Mission accomplished

The rest of the day at Murray Falls was spent drinking under the tarp, and whinging about the exhaust while rain fell around us. It was a pretty dull day. As dusk fell a load of excitable French backpackers showed up, whooping and hollering as they set up their campsite. Luckily, they were far enough away not to rile me up too much, and by bedtime I could hear nothing… and I’d been drinking.

The next morning we awoke to the same shitty weather and decided that we’d had all we could take from Murray Falls and it was time to move on. 

Standing tall

As we sat under the tarp, eating our breakfast, the French backpackers went on a group morning run, whooping and hollering as they ran. They finished with stair drills, using the path to the swimming hole. It almost made us feel guilty for our lack of movement…almost. After watching them display their youthful exuberance, we started packing away slowly. I think watching them exercise had tired us out a little. We had a lot to pack away and everything was wet, which didn’t make for a fun morning. We were the last to leave, and after all that faffing we decided to finish off with a rainy swim.

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.

Our next spot was Etty Bay, a place we’d been told we would definitely see a cassowary. We decided to call into Innisfail first so another “expert” could take a look at the exhaust. The exhaust specialist we found this time told us the exhaust was a little crook, which he thought might be pulling on rubber bracket and could be why it keeps breaking. He also told us we had the wrong gasket and rubber bracket, and he would replace both with the correct types. It only cost $70, so let’s see how this guy’s working knowledge on exhaust systems pans out. As I’m writing this several weeks after the fact, I can confirm, not fucking well.

Exhaust fixed for now, we headed for Etty Bay, hoping to finally see a cassowary. As we drove in we started to contemplate how we were likely to be the only people who visited this place without seeing anything. We needn’t have worried, as we found a juvenile sitting by the road on the way in.

Must-see list complete

With that box ticked we felt we had now seen and done everything on our initial road trip list. So, what the fuck do we do now? We continued into Etty Bay, and found a picturesque little beach with a take-away and campsite. However, the campsite was very small and pretty terrible. Luckily as we were off-season it was reasonably empty. We decided to stay for one night, and hopefully catch a few more sightings of a cassowary. This didn't didn’t take long, as the juvenile we saw on the road in had wandered down to the beach.

Little poser

It wasn’t shy, and although they’re not supposed to be fed, it seemed a little too interested in us to be fully "wild". It took a real liking to Becky's pink iPhone, and as it came in I did shit myself a little. These aren't an animal you’d want to fuck with, even when they’re young.

Sorry, that smell is me.

It was an exciting end to the day, and we got some good photos. You may have noted that I keep referring to it as a juvenile, and I know this as it didn't have the full adult helmet yet (which both males and females have).

Young pretender

Once the excitement was over, we had fish and chips from the kiosk, walked along the beach a bit and then went to bed.

The next morning we spotted an adult cassowary wandering near the campsite. It was early and I hadn’t had a coffee yet, so the photos were terrible and blurred. It didn’t seem that interested in us, so didn’t hang around long enough for me to get a better shot. There were also some bush-stone curlews banging about, so I took a few photos of those. I think we are both going to miss the Australian wildlife terribly.

Not cassowaries

As the campsite was so shit, we decided to head for Wongaling Beach, next to Mission Beach. We stayed here at the start of our journey, just after we were rained in at Tully Gorge. We really liked the campsite, as it was large, had good toilets/showers and even had free wifi. They also had a Woollies supermarket just up the road, rainforest walks and nice beaches. It was everything we wanted.

We started off by doing a short walk through the rainforest. We had done the same walk 10 years earlier, and made the same mistake by forgetting to use the insect repellent, so ended up quickly marching around the walk with 20+ mosquitos following behind, and not getting much enjoyment out of the walk. After all that excitement, we set up camp in a nice shady spot and spent the rest of the day surfing the internet, punctured only by a short walk on the beach. It was pretty great. The next day went much the same way, and we were both having a wonderful time. However, it was all ruined sometime in the arvo thanks to some Europeans showing up. I have moaned a lot about Europeans having no idea about personal space and not really understanding that camping within a few metres of someone may be seen as annoying. This was no different, as a couple and a single chap traveling in two cars decided that 2m from us was the best spot in an otherwise empty field.  Becky was fuming, and still gobsmacked at this. I, on-the-other-hand, had been drinking and while acknowledging their proximity as bothersome, didn’t get as angry.

Europeans do the silliest things

In the sober light of the next day the proximity of the neighbours still didn't bother me as much as Becky. I feel I've reached a sort of zen acceptance that no matter how quiet a campsite, some prick is going to pull up and set up next to us. Besides, we’d snuck a look at the sign-in book and had seen that they were only staying the one night. This feeling of smugness didn't last long, as we went to pay for another night, so did the Europeans... They are certainly trying to test how fucking zen I am. Rather than sit around the campsite letting my new facade crumble, we went for a lovely walk up Clump mountain, and got some fantastic views of the area. It was a tough walk too, and could almost be considered exercise.

All alone.

The Europeans did do us a sort of favour, as we tried to avoided sitting around our campsite as to not be reminded of just how close they were. We wandered along the beach, went for lunch in the village and generally kept ourselves occupied. And of course later I had a drink.

The next day we decided to move on and started packing away. So did the Europeans, and as they were young and had less stuff were much quicker than us. We spent some time enjoying the last of the wifi and then headed to Woolies to get some shopping. As we sat in the Woolies car park we started discussing where we should go next, as it gently started to rain. It was then we realised how much we loved this area and, with the European gone, perhaps we’d made a mistake leaving so early.

Get outta my dreams, get into my car

We hadn’t been to Paluma Range NP before, so that was something. The campsite was quite full, what with it being a Saturday night and not far from Townsville. We found a quiet corner and got about our business of drinking and eating.

The next morning we decided to drive to Paluma’s other swimming holes, we started with the Rockslides. While Becky couldn’t be bothered to have a swim, I decided to have a go and sat in one of the rock holes. Becky took a photo, and the photo seems to show I have developed lady breasts. I think this may be because Becky has been slipping hormones into my pasta stir-in dinners… But I'm not too angry as they are quite pert for a 42 year old.

My eyes are up here

We walked up to the other pools, but found them full of children, and therefore kiddy piss, so decided it would be best to move on, but not before Becky dropped another yoga pose, Bālāsana, she’d looked up that morning… Don’t worry, Lorelle the triangle is coming!

I think this yoga pose is called "drunken collapse"

Having so many people cluttering the easy to reach pools, we decided to head for Little Crystal Creek, which was slightly more of a drive up the mountain and therefore, we thought, might be quieter. It wasn’t, but it was very beautiful and big enough to find a spot to swim alone.

Relaxation, after all that exercise

Becky insisted on trying another yoga pose, Shavasana. I can’t keep up anymore and to me it just looked like she was lying down.

Yoga pose "seizure"

It was a great spot, and we enjoyed watching some blokes jumping off the top of one of the waterfalls.

I really want to play with the cool kids

I also really wanted to jump into one of the pools, but decided I’d just watch them for now, and maybe try tomorrow when we pass the pools on our way to Mt Fox. This was where we would get to meet our potential housesit, Diana.

Back at the campsite, we went for an arvo swim in the Big Crystal Creek swimming hole. It was easier to get to and was very busy. We had a quick dip, and after we’d doused ourselves in old man skin and kiddy pee, went back to our site to drink and eat. That evening we had a lovely steak and salad, and as I’m the man (despite my perky breasts) I cooked the steak.

Proper food

The next day we headed to Mt Fox to meet Diana, to spend the night and be shown around the property. We’d had a few e-mail interactions since chatting on the phone and she came across as very nice, although Becky had noted that she seemed like a talker. We decided to take the slower “shortcut” across the range, so we could visit the Little Crystal Creek again as we expected it would be quieter on a cloudy Monday morning. When we got there we were all alone, and I started prepping myself for a big jump into the pools.

It's a bit high!

It’s hard to pluck up the courage to jump senselessly from a height when the person you're with doesn’t have the necessary amount of testosterone to egg you on to do it, but rather stares at you like the idiot you are. I managed the jump from <30cms, and was starting to eye a higher 1m jump, when a load of teenagers turned up and started jumping from the 3m mark. Realising I could never compete with their total disregard for safety, or lack of consideration for others so we moved up to another waterfall and away from their youthful shenanigans. At the next fall, Becky took her cue to try Lorelle's challenge of the triangle pose.

Does this count as a "triangle" pose?

However, she quickly realised that this one was way above her league and resorted to the easier Navasana pose using the rocks as support. To be honest, they are all above her level, even the laying flat one.

Yoga pose "fallen over"

I think she may have run out of ideas now, so fingers crossed this is the last of them. I went for another quick dip, jumping in from a >30cm point, and before I even had chance to swim to the edge, the gaggle of excitable teenagers decided our pool looked more fun. With that we took our leave and headed to the small village of Paluma.

Driving further up the range, we hit cloud and rain. This ruined our plans of visiting a few of the walks, as became clear when we tried one of the lookouts.

 

Spectacular

As all our walking plans had hit weather issues we arrived at the Mt Fox property early arvo, much earlier than we had planned. We met Diana and she seemed very nice, but Becky had called it and she was indeed a talker. Her husband was away buying a boat on the Gold Coast that they planned to sail back while we looked after their place.

After a “quick” 1hr introduction to herself, she took us round the 25 acres to show us the feeding routine. As we wandered around feeding the seven chooks, four ducks and two horses, Diana named every fruit tree and different plant they had including the weeds. By the time we’d got to the horses we’d reached information overload. We then found out one of the horses gets a little testy (and aroused) at feeding time. Diana went through a whole routine and how you have to be in charge and be firm with the hulking mass of animal, but this just seemed to get him even more aroused. It seemed quite an ordeal, and I don’t remember seeing that on an episode of Bonanza.

After a 2hr lesson on how to care for a 25acre property, we headed back to the house to start the fire that runs the oven and hot water. Diana had kindly offered to make us dinner, lamb shanks and roasted veges. As she prepared the dish she continued to chat to us. By 8pm I could feel blood dripping from my ears as I struggled through the fatigue to remain looking interested. I looked over at Becky to see her staring blankly at the floor. I was now on my own, and had to work twice as hard to feign interest despite my brain wanting to shut down. We finally sat down to eat at 10:30pm!!! Unfortunately, despite the vegetables being in the oven for forever, they were still almost raw. I did the English thing and polished off the raw potatoes while licking my lips and rubbing my belly, and looked over at Becky’s plate to see most of it untouched. I DIDN’T KNOW THAT WAS AN OPTION…Damn you English genes!  

The next morning, Diana offered to make us scrambled eggs and in spite of us wanting to leave ASAP we politely accepted. It took her about 45mins to make them‼ The longest time in history to make scrambled eggs, but they tasted ok. After our 10am breakfast we left drained and shell shocked, but finally there was silence. The weather had become proper shit, and as we arrived in a rainy Ingham for the second time on this trip, we again had started to question this whole camping thing. We hate Ingham! Dejected, I bought a 30-pack of golds and we had another McDonalds for lunch before heading to Girramay NP. On our way we passed Cardwell and our hatred of Ingham increased further when we saw the same golds $10 cheaper. To comfort ourselves, we bought a six-pack of ice cream snickers. We did have a bit of an issue, as we don’t have a freezer, but because buying 6 is cheaper than 2, Becky’s plan was to give some to kids on the street. I warned her that this might get us in trouble in the current climate, and besides I wanted my 3, eating them all one after the other (and half of Becky’s last one when we reached Girramay). Perhaps my man-tits aren’t due to hormones after all.

At Murray Falls campsite, we set up in the drizzle and sat around drinking, as it started to seem like Becky’s foresight that the weather would break us would possibly come true.

I won't let the sun go down on me

That night I dreamt that we had exhaust issues. This wasn’t so weird, I haven't suddenly developed psychic abilities, but the mechanic in Brisbane had mentioned he thought we might have issues and over the last week it had been sounding a little noisier. That morning I decided to have a look under the car.

It's all about wearing the right gear

I discovered the rubber bracket by the muffler, which has been replaced in Broome, Perth and Adelaide, had again broken and the flanges weren’t that flush. It looks like it might be a tie between the weather and car issues that cause us to give up the second chapter of the trip……

Misty water-coloured memories, of the way we were.

We woke up to a beautiful morning at St Lawrence campground, and were both feeling good about most things. Sure, the bed was as uncomfortable as ever and getting up for a piss sucked, but being among kangaroos, magpie geese and black swans was making up for all the negative parts. Plus, the toilets were clean and flushable.

A better way to start the day

It was so lovely that we decided to spend another night there. We had a slow start to the day and the only thing of note that happened was an uncomfortable interaction with another bloke staying at the site. He'd started a conversation from distance, while edging into our camp. Once there we'd have a short burst of uninteresting back and forth, followed by 30sec of total silence while I racked my brain for another conversation starter. While my Englishness forced me in engage in the cul-de-sac chat, Becky didn’t give a shit and just started doing other things and in the end saved me by saying I had things to do too. After I rolled my eyes at him giving the classic “women, tsst” exchange, and he fucked off. Becky told me I needed to stop being so nice, but what can I do, it’s in my DNA.

Over the course of the rest of the day we only managed the 500-metre walk around the wetland. I didn’t take my binoculars, which was a bit stupid, but it was nice nonetheless.

Merry, merry king of the bush is he

The next day we decided it was time to move on. Sitting around doing nothing is fine, but we’ve got places to be and people to see. As we packed up the other couple walked passed and started to chat. Luckily I was packing up but he still stood about for the longest 5mins of my life while I tried to ignore him.

That day we’d be passing by Bowen, home of our friends Kris and Nan. Nan had mentioned what a lovely place it was, so we thought we’d check it out and see if they were about, before heading to Bowling Green Bay NP. As we entered Bowen, I realised we had been here before, 10 years ago when we drove from Sydney to Cairns. On that trip we’d broken our digital camera, so had to take pictures with a couple of disposable film cameras that had an unintentional “shot in 1980’s” filter on. We had taken one at the campsite in Bowen, and that helped us both ‘member.

Photographic evidence that I was, indeed, a grown man in the 1980's

Bowen is a lovely little town, and even has a council run waterpark, which I had to try.

Fun for all ages

We were enjoying Bowen, but we hadn’t heard back from Kris and Nan and we were just thinking of leaving when Kris called. Unfortunately they were out of town, staying with their daughter in Townsville. However, Kris suggested we stay in their shed overnight, which had a bed, shower and toilet. After some back and forth between Becky and Kris about whether we should, Becky agreed it would be nice to stay somewhere with a mattress. The conditions set by Nan were that we visited a few of the highlights of Bowen, which we duly did and were very picturesque.

One of Bowen's highlights

That night Becky couldn’t be bothered to cook, so we had sandwiches on their deck and enjoyed the local wildlife in their garden. It was also great to once again experience a real life mattress.

The next morning we waited for Kris to return from Townsville, as he had said he’d be back in town that day. As we sat around their deck wasting time, something we’ve become very good at, we called a potential housesit opportunity at Mt Fox, just outside Ingham. The lady seemed very nice, and explained that we’d need to feed a couple of horses. Becky said this should be no issue, as she used to ride when she was young and had experience from her time at the RSPCA, I said I knew what a horse was and liked cowboy films when I was young. This seemed to be enough for her and we arranged to call by the house in a few days. A few hours later Kris arrived, and we had a lovely cup of tea and chat. It was great seeing him again, and this time Becky remembered to take a photo.

I'm the one on the left

As Nan was still in Townsville, we said we’d pop by and say hello to her and Becky could pose for that photo… Blokes with blokes, and girls with girls, that’s the rules.

We left Bowen and on the way out had something from Red Roster, as that’s where we ate 10 years ago. It was a nostalgic trip down a fast-food memory lane, and it tasted just as shit now as it did 10 years ago. I just hoped our next destination, Bowling Green Np, had decent toilets, as this meal didn’t feel like it was going to end well for anyone.

Although it wasn’t far to Bowling Green Bay NP, our late start meant we didn’t get there until quite late. As we arrived we suddenly ‘membered we’d been here before too, 10 years earlier. That time we’d just stopped to do the walk and have lunch; it was good visiting the old haunts.

Ageless beauty

It was fast approaching dinnertime and after the faff of cooking that lovely chicken curry stir-fry days earlier, Becky had gone off the idea of proper cooking again. Unfortunately, the mince we’d bought several days earlier was nearing it’s use by date, so reluctantly she started making her famous spag bol, while I set up camp.

Hurdy, gurdy, put the chicken in the pot.

It was a great feed, but she insisted on putting some aside for another time, so my portion was smaller than I’d have liked. With the camp set up and food ingested there was only one thing left to do…sleep time! Especially as there were quite a few mosquitos about, and we could only find relief in the tent.

The next day we set about our business of doing fuck all. We started by visiting the swimming hole while it was still quiet for a morning dip.

Morning fresh

The only downside of this site was the huge number of horse flies we had to deal with during the day. The little bastards were relentless, and we were killing a large number of the fuckers. To help fill the day with things to do I was feeding the dead ones to some ants on the picnic table.

Fuck with me, I'll kill you and your whole fucking family

That helped keep me occupied, while Becky made another brush turkey friend, who had a crooked beak, that Becky named Gobbles.  

A face only Becky could love... explains why she's with me

Of course that couldn’t help us fill the whole day, so we had a quick game of “how much can you balance on the other persons head”. Not the catchiest of names, but it did help fill some time. Becky went for a small soap container and a tampon.

Flat top

I countered with a stubby cooler, soap container and bag clip.

Larger base

Although I’d managed more things, Becky clearly won for the higher level of balancing required to get the tampon upright. Oh the fun you can have in the great outdoors, and after such an exhausting day, we both went to bed absolutely shattered.

The next day, after leaving Bowling Green Bay NP, we called in on Nan in Townsville to say hi. She made us a lovely cup of chai and we had a great chat. We also remembered to take the photo.

Somewhere in Townsville

Nan’s grandkid was there, and was a big football fan. I had a quick chat about his favourite players and teams, before we snuck off to have a game of FIFA 2018. Unfortunately, this was also around the time that we needed to leave and we had to quit out before we could finish a game. I think this might have been just as well as he was already 1-0 up and we’d only been playing for under a minute.

After saying our goodbyes, we had a Noodlebox, the first time we’d had vegies in a few days, stocked up on food and headed for our next stop, Paluma Range NP. The real question remained, had we been there before?

All Aussie Adventures: Series two

We left Ikea with mixed feelings. It was nice to be back on the road, but at the same time we were both dreading the first night back in the tent. We had decided that we weren’t going to go for the big long distances this time, and so thought we’d spend the first night at Wongi State Forest. Our faffing that day had cost us quite a bit of time and we didn’t get to the campsite until late afternoon. It was a very nice spot, and we only shared it with one guy in a campervan. As we set up, Becky’s spirit hit a wall and she started to voice her regret at continuing. As we tucked into our cheese and digestives dinner, Becky worked out the minimum number of days we’d have to be on the road to make it past Xmas… only 49 days to go!

I had the time of my life, and I never felt this way before

The next morning, after a good 12hr sleep, we awoke to sunshine and the birds singing and both felt much better for it. Sure, some bogan drove past the campsite in the middle of the night (it was actually only about 10pm, but we’d gone to bed at 7pm) that gave us a shock, but we both were feeling a little more positive about the next 48 nights.

Happier, but not happy.

We were tempted to stay another night, but decided we’d be better off continuing north, I don’t remember our reasons why. We’d singled out Deepwater NP as our next destination, an area we’d visited with Jess when she was over a few years ago and had always planned to camp there at some point. The campsite was listed as not having wifi, and for that reason, and that reason alone, we stopped in McDonalds at Childers. We’d been looking at housesitting as a way of 1) killing off a few of those 48 nights, and 2) doing so in a nice place. We’d seen a house being advertised in Daintree that looked amazing, with the pool overlooking the rainforest and sea. As we tucked into something off the “gourmet” menu, we signed up to the site, paid the $50 and sent an e-mail to the owners of the Daintree property explaining what fucking awesome people we are, and we would never fuck up their shit or piss in their pool or anything like that. With the net cast, we headed for Deepwater, stopping only briefly so I could have my McSquirts at a layby toilet.

There were a few people at the Deepwater campsite, but we were still able to find a nice spot and the layout meant it all felt quite secluded. The campsite was sheltered, so despite a strong wind coming off the sea, it was very calm around the tent. It is a beautiful national park, and after pasta mixed with a sundried tomato stir in sauce, we walked to the windy beach to enjoy a lovely sunset.

Nothing to complain about, but we'll try!

After another 12hrs of sleep, we awoke to another lovely sunny morning. The only thing I was a little concerned about was the lack of beers we were carrying. Becky had wanted me to dry out a little after staying with Adam, and I had agreed but two nights later I was ready to start drinking again. The nearest town, Agnes Water, was only 10km away, but it was along a sandy 4wd track, meaning it could take a while to get there. As we were waiting for a reply from the Daintree property I said we could combine my beer run with an internet check. This worked well, until Becky discovered a spot on the beach where we could get 2 bars of Telstra. Not wanting the 20km return journey just to be a beer run, I changed tact, and said we could have a big lunch in town and therefore not have to cook dinner that night… she agreed this was a great plan and off we went.

Easy pickings for a car held together with gaffer tape

The 4wd track road was a real 4wd track, but we made it without anything falling off, and that was a win. We also had a lovely fish and chips lunch, another win.

Another healthy lunch

Becky wanted to drink with me and, as the beers were quite expensive, we opted to share a 10 pack of 5 Seeds ciders that Becky spotted on sale and were $6 cheaper than anything else. Once back at the campground we realised we’d had this cider before and neither of us liked it. It was fucking rank, and was one of those drinks that seem to get worse the more you drink it. We did finish them, but it was tough and really didn’t feel like we’d saved $6. I guess other things happened over the rest of the day, but not only had we’d drunk some shitty cider but this all happened over 2 weeks ago from when I write this, and I can’t remember that much. We have a picture of us checking our e-mails on the windy, exposed beach, so we must have done that.

How do you show it's windy if you have no hair?

The next day was much the same in terms of doing stuff. Becky made friends with a brush turkey she’d called Timmy. He was running around the campsite hovering up any scraps we’d dropped, including some Weetbix dust Becky “accidently” left on the ground. I did the same with some other scraps, and then in true Aussie fashion got annoyed at him for taking the piss and trying to get into everything. There is a reason you’re not allowed to feed the wildlife.

Becky's new best mate

Even though we just sat around the campsite and weren’t doing anything, I was purposely neglecting more than just the blog in favour of nothing. My hair was longer than it had been for a long time…OK, the hair on the side of my head was becoming visible. I was quite enjoying running my fingers through the grey hair I had. Becky insisted on taking a photo of the top of my head, hoping to encourage me to cut it.

Shinny top

While it didn’t get me to cut my hair, as I’d begun to want an old man mullet, I did start wear my cap more.

As the day stretched out we went for numerous (two or three) walks on the beach, mainly to check e-mails.

Happier still

On one of them we found what looked like an untouched coconut shell. Excited by the prospect of something to do, we hurried back to the camp to crack open and eat some of nature’s bounty. I started hacking at the husk with my machete, trying to remember what I’d be taught by a local on the beaches of Thailand, twenty-two years earlier.

Bushman Tom is back!

Finally I cracked the shell, only to find a black liquid inside that spilled out and stank worse than my McSquirts. Luckily, Becky had also found a dead fish, so we set it up as a camp mate, hoping the dead fish smell would over-power the rotten coconut odour.

Part of our new family

We were really enjoying our time at Deepwater, despite the mix of smells, but we were starting to feel ready to move on. The only shower at the site had no walls, so we’d been showering with swimming gear on, and I was starting to feel like the dead fish was masking more than just rotten coconut. Another downside to the site for me was the mess someone had made in the men’s toilets, and no ranger had been past to clean. There was literally shit all over the seat and cover. It almost looked like a piece of modern art, and could only think he must have touched his toes while having explosive diarrhoea. So, I was keen to move on just so I could have a shit.

"Jeez, Fishy, you're quite quiet this evening"

That night it rained, so the next day we had to pack away a wet, muddy tent. We’d also found out that the house sit in the Daintree had been taken. All this didn’t bother us too much, as we’d had a nice time and were feeling very philosophical about our new start.

Packing away is even more fun in the rain

We decided that, despite what we’d said several days before, we’d try and get quite far north so we could meander down back instead. During the drive, we discussed how much we were enjoying our new trip, but started to guess what might break us this time; Becky had her money on the weather, mine was on the car. But for now, everything was going swimmingly. In fact, Becky had even decided we should have better dinners than pasta stir-in, and once we’d reached Rockhampton, we popped into Coles to buy the ingredients for a curry chicken stir-fry Becky had concocted, and for her favourite dish, spaghetti bolognaise.  Fridge stocked and beers bought, we headed towards the town of St Lawrence, for a campground that over looks a wetland.

This place turned out to be a real wikicamps gem, and after we set up Becky made her delicious chicken curry stir-fry… I cut the ginger and garlic. It was lovely, but it was a lot of work and Becky didn’t enjoy doing the dishes. It turns out there was a good reason we’d been surviving on pasta stir-in. Still, I enjoyed it and that evening we watched a beautiful sunset over the Great Dividing Range.

See you tomorrow Sunny, my old pal

It seemed like next 45 nights are going to be a breeze!