Moving Up To Broome
As a team, YWAM Broome moved from Perth to Broome the week of September 15. We loaded everything we owned into a moving van dubbed Big Bertha, a little Toyota Corolla affectionately referred to as Prudence, and a ute named DAK. We piled in and left Perth at 6am Tuesday morning and drove for five days. The team convoyed up the coastal route from down south and we spread out the trip so as not to overwhelm the drivers and exhaust the team before we got here.
We camped in a new town each night and drove about five hours during the day. During the drives each day we had different rest stops for bathroom breaks, lunch times, and stops for groceries. We would get to the campsite a few hours before sunset and would set up camp which was a combination of hammocks, tents, tarps and sleeping in the ute bed. We paired up to make dinner each night and to do the dishes, then had a time of encouragement for two people on the team each evening and then a game or early bedtime.
It was really cool to see the Lord work through this trip. We intentionally only took people from the team on the move up here. Some sweet people from the YWAM Perth base had offered to help us move up but we knew we needed this time in close spaces with many hours to use for bonding to build our team up and prepare for life together in one house. It really was a blessing and sweet to road trip through Australia with the people we get to call family!
We had a couple incidents along the way but were able to see the Lord work through each of those things, and see testimony of His goodness. At one point in the trip we lost sight of the last car in the caravan as we passed through a couple low hills. We had no cell signal and couldn’t call to find out where they were or what the problem was. The first two cars in the line up pulled over to the side of the road but when the other car didn’t show up, we turned around to retrace our path and figure out what happened. About five or ten minutes back we found them pulled over to the shoulder of the road with the hood of the car popped open. There had been a road train driving past them and the pressure of the air caused the car’s front fender to come loose, drag on the ground and make a noise. We fixed the problem with some zip ties and got back one the road. We’re thankful that was the only real car trouble we had the whole trip.
On another morning before we had one morning when we started packing up camp and couldn’t find the keys to one of the cars. We figured out who’d had them last and that they had probably been locked in the boot of the car all night. We had to figure out how to break into the car to pop the boot. Someone on the team had done it before to retrieve some keys so he had an idea of how it should go this time. We wedged open the door with a frying pan handle and a huge stick and one of the girls was able to reach in and unlock the door. Thankfully that problem was handled quickly and we got back on the road for the day.
Those were the only minor incidents we had and we are so so thankful for the way the Lord protected us through that whole trip - ten people, three cars and a long road trip. Jesus is good!
We really did have a good time on the adventure up here. We got to spend quality time together during the day as we road tripped and sweet time together at night encouraging each other and playing games before bed (our team is ALL about games). Praise!!