that are swimming around my head and it hasn’t even been 24 hours since I was there! Gosh, I miss them all already. But it’s time for another adventure now – this one is a bit closer to home, and won’t need a blog, which will be a relief!

OK, just one more amusing moment (well, to me at least) - here's my final mention of 'smoko', found in the local church bulletin last Sunday! Thank you Ayr for some fantastic moments!!