We knew it was going to be a very busy time in Cairns. We were catching up with a very good friend
of ours, Jayne, who was flying up from Melbourne for 4 days. Her Dad and partner were staying in one of
the caravan parks, which is where we were all going to congregate. Apart from our social obligations, we had a
list as long as your arm to do. This was
a major spot of us to re-set ourselves, re-stock, and get ready for the run
west.
As an idea, these were some of the jobs we had on our list;
·
Clean Slim & camper
·
Get Jess checked at doctors to ensure infection
had gone
·
Service Slim – Engine, diffs, gearbox, and
transfer oils
·
Service Camper – repack wheel bearings
·
Clean air filters
·
Pickup items that had been sent to us at Post
office, including 2 dozen wine
·
Amy’s beautification (didn’t take long) J
·
Buy beer
·
Buy 3 – 4 weeks of groceries
·
Get 3 – 4 weeks of meat vacuum sealed
·
By fresh fruit and vegies
·
Get Savannah’s eye’s re-checked to ensure
glasses are ok
·
Rotate tyres
·
Pay numerous bills
·
Fix UHF that had been playing up
Needless to say, it was no holiday!!! (feeling sad for us
yet????)
We scored a campsite right next to the camp kitchen, which
was just across the road from Jayne’s Dad’s caravan. It was perfect for us, we could not only use
the camp kitchen, but all our socializing (and there was a lot of it) at night
could be done there, whilst still being able to hear the girls sleeping.
We had some great chats, not only to Jayne when she arrived,
but also her Dad (Alan) and Carol, and their mates who were at the park as
well. One particular guy, Stoney, was a
fellow Vietnam Vet, as was Alan. This
meant for some fascinating war stories.
The funniest we can remember was of recent history, when Stoney went
over to New Zealand for a veterans reunion.
At a dinner they were all attending, Stoney stood up in front of the
large gathering, and announced he’d received a letter informing him that he was
to receive a belated Victorian Cross.
Everyone murmured and asked for what?
“For saving the battalion” he replied.
“What, how did you save the battalion” was asked. “I shot the cook” he beamed in response. All but the ‘top brass’ laughed apparently.
Alan and Carol are a bit of an institution around the
caravan park, and so by association, we got to know quite a few people. We also bumped into others we had seen up the
Cape, as well as one of Amy’s other good friends parents. It was a social mecca!!!
On one of the nights, Alan had arranged for Amy, Glenn and
Jayne all to go out for dinner. Jayne
was having a significant birthday come up soon, and so he thought it would be
nice if we all went out. Alan and Carol
took up the babysitting duties for the night, and we had a fantastic Balinese
meal in town. A huge luxury for us, and
extremely nice for the 3 of us to do dinner again. It has been a LOOONNNGGGG time since we’d
done that.
We managed to work
through most of our jobs, with a lot of running around and fitting things
in. We also stayed an extra day after
Glenn noticed some grease on the front left inner hub, and then a slightly
loose wheel bearing. This was important
to get fixed, so we shot it back to the mechanic to suss it out, and tweak it. All good, and a very worthwhile preventative
maintenance step.
On leaving day, we packed up, and ended up collecting a very
impressive leaving party. We had friends
parents, their friends, friends the girls had made, friends we’d made at the
camp kitchen, and even one of the main workers at the park, Terry, who had
grown quite fond of us. The goodbyes
were quite long, and very humbling.
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| Jayne, Amy & Glenn in Cairns |
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| Our view from our camp spot in Cairns |
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