Here in the village of Gulmarrad I stayed with my friends Mike (with me at right) and Bernie, whom I first got to know in Goulburn, where Mike had been the principal of the primary school at which I taught from 1988-1993. Before relocating to the U.S. in 1994, I taught two of Mike and Bernie’s seven children – Jeremiah (in 1989) and Tess (in 1992).
I’ve stayed friends with all the members of the family ever since our shared time in Goulburn, and I always try to catch up with as many of them as I can each time I visit Australia from the U.S. Mike and Bernie’s second eldest son Raph visited and lived with me in the Twin Cities for a good part of 2004. He visited me again in the U.S. in 2011. Back in Australia in 2014, he cycled over 1900 kilometers in memory of his sister Tess and to raise awareness and funds for melanoma research and prevention. (For more about this inspiring achievement, click here, here, and here.)
Since last July, Mike and Bernie have been storing and taking care of mum’s car for me. Indeed, since the time of my visit with them last year, they have let me know that I can consider as my Australian home their home in Gulmmarrad, now that mum is residing in an assisted-living facility in Port Macquarie. What a generous and beautiful gift! But that’s just who Mike and Berie are.
Above: Bernie at the coastal location known as Yamba — Monday, April 13, 2026.
Above: Bernie and her feathered friends, including the kookaburra flying towards her.
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Journey to Gulmarrad (2025)
• Happy Birthday, Bernie! (2024)
• Mooloolaba (2023)
• In Northern Rivers Country (2019)
• Townsville (2016)
• A Journey to Northern Rivers Country (2015)
• A Bushland Wedding (2011)
• The Australian Floods of 2011
• Rising Waters
• “Flooded-In But Loving Life”
• In Maclean, an End to the “Siege”
Images: Michael J. Bayly and Bernie McGowan.
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