Rain Stops Play

---

DAY 346

Today’s the day that we leave Cairns and continue our journey South, Andy as usual was up early this morning, I was up just after 7.00 but Andy was already outside packing the trailer, so I set about getting sorted out inside, little did we know that we would change our plans.

It again is quite warm this morning and very humid, but it is overcast, I strip the sheets and pillowcases etc from the bed in order to wash them and hang them to dry ready for Julies return. Andy packed the trailer, our sleeping bags and other bed linen were packed in the truck, the fridge was stocked and back in the truck, just a few of our belongings remained in the house, ready to be stowed.

Then, it started raining, but of course, not just a shower or a little light rain, it rained heavily in stair rods we thought that it would rain and then stop and perhaps the sun would come out. So we had some breakfast, another cup of tea, showered and had just sat down to relax a while when Julie appeared.

It was still raining, so Julie said feel free to hang around until it stops, our intention was not to travel too far today, perhaps just down to Babinda for an overnight stop and then perhaps onto Paronella Park, Queenslands No. 1 must do, however it just carried on raining. The rain just continued to hammer down, I suspect there are a number of people jumping for joy, the dams will start to be replenished, the brown and dry gardens will be lapping up this heavy fresh fall of water to replenish their thirst.

This wet stuff has become so unfamiliar to us, however the memory of the Great Ocean Road and trying to put the tent up in heavy rain and for us to stay dry, to be able to cook a meal and then again pack up the following morning, all in heavy rain is a memory that will stay with us, that is the part that makes camping not much fun! Still, this is what we chose to do and at the end of the day, or the start of the day whichever way you look at the weather, just because it is raining does not mean to say that we should not get out there and on with the journey.

Julie did a reiki session on me, a whole hour to relax and let go of those stresses and strains, ok so I don’t have much of those at the moment, but any excuse for a bit of me therapy!

During my reiki session though, the rain continued to hurl itself out of the sky and it suddenly turned quite cold as the wind suddenly revved up a little, I even had to put a fleece on to keep the cold out.

Julie offered for us to stay for another night, but I have to say on discussion (very brief) with Andy we decided that for another day domestic bliss would be lovely, so for today at least we will stay put and enjoy this beautiful environment.

Andy did a couple of chores to help Julie out around the house, he put some mastic sealant around the edge of the kitchen worktop, sorted a lamp out and tightened up a loose tap in the kitchen.

I typed up a bit of the blog, but meanwhile outside it carried on raining so I think we made the right decision, to stay put today.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, chatting about reiki and the benefits associated with it, but all too soon, it was time to cook dinner, which was a bit of a joint effort.

Trouble is earlier today I stripped the bed to wash the sheets, pillowcases and quilt cover so rather than remake the bed only to do the washing again in the morning we just grabbed the sleeping bags from the back of the truck and put those on the bed instead, at least we still have a comfy bed to sleep in.

During the evening we watched Flash Forward (you may remember me mentioning this yesterday, another programme we got into watching while we were stationery here for 5 weeks), it was great to watch it on a proper tv rather than both of us crowd around our little laptop screen.

There is not a lot to say about today really, everything is packed and ready to go, apart from a few bits and pieces and the trailer is attached to the Patrol ready to hit the road in the morning.

We have received a number of messages from people via the blog recently and I just want to say thank you to all of you who have been reading since the start and to those who have only just joined us on our magnificent journey, we are both grateful for all your comments and enjoy reading them, they certainly keep our spirits up and look forward to receiving many more, apologies if we have not answered all of your comments.

The end of another day, it is 10.00 and time to go to bed, Andy seems to be going down with something so an early night will do us no harm (besides, once we are back out camping again, early nights will easily come back into play).

Until tomorrow.

KJ
x

---