Innisfail, Etty Bay and back to Mundoo

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We had already spent an afternoon in Innisfail last time we were in the area, but that had been on a Sunday and everything had been closed! This time we were lucky to pass through on a Saturday. Innisfail was bustling and we visited the local market and strolled around town checking out the art deco architecture and the shops. The town isn’t much to look at but there’s actually more to it than meets the eye. Innisfail’s cosmopolitan past credits Chinese settlers with establishing the area’s banana plantations and Italian immigrants (including a local branch of the mafia!) arrived in the early 20^thcentury. I was surprised to find a some new-age stalls and shops, and had nice chats with some of the locals. For the first time in a veeeery long time I went into a butcher’s to buy some chicken. Interestingly he didn’t bat an eyelid when I asked if he had any organic free-range chicken and it turned out that his sister is vegan so he was refreshingly non-judgmental about veggos and those who don’t eat red meat. It also turned out that he was from Durban in South Africa – where my great aunt Frances lives. It is a small world indeed!

Dean’s old colleague Stuart lives just outside of Innisfail so we joined him and his twin daughters for a day trip to Etty Bay. Tamzin and Nadia train and compete in surf lifesaving competitions and that day they had a first aid course to go to. They’re only 12 years old and very cool!

Etty Bay is just lovely and we enjoyed swimming in the ocean (luckily no poisonous jellyfish at this time of the year), chilling out in the café, and watching more skydivers land on the beach! I just love how small the skydiving world is – you can be miles from home but there’s always someone you know who gives you a hug :-)

After a bit of a yahtzee session with Stuey and the girls, we headed to the dropzone to use up my last jump ticket. Somehow we ended up doing two jumps each. They were amaazing and our head-down worked a treat :-)

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