Townsville - Cairns

Despite the fact that we had to pack up the tent and a whole lot more, we departed Townsville at 8:29 a.m. on Wednesday, which is our record so far. Although the back brakes are now fine, we have to book another service in Cairns to fix the front brakes, which are worn (probably because we had no back brakes for 1500 kms) and need machining. Anyway, we were glad to be moving again, and decided to head for a camp spot on the beach about halfway between Townsville and Cairns.

Ella in a Grass Owl nest, with fluffy chicks.
A good news display for once!

We stopped in Ingham to visit the newly developed Wetlands Centre, TYTO, which is named after the Grass Owl. The wetlands project has been developing for 11 years, and the newly opened stage is the interpretive centre, which was excellent. While at the centre, we saw 2 Jabirus - impressive to say the least. They are enormous birds, standing 1.3m high with a 2.4m wingspan, and the colouration on their wings is very dramatic.

We noticed a not-so Agile Wallaby on the grounds, which we reported inside. Wildlife carers were rescuing him as we left, thinking he had been either hit by a car or bitten by a dog.

The not-so Agile Wallaby

As we drove towards Ingham, we noticed lots of damage from Cyclone Yasi. Huge plantation forests are completely wrecked with most of the large trees snapped off 3-4 metres above ground level. About half of the area's National Parks are closed due to damage as well. So we didn't get to visit some of the places we wanted to (including, sadly, Wallaman Falls), but we are already saying "next trip"!!

It was sobering to drive through Cardwell, the epicentre of the cyclone damage. One in three buildings still had tarpaulin roofs. The coast looks battered and bruised, but people are obviously getting on with their lives and tourism is picking up again.

We arrived at Mission Bay and found a camp spot directly on the waterfront. The kids were out of the van, cracking coconuts faster than you could say "Robinson Crusoe". They spent a fantastic few hours building huts along the beach with logs, palm fronds and storm debris. Jackson's was built around a Pandanus framework, and the kids found and erected a huge "totem pole" out the front. They then jumped around in the shallows until we called them in for bed about 9 p.m.

Sunrise at Mission Beach

We spent Thursday sightseeing, after I had another early morning taking sunrise photos. As we drove out of Mission Beach, we were all terribly excited to see a Southern Cassowary. They are critically endangered so we couldn't believe our luck. We spent the morning visiting Paronella Park, which has been recently voted Queensland's Number 1 Must Do. What an amazing place! Jose Paronella, an immigrant from Spain, virtually made the whole "amusement park" singlehandedly in the 1930s - including the installation of a hydro-electric system which brought electricity to his property and was the first one in Tropical Qld. Yasi's effects were evident here as well, with flooding levels still obvious from the mud up in the trees and damage to the buildings and picnic areas. We enjoyed the guided tour, and then had fun taking photos:

Platform above what was the kitchen
which served gelato to park visitors
in the 1930s

In the Kauri Grove

Mena Creek Falls and Hydro Station

The change rooms for swimming

We drove home via the Sugar Museum, which was a bit decrepit compared to some of the other fantastic displays we have seen. Still, the social history of the Kanakas was interesting although the virtual slave trade of this period is not a great part of our history.

We got back to camp in time for fishing, although I had to make dinner again! The rain which had been threatening all day started that night, so it was early to bed for all.

Robinson Crusoe and Friday

We awoke to a bleak and blustery morning, but nothing can put Lachie off fishing, so Dave, Marcus and Lach went off to Clump Jetty to try their luck. Jackson, Ella and I spent a couple of hours beachcombing and improving the hut. After lunch, all the boys went back fishing while Ella and I went rock-hopping, grocery shopping and made a pudding. The boys finally caught some fish - Lachie caught 3, and Dave caught 1 - very appropriately named "Grunters" (as they grunt when landed). Three dolphins cruised around them for half an hour while they were fishing, so they thought that was pretty cool. Marcus was looking through the hundreds of fish on the  identification chart, and chose a Sole as the fish he wanted to see. He was banging on about Dave catching a sole for an hour when Dave actually caught one! They arrived home very excited with the sole, but as dinner was ready it was consigned to the fridge for the next day. Meanwhile, our English neighbours in the next site were setting about having dinner and Amanda was bitten by a snake! Thankfully it turned out to be a green tree snake, but it gave all of us a start. The rain wasn't the only reason we ate inside! The ambulance departed as the pudding was ready, so we shared it with Mark, Amanda and their two girls.

Our second sighting of the Southern Cassowary!

This morning (Saturday) we had fish for breakfast and then broke camp to head for Cairns. As we left Mission Beach, we saw another Cassowary, and I managed to get the camera out in time for a quick shot! It was rainy and cold again, so we hightailed it to our camp site and were set up by about 2:30 p.m. The skies cleared so we went down to Lake Placid and the Barron Gorge National Park for a quick walk, before the kids had a swim (back in the van park pool, after reading all the crocodile warning signs!) to cool off. They are all asleep as I type, and we are enjoying power again as we catch up with Pete and Carey's blog (from their cycling tour of Nova Scotia and the East Coast of USA), our emails and comments on our blog. We have about 50 blog readers, and it is nice to hear from you! We are also enjoying following Dave and Mind's journeys through Kakadu, Arnhem Land and Uluru via texts when the Optus connections are present! We plan to spend the next four nights in Cairns, which will give us time to see some of the sights, including another Toyota Service Centre! Speaking of sights, Gonz, although we have seen Cassowaries, dolphins and wallabies, no Freshwater Lake Seals as yet!!

Stay tuned ...

a couple more days in Townsville ...

Since the Blunderbuss was still in quarantine, we had a few extra days in Townsville. Can't believe our luck at being stranded here - in a beautiful camp spot with lots to do and a huge Toyota Service Centre close by.

Sunrise over Kissing Point

I have been waking up early every morning, so on Sunday morning I got up and sneaked out of the camp site (although not quietly enough, as Lachie heard me and came too) to see the sun come up over the Kissing Point headland and the bay. Beautiful.

Getting some fishing tips from a local!

We packed our backpacks and struck out for the 6km walk into the city to the Flinders Street Markets and the Maritime Museum. The walk was almost entirely along the waterfront, which was gorgeous, and then up into the city. The markets were not what we expected and made us realise how good the Showground markets are at home. However, we grabbed some lunch and a cold drink there (where we lost Lachlan for a while as he took his lunch and walked off 180 degrees the wrong direction - must be related to Dave!) before walking another kilometre or so to the Maritime Museum. Along the way, to Lachlan's delight, we found The Sweatshop - the only shop in town to stock the Penny skateboards that he wanted for his birthday. The last part of the walk to the Museum was punctuated with "Mum, LOOK!" and "Watch this" and "I can do it!!" and a few "Aaagghhhhs" as well!

Ella found a tree at "Just my size"
She reminds us of Winnie the Pooh
on a regular basis!

We spent a few hours at the museum, fascinated by the story of the SS Yongala, which sank under mysterious circumstances in 1911, with the loss of all 122 on board. A racehorse was also drowned when the ship went down, a fact I tried to keep from Ella by standing strategically in front of the display, but her nose for animal tragedy sniffed out the story and you would have thought that Moonshine was her own horse!

We also watched a DVD presentation about the MV Krait, partly because it was so interesting and partly because it was so good to sit down!!  MV Krait was a Japanese made fishing boat, which was captured in WW2 and used to evacuate over 1000 people from ships sunk around Sumatra. It also famously transported members of Z Special Unit to Singapore in September 1943, where they successfully raided the city's harbour, sinking seven Japanese ships. The second similar mission was not so successful, with most of the men captured and beheaded, a term that had never crossed the kids vocabulary radar before. Ella stated that she would never, ever, ever want to be "Bigheaded"!

We then had the long, hot trek home so had to stop off at the Ice Cream Factory on the waterfront to sustain ourselves! We have finally solved the insomnia problem that has plagued Marcus for a year or more - huge amounts of physical activity. He is so tired at night that he falls asleep very quickly. One night, he fell asleep sitting on his stool in the middle of the caravan!

Marcus is more like a Maelstrom than a MasterChef,
but if he is outside, the mess is more easily dealt with.

The boys decided to cook up a feast for breakfast on Monday morning, so we ate the last of our supplies and walked down to go swimming at the Rock Pool while we were waiting for the garage to ring. There were some pretty amazing ships heading in to port - the biggest we've ever seen. The ships are no doubt involved in Exercise Talisman Sabre involving 22 000 Australian and US defence personnel. Late in the afternoon the garage rang and hadn't started on the van, so we booked yet another night here! Dave took Lachlan fishing while we made Lachie's birthday cake and wrapped up his presents. We had absolutely nothing left in the fridge or the pantry, so Ella, Marcus and I went for another 1km walk to get fish and chips. Guilt free eating, after all that walking!

Thanks for the loan of the book Joel!

Happy 10th Lachlan!

Today, Tuesday 12th, is Lachie's birthday. We started the morning with birthday breakfast cereal and toast, then Lachie and Jackson went off skateboarding while I did the washing. Ella was very excited to finish Harry Potter and the Poisoner of Uzbekestan. At home this would mean she could watch the movie, but since that is not an option here, she contented herself with humming the filmscore over ... and over ... and over! The Toyota garage finally rang at 11 a.m. and said the van was ready, so Dave and Lachie headed off in a taxi to get it. Hooray! With our transport back we made a dash to the grocery store before scurvy set in. Jackson has also been champing at the bit to buy a Ripstik so we got that as well. After driving back to camp, we enjoyed Lachie's cake, while Jackson bled from his many skateboard injuries. (He said I had to point out the injuries were not from his new Ripstik but from Lachie's skateboard!) Reason number 26 to get the caravan level is to ensure the birthday cake doesn't measure 1 cm at one side and 6 cms on the other! However, that didn't affect the taste and it disappeared pretty quickly!

A Happy Birthday Boy!

But I have to say, THE MOST EXCITING thing that happened today was that Dave finally consented to buy a Manbag! I can finally have my spine realigned as I don't have to carry all his heavy crap anymore! We all don't have to participate in family treasure hunts looking for sunglasses (often found on Dave's head!), iPods, wallets, contact lens cases, glasses ... before we can go anywhere. Gonz, you'll be so pleased that he has finally followed your brave fashion lead! The final straw was at the Rockpool the other day, when Dave sat on his glasses and broke them. The tantrum that followed turned the air blue, filled Ella's swear jar and made the lifeguards grab their lifebuoys and look concerned! The boys were disgusted and walked ahead of us at the shopping centre when he put it on, but Dave is happily finding "homes" for everything in his Manbag as I type! He even consented to a Manbag Fashion Shoot for the blog!

Now, where are my sunglasses?

The kids are playing knucklebones, Dave is playing his guitar and Jackson is moaning about his injuries, so it is just another night in paradise!

Off tomorrow towards Cairns.

Stay tuned ...

a couple of days in Townsville ...

After arriving at Rowes Bay, we took the time to set up the tent on Wednesday evening since we were staying for a couple of days. It is much more comfortable when we can spread out a bit. (And separate the children, when necessary!)

Mutineers trying to escape Pandora's Box
as HMS Pandora was sinking. Ella thought
this exhibit a bit rude!

On Thursday morning we drove into the city (mercifully without the caravan, dodgy directions, poor rear vision and accompanying blue language!) intending to visit the Maritime Museum, but we saw the Museum of Tropical Queensland first, so in we went. The main exhibit focussed on the sailing ship HMS Pandora, which was wrecked on the reef in 1791. It was despatched from England to capture and return the mutineers from the HMS Bounty. Captain Edwards captured 14 men who had returned to Tahiti, but didn't discover Fletcher Christian and his colony on Pitcairn Island. The men were imprisoned on a roughly constructed hold on deck, which came to be known as "Pandora's Box". Three mutineers were trapped in the hold and drowned, along with 30 sailors when the ship went down.  A 1:24 scale model (which had taken 7000 hours to build) captured the boys' interest, but Ella was disturbed to learn that there had been a cat on board. She was terribly relieved to find that it had been rescued and made it in the longboat to Timor!  

Ella patting the rescued ship's cat!






Dave had a teaching moment with the out-of-control kids in a holiday club who were visiting the museum. One kid started trying to kick his way into Captain Edward's cabin, but soon stopped when Captain Church threatened to keel-haul him.

There were a Canadian couple who were volunteers at the museum from the dinosaur dig at Richmond. They had a tray of fossils for children to choose one to take home. Jackson and Marcus spent ages talking to them, and Marcus was presented with a fish vertebrae which is 100 million years old. He is thrilled, of course, and has spent hours scratching away the dirt from around the outside of it.

It was really hot, so we decided to take the kids to the waterpark on The Strand for a picnic lunch. The waterfront is still being reconstructed after the damage caused by Cylone Yasi. They had a ball there, and managed to cool down successfully!



Magnetic Island from Castle Hill

 Castle Hill, which dominates the city skyline, beckoned us next, so we chugged up the steep road to the top. Absolutely fabulous 360 degree views of the city and the coastline. After exploring all the summit lookouts, we drove back to Queens Gardens, which we spotted from Castle Hill. A hedge maze kept the kids occupied while we had a much needed coffee! After another evening walk along the waterfront at Rowes Bay, we were all exhausted and glad to get back to the van.



Castle Hill from Queens Gardens


Mundane duties called on Friday morning, so it was a while before we got going to Reef HQ, the National Education centre for the Great Barrier Reef. This aquarium is filled with coral exhibits and many tropical fish, most of which have hilarious names. Marcus couldn't contain himself, and wandered around with a notepad jotting down the ones which amused him. His list contains such beauties as "the Onefin Flashlightfish, the Upside Down Jellyfish, Pacific Double-Saddle Butterflyfish, and the Humpnose Unicorn Fish". We spent a couple of hours enjoying the aquarium (Dave and I found it remarkably relaxing - but then, we were comparing it to the school of fish we are travelling with!) then went to the waterpark for a quick dip. Lachie and Ella got in, but it was cold and so we didn't stay long.




Fighting hit fever pitch on Friday afternoon as the kids were all exhausted and there were some less than idle threats about returning home. Don't think this is all beer and skittles! In fact, there has been no beer; and had we a set of skittles, I couldn't vouch for it still being complete as some may have been inserted where they were not designed to go!

We were tempted to let the fish have them!

Driving back from the Reef HQ, the kids heard some strange noises in the van, which we diagnosed as the brakes. We were expecting to get them done in Cairns, so we booked it in to the local garage for a brake reconstruction. Luckily we could extend our stay in the van park.

Dave drove the Blunderbuss to the garage this morning, so the boys got organised to go fishing. They came back rather quickly, with Lachlan looking like a thundercloud, as it was low tide and the vast mangrove mudflats made fishing impossible. Lachlan's comment of the day was "Low tide is just STUPID!" Dave said he'd have a word with the moon for him! Uncle Peep, you've got a fisherman in the family!

Walking back from the Rock Pool

Sans vehicle, the best option seemed to be walking a couple of kilometres to the Rock Pool for a swim. It is a huge pool filled with filtered sea water, and we spent a lovely few hours there. While there, we heard from the garage. Bad news. Someone has removed the brake pins and they are missing (goodness knows how, we had it serviced just before we left) and the Blunderbuss is in quarantine until they can be replaced. The mechanic said he's never seen them missing before, and will search for some new (old) ones in the wreckers yards on Monday. Failing that, they might have to be ordered from Japan ... looks like we are in for another few days in Townsville! There are far worse places to be stuck and we are really lucky nothing awful happened as we were driving here.

The boys are off fishing again as I write, but I think I'd better get some dinner organised!

Stay tuned ...

Charters Towers - Townsville

Strangely enough, we were pretty keen to move out of the truckstop, so after a really quick breakfast we were on the road by 8:30 a.m. Our record so far!

Looking pleased as Peter told them any gold they found
they could keep! 

We drove out to find the Venus Battery at Millchester where we were the only visitors for the first tour of the day. Peter, the tour guide, was a 4th generation miner and passionate about restoring the Battery. It was in use from the 1870s right up to 1975. He guided us through the whole process of gold milling from the horse-drawn drays arriving laden with quartz at the weighbridge, through the battery stampers, the chemical processes and finally out to the tailings piles. We were all fascinated and the 2 hours disappeared quickly. As we departed Peter let the kids pick through some drill core samples which all contained some sparkle, so they were all thrilled.



420m above Charters Towers
on Tower Hill

 We drove up Tower Hill to catch the views and to see where Jupiter, the 10 year old Aboriginal boy, discovered gold in 1872. Marcus and Lachlan had obviously taken the history lesson to heart, as while we explored WW2 bunkers, the Pyrites chimney site and admired the view, they spent their time trying to find their fortune and crack open quartz rocks!

We drove back into town to look at the old Assay Rooms, where the gold was checked for purity. Jackson remarked that the science equipment was pretty much the same as the gear he uses in science now!

After a late lunch, we headed towards Townsville with the Blunderbuss full of tired and cranky kids. Fortunately we saw some dead kangaroo carcasses, and one wild pig playing chicken on the road, so that cheered them up. Ella fell asleep for a while which reduced the fighting. A bit.

As we have been driving the last couple of days, we have been losing layers of clothing as fast as we are losing degrees of latitude! It is hot out here!

Fortunately we saw this sign before committing ourselves to another 400 km drive! It took us about an hour to get to Townsville, and then another 30 minutes to find the very last site at the third caravan park we tried. Driving through the city traffic with dodgy directions and limited vision was not fun, but when we arrived at the van park it was worth it. The park is right on the waterfront and after dinner we took a long walk along the beach. The boys enjoyed being commandos trying to sneak back without being seen, and Ella had a ball on her wheelie heelies, which she can use fairly well now. She does ensure that I have a pocket full of bandaids before setting out though!

Stay tuned ...

Clermont - Charters Towers

Ella the horse whisperer

Tuesday 5/7
Our visitors early this morning in the Clermont Van Park included 2 kangaroos, a flock of lorikeets and a chestnut horse, which left after happily munching through a couple of day's worth of porridge oats!

Marcus feeding the lorikeets

We broke camp and left to find the local library to print out our satellite phone paperwork, where the kids discovered the coolest music installation. A windmill sculpture played a pentatonic scale and was situated inside a corrugated iron "tank" which provided fantastic amplification. We all had a great time improvising some tunes on it. I would have taken some video but I haven't got that far in the new camera manual yet. Should have just asked the kids, but they wouldn't leave the windmill!

Pentatonic Windmill in Clermont

We decided to leave the Blair Athol mine visit for a later trip, grabbed a few (very expensive) groceries and headed out of town for a long drive to Charters Towers. The road cut through flat and fairly featureless brigalow plains, and at one point Ella was absolutely convinced that we were just driving over the same piece of road in an endless loop! "Mum, we've been on this bit before! I recognise it."

After 2 hours of driving we reached Belyando Crossing, a tiny blink-and-you'll-miss-it petrol station. In fact, we did miss it and had to turn around to refuel. This was our most expensive refuel (thus far) at $1.75 per litre! Pay up, or perish in the desert! We had lunch there and the kids fed the lonely rainbow lorikeet. Lonely, but fat! Jackson had a great time counting road-train wheels - his previous record was 58 until he saw a Perkins Haulage Road Train with 62.



Jackson was excited to break the wheel count record.





I started texting my brother Dave as we left Clermont, lost reception and we had to drive 400kms to Charters Towers until we were back in range. I will be pleased to pick up the satellite phone in Cairns in case of emergency!

We reached the outskirts of Charters Towers late in the afternoon. The closest free camp was at the Mobil truckstop, so we decided to stay for the night. While the boys had their showers, Ella and I watched the endless parade of trucks as the light faded and darkness fell. Ella was really enjoying the trucks and said "Some things are just glorious! I've never seen a truck so well decorated with lights!"

What a night!! The huge roadtrains rolled in and out all night, most coming within a metre of the side of the caravan. At one point, a 50m long cattle truck parked next to us. Most of them were empty, but this one had a full load. The cows all started mooing as soon as the engine stopped. Ella said excitedly "Oooh! I can hear them trotting!"

The kids had their noses pressed to the windows in fascination until they fell asleep from sheer exhaustion.

Looks like a nice, quiet place to camp!

Stay tuned ...

Bedford Weir - Clermont

Today started, as usual, at 5:45 with the dulcet tones of the Bellebird ...

"MUUUM! I'm busting! I have to go NOW!"

Hauling oneself out of a warm, cosy sleeping bag to visit a cold amenities block is not really a pleasure on a chilly morning, but Ella is very persistent. As we were up early, we broke camp (after we tracked Lachlan down in the bushes "shooting stuff" with the caravan sway bars!) and headed back into Blackwater to re-fuel and then onto the highway towards Clermont. We stopped at Emerald and bought a few folding stools for the kids then happened to see a great Tshirt for Jackson for his birthday. We couldn't be bothered trying to hide it until January since Jackson is the main caravan organiser, so he is now happily wearing it! He must really like it as he is finally out of his "favourite" Tshirt that he has been wearing every day so far!

Jackson has a new favourite shirt!

After another 100kms we arrived at Clermont around lunchtime. There are certain electrical conveniences we become used to in our daily lives: lights, washing machines, computers ... but mainly lights! We have spent 2 nights in the dark so we had everything on to charge the minute we plugged in at the caravan park. A huge load of washing was also done and the world seemed a better place! It will certainly be better smelling!

As we were preparing dinner, our neighbour arrived home from work and came over to say hi. Robbo works as a boilermaker at the Rio Tinto mine and after a chat, disappeared and came back with a fantastic new torch, a couple of spare batteries and a huge packet of biscuits for the kids. He said he gets a new torch and batteries every night shift at the mine, and thought it would be useful for us on our trip. Lachlan and Marcus almost signed up to be miners on the spot!

Dinner was interesting as our budding fisherman, Lachie, had used almost all of the lamb stirfry strips as bait at the weir! All to catch - and release - a 10cm "greenish, stripy, spikey fish" which we think was a bass. He is keen on some fishing gear and some "poppers" for his birthday, after Youtubing fishing for bass tonight!

We were happy to get our piano exam comments via an email from Daryl. We toasted a packet of marshmallows to celebrate the other night after Sue emailed our results, and the kids think another packet should be bought after reading the examiner's comments tonight!

We will head further North tomorrow and investigate some more free camping sites on the way to Cairns as we will be all charged up again in the morning.

Stay tuned ...

Old Bonalbo - Bedford Weir

Greetings from the fireside at Bedford Weir on the Mackenzie River. The galahs are flying around and chatting to Ella as she tries to feed them bottlebrush flowers. No takers as yet, but she is pretty thrilled with her pink feather collection! Marcus says he even enjoys washing up outdoors, so we may never return!

Although our mobile broadband connection is surprisingly good so far, we are having difficulties with the laptop battery and I have been unable to post blog entries, so I will backtrack a couple of days.

Our first day of travelling started on Tuesday 28th. Our early departure didn't happen as we had trouble with the caravan brake lights, so we had our first garage visit at Urbenville Motors, where the friendly mechanic interrupted his lunch to sort us out. Ella had only done 2 maths pages when we were back on the road and heading out towards Legume, on Australia's bumpiest road. After bouncing along at 40km per hour, morning tea quickly seemed like a good idea so we stopped at Wallaby Creek Road, and demolished Gran's scones in the company of bellbirds and wallabies!



Oh my God! An avalanche inside the caravan!


Just about everything that we had carefully packed had fallen out of the caravan cupboards, so we repaired the damage and limped along until the roads mercifully improved at Legume. Warwick was the next stop and we had a late lunch there after Ella tried her reading skills out on the graffiti on the park. Made for interesting lunch conversation!

We arrived in Goondiwindi in time for a feast that Nicolette had prepared. On Wednesday, the kids all went to the movies and then spent ages playing with the Labradoodle puppies.Thanks for the lovely visit Nicolette, Rowan, Eisak, Joel and Ellie!

We left Goondi on Thursday morning and the kids were absolutely thrilled to see 4 emus just out of town. Except for Ella, who missed them and spent 40 kms bemoaning the fact that she never sees anything! We drove through to Taroom and the Leichhardt Tree, where I chatted to a stock and station agent for a while. She said that trucks were still bogged around the area from the flooding in January, and properties that had been mustered by motorbike exclusively for 15 years had been mustered by horse this year. Poor horses! The mud is disgusting.  Late afternoon found us at our first free camp, a hauntingly beautiful site at Chain Lagoon, North of Taroom. The gloss was taken off slightly when we realised that there were no facilities at all there, but we had plenty of water and our lanterns were charged, so we stayed. Your "emergency toilet facility" from the staff survival kit came in handy Adriana and Sandra!!

We left the lagoon and stopped at the weir over the Dawson river near Theodore for morning tea and photos. The kids like the photo on the left!

We occupied ourselves counting coal trucks on the huge trains at Bluff - a disputed count of 96! -  and then drove through  Blackwater to the Weir, arriving in time to set up camp before dark. Our camp spot was 7m underwater in the flood!



Jackson pretending he caught this redclaw!



We have spent the last couple of days here at the Weir, the boys have enjoyed some fishing and we have all had some down time.

The rest has been very welcome since Dave's back has been sore and he has been struggling with both driving and being a passenger (and NOT because of my driving!). We had hoped to play a bit of music, but I sliced my finger open and can't play anything, and our lanterns have all run out so we have had no light. One night of looking for lost picks in the grass by torchlight put us off. Lachie lost his mandolin pick, then Dave dropped his guitar pick, and finally Ella dropped her ukulele pick and was crying, so we all stopped to look for it. Her description? "It's down there in the grass and it's grass coloured"!

We will pack up on Monday morning and head further North if Dave's back is OK.

Stay tuned ...