Lazy Saturday

25th July – Saturday

The postman finally arrived yesterday, with a "care package" from Diane. This contained some mail, birthday cards, drawings and a pink CD containing a number of small videos made by Emma, Michael and Diane. It was just wonderful to see and hear the children (Michael looked perfectly normal to us), as well as a brief look at our garden. The hellebores and primulas are looking good and the fish were swimming around. Sebastian did look very lonely, though.

The weather was a trifle unpleasant today – we had a small shower of rain at lunchtime. Fortunately, it is still very warm.

This morning we headed into Cairns for a wander and a spot of shopping. It is considered winter here, so the shops are stocking winter clothes and black shoes, of course. Luckily, I was able to find a specialist shoe store that stocked Merrill sandals, which were required rather badly. It is hard to believe that heavyweight clothing and coats are actually sold and worn in this climate.

We wandered around the usual Saturday market on the foreshore, with the customary jewellery stalls and tarot card readers, before heading for one of the better quality souvenir shops. A special request from Michael was fulfilled this morning. We decided to have lunch at The Pier, overlooking the marina. The setting was lovely, the wait for service, was long, the wait for food was even longer, and the food was rather ordinary. At least we know not to return to this restaurant.

We also discovered a bowls club not too far away from the caravan park, so called in this afternoon and put our names down for a couple of games. We did notice, with relief, that they had a shade cloth which extends right across the green.