Wednesday May 24 Pinnarendi to
Cairns
We’d managed to arrange to meet our friend Anne Harron in Mt Garnet for
breakfast. That meant a pretty early
morning. We were on the road before
7.30! As we travelled to 54km to Mt
Garnet the clouds gathered and drizzle descended. What a good idea we left early!!
It was wonderful to catch up with Anne again. It’s been quite a few years since we last saw
her in Cairns. We met Anne while we were
all living Chile. We talked so much we forgot to even take a photo! After coffee and a
bit of food and lots and lots of talking, we headed on to Atherton. Anne had given us the advice that our best
chance of getting parts for our gas stove would be there. Wendy meanwhile was itching to get to wifi
so she could do some work on a Road Safety Strategy critique. Our local council has written it and our
Active Transport group has a pretty dim view of it!!
The Atherton Library was a great place for Wendy, but Rick had no joy on
parts for the stove, so we made the decision to finally ditch our 40yr+ old
stove and buy a new one. Of course the
drizzle persisted while we were trying to extract the old stove! It was actually quite cold. 15 degrees!
Where are we?
Moving on towards Cairns we stopped at a café in Yungaburra for lunch
before descending from the tablelands into the relative warmth of Cairns. The rain, quite unseasonable, continued to
fall. We were delighted we had a roof at
Rick daughter Genn’s place.
Genn had a work commitment in the evening so we got modern and
downloaded an app that allowed us to order takeaway to be delivered to the
door. Really delicious Thai food.
Thursday May 25 Cairns
Rick arose and set off to install the new gas stove. Wendy meanwhile went for a ride through the botanical
gardens and parklands nearby.
When she returned she encountered a stressed Rick…We had spent some time
in Atherton Gas n Camping yesterday checking out a new gas stove. It had the
right dimensions and connections so we bought it. What Rick discovered this morning was that
the stove off the shelf was NOT the same as the demo model…they had given him
the wrong model!! Too big and the wrong
connection!! We were not driving back to
Atherton! The store had no one coming
to Cairns! Fortunately the local
Tentworld in Cairns had the model we needed so Rick went to buy it. We will get
a refund from Atherton when Gen (Rick’s daughter) takes it back sometime in the
next few weeks.
After purchasing the ‘new’ stove Rick made a trip to Bunnings to buy the
bits and pieces necessary to install the stove. The installation was quite a
challenge. Fortunately Gen had an electric drill to make it
possible. We now have a functional 2
burner stove…that hopefully will get us through the trip!!
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Wendy meanwhile spent a lot of time working on a submission to the East
Gippsland Shire Council re road safety.
The council has published a draft strategy that leaves a lot to be
desired, especially with respect to walkers, cyclists and users of mobility
devices. With a few other members of
the East Gippsland Active Transport group, she is preparing a document to help inspire
other people to put submissions to council to improve the strategy.
In the afternoon Rick went supermarket shopping, Wendy went to Bunnings and
the Op Shop on her bike, especially enjoying a ride along the esplanade.
Gen had cooked up some delicious lamb shanks for dinner and we met her
new bloke, Ben. We enjoyed a very nice
evening chatting.
Friday May 26 Cairns
Gen took us to Rusty’s market before she had to go to work. Rusty’s is a fresh food market with some
great coffee and breakfast options! Since
we were leaving the next day it was a great opportunity to stock up on great
fruit and vegetables. We also enjoyed
breakfast there. Coffee and a sweet
scroll for Wendy, a Bahn mi for Rick!
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Wendy spent more time in wifi land while Rick did the stocking up of
groceries for the next couple of weeks.
We’ve been assured the limited choice of items in the remote region
ahead will be insanely expensive, so hopefully we’ve got most things covered!.
We packed a bit, relaxed a lot and Wendy went off on the bike for a
couple of hours. A quirky thing about
the Cairns airport is that just inside it’s domain there is a free parking area
adjacent to mangrove wetlands. Great
when you’re waiting for a flight to come it!!
Wendy rode to the airport and had a walk amongst the mangroves before
returning to the city, riding the length of the bike path. All delightful.
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Back home, Gen had finished work early and cooked up an incredible
Mexican storm.
Denise
2023-05-26
Great to follow your exploits. Keep happy and having fun, and enjoy the new stove.
andy.m-s
2023-05-27
Trip seems to be going well. Smart move to upgrade the stove , not sure it will last 40 years but probably not your problem. Haven’t seen the house sitter yet ?? We had first mild frost and grass has stopped growing. John and I have been fortifying the gully fence as an enormous steer got into our gardens. Enjoy the next stage, Andy
Rod
2023-05-27
Another adventure beckons...Hope the drizzle stops, the sun shines and the stove functions.
Lyn and Ken
2023-05-28
Glad to hear that your 'travelling kitchen' is now back in order and that you are warm which we're currently not here. Travel safely. xx
Julie
2023-06-03
You two are certainly covering a lot of ground. Really enjoying the blog and hope the road ahead greets you well. I have many great memories of our time up there when the kids were young.