Home in the Tropics

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DAY 292

Awaking to the beautiful Fong - On Bay again, not at all damp this morning, the night was warmer, cloudy but no fog, so for a change everything was dry, just as well as I had forgotten to fold the chairs away last night, they were still by the fire.

There was no huge dawn chorus this morning, all that noise seemed to be in the distance. Andy got out of bed to make the tea and I soon followed. I could see that the pigeons that disturbed us yesterday morning were now disturbing Ian and Jean, they were all tap dancing on the top of their caravan and when they finished with that they went and tap danced on their Landcruiser.

It was a lovely cool morning, still cloudy and somewhat refreshing, I went and looked on the fire, the ashes were warm and there was still a bit of wood in it, so I poked it around and got some smoke, put some scrap paper in and before you know it the fire was alight, so I came and sat here with my book and cup of tea enjoying our last camp fire before we have a spell of domestic bliss.

Andy soon joined me, with his cup of tea and book. What a beautiful morning, the strange thing is that at almost the same time as yesterday, at 8.25 someone must have flicked a switch, the sun went from being cool to being suddenly very hot, the fire was almost out and we did not want to waste any more wood so we made another cup of tea and sat and carried on reading.

We see someone walk past, he introduced himself as Dave and said I walked past yesterday with my wife, I remembered them walking past us. Dave explained that they walked round the peninsula of Fong - On - Bay, it was a long way round “so don’t do it!” However he explained that they saw this huge Barramundi lying on the bank, it had been there for a while, but could not understand why it had been almost untouched, the birds had even left it alone to rot. So off Dave went, Andy lent him a tape measure so that he could lay it along side and take the photograph.

Dave was soon back, 1350mm long the fish was, Dave explained, we discussed the coach that he was driving, he was also towing an Audi A4, and told us that he had won it in a competition which he purchased one ticket for $5.00 bucks and won the car “Bargain”.

He explained about his coach, is was imported into Australia from the states specially for a company who used to have an airline over here in Australia, it’s a 1968 model and he has lent it out quite a few times for film crews and it was used as the “The Green Room” in Mission Impossible and Val Kilmer actually used the bus along with Benjamin Bratt and a popular Australian actor Simon Baker during various films.

He said it was a nice little earner but unfortunately does not seem to get the call any more as the big boys have got in on the act. We gave him our details and he said they had some cards, so we said on our way out we had to go past their coach and would drop in.

In the meantime we see Ian and Jean wandering towards us, they show us the two Red Claw that they caught during the night, not really enough for tonight’s dinner, I think they are hoping to catch some more.

We were all packed up a little later than usual, but hey we are not under a dead line except to get to Cairns in time to take Julie to the airport at around 3.30.

We go and say goodbye to Ian and Jean who were our only neighbours about 100 mtrs away, and funnily enough live nearby where we are renting a house in Cairns. We swapped details and jumped in the truck and headed off only a short distance to where David’s Coach was parked.

David was out side pottering about and he enthusiastically greeted us and we spoke about his rig, he said that the car had around 35,000K’s on it now he likes it but didn’t think it would be his choice of car. We were shown inside, the coach looked fantastic, it had everything in it that you would possibly need.

We looked in awe at the storage he had under the coach, he said he had 3 barbecues and was not sure why really; so he said he would have to unload one when they get back to Gympie.

It was time for us to hit the road, we could not delay any longer as beautiful as it is up here and as great as it is for us to speak to so many lovely people, time was going to start pressing. So back in the truck we hit the road, 20 minutes later we were on the bitumen and heading south through the Gillies and toward Cairns.

We stopped on the way for a quick sandwich, but at 2.30 we pulled up at Julie’s. We started to bring some of our gear in from the truck, as we now needed the room to take Julie, Sen and their luggage to the airport.

We had a final handover from Julie, she had left some lovely notes for us on things that work, don’t work and watch out for especially the Possums on the roof, seeds falling on the roof or the occasional palm frond! Hopefully at night we may hear the fruit bats in the trees.

Julie showed us the shortcut to the airport, or at least to the Northern part of Cairns where we were picking up Sen, not sure if we can ever find our way back again via that route, but given a few weeks I am sure we will. We had the pleasure of meeting Sen’s business partner and his family, we chatted briefly they have invited us over to dinner which we are looking forward to.

Ten minutes later we said our goodbyes at the airport to Julie, telling her to give Chandlers Ford a big hug for us, I wish that she could go round and see all of our friends and family for us, but she has her own friends and family to see.

Andy and I find our way back through Cairns and to our little tropical hideaway, it feels so weird being in a house again, I am not sure where to start, except that getting the kettle on is always a good place to start.

Our bed for a change is already made for the night, we don’t have to find anywhere to pitch up, think about which way the sun comes up and what shade we need, it is all here.

We have a light tea, we sit in the cool lounge with the overhead fans cooling the air, we have music on one of our Ipods, listening to Fleetwood Mac and some others of our favourite bands, we both read our books, this is bliss.

At about 9.00 Andy put the TV on for novelty factor, we only have four channels but we flip through and find a programme obviously imported from the UK, it has Bradley Walsh in it but we don’t know what the programme is called, the last time I saw Bradley Walsh he was in Coronation Street.

By 9.45 we were both exhausted so bed was calling, yes bed a real bed, so we locked up and off we went.

Andy was a bit restless but I found that I was nodding off to sleep no problem, the only thing that I could not work out was the white crocodile that appeared to be inflatable floated around the room onto the floor (perhaps it’s the ghost of Sweetheart?), I told Andy that I have seen it before, and then I went to sleep.

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Photos

Ian & Jean's Catch
The Elusive Red Claw

Ian & Jean
Our Camping Neighbours

The Dead Fish
1350mm long and it smelt like hell

Jumbo
Dave and Linda's set up

The Audi A4
Won on a $5.00 Dollar ticket, its nice to see some one actually wins