We realized today that, with the exception of the Great Barrier Reef,
Queensland is the Kansas of Australia.
It’s the only place in the whole country (that we’ve traveled) that you
can see nothing but crops for miles and miles—only instead of corn it’s sugar
cane and mangos. PS sugar cane
stinks. We’ve been spoiled by the
constant wonderful aroma of eucalypt trees.
I’m really going to miss that!
There would be some really fun towns to stop in and see stuff, if we
had time. They’re few and far between
though. It’s mostly a pretty boring
drive from Brisbane up to Cairns. Even
the road signs expect you to be bored.
“Are we there yet, Mum?” “Still a
long way to go kids!” etc etc etc. They crack me up!
We got to our “half way” mark for the day right on schedule so we had a
few hours to go for a little hike. It
was glorious! We pulled in to Alligator
Creek in the ?? National Forest in the shadow of Mt. Elliot. I don’t know what I expected but it wasn’t
this.
It was perfect!! Like the
perfect little mountain hike along a stream up to see some falls. We didn’t go all the way up, but we did go
off the path (highly discouraged around here from what we can tell—although we
did see one other family enjoying the same detour we found. We had a ball!
When we got back to the car park,
π read a sign that informed visitors there were showers over in the camp
site’s toilets. Now it’s been a good 36
hours since π had a shower which—except for when we’re camping—simply doesn’t
happen. As the kids were getting pretty
ripe too, we all decided to get cleaned up.
There was
only cold water (which makes sense) and there were ants and spiders and all
sorts of creepy crawlies that you had to scare away before you could claim
possession of the premises. K and ∞ did
okay but O wasn’t going anywhere near it!
We joked and giggled and tried to persuade her, all to no avail. Finally, after I was showered and dressed, K
and ∞ came out of the showers to inform me that O was still standing in there,
in nothing but a towel, refusing to get clean.
Maybe if her feet hadn’t been swallowed up in a toxic cloud the night before
requiring extensive amounts of exterminating efforts I would have just let it
go but memories of the asphyxiating odor from the night previous spurred me
forward.
I grabbed a water bottle from the car and filled it before I headed in
to face the beast. (She is normally a
delightful little angel, but when she gets a bee in her bonnet, there’s just no
better word to describe her!)
Screeching at me to get out and leave her alone, she twisted away and
tried to bolt as I entered the bathroom.
Realizing this wasn’t going to be pretty no matter what I did, I simply
stepped up to her, whipped her towel away from her grasp and poured the bottle
of water directly over her red screaming face…er head. Mean I know, but it did the trick. The screaming continued but all energy she’d
been using to fight taking a shower then had to be utilized in the core
temperature control center. She screamed
all the way through the wash, but it was just for my benefit, her heart wasn’t
in it.
From the squeals coming from the boys’ side, π was having similar
issues with X as well. We joked and
teased about first world problems while making lunch. π pulled me aside and told me to kiss his
hair goodbye. The day has been fast
approaching with his hair becoming ever thinner and today he finally bit the
bullet. Even as I write this at 10:30,
the kids don’t know what he’s done. He
slipped over to the car (we have a 110 volt infuser that plugs into the cigarette lighter) and
grabbed the hair clippers and gave himself a shave—then promptly donned his
hat. It’ll take awhile to get used to
his new doo, but I think I like it.
We met some new animal friends today as well! These little beauties took up residence in
X²’s shirt! He learned really quickly to
not lean up against a tree in these woods!
These little guys also joined us for lunch. I wish I could have gotten a shot of their
wings fully extended. They’re absolutely
stunning!
After our adventures up the ‘canyon’, we headed into town. We spent 3 hours trying to track down a ‘good
fish and chips’ place, only to be disappointed by our Hungry Jacks chicken
sandwiches. Apparently a π approved fish
and chips place doesn’t exist in Townsville, Queensland. At least not one that we could find L
And so, here we are. Tomorrow begins
our last week in our last city. I’m
already mourning the end of the trip—but determined to not let my sorrow at the
ending rob me of my enjoyment of it as well.
This week is going to be epic!
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