Camping is fun!

Is this the new year, or just another night?
Is this the new fear, or just another fright?
Is this a new tear, or just another desperation? ~Switchfoot, 'The Blues'

Hey guys!!! I'm back from holidays. Thanks for all the crazy messages and pranks. :-)

I logged on to MSN today and my message says "I'm a Goody! And I'm going on holidays! But I would appreciate a full inbox when I get back!"

Boy, did I get one. 168 emails of spam in one account when I got back?! Mostly from banks. They must think I have money.

If I tell you every story, I'll be here all day. So I'll introduce you to the people we went on holidays with. (Unfortunately I have no photos, so I'll do my best)

Rob, Rosie, Heather and Josh Stevens.

Rob: The dad of this family. Great guy - drove down to Grafton from Sydney on Christmas day, and then drove us back to Sydney, because our car broke down on Christmas day. Thank you!!!! And he loves motorsport. (They all do, that's how we know them - they're from the Christian Autosports Club in Sydney. My dad's from the one in Queensland. Here is their website. Rob - or Bob, as he is sometimes known - was the president last year)

Rosie: The mum of this family. Loaned me a really good book. Took me, my sister and my brother into their house for 2 days (on our trip back home). You couldn't meet a more accomodating person.

Heather: Rob and Rosie's daughter - 16 years old. I didn't get to hang out much with her, but she's nice. She sings at their church (Hillsong, incidentally - all these guys go to Hillsong).

Josh: Rob and Rosie's son - 13 years old. Went mountain biking for a couple of days, took his Target bike over 4 jumps, sailed over 5 people on the last jump and stacked it at 42 km/h. Very proud of his injuries. He's also a really fast cricket bowler.....seriously, you do not want him bowling when we play it on the road......

Peter, Leonie, Ben and Troy Harris.

Pete: The dad. Is always good for a laugh and good for a chat. Took some of us fishing and taught me how. Even let me use his fishing rod! Owns the new Switchfoot album. Loves motorsport.

Leonie: The mum. She also loves to read (we had a lot of readers on this trip) And fishing! We think Leonie's fishing rod is lucky....she always catches fish on it, and I've even caught one on it once. So there you go.

Ben: Eldest son at 18.5 Motorsport fanatic. One of Tiph's best friends. Seems to know a lot of people. Didn't get to hang out a lot with him either, but he's a pretty cool guy.

Troy: Youngest son at 15. How can I say this? Troy is a ladies man. There is no other way to put it. He had at least 2 girls interested in him while we were camping. Wait, possibly 3. Anyway, apart from all that, Troy is basically a nice guy, who loves motorsport and mountain biking. He too took his over jumps, but didn't stack it. And he was the 5th person in the line of 5 under Josh's bike.

Les, Kerry, Dave and Gary Oliver

Les: The dad in this family. He loves to give Miles raspberries. "Nope," said Miles this year, "you won't be able to get me." But he did!!! Miles and Les get on quite well. And Les also loves motorsport. His favourite word was "goomba". (That's what you call people when they're being stupid - "ya goomba")

Kerry: Also loves to read :-) We should have had a reading party. I didn't get to spend a lot of time with Kerry either, but she and Mum seemed to have a lot to talk about.

Dave: Photographer extraordinaire, eldest son at 19. And loves motorsport. He and Dad and I went to this lookout 4 times trying to get a picture of a sunset. The third time he just took his brother Gary and I. We didn't get it :-( That's why we had to go a fourth time! On the way back we nearly hit a roo. That shook us all up a bit. But it was funny :-)

Gary: Youngest son at 14. Crazy kid. Got hit by a car a few weeks before we came. (He was on his bike.) Only got a broken leg, fortunately. He seems to get a lot of injuries. Rosie says the angels in heaven must groan when they get put on assignment with Gary. He's a nice kid too, just not always aware of what's going to happen if he does....THIS. (Ow!) Or if he is aware, he doesn't seem to care. The most used word while we were camping was: "Gary!"

They were the 3 families we camped with for the 2 weeks. Later on in the week Steven, Jane, Robyn and Connie Annabel joined us. And then a girl from a few campsites away came and hung out with us. Her name was Brianna. She too stacked it on the mountain biking expeditions.

So those are the people we camped with.