Life in the Tropics

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DAY 293


It was nice and cool and not quite light, it was our first morning waking up in a house, the first in a long while, well since end of April when we spent a week in Perth, we have both been looking forward to this, even though Andy is keen on spending a night or two out camping while we are here anyway.

I am not sure what time it was Andy had already sneaked out of bed, it seems that I usually wake up when Andy gets out of bed in the trailer, yet I never event noticed him stir here.

I found Andy sat in the kitchen drinking tea, it was still only about 7.00, I am not really sure what to do with myself, so I make myself a cup of tea and sit enjoying the lovely cool and tranquil atmosphere.

We have a light breakfast of toast and eat it out on the front veranda, even though at the front of the house you are still secluded as huge palm trees and other large plants of the tropical variety surround us. There is sound of birds tweeting around us, I am not sure what they are but they are far from the squawks of the Cockatoo.

I get some washing in the machine, I had started to soak our bed linen and clothes yesterday when we arrived so that everything gets a good soak before it goes in the washing machine, the colour of the water is a horrible reddish grey, even though I wash regularly you just cannot get everything perfectly clean. So one lot goes in the machine while I get to soak another lot.

While I potter around inside, emptying suitcases and having a sort through our stuff Andy is outside washing the truck, apart from our little wash at Mount Surprise the last time this truck had a decent wash was when we were in Katherine on July 27th, which seems so long ago now, and it is absolutely filthy, but it has had the best the outback has been able to throw at it, and it has done remarkably well.

We pop out to Queensland Department of Transport as the truck as our registration (rego) is due for renewal during September. I have a map so the location is easily found, however on arrival we find an exceptionally busy office so we take a ticket and join the queue, we find the relevant paperwork to re register the vehicle without the reminder, fill it out and then sit and wait.

Fortunately we did not have to wait too long before our number was called, we are greeted by a cheerful lady at desk 12, we explain what we need to do, she explains what she needs so we give her our paperwork and driving licence to confirm who we are, she looks at the computer, we confirm the address but she laughs and asks “How do you Brits get your tongue around some of these place names?” I laughed and responded, “We have to listen very carefully!” Soon she says “That’ll be 652 dollars please.” “Is that it?” we both respond, “Yes, that’s it.”

So it is as simple as that really, we have re registered, the new sticker will go to a friends address to whom we are extremely grateful as she will then send it on to us while we are in Cairns. In the meantime we just keep the proof of payment in our glove box so we can prove purchase if the registration runs out before we get the new sticker.

On the way back to Bayview Heights Andy drives through the car wash, I get seriously worried about him really, he has already washed the truck this morning but insists that a few minutes in the jet was to do the underside will keep it in tip top condition, I am not going to argue that point.

Car wash done, we swing by Coles for some groceries, pop into Brumbys the Bakery for some fresh bread and rolls then back to uh, home I guess, perhaps we should call it home at the moment? Or should we say digs? I don’t know we will think on that one.

This afternoon has the word rest written on it and I can see a hammock begging to be used on the veranda, so after a chicken roll and ice lolly for lunch, we both grab our books and head outside in the cool shade for a rest.

Andy immediately goes to the comfortable sofa which leaves me to bag the hammock. Now I have never got in a hammock before so I approach this with care as I can only imagine that as soon as I try to sit on it, it will spin round and dump me on the floor, however I sit down in the centre and then swing my legs in as I swing the top half of my body round, I am soon lying swinging, and reaching for my book.

I don’t know how long we spent lounging around, but I did finish reading my book a romantic suspense novel, by Nora Roberts, that is a new author for me, I must see if I can find any more of her books, Janet gave me this book when we saw her and Bill in Katherine, so now I have finished it I will have to pass it on to someone else.

Late in the afternoon Andy finishes the blog for yesterday, once uploaded we can treat ourselves to a walk up to the top of the road, not just the top of any road, but the street that we are living in goes up the side of a mountain, we are assured that it is a good walk, so we gear up and off we set in the cool early evening.

This street is lovely, lots of modern houses, small large, some with swimming pools, some with guard dogs that cannot resist barking as we wander past. We take some water with us and stop for a short breather on the way but soon we are as far as the road will go. We have another rest and then we head back down again.

I hope that Andy does not mind me mentioning here that since his heart op 18 months ago he manages walks like this so much better, he does not stop for a rest anywhere near as often as he used to and his recovery time is much quicker, this is not an easy walk by any account but Andy does this without any trouble at all.

It is quicker to go down than up, the time it took all in was about 30 minutes round trip. We have promised ourselves to do this every day that we are here, just a small challenge for us and to help keep us fit.

Once we get back we top up with cool refreshing water, I heat up some leftover curry, which tastes even more delicious this time round and for a change we put the television on and catch up on the news.

I hate to say it, but we were so engrossed watching that black box with the moving pictures on it, we did not go to bed until 11.00! How bad is that? We must not get into that habit, just because we have been deprived of tv for so long. I am actually thinking that we should join the local video store and hire some DVD’s so that we can catch up on recent film releases. We both love a good film.

The night is cool and bed beckons, it is not long before we both encounter sleep.

Until tomorrow should we be spared by tropical suburban life.

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Comments

[Jode]

Good books
Hey Caroline have read a couple of Nora Roberts books myself and quite enjoyed them. She has written loads of books and also goes by the name of J.D. Robb so shouldn't be too hard to find a few more. She has also written a few trilogies so keep an eye out for them. Your namesakes are very very cute!! Bottle feeding lambs was part of my gorwing up and now my sister does it with her kids. They have baby chickens at the moment so maybe I could convince the kids to call one Kangaroo and one Jack - you never know. Enjoy your house and your TV - there is so much trash you could watch all day long. Take care talk to you soon Jode xx

[Ros]

The Black Box
Hi Andy and Caroline If you switch the black box on again today (Saturday) you'll be able to catch some old editions of "The Bill". That should cure any addiction! Did you catch any of the Cairns Festival?

[Gary]

Rego
$652, for how long? Seems like a lot of money. Or does that include insurance?

[kangaroojack]

Rego
Hi Gary, $652 for the year, (Road tax) as we call it in the UK, Insurance is on top of that. All the best Andy