THURSDAY 21 MAY     AIRLIE BEACH

Today is S’s birthday. The dates kind of got away from John, so we went to the PO and sent off a late card and a cheque. Our mail was there from home and it did contain our Mastercards.

John collected his copies of his father’s war records.

I had another swim in the pool before lunch – mostly, I am the only one in there!

After lunch, we drove towards Shute Harbour and then left Truck in the car park at the start of the Mt Rooper walking track circuit. The track was not too steep, and it was pleasant walking through forests, most of the time. There were great views over the Whitsundays from the top. At the summit, we chatted to a couple of young travellers for a little while; apart from them, there was no one else on the track. John managed the walk well.

On the way back to camp, heard on the radio that a young backpacker was killed this morning, on Fraser Island, in a head-on collision between 4WD’s on the east beach, near the Maheno wreck. It is hard for us to see how it could happen, as the beach is so open, but accidents are fairly common, it seems. Maybe drivers are distracted by the sights. Some European drivers find it hard to stay on the correct side. Some fishing people park their vehicles down close to the water’s edge and this can create a traffic hazard and obscure vision. The backpackers often are not wearing seatbelts.

For tea, I made pumpkin soup and we had bread as well, with guacamole and tzatsiki.