Leaving On A Jet Plane !

Latest camping trip and update

I'm just going to see what my last update was and get back to you..........

Ah, that's better, Paronella Park wasn't it ?

Well, since then we've been getting on with as you do, same sh** shinier bucket and all that ! Weather has been fantastic in recent weeks, sun shining every morning, a nice 28 to 30 degrees during the day and a pleasant 20 degrees of an evening ! another couples of months of this hell too before the Wet.

How's the weather back home ? muwahahahahahaha !!!!!!! read it and weep suckers !

Ahem, sorry about that. Will we will miss autumn to be fair. The leaves do turn nice red colurs and fall off the trees here, just that they do it individually throughout the year which is a bit wierd.

Settling into our new house nicely, finally getting my head around how the bleedin pool filter and chlorinator work (me and the guy at the pool shop have been seeing quite a lot of each other recently !). All seems to be coming together, the water is about right chemistry wise accordin to the pool guy which is good as I seem to have to buy acid or stabiliser or salt etc. every time I go, worst being a new paper cartridge filter which set me back $149 ! yes, that's right, $149 for a bit of folded paper and rubber !

We have lots of noisy rainbow lorikeets in the trees flying around the house ealry doors and early evening plus a pair of little lovely yellow bellied sunbirds, a few cane toads, numerous asian geckos (not all outside either ! fun to see them scurry across the wall when you're watching tv. that's our 50" plasma tv that is btw! ), lots of Indian Mynahs who everyone hates but I quite like cos they make loads of cool sounds even some like space invaders, car alarms etc., the odd big fruit bat, a gang of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos in the trees one morning, little frogs and the odd green tree frog, enormous Rhino beetles that are so huge they struggle to fly but the highlight so far in the garden was on sunday - a large Lace Monitor lizard who spent most of the afternoon walking around the grass at the back of the house ! see the pic !

http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y126/cadman342001/New%20Pics/

also this weekend we have been exploring the new estates being built nearby - saw a big Leaf Katydid outside the local shop which is like an enormous grasshopper that flies and has wind casings that really do look just like a leaf ! found a dead baby snake, India had a large green preying mantis on here arm at the park, Lou had a Rainbow Bee Eater flying round her, saw some big dragonflies and we saw a couple of Kangaroos hopping off into the bush ! it's a shame really cos the bush used to come right up to our back fence before a large section was cleared for Smithfield Village. Fair play to them though, they have put in 2 large wetland areas next to the edge of the bush/rainforest so they should be teeming with wildlife when they fill up during the wet season. You should see the size of someof the stormwater drains here ! There's clearly gonna be a lot of rain coming sometime soon ! we can't wait !

What else ?

Well, we had a 4 day camping trip up to Lake Tinaroo again last weekend. We went up on Friday night again, this time taking the 4WD track over the mountains as it avoids the Gillies Highway (that's the 220 corner 20kms of twisty road up the mountain to the Tablelands. Jedd gets car sick and whenever we're going out the first question he asks is wether it involves the Gillies to get there !)

So, it's dark, we're on the start of the off road bit, gravel but flat and we're chatting about kangaroos/wallabies and we spot one at the side of the road ! cool we said, I pointed it out to Lou, and then, the bloody thing sees the lights and runs straight out into the road, straight towards the car !!!!! You aren't supposed to swerve when encountering them, you're supposed to just keep driving straight becausue that's what your Roo bars are for (we have a huge steel Nissan genuine girder attached to the front of ours) but I tried to avoid the crazy antipodean kamikaze bouncing machine ! to no avail though, he wacked the front near side with a sickening thud. you are also supposed to stop and remove any roos you hit so that other people don't damage their vehicles but I couldn't go back. on a brighter note, apparently they are pretty bloody hardy and often swerve away and wack the car with their tails and there was no body there on the way back so we've convinced ouselves it was just a bit dazed ! further up the track (the proper 4wd bit - although it quite easy for the Patrol) we came across cows. Cows with nowhere to go as we're half way up a mountain at this point so we had to follow them for a while until there was a clearing. following cows arses, lit up by bright headlights for a mile or so. not to be recommended, esp. as they seem to have a tendency to poop while they run !

Eventually we got up to Tinaroo to our fave Kauri Creek campground (there are quite a few to choose from up there, some better for people with boats, some for fishing, some for kids, some for teenagers and a couple of school/scout camps. The lake is man made, dammed in the 70's.) It was busier this time compared to our last trip up there as the kids were on hols so we couldn't have our fave pitch, instead going down to the lower level right next to the lake bank. No firepit or benches but we had a camp fire anyway and poistioned the tent so that the door looked out onto the lake. lots of grass for cricket, step outside and down the bank to fish and to launch our new toy - the inflatable 2 man kayak (see pics). Loved it, saturday morning, paddling out across the mirror calm misty lake me and Jedd to the first big sunken tree and back while TWS (The Winged Serpent aka Louise) fished or should that be Turtled ? the place seems to have far more turtles in it than fish if our hauls were anything to go by!

Jedd and I also went for a walk up the Kauri Creek - shallow, crystal clear surprisingly cold water that emerges into the lagoon (pics). We saw 3 Kookaburras sitting on trees, fishing, quite successfully, for freshwater crabs and then bashing the living daylights out of them on rocks or branches of the trees. Cool !

http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y126/cadman342001/New%20Pics/

The kids enjoyed expeditions up the creek, one day getting a large log and riding it down the creek to the lagoon where Lou had them doing that log walking thing where all 3 of them tried to stand on it and you have to "walk" as it rotates, trying to be the last man standing. Understandably, they enjoyed that.

On Sunday, most of the campers left, the weekend over for them. For us it was the opportunity to move camp and get the primo pitch on the corner where the lagoon is on one side and the lake on the other. Having one of these fancy modern carbon fibre (or whatever it is) dome things and 3 kids helped as we simply unpegged the tent, lifted it up and walked it up to the new pitch ! The new pitch, apart from the proximity to the lagoon also has Kookaburras in the trees around it and on the ground, on the firepit, etc. etc. On the monday we fed them with some of our fish bait - large banana prawns that looked quite appetizing until the birds battered them on the ground and made them all muddy (see pic). We then went one better and held out pilchards and they swooped past and snatched them with perfect technique in their rather big pointy beaks ! Way cool !!!!!!!! I was so wrapped up in this pursuit that I didn't take any pics, hence the one on the morning we were leaving of Jedd and India holding up smelly old fish to try and tempt them. Obviously, now that I had my camera in hand, they were elsewhere. Typical.

Did get some pics of some crazy little blue and yellow jumping things (they were maybe 3mm long!), a beetle or two and some good shots of the multitude of birds that perch on the submerged trees in the lake. I have to give props to my trusty silent oarsman for some excellent stealth rowing on that score - TWS. I can't row in a straight line anyway when I'm in the front of the kayak so we agreed it was best I just concentrated on the pics !

http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y126/cadman342001/New%20Pics/

We also had a really nice moonlit paddle across the lake to drop our redclaw pots. The lake and surrounding hills lit by the almost full moon, the lake again mirror calm and warm from a day in the sun. It is surprising how warm it gets considering it's such a large body of water.

We returned to camp, full of enthusiasm although more than a little wet and asked the kids if they had seen us rowing across the moonlit lake but not surpisingly they weren't paying any attention! India has a fixation with fire and burning leaves, Jedd refuse to go to bed and falls asleep, often on the floor in his sleeping bag and Zak complains of being cut off from the world once his phone and PSP went flat. He was saved however from going out of his mind with boredom by India's Nintendo DS and proceeded to annoy us with the beeps and noises associated with Mario brothers something or other.

So we had a great time up there, caught a few fish but nothing big, lots of turtles, intended to come back Monday and only booked until then so had to pray the rangers didn't come and turf us off which they didn't although they did turn up on the monday. a few minutes of nailbiting suspense there, waiting for them to come and grip us I can tell ya !

other news for those that don't know - we have now bought TWS a bike. A rather mint 2004 Suzuki SV650S in blue (see pics) and I have aquired a 9 year old, absolutely mint original red and white Yamaha R1 with amere 28k kms on the clock. It cost me about the same as it would have to send my one over from Blighty and it's in like 10 times better condition and rides like a new bike. I LOVE IT !!!!!

The incident that sparked my change of bike came as I was travelling to work one day on my GSXR (which I hated with a passion cos the paint job was cack and the gears/clutch were agricultural to say the least). I did the usual, filtered between the 2 lanes of cars at the lights near the airport on the Cook Highway on the way into town, nailed it in 1st and 2nd and then thought "oops, police car up ahead" so eased off. they're really hot on speeding here (Lou got done passing a police car going the other way on the way to work one morning). So, I tootled along behind them for a while and feeling rather smug that I was toally legal (for a change unlike the uk where a chance meeting with a cop car led me to break out in a cold sweat) I passed him as I was going to turn right at the next set of lights ahead.

As soon as I passed him however, he pulled out behind me and gave it the old "blues and twos" and pulled me over. I thought this is blatant biek discrimination and was about to tell him so when he pointed out that my rego (road tax) had expired 2 months previous ! (I had it in my head that it expired end of Spet. but it was actually end of July!)

He then went on to give me 3 fines totalling $390 and then his mate removed the reg plates from my bike ! gave me a certificate that let me ride the bike until 9pm that day and said that I'd have to get new plates and a new Safety certificate (like an MOT). I accepted my fate with good grace or as much good grace as I could muster and dropped the bike off at the local bike shop for them to do the safety cert.

It was then that I spotted that they still had the mint 98 R1 that MMJTBFC had mentioned when we arrived (yes, after I had already bought and paid for the gixxer). I inquired if a P/x was a goer and they came up with a figure we could both live with. Cool.

Other stuff ? We went to the end of the Cairns Festival week parade with fireworks which were ok but not as good as the burning hillside behind them with Jeff, his missus Jen and Behailu, and Zak returned to action after his broken collarbone to play inthe play off semi and then the Grand Final for his footie team "Redlynch Cyclones" which they won 3-1 against Stratford. A tense affair, Redlynch having their best player missing as he was on holiday in Italy but a deserved victory despite a late penalty scare which was saved and the ensuing melee scrambled to safety. Much celebration and a presentation ceremony later that day. (see pics)

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India had a weekend sleepover at her mate's house for her mate's birthday and did loads of cool things and Jedd has had a couple of mates round a few times to go in the pool (see pic).

We had a work's "do" to celebrate finishing the job I've been working on. It was at Mondo's which is Cairns Hilton restaurant and free food and drink, looking out onto the marina, Lou and the kids too who were well behaved  as usual, the tables backing onto a line of palm trees filled with Flying Foxes (fruit bats) who looked down on you with furry faces and big ears backlit by the lines of lights wound rouns the top of the palm trunks and dropped palm flowers into your drinks and or food ! Cool.

Sorry this installment was so long, I'll try and keep it shorter and more frequent in future !

Upcoming events - the annual Australian MotoGP day will see around 15 people descend on our house this year as I volunteered. A relaxing day by the pool, food, drink and watching the GP from Phillip Island

Also, a ride up to Cooktown with overnight stay, wives and kids in the cars, boys on bikes. 300kms each way, inland across the savannah, avoiding cows, wild boar, roos etc. Should be good.