July, 2020 Mum & Dad’s place, Qld

1^st – Drizzly rain started again – top of 24 degrees today.

I did the end of financial year tallies and we covered 15924km using 3296 litres of diesel to get home in December. Not keeping tabs on fuel use etc now we are home.

Rick rang – he and Steve had a good time up the Palmer Goldfields though they did find the pot of gold unfortunately. Rick’s gold shaker/sluice worked reasonably well – just a few minor modifications to make. He left Steve detecting on Rob’s lease though the grass is high so it isn’t very enjoyable walking. Not like the flat open areas of WA. Steve should be home by Wednesday. 

2^nd – Still cloudy but a bit of sun shining through which is lovely. Janet sent through a photo of Jocelyn and Dad on top of Mt Bartle Frere – that would have been a few years ago!!

3^rd – Lovely flowers are blooming on a hanging plant given to Mum by her good friend Daphne Reed.

 

4^th – Mum’s 89^th birthday. Lots of messages and phone calls to brighten her day and some chocolates, flowers and wine too. 

I ordered some Indian takeaway as it is too difficult to get out to restaurants these days and with CoVid, it just got harder.

Opened the bottle of bubbly from Dan and enjoyed some chocolates for dessert.

 

5^th – Family dinner to celebrate Mum’s 89^th and Dad’s 88^th (on Wednesday) birthdays. Dan, Fran and Fran’s parents, Hank and Val joined us as well as Jon, Annalise and Steve’s brother, Brian. Greg and Tracy too so we had a great time chatting. Greg bought Mum a new card game Uno Flip and a Monopoly game for Dad – he is always commenting it is the only good game. We played the Uno Flip game with lots of laughter. Will try Monopoly another day!

 

7^th – Steve home early from the Palmer Goldfields, not finding much gold and the grass was not making it enjoyable. Luckily the only snakes he saw was when he was driving. 

He took some photos. He and Rick stopped for a cuppa by the dam as they headed in towards Maytown. The new truck is certainly loaded up.

Rick’s gold sluice machine ready for action. Rob offered them some of his ‘pay’ dirt to put through it so they could see how it worked.

 

It worked – fine gold which they got off the machine’s mats.

 

After Rick left Steve helped Rob with his Massey Ferguson backhoe. The rams were leaking so he helped him remove them so Rob could get them fixed in Cairns.

 

Rob has a very basic camp.

He has a good dam nearby which is helpful as he uses a trommel so he needs lots of water to find his gold.

 

Steve went for a drive to Charles’ lease but no one was around. Steve and Jodie have built a bush camp with Charles with high rise dunny and shower under the water tanks on the frame.

 

Looks like plenty of water in Charles’ dam.

 

Steve moved camp to NZ Pete’s lease.

 

8^th – Dad’s 88^th birthday – lots of phone calls and messages. 

Received the new drawings for the camper from Styromax which Steve checked and we sent back the approval. They have received the windows and doors already. As they have been getting a lot of requests for campers they asked if they could video the construction of our camper shell to put up as a U-Tube video. Will be interesting to watch.

3pm was the end of Jocelyn’s funeral in Mornington Peninsula, Vic so we raised a glass of bubbly and sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow which is what John and family were doing at that time. Lots of lovely condolences have been posted by family members on the funeral homes website as no one was able to travel to Melbourne due to the CoVid Pandemic.

Greg and Tracy came over for dinner so we had finished off the bubbly celebrating both Dad’s birthday and Jocelyn’s life.

Played the new game of Uno Flip again – great fun and a nice change from Skipbo.

9^th – Steve rang Erica to fill her and Terry in on his trip away. Erica is feeling better and can get up and down the stairs without to much pain which is wonderful news. She decided to get radium treatment on the cancer on her nose rather than having it cut out so that starts soon. 

As the camper might be ready by the end of the month we ordered the legs for it and will pick them up in Brisbane when we collect the camper. 

More rain during the night and drizzle during the day.

10^th – Framed the cross-stitch that I made for Jakob and Annaliese’s wedding. Found Steve a black suit coat to wear for the wedding as it might be quite cold in Millaa Millaa tomorrow. I found a nice dress and a blue coat to wear with stockings and court shoes to try and keep warm. Will pack a big coat and scarf to just in case as the weather is still overcast and drizzly, though the forecast is for 19 degrees tomorrow with rain at 9pm so maybe they will be lucky.

 

11^th – Headed up to Innisfail and up the Palmerston Range to Hockey’s farm near Mungalli Falls turnoff for Jakob and Annaliese’s wedding in Millaa Millaa. We stopped at Henrietta Creek to each our lunch as the wedding is at 1pm. At 12.30pm we turned into the drive down to the farm the misty rain descended. Luckily it only lasted 5 minutes.

We checked out the reception area in the farm shed where they had added a marquee to keep everyone ‘distanced’ due to the CoVid19 rules. The macramé hanging behind the bridal table is lovely. I sent off photos to Wendy and  to Jakob’s grandmother, Dawn, who was unable to attend as Kaylene’s family all live in Melbourne and there has been an outbreak of CoVid there at the moment so Queensland isn’t allowing any Victorians into our state.

We continued down the track to the cow shed where the afternoon tea will be served. 

Met Jakob – looking handsome and relaxed.

 

Kaylene is starting to relax now the sun is shining.

 

The ceremony was in a grassy paddock with the cows watching on in the next paddock.

 

Kaylene had used her old rugs to make the walkway down to the wedding arch.

 

We chatted with Jakob and his groomsmen while we waited for the bride to arrive. Plenty of time for photos. I continued sending photos to Wendy and Dawn. A little mist came over and then the sun came out and went again but there wasn’t a cold wind so we were all very comfortable. Mark and Lexine, good friends of Kaylene and Rick’s too joined us along with Joel and Fiona with their family – their son and son-in-law were Jakob’s groomsmen.

 

Hug for Rick then Kaylene put on his flower ready for the wedding to begin.

 

Eventually the bridal car arrived - we were a bit worried she would miss the sunshine as there was still a lot of dark clouds around. The little flower girls and page boys tossed rose petals as they walked down, followed by Jakob’s sister, Emma then Annaliese’s sister. Annaliese looked so lovely on the arm of her father. So glad it wasn’t cold as she would have been shivering in her beautiful dress.

 

It was a lovely ceremony and the sun shone brightly on them as they exchanged vows and rings then Jakob kissed his bride.  

 

They signed the marriage certificate then Jakob gave Kaylene the certificate for safe keeping as there was a big dark cloud heading our way.

 

Mr and Mrs Robinson were introduced followed by lots of hugs and kisses.

 

All the family photos were taken, unfortunately the Robinson side was very small with just Emma to add to the family photo. The ‘unofficial family’ – us and the other friends stood in for family who couldn’t attend.

 

Emma looked lovely in her dress and was thankful the sun was shining. They had demin jackets to put on just in case. Steve jumped in for a photo too.

I got someone to take a photo of us without our coats – who would have believed it would be this warm in Millaa in July.

 

We headed up to the barn for a yummy afternoon tea that Kaylene and Rick organised. The official photographer was taken photos to I snapped a few too to send down to Dawn.

 

We relaxed for a bit out the front of the cabin Kaylene and Rick were staying in then at 5pm headed into the reception area. We were seated right beside a big gas heater so we would be ok if it turned cold but even as the sun set it was still very comfortable.

The cake looks lovely.

 

The bride and groom were late! Obviously they are going to be renowned for late arrivals. At last they arrived so the party could begin.

 

Beautiful food, lovely speeches and lots of chatter. I got up with Rick and spoke on behalf of Kaylene’s family in Melbourne.

 

The cake was cut for dessert – very nice.

 

Greg sent a photo of his ‘cooking dinner’ for Mum and Dad – fish and chips.

We had a great night though I had too much to drink – they were filling the glasses well and I haven’t had full strength wine for a while! Steve drove us back home and we were in bed by 12.30.

12^th – Boy am I suffering. I don’t normally get sick from drinking wine but then it has been a while since I over indulged. I won’t be doing that again – too old now for full strength wine apparently – I always have it with mineral water. Getting soft in my old age. 

The sunbirds are flying around checking out the nest again so hopefully we will see some more babies soon. 

13^th – Back to work for me. Steve is on carer duty – he has been amazing with my parents. Dad has deteriorated with his dementia so I am helping him with a lot of things now, dressing, bathing etc. 

14^th – I bought a yummy cake for Carolyn and Rochelle’s birthdays which were over the holidays – any excuse for cake!!

 

Our new mirrors have arrived for ‘Smokey’.

 

15^th – The sky has cleared now and the night time temperature has dropped, 14 degrees in the van this morning. 

Steve has been busy laying the carpet on the back of Smokey. He then put clips on it so he can remove the carpet if need be. He put the new mirrors on too.

 

17^th – We sat outside for our morning cuppas and Mummy Sunbird flew in and sat in the nest. I got a photo with my phone then some more when she flew back again.

 

Steve spent the day helping Jon replace some sheets of roofing iron on the carport roof etc. When he got home he installed a concertina door for the toilet so we could remove the big timber door which opened inwards so there was a risk of Mum or Dad being stuck inside if they collapsed. 

18^th – Started packing our bags for our week trip south to see Erica and Terry in Woodgate to celebrate her 84^th birthday on the 24^th. We were hoping the camper might be finished so we could collect it too. Julie is coming down to care for Mum and Dad while we are away. 

After dinner joined went to Brian’s to watch the night Supercars race in Sydney. Ian joined us too. Great racing and it was good to catch up again and talk cars. All the teams are now moving into Queensland as CoVid is bad in Victoria and now NSW is having more cases. 

19^th – Greg cooked dinner then we played Monopoly which Greg had bought Dad for his birthday. I used to love it as a kid. We had fun with Steve buying up big and then catching Greg out and making him bankrupt with all the houses he had.

 

21^st – Styromax have put in our floor but unfortunately won’t get the walls cut and assembled in time for us to pick them up when we head south.

 

22^nd – Left Cairns at 4.15am into rain. The truck is smooth and comfortable. Passed harvesters cutting cane and the mills are pumping out steam as they crush the cane. Breakfast in the rest area south of Ingham. Leaning on the back of the truck – miss my van! There is a continuous line of caravans and campers heading north. Some are so rude, holding up the trucks or speeding up in the overtaking lanes. One even pulled out in front of a truck from a servo – he was lucky the truck didn’t hit him. 

Lunch at Prosperine, wet and cold so we had a pie from the bakery and chatted with a couple heading home to Townsville. He worked with Telstra years ago so Steve mentioned Dennis’ name and he knew him and he also knew Steve’s uncle Greg too. Small world. 

The rain stopped for a while as we headed south. Pulled off the highway to a small servo that I noticed on the Fuel App who was selling diesel for 110.9c/l whereas the rest of the servos was 119.9c/l. We filled up and as we spent over $100 she gave us a further 2c/l off too. 

Steve having fun arguing with ‘girlie’ again about the speed zones – very funny to listen to him. The rain started again at Sarina and continued all the way to Rockhampton. Rang Mum as we turned off to Bouldercombe to Jeff and Lyn’s place. Mum is ok and Julie is coping well with Dad etc. Greg and Tracy are joining them for dinner. 

Arrived at Jeff and Lyn’s at 7pm. So wonderful to catch up with them again. We met them in WA in our first year in the goldfields. Had a great time chatting over a drink and dinner and then a very yummy dessert. Lyn had put flannelette sheets on the bed knowing we would feel the cold. Steve did a fabulous job driving all day in the rain with so much traffic. The truck handled it well and we were very comfortable. 

23^rd – Great night sleep. Joined Jeff and Lyn for breakfast then checked out the garden and Jeff’s new tipper trailer then the big shed. Jeff has bees and sells is own honey at the markets so we scored a nice jar of honey. 

More rain as we headed south. That and the roadworks are making it a very slow trip. The Bruce Highway should be dual lanes all the way from Cairns to Brisbane so the trucks could get on with their jobs instead of dodging all this traffic. The worst bit is some of the roadworks is on the overtaking lanes so they can’t get past the slow vehicles. 

More vans and campers heading north – that should keep some of the tourism places happy. All the free camps were full last night and still had heaps in them as we passed them today. Lots of army trucks heading north too with new looking all-terrain vehicles and tanks so there might be an exercise somewhere or Townsville army base is getting new vehicles – maybe getting ready for an ‘invasion’! 

Stopped at Childers for some groceries then headed into Woodgate. All looks the same with the big pines and sea-oaks along the foreshore. The tide is out but it all looks grey with the heavy sky. Not raining at the moment.

 

Erica and Terry had just arrived. So wonderful to see them again as it has been two years since we saw them in Sapphire in the gemfields and so nice to back in Woodgate as it has been 5 and half years since we were here for Christmas 2013. Erica is doing well after the radium treatment though her leg still hurts a bit going up the stairs. Terry looks good too.

 

Had a cuppa and caught up on the news. Erica gave Stephen his gemstone collection which is fabulous. David arrived in time for drinks which we had under the house. 

Missed a call from Mum so called her back – all good there. Julie had Beck etc coming over with the kids for dinner so they will have fun.

Brian texted, just landed in Brisbane – an hour late so he should arrive here about midnight. That will be a surprise for Erica in the morning which is her birthday. 

More rain while we had dinner. We had a lovely evening chatting. 

After Erica went to bed I made up the bed for Brian, he wanted the single one against the end wall as that we his bed when he was a kid here. 

24^th – Erica’s 84^th birthday. She certainly got a surprise when she walked out and saw Brian. So lovely to have her 3 boys here to celebrate her birthday. Sadly the sky is still grey but it always lovely at Woodgate. David gave her a lovely bunch of flowers.

 

Brian gave a card and a pile of scratchies, same for us and Mum and Dad had sent down a card and scratchies too so hopefully she will get some winners out of them. She scratched one after breakfast and scored $15 so that was a great start.

 

Brian had also had some old photos put onto canvas for her. One is of Terry and his nephew Rodney, knocking down the first tree on the block here in Christmas 1966. Two were of the house just after a fire came through here in 1969, it came so close it burnt the mat at the steps. The cinders came through the windows in the toilet and bathroom and burnt holes in the lino.

 

Took another photo with Erica and David with the flowers.

 

Erica loves Bingo so I joined her and neighbours, Anne and Brenda, to walk down to the Bowls Club for the Bowling Clubs Bingo session. Not too many there so hopefully we will have a win. Told the ladies it was Erica’s birthday so she got lots of good wishes and when we started playing she won the first game and a few more after that so the wishes worked. I even one a full card game too. Unfortunately we didn’t win the Jackpot but we covered the cost of playing so that was good. Erica and I both remember the excitement of winning $1000 in Cairns for Mother’s Day when I was due to have Daniel – she was worried the excitement might bring on the baby. As we walked back the cold misty rain started again, luckily Brenda had a umbrella to block the wind as we walked home. 

Nice afternoon chatting, lovely to see how well Erica is coping with the cancer news and her treatment – very realistic which is great and she is feeling good so that helps. 

Checked out a photo album of their trip to Bathurst in 1981. Steve arrived back when they came home from that so he was in a few photos – I was in Thredbo skiing, we remember because that was when Prince Charles and Diana married. David took photos of a few for Brian so I got the ones with Steve in them.

 

There was another album of their trip around Lake Eyre and then across the Simpson Desert and the Canning Stock Route – they went down from Well 51 to 1 while we went up. 

Steve and I walked down to the beach and spotted a misty rainbow out to sea. Grey towards the other end.

 

Walked along the boardwalk to the van park to pick up some more milk. Made it back just before the rain started again. 

This is the Deed of Grant issued when Terry bought this block in 1966.

 

Drinks downstairs then I cooked dinner. We played a few games of Skipbo and Steve opened my Grandfather’s Port that he bought me for Christmas. I had complained that I never got to try any when David had given Terry a bottle for the birth of his first grandchild, our Daniel. David commented that he didn’t get any either. It was very smooth so we all enjoyed it immensely. 

25^th – The sun was out for short while then more misty rain. Steve and I drove around to Ray and Carol’s for a cuppa to show them the truck. They have a lovely place and we checked out their pink hot-rod. Ray used to race drag cars in his younger years as well as he got older. He had one terrible accident which mangled one arm but you wouldn’t know now. We chatted about detecting in Queensland and hoping to get back to WA next year. 

Back to the house for lunch – more misty rain. David showed me an old hat box that he was given from Terry’s cousin, Eva’s sister. David had helped her clean out the house after Eva’s passing. It contained Eva’s daughter, Jalda’s wedding dress, veil, wedding horseshoes, her bridesmaids dress and I think her travelling outfit from 1968. So beautiful and in perfect condition – no marks on them at all. David had taken photos of the pictures on the walls too so we worked out who owned the wedding dress. Will try them on Ella tomorrow. Shame Jodie has her wedding dress organised – David should be able to sell his as vintage wear on Ebay.

 

Friends of Erica and Terry’s from the caravan association called in to chat. Kevin makes 5^th wheelers as a side-line so Steve had a good chat about what best to use for the camper.

I played three games of pool with Brian and amazingly I won two – I think he was being very kind to me. 

Took photos of the boys with Terry in the order of a photo from 1981.

 

David then took a photo of us with Erica and Terry.

 

Amanda and the kids arrived at 5.30pm – so great to see them all again. Ben and Ella just got their driver’s licences so look out Maryborough. Bradley is doing well at his job, Ben is still looking for one. Ella is grade 11 and plans to do Forensic Science at University when she finishes next year. 

I cooked dinner then Amanda did the dessert. We all managed to fit around the table. Played Tripoli using the painted up skim board of Steve’s from when he was a kid. We couldn’t find the other bottle of one and two cent pieces so only had 40c each to play. We managed though Brian ended up owing the bank 25 cents, I went broke and Terry and Steve got all the money. Great fun. I had dug out the board that Margit made me years ago so we will play it for Steve’s birthday dinner in August at home. 

26^th – The sun is shining and the sky is blue as we got up. 

Headed downstairs and I got photos of David’s family as the kids have grown so much since 2013.

 

Headed down the beach.

 

Photo up and down the beach on the flat section.

 

Put our feet in the water – it was freezing. Don’t think we will be going for a swim today.

 

Had a wander along chatting along the way – Erica and Terry rested under the she-oaks. We found a big head of a fish – I think a big cod. Obviously they threw out the carcass on the incoming tide.

 

Anne and Alby had stopped by when we went back to Erica and Terry so we chatted for a while before heading back home for a cuppa and some of Amanda’s mum’s lovely fruit cake.

 

I helped Ella into the wedding dress, Jalda was a slim lady as it was quite firm on Ella’s hips.

 

Ray came by in his pink hot-rod – did a little burnout as he left. Still a drag car racer at heart. 

Played Kelly Pool – I won the first game then came second in the second game behind Brian.

 

Amanda, Ella and Ben left to head into Bundaberg for some shopping then back to Maryborough. David and Bradley will go back this afternoon. Will see them all again at Christmas here at Woodgate. 

Brenda and Phil dropped in for a chat too. 

After lunch we all pottered around doing bits and pieces. Had a cuppa and then a heavy shower of rain pelted down for just a quick moment and the temperature dropped quickly. Back into long pants and coats as we had all changed into shorts etc with the lovely warm sunshine this morning. David and Bradley headed off between showers of rain. 

Just as Brian, Erica and I were heading down to the Bowls Club the rain came down again so we drove down instead of walking. We spotted a big kangaroo lazing on a lawn up the street. Another favourite of Erica’s is playing the pokies – she loves to try and beat the system. Erica and I had a win straight off but then we just donated it back. Brian joined us as we played the last machine and we won back our money so we were very happy with ourselves as we headed back to join the others for drinks. 

I cooked dinner then we played a few games of Skipbo. 

27^th – Wendy’s 60^th birthday and Matthew’s birthday. The sky is clear and the temperature had dropped. We had breakfast with Brian as he is heading back to Brisbane to catch the plane home to Cairns. Finished packing our things into the truck and said our farewells. It was so lovely to see Erica and Terry again, looking forward to having Christmas here with them. We left at 8am and headed south to Brisbane. 

The army are still heading north along with more caravans and motorhomes.

 

Stopped for a cuppa at a park/free camp area on the north side of Gympie – needed to stand in the sun as the wind was quite chilly. 

Programmed the Hema and continued south on the M1, across the Gateway Bridge – toll is $4.70 for a car, I wonder what they will charge us for our beast. We have a beeper so will check out the price later.

 

On to Slacks Creek to pick up the legs for the camper from Palamino Campers (American imports). Reprogrammed the Hema and continued on to Darra to Styromax to check out how our camper shell is going. So glad we had the Hema, much easier than how I used to do it with a map book when we were travelling with Jon’s BMX racing. 

Met John and Samantha of Styromax and checked out our floor on the base that Steve and Daniel made. The walls and roof have been cut – awaiting the pop-top frame. They are videoing the assembly so hopefully it won’t be too much longer before see the finished job. We enquired about panels for inside fit-out so Steve will pick them up too when he picks up the camper at a later date. John and Samantha showed us around their workshops – big outfit. Very interesting.

 

Headed north again but this time via the a couple of tunnels – more toll fees. Turned off towards Noosa then into Cooroibah to Roald and Joan’s place for the night. So wonderful to catch up with them again. We stayed here on our way down nearly 6 years ago just as they were moving in. 

Over drinks we rang Uncle John to see how he was going with all the CoVid19 in Melbourne. He is doing well and keeping safe. He has bought a new car so he is very happy – at 92 he is amazing to be zipping around the freeways etc in Mornington Peninsula. 

Chatted through dinner and dessert then into a lovely comfortable bed. 

28^th – Steve checked out Roald’s reconditioned Torana and then they examined our truck. I went online to check out the toll fees - $15 for the bridge and $6 each for the two tunnels! 

Brian sent through a photo of Stephanie’s new car – a Jimny.

 

Headed off by 9am towards Gympie and stopped at the same park for a cuppa. 

Continued north through the roadworks to Rockhampton and onto Mackay. Rang Dale to see if he was home and had a spare bed. We arrived at 8.30pm and had a nice evening chatting. He has been collecting cars – his old one he was doing up to use on the drag strip but he blew the engine so will have to do a rebuild. Luckily he teaches mechanics at the Uni so he will get the students to work out what went wrong! 

29^th – Left Dale’s at 8am and pulled into the cheap fuel station just north of Mackay. 

Nicer driving without the rain. 

After Brandon was the very long stretch of roadworks. The government must have decided to get all the works done while Queenslanders were off the road due to CoVid. 

Late lunch inTownsville. 

Lots of thick smoke as we neared Cardwell – they were doing a burn off along the side of the road. Cuppa overlooking the calm sea at Cardwell with a clear blue sky. 

Passed through Innisfail - no clouds covering Bartle Frere or Bellenden Ker today. 

Lots of smoke around the Pyramid as we neared Gordonvale then we noticed all the smoke up Goldsborough Valley – annual burn off time. 

Home by 6.15pm – what a drive. Glad we only do short distances when we are in touring mode. We still have so much to check out again in Queensland when we can get going again.

Mum, Dad and Julie had a good week. The sunbird babies have hatched so they have enjoyed sitting outside for their cuppas watching Mummy bird flit back and forwards. 

30^th – Back to work for me. Left Steve to do the washing and caring for Mum and Dad. He is so good at it too. He also has a bug covered truck to wash! 

31^st – After work I picked up Kaylene and joined the other ladies for lunch to celebrate Wendy’s 60^th birthday. Had a great time chatting – nice to be free to sit and chat compared to the last time we had lunch out where we were time limited due to the social distancing laws etc created by the CoVid19 pandemic.