After dropping Jason off at the airport we headed over to Paul’s and began moving our stuff in; this being our home for the rest of our stay in North Queensland. Once we had settled in, following the moving in tradition, we settled in for a takeaway curry for dinner.
The next day I once again found myself riding out on the Bally Hooley and decided to also offer myself up to help with any media related activities that I could help with. Going forward I will hopefully be helping them with some of their Social Media and Marketing. Meanwhile we have started dropping our CVs around in a bid to find some work once Linda and Adrian have moved on.
Tuesday found Nicola, at the RSPCA whilst I headed across Cairns to get the car horn fixed. Luckily this was completed under warranty and after a bit of shopping I headed over to collect Nicola where I found her trapped in a cage with some savage puppies. Naturally I helped free her, which took around an hour and involved some puppy fun. On the way home we stopped off at one of the untouched beaches along the ranges, something we try and do when go to/from Cairns if we have the time. It is nice knowing that we only have to do the wiggling drive from Port Douglas to Cairns once a week from now.
The next morning I was awoken by a call for some potential work and had to roll out of bed and down to the marina for a couple of meetings. The first with breakfast at a one of the marina restaurants and the next aboard a luxury charter boat, life is hard sometimes. After a quick pit stop shower I headed out to a third meeting. After me and Nicola went tubing on the beach before Paul cooked the house a lovely lasagne dinner.
We also had an afternoon out with our house mates and a friend at a Creek in Mossman; floating around on rubber tubes and getting a little sun. It was a great afternoon out playing around in the water, but the highlight being Joe’s attempts at mounting a rope swing which was well out of his reach and ended in him repeatedly falling back into the creek after already having dried himself to go home. A night around Paul’s friends house eating some home made curry and playing computer games rounded off a great day.
We have actually had quite a water fun filled week making a return to Josephine Falls and Babinda Boulders once again, this time with Paul’s girlfriend, Danielle. It was, as always, rather frosty in the water at the falls. This was followed by some beach visits, taking the rubber tubes out into the surf.
One of my highlights was Skype-ing home to speak to my niece, Lucy, for her birthday and catching up with all the family. One of the difficulties of being ten hours ahead is that your opportunity to speak to little people back home. In fact the call was the first time I have felt a little home sick in a while. Thanks Lucy!
My usually Bally Hooley run was ambushed by a special guest, Auntie Shaz, who, having had a change of employment, had her first Sunday free to hop on the train. I made sure that she had the chance to “ride up front”. Unfortunately she managed to win the heart of the driver who spent the rest of the day asking about her. Who knew Auntie Shaz could be such a heart breaker?!
We are now looking forward to Nicola’s parents coming out next week, although after they do we will probably have to start looking for some gainful employment to top up our travel kitty!
A Ginger Down Under
21st September 2015