Week 24

Week 24
G’day. Here we are in Mackay. So let’s give you a bit of a run down what’s been happening the past few weeks.
Last we spoke we were camping at Palm Cove in Cairns and Shelley was visiting. Were a couple of good day’s .Julie, shell and the kids caught the Kuranda train up to Kuranda while I drove up to save a return fare. They said it was great. Stopped on the way up at a gorge for photos and a pit stop then pulled into the Kuranda Train station which hasn’t changed since I was here 20 odd years ago, except for the jump off point for the skyline gondolas which is right next door. We did the walk up into Kuranda village to check out the markets and various shops. What an absolute sh---ole! This place just is a total let down. The markets are bodgy, dirty and feral. And that the good ones. The cafes and pubs are over priced and set up for the Asian market. $15.00 for a hamburger (chips extra). Still we looked around and to be fair there were some ok places but they were few and far between. From there we went up to Mareeba to check out where our friends from Dubbo were working on the banana farm. Corinne showed us around d the farm which was interesting seeing how the whole operation works. They were heading for Kurumba in a couple of weeks so we said our goodbyes and might meet them on the track again.
The next day we drove up to Daintree so Shelley and the kids could go on a crocodile tour. Not as good as last time but shell still loved it. Then on to Port Douglas to check out the markets and have a swim. The following day was our trip out to Moore Reef on Sun lover. Top day was had by all. It was a little rough on the way out so plenty of brown bags were used by those who didn’t know where to sit on a boat. Once we were there the water flattened out and we spent the next five hours snorkeling and exploring what was a fairly good reef with mountains of fish. Shell did a helicopter flight from the pontoon and said it was great. We hired an underwater digital camera which turned out to great value for money. I managed to take a couple of hundred photos in the time we were out there. Luckily it wasn’t that rough on the way back, which would have bought up the huge smorgasbord lunch that everyone was only to happy to hoe into.
Shell flew home on Tuesday and we started looking around for work. Turns out we got there in the wrong month, very quiet in the construction side of work. So after a goodbye to Greg and Sherrie we decided to head for Mackay. Got as far as Blue water, just outside of Townsville at our first free camp for a few weeks. Decided to hang around till Monday, after all the Bathurst is on Sunday and we can’t be driving for that. Go Holden.
Bloody Fords. Oh well at least it was Lowndesy that won. On to Mackay. Found there was work all the way down the coast from Townsville. Still rebuilding from cyclone Larry. We were only in town an hour before I had my first job offer. A real estate saw the sign on the van outside Maccas (weak moment). We found the cheapest caravan park in Mackay (as there are no free ones, bugger). Stayed there a couple of days before moving down to Andergrove, where I just got offered another job for a lady that can’t get anyone to finish her insurance job from the floods. Start a full time job with a cabinetmaker tomorrow that is going to hurt having not worked since April. Think we are going to stay here until The last week of March before going on a P & O cruise for Julie’s fortieth birthday ( yep the big 40) and then heading to Western Australia.
Well that’s it for this week. We probably won’t write many blogs over the next few months but will let you all no from time to time where we are at.
Love to all
From the Wattevas