Snakes and Whales

17 September – Wednesday

Much cooler today – only 22 degrees – and cloudy. We only had a short trip to Brisbane and stayed with friends, Brian and Jenny. We spent the whole day talking and looking at photos – Jenny had only returned the previous day after spending 13 days in Japan. We have decided that we will definitely meet up somewhere in the great outdoors next year.

18 September – Thursday

Similar weather to yesterday, but it did clear about lunch time. Today we left Queensland behind and headed south to Yamba, a small coastal fishing town at the mouth of the Clarence River.

Although we were allocated a site at the caravan park, we were told by the receptionist we could pick another one if we wanted to – we did, to a sunnier position. When I returned to tell her about our change, another lady walked through the office carrying a small green frog. She told us that she had rescued it from a snake which was trying to swallow the frog whole. Great, I really wanted to know there are snakes in the caravan park!

We went for a drive to look at the sights of Yamba, which has some really nice coastline and small, sandy coves between the rocky headlands, and ended up at the lookout on Point Angourie. Stepped out of the car to be greeted by a bloke I used to work with, he called me by name and, of course, I couldn’t think of his! After much thought, we decided he was Colin Saul, ex Allfoods. He and his wife were watching an upturned boat some distance out to sea and after some discussion, we decided we should ring the Coast Guard. It turned out that the boat was an abandoned trimaran, the occupants had been rescued yesterday and the boat left to drift. While we were watching it, two whales breached not far from shore – a mother and calf. They kept us enthralled for some time.

I think we will need something warmer than a shirt tonight.