Life at Redlynch

Thursday, 30 July 2015

 

Ice cream with Brian and Jenny

Greenhouses being prepared for berries

Testing the timer

Sausages with Graeme and Gladys

Men don't gossip!

Monday, we headed once again to the Atherton Tablelands – becoming quite familiar with the road to Kuranda by now!  Our first stop was at the Termite Shop for supplies of chilli chutney/jam (a carryover order from last year for deprived children!) and then a visit to Maria and Bruno at NQ Gold Coffee (the big kids needed a further supply!).  After waiting for another couple to be served, we discovered that our pre-ordered coffee had been sold to someone else who called in, so we had to wait – and chat with Maria – while Bruno fired up the grinder.  It was well worth the wait, though, and we now have enough coffee to last until Christmas, hopefully.

We had arranged to meet Jenny and Brian at Gallo Dairy for lunch, which was very enjoyable.  We also enjoyed the company, the view and the scrumptious chocolates, however, the odour from the nearby milking sheds meant we didn’t stand around outside for too long.  We finished off the afternoon with some very nice ice creams, handmade at a local strawberry farm.

With the clear, sunny skies disappearing on Tuesday, we sat around watching the mizzle turn into drizzle, which became rain by late afternoon.  We pondered for half a second and decided to give bowls a miss and join in the sausage sizzle at the caravan park.  Unfortunately, the camp kitchen wasn’t anywhere near large enough to accommodate all the caravanners, so Graeme and Gladys joined us under our awning for the evening; we only had a short dash to collect our food.

The rain continued on and off during Wednesday, with some wind for variety.  It really was a good day for catching up on little jobs and reading.  After a windy night, Thursday has been clear and warm, with many of the women making a dash for the laundry this morning.  The Pajero was booked in for a service this morning, which meant that Himself actually saw the sunrise!  All was well with the vehicle and he was back in time for morning tea with James and Maureen.

After much thought, I have come to the conclusion that I really do need a small printer in the caravan, so a visit to Officeworks this afternoon was called for and I now have a small $45 laser printer.  The replacement toner cartridge will cost $59 when required – cheaper to buy a new printer!

Hot and Humid in Cairns

Sunday, 26 July 2015

Useless implement

Freshwater Creek

Inspecting the cane - or looking for snakes?

View southwards

Very fine spiderweb with drop of water

African tulip tree?

Flowers of said tree

Of course it is healthy - all the food groups are on the plate!

Friday was still very drizzly and very humid – until about 10.00 am, then the clouds disappeared and the sun came out.  The temperature very quickly shot up to 31 degrees and the humidity dropped to about 50%; much more pleasant.  We didn’t really do very much on Friday, apart from call into Helloworld to collect our accommodation vouchers for Hawaii.

The beautiful weather continued on Saturday, with high temperatures once again.  We had an early morning walk along the edge of the canefields beside Freshwater Creek.  This bike/walking path is very popular with both locals and visitors.

Today is still very hot but the slight cloud cover has resulted in much higher humidity once again.  Needless to say, the washing dries very quickly!  With fruit and veggie supplies getting low, it was in to Rusty’s Market for a top up and as we were near the Esplanade, felt it would be very bad form not to support the local Movenpick ice cream supplier.

After receiving, as a gift from a special daughter, an appliance that obviously is a must have in the tropics – a pineapple peeler and corer – I am sorry to report that this implement is absolutely and totally useless!

Wet Tropics

Thursday, 23 July 2015

  ..

Armoured motorbike

Russian mobile SAM

Anti-aircraft gun

Interesting

Big Tank and Little Tank

Belle

Guess who was helping out?

Might need a retread

Mobile Howitzer

Ferret Scout Car and Tank

Problem solving

Monday – it rained.  Monday also saw a mass exodus of caravans, which resulted in a mass influx of caravans as all the sites were re-occupied.  Monday also saw the arrival of James and Maureen, Graeme and Gladys.  We really did need someone to blame for bringing the rain.

Tuesday – it rained again, and the humidity seemed to increase even more.  Apart from look at the laundry hanging under the awning before conceding defeat and heading to the dryers, we didn’t do very much.  However, we did manage a short walk between showers (taking the umbrella, of course) to feed the fish and were lucky enough to see a turtle on the rocks, as well as an eel.  Luckily, we managed to play bowls in the evening without getting wet.  Again, the temperature was still about 23 degrees with humidity about 80% - some of the locals were obviously feeling the cold and rugged up in the polar fleece jackets and woolly jumpers!

Wednesday – it rained again.  Apart from a visit to the hairdressers, nothing very exciting happened, apart from a trip to Helloworld for a bit of research on accommodation in Hawaii.

Thursday – yes, you guessed it – still raining, and quite heavily until lunch time.  After lunch, as the rain seemed to have stopped for a little while, we decided to check out the new Armour and Artillery Museum.  Very interesting, with a very large number of armoured vehicles from armoured motorbikes to huge tanks; tiny cannon to a Russian SAM missile.  There were many tanks/vehicles from England, Germany and Russia, with a few Canadian examples as well.  The museum also seemed to be the meeting place for all the midgies within a 10 km radius!  As we were leaving, we stopped for a while to watch the first stage of the unloading of a new arrival – a Russian tank.  Three large cranes and operators were preparing to lift it from a low-loader.  James invited himself and Maureen to afternoon tea – luckily I had made a banana loaf this morning.

Birthday in Cairns

Sunday, 19 July 2015

It is now over two months since we left home – the time is flying!

Saturday was a very important day – my birthday.  I didn’t get breakfast in bed, but I did get an extra hour of “me” time as someone thought it was only 7 o’clock when he woke up.  The glorious weather was just perfect for relaxing, talking on the phone and reading emails – thank you to all those who contacted me.  I decided on a birthday lunch and ended up choosing Barnacle Bill’s lunch menu – the grilled barramundi and salad was just right.  Naturally, it would be impossible to have a birthday without an ice cream for dessert, and Movenpick just happens to be right next to Barnacle Bill!

Today has been a bit overcast, but still very warm.  The morning was spent catching up on the little housework jobs and after lunch we set out for a walk along the creek, clutching our little plastic bag of bread for the fish.  Unfortunately, our usual bridge was occupied by half a dozen teenage boys trying to catch our well-fed fish, so we continued to the next bridge and spent a pleasant time tossing bread into the water and talking to a local couple.  At this stage, two teenage boys arrived on a motorbike and buggy affair and became quite vocal when the buggy wouldn’t fit between the barriers across the bike/walking track (they did have a very limited vocabulary!) and while we all pointed out the no motorbikes sign to them, three young children (3/4, 5/6, 7/8) on a scooter and bikes moved past us to the middle of bridge and waited for their grandmother to catch up.  Suddenly, one of the teenagers yelled, “He’s gone off the bridge!”  Les and the other man turned and ran, the man went straight through the railings into the water, I keyed in 000 on the phone (just in case) and then realised that the grandmother was in the water with the little boy as well.  Lots of adrenalin and lots of yelling happening at this stage, with the three in the water making their way to the bank and back onto the bridge.  Evidently, the little boy had surfaced and started dog paddling by the time his grandmother went over the side.  I think it would take some time for heart rates to return to normal.

Cairns - and Telstra

Friday, 17 July 2015

Pink ginger

Bird of Paradise

Tree ferns

Red ginger

Bamboo

Trunk of silk floss tree - no possums in this tree!

Curlews came to visit

Tuesday morning was an early start to make sure Emma and Kathryn were at the airport in plenty of time to enjoy the Qantas Club (and breakfast!) before their flights south.  The remainder of the day for us was spent catching up on laundry and life’s little jobs.  A walk to the creek after lunch to feed the fish resulted in the sighting of another snake in the water – the second sighting since last Friday!  The fish didn’t seem too worried, though.

Wednesday was the start of the Telstra dramas for the week, when my wifi moden decided to continually turn itself off.  Into Cairns Central and the Telstra shop, where a nice man removed the battery and immediately put it back; modem working again.  Back home, modem turning itself off, battery being removed and replaced, modem continuing with its annoying habit filled in the remainder of the day.

Thursday morning and it was back to the Telstra shop and a nice lady agreed with me that the modem had gone to the big Telstra shop in the sky.  As it was still under contract, there would be no problem with a replacement being issued.  I was expected to talk to Netgear (the manufacturers), who immediately said it was a BigPond problem and hung up.  Nice lady rang BigPond and explained the difficulty before I had to spell out the delivery address (letter by letter) to the nice man on the telephone.  All sorted, modem should be delivered within three to five working days.  That evening, the nice man from BigPond rang to say the computer would not accept the caravan park’s address because there was no actual street number and couldn’t send it to the post office for collection because I didn’t have a private box number!  He then informed me that I could collect one from any Telstra shop – why didn’t he say so in the morning???

Friday morning and it was back to Cairns Central and the Telstra shop.  Lady was very understanding and read all the notes on the file but couldn’t give me a new modem because they weren’t owned by Telstra.  I could only get a modem from Telstra.  Frustration starting to build but I was assured the Telstra shop at Earlville was actually a Telstra shop.  Back in the car to Earlville and an extremely nice and helpful lady read my file, understood immediately and within half an hour I had a new modem which was up and running and recognised by my computer.

After all the stress of the morning, there was only one place to head – Movenpick for some chocolate ice cream therapy!  We continued to de-stress with a stroll through the Botanic Gardens, always beautiful and peaceful.

Atherton Tablelands

Monday, 13 July 2015

 

McHugh's Lookout

Millaa Millaa Falls

Lake Barrine

Yum!!!

Kauri spotting

Jungle vines

Coot

Fish photos

Orange flowers

Cruising

Spot the snake - it's there!

Lake Barrine Teahouse

War Memorial

Curtain Fig Tree

Tableland cow

Another glorious morning in Cairns, just perfect for our day on the Tablelands.  Queensland is having a “cold snap” at the moment, with the locals all in shock – as we drove through Atherton (temperature 18 degrees), we spotted a local dressed in a hooded coat and blowing into his hands!  With such clear air, the scenery was at its best as we drove through Atherton and on to Herberton.  As we continued towards Millaa Millaa, we stopped at McHugh’s Lookout for a photo opportunity – superb vistas!  Our stop at Millaa Millaa Falls elicited many ooohs from both Kathryn and Emma, although neither was sorry that their baths were still back at their hotel; some mutterings about the water being very cold.

We continued through Malanda, to our lunch stop at Lake Barrine Teahouse, with more photo opportunities to Emma to chase fish and a walk through the jungle to the twin Kauri pines before our lake cruise.  This was a most enjoyable hour – beautiful weather, wonderful guide/captain with a wonderful sense of humour, plenty of wild life and only twelve tourists!  We saw ducks, coots, eels, turtles and even a carpet python curled up in a basket fern.  Being on the top deck, we were able to look directly into the fern, but it took us some time to actually spot the snake, the camouflage was so good.

Our next stop was at the Avenue of Honour, Yungaburra.  This Memorial to the Defence Force personnel who served and lost their lives in Afghanistan, is located on the shore of Lake Tinaroo.  Then it was on to the Curtain Fig Tree, along with a bus load of tourists, before asking our guests if they wanted to stop at the chocolate factory or travel directly back to Cairns.  Emma became quite animated at the word “chocolate,” so a stop was called for – as well as an odd purchase or two!

We decided on a quick dinner at Cazaly’s tonight, but didn’t realise it was the Monthly Monday when all their prize winners from the previous month receive their free roast!  The evening was completed with a Movenpick ice cream – the last opportunity for Emma and Kathryn before their departure tomorrow.  The week has gone so quickly!