Wednesday, 5 July 2017

Swings and roundabouts.

As we came down from the Plateau the weather began to turn. It started as a little bit of drizzle, but soon it turned in to the worst type of weather… a weather system known around the world as BRITISH SUMMERTIME.

For the rest of the day it alternated between drizzle and slightly harder drizzle. We decided that, rather than stop at Bowling Green NP, we’d keep on trucking up the coast and stop somewhere near Ingham in a caravan park.

We pulled into Ingham around 7pm. It was dark and still raining. We hadn’t showered, were very tired and Becky came out with the words “I think I’m too old for this”. This is not what you want to hear on day 3 of a 180+ day trip. I told her to have a shower while I set up camp. The private campsite was a shithole, but it was just for one night. After setting up camp, having a shower and eating some sliced cheese straight out of the packet, we went to bed determined to get up early and get back on the road.

We woke at 7am, and hurried to get ready. We pulled out of the camp at just after 10am… I seriously don’t understand what takes us so fucking long.
 
Ric's old hood
We headed for Tully, Ric C’s old stomping ground (Unfortunately the large golden boot in the centre of Tully was being refurbished, so we didn’t get any great photos of that). We decided to spend a minimum of 2 nights at Tully Gorge NP, and use the time to sort our shit out and unwind.

The site at Tully Gorge NP was very muddy and it was obvious it had been raining for weeks. We begrudgingly set up our Glastonbury-esk site, trying our best to keep things dry. Wearing our gumboots and multiple layers we sat down on our wet camp chairs, listening to the rain patter against our tarp. It reminded me of family holidays in Wales.
 
You'll see my smile looks out of place
and if you look closer it's easy to trace
the tracks of my tears
Later that night we trudged into our tent, at which point we discovered was leaking. At 6:30am we awoke after a damp night listening to the rain hit the tent. The gumboots went back on and we spent the day moving wet gear out from under the tarp when the sun was shining, to quickly moving it back under the tarp when the drizzle started again. We went to bed and put towels down to try and soak up the puddles in the tent. I’m just going to say it; this was not the best day of my life.

Doing Glastonbury, North Queensland style!
The next day we woke to cloudy skies, but NO rain. We rushed to use the time to dry out our gear and start packing away. Working with great haste to get shit done, moving and packing and clearing and sorting, things started to come together. The sun would occasionally pop out from the clouds and fill us with real joy. It was during this time I felt Bushman Tom came into being. I felt a renewed passion for what we were doing. 
 
Bushman Tom is born
(NB that's a leatherman multipurpose tool
attached to my trousers)
Hours later as I was packing the roof, the tent didn’t fit properly and I hulked out. After a petulant few minutes of throwing gear and shouting swearwords I returned to my Bruce Banner. I noticed the second battery had drained meaning the fridge had turned off. On that high note we finished packing and drove out of Tully Gorge forever. Bushman Tom wasn't feeling very Bushman.
 
What the fuck is the point of this shit
I later found out that on that shitty rainy Sunday in Tully, my mate Adam, who had already met Manny Pacquiao and Freddie Roach, had been given great tickets to the fight in Brisbane and tickets to the Michael Conlan after party.


Maybe we’ve made a huge mistake!

3 comments:

  1. Bushman Tom sounds like a dick head! Nice machete though...

    Can't say much more mate, gotta get back to my warm, safe, reliable home with tv, bar, electric fridge, luxurious toilet and powerful shower......(and Henrik)

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  2. Now you know why Ric left Tully

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  3. Bummer about the rain. Tully Gorge is actually a really nice spot. Our banana farm was on the Tully River. At least you got to experience one of the wettest places in Australia doing what it does best. Soggy camping aint much fun though!

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