The Coleman's Down Under

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DAY 359


Kangaroojack is such social butterflie, again we had a lunch date with the fabulous Coleman family aka “The Coleman’s Down Under.”

I was up early as usual and had my quiet time, having a cup of tea and looking at the blog stats, as I have already informed you they have been exceptional for the month of October and we can only put it down to the fact that we are a featured blogger and we have been front page for about month now, so we are both chuffed that our ramblings, though we just purely record what happens every day on our travels, its nice to know that it is still being read and appreciated.

We sat and planned for the day, we were due to meet Heather, Ian and the children at 12.00 down at the pool on The Strand, the only requirement was that we had to have our swimming togs with us so we could all have a swim before lunch.

A job that we needed to do was to wash the floor of the trailer tent, its PVC and can get quite grubby when you are stepping in and out of it all the time, despite having a doormat and trying not to wear thongs inside. I think the last time we washed it was when we were in Darwin, so as we like to keep on top of it then it had to be done and it really does make you feel good about your living quarters.

When I got up I had a little potter about with the truck, getting it ready for our departure, just sweeping the passengers and drivers foot wells out and giving it a bit of a dust down, as we spend so much time in it who wants to sit in a pig sty? My favourite trick is brown vinegar and water to clean down the inside of the truck it works a treat, that was all done early as the sun was hot, hot, hot today.

Caroline unzipped the floor out of the trailer and we set to work on it, soon enough it was all nice and clean, all it takes is a little elbow grease and some floor Flash and hey presto.
I got the hose pipe rigged up and gave it a good rinse down then we hung it out to dry. Before we knew it the sun soon dried the floor and we zipped it back in to the trailer and it looked as good as new.

The usual chores like pots and pans needed cleaning and once done we were soon ready to go out. A guy in the camp kitchen commented “I don’t care where anyone comes from, if its hot, its hot!” This was really referring to the fact that today is another hot day, and when you discuss the weather with people from the tropics most of them comment “hot, oh no, this isn’t hot!”

Our mobile phone was acting up today, telling us that we had only a limited service we wondered if all the credit had been used up and needed to go and find a Vodafone shop, so we drove to Stocklands shopping centre as we needed to do some grocery shopping for our onward journey and get something for today’s lunch as our contribution.

The assistant in the Vodafone phone shop said he would remove the sim card and if needs be he would “burn “a new one if the one we had was found to be faulty, he took it out, cleaned it on his shirt and put it back and Bingo it worked!!

Pleased with the fact that our phone was now working two messages instantly came through, both from Heather Coleman, could we meet at 11.30 so we could all have a decent swim before lunch, but it was already 5 past 11.00, Heather also said that they had been to the butchers and had got everything for lunch so don’t bother getting anything, just don’t forget your swimming togs.

We called her back and said we just had a couple of bits to get and would be there as soon as possible, Heather said that would be fine and we quickly flew around Woolworths.
As I new we would be buying cold stuff I had put the fridge into the back of the Patrol so we could put all the stuff that needed keeping cool straight into the fridge, thus eliminating the need to go back to the campsite.

We got a few bits and pieces for our lunch contribution and headed off toward the Strand in Townsville to meet the Coleman’s.

When we arrived we found them in the large swimming pool, it is a 25 Mtr pool that was outdoors and heated with a couple of huge sail shades overhead, we paid our $3.00 bucks each and went in and changed, me in to my swimmers and Caroline into a frog (ha ha).

The water was gorgeous, the kids, Emily and George just couldn’t get enough, they are both very at one with the water, just as if they were born into it. We spent about an hour and a half wallowing under the shade in the outside pool.

The kids were in, out, in, out of the water, the pool only had about 6 people in, in total, and the big pool about 50 Mtrs long also had about 3 people in, and it was only $3.00 bucks per person for all day. This is such a great place, although we can see further down the Strand that most of the Townsville population is actually in the Waterpark.

When we finally got out we sat in the shade at the pool kiosk and had a coffee, of course well deserved after spending so much time in the water, Thanks Guys, we owe you, our shout next time.

We walked over to where the waterpark is about 300 mtrs from the pool along the Strand, there are picnic benches and the free gas BBQ’S that everyone can use on a take your turn basis.

The picnic table was laid and Ian and myself cooked the meat for our lunch whilst the girls got the curried egg and salad ready and in no time at all we were dishing up the food. It was excellent, cooked to perfection the only thing left to do was sit down and eat it, which we did. Heather and Ian had been to the Butchers on Bundock Street, apparently one of the best butchers around, we agree that the sausages and steak we had for lunch were delicious.

The day was a scorcher and Emily and George were so funny, we had brought some ice creams with us and kept them in the freezer part of the fridge in the truck, not that did any good, they did not remain frozen they had completely turned into ice cream soup, George was half way through his with the cup tilted almost vertical it looked like he had a fantastic Moustache, just like the Belgian detective Poirot, then he complemented it with a matching Goatee beard, in chocolate ice cream of course.

Caroline had mentioned that George didn’t like his photograph being taken, and when he was sporting his ice cream moustache and beard she really wanted a photograph, so rather than risk him running away at the first sight of the camera, she asked him if he wouldn’t mind having his photo taken, he acknowledged that he was happy about this and she got the desired shot, I do think it is very funny.

We sat and talked some more, for a long while actually, the kids played a bit of football, but poor Emily’s eyes were sore with the water from the swimming pool and waterpark, so Andy suggested rinsing her eyes out with milk, just a trick we learnt from the Travel Truey’s when we were in Kakadu and Andy got chilli in his eyes after he prepared some dinner one evening. Emily did not sound keen at first but the stinging got the better of her and soon she agreed, I think much to her delight the milk seemed to have worked.

Heather tells us a funny little jewel, George had asked where Andy was, and Heather said over with Daddy by the BBQ, but he was insistent that was not who he meant, turned out that he was wondering where Caroline was who had gone off to get changed, he seemed to have got our names mixed up, Andy being Caroline and visa versa, so sweet.

As time ticked on, the afternoon was starting to wilt, Ian suggested that we go back to theirs for a cup of tea and we all agreed, I wanted to show George, who is very much a “young” lover of wildlife, some of our treasured wildlife moments on this trip, so when we got back the their house set the lap top up and we all had a viewing of some of our wildlife pictures, which can’t help but warm young hearts, like those fantastic Wombats in Tasmania, and the Koala’s at Cape Otway. If it encourages them to go out in to the world and interact with animals I think that is a great thing.

I think for someone picking up the blog now, it must be quite daunting, as its so huge, but Heather said they would keep up with our travels and read it, so we are pleased.

Even on “holiday” the spectre of time is always on your shoulder, we came to that point, as hard as it is, we had to go!! Things needed doing back at camp to eliminate doing too much in the heat of the morning, but more importantly right now, we needed a Coleman Team Photo, which would compliment our blog for today and I really think they let us have it, such a nice family photo.

The Coleman gang all sat of the sofa, and the shutter went click, capturing a single moment in time, so fantastic.

Now comes the kissing and shaking hands and small hugs, I’m good with all that but it’s the walking away I find hard to do, especially when you have found friends!! Probably worse for Caroline as she knew Heather in England and had already said goodbye just over 12 months ago before they came out to Townsville.

We have kissed, shook hands and hugged so many people on this trip, one would think it would get easier, but it seems to get harder, or just may be emotionally we become attached so early when we know all the boxes are being ticked, I don’t know?

They promise and we promise to keep in touch and those promises will not be broken, we walk out waving and get in the truck, we pull off sad to be leaving such great people who in such a short time have made us feel so welcome and gave us so much fun, and oh gave Caroline her hugest hangover ever!! Well she managed that on her own.

Driving back you feel that sense of emptiness again, and you can only combat your feelings but saying wow, what a great family, and what a great weekend, we thank them for allowing us to gatecrash their weekend in such a big way, possibly if you didn’t you would just sit down and cry.

On route we give Roger Cordukes a call, Roger is the brother of our friend Richard the guy, we met in Ulverstone Tasmania way back in February then again in Darwin, he is that amazing guy who is the quadriplegic.

Well as we had spent some time with Richard, Roger and Roger’s partner Louise Whilst in Darwin, we had not wanted to miss him whilst in Townsville and left him a voice mail message saying that we would like to see him if available tomorrow as we are leaving to continue our journey south.

Back at camp we sit and contemplate a very light evening meal, we have some curry that needs eating so Caroline does a small bag of rice. While we sit and eat, the mosquitos have a feast on us and we talk about our amazing day we are exhausted but both in agreement, that we have had a superb day.

I start downloading the photo’s Caroline had taken today and they where great, we both went through them and agreed what should go up on the blog for this blog day. When they where down loaded, we opened a new blog tab and I uploaded our chosen pictures.

Caroline had sat down with her Nintendo and was doing a puzzle so the day being fresh in my mind I started to type the blog, as there is no time like the present. At some point Caroline wanders off and returns with a load of trashy gossip magazines that were left in the laundry, she has obviously read the ones that she had and has now switched them over.

Our phone rings and its Roger, he confirms that he will be around Monday morning and would be good to catch up for a cup of tea, so gives us their address and I say that it will be around 11.00am, Roger says that will be fine.

We see that Darryl and Sarah (The Wallaby Wanderers) were on Skype so gave them a call and had half an hour gassing to then, and then a Skype request from a friend of mine came in, who I worked with in the UK, Steve & Lynn Jarvis and had come over to Australia for 6 months, unfortunately we had missed them by one day when they left Cairns for New Zealand, then move from New Zealand on to Vietnam, they are due to fly home this Friday so we wish them safe onward travels. It is hard to believe they are at the end of their trip, it only seemed 5 minutes ago that they arrived in Australia.

We are both dog-tired, we have had some great fun, but now need our beds, we tidy our stuff and climb wearily into the trailer and slide down in the sleeping bag exhausted.

Sweet dreams bloggers we bid you are good night.

KJ XX

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Photos

The Coleman's Down Under
What a fantastic family, they are so much fun, and generous.

Setting Up
For a BBQ in the Strand, by the water park

Dinner on the Go
Andy & Ian doing our dinner

Chef Knows best
Ye s Chef !!

The Table Laid
Waiting to serve the tucker

Emily Coleman
Emily is going to Give Victoria Beckham a run for her money

Master George Coleman
With his "Dashing" Ice cream Moustache

Master George Coleman
And Matching Goatee

Suits you sir
Andy modelling his new line of eye wear