THURSDAY 6 AUGUST        SEISIA

It was another hot, leisurely day.

I did some washing – $3.60 for the load.

We drove into Bamaga. Bought a box of 24 cans of beer – $47! In Cairns it was $21 for 30 cans. I understand the cost of freight is high to these parts, but still think that cost is excessive. I bought flour.

John did some fishing, mostly off the beach, with no real luck.

I wrote, and read.

R went off to bush camp for a couple of days. He asked us if we would mind Portia for him, on Sunday, while he goes fishing with a friend. She’s a lovely dog, so it will be a pleasure.

A family with a Unimog came and camped not far from us. They have three young children. They had been camped a bit further away on Monday and Tuesday, but we could still hear their young baby screaming most of the time. For some reason, when they drove back in today, they came closer to us. They are not nice neighbours to have! The two mobile kids were intrusive and allowed to roam wherever they wanted. They piddled all over the place, including in the shelter – worse than dogs! We just tried hard to ignore them. It did appear, though, that this was the man’s great adventure and that the mum was definitely not having a good time. The baby seemed to be only a few weeks old!

I decided to cook bacon and eggs for tea. It is getting hard to find an egg in the pack that isn’t all shook up and too marginal to risk! I threw several out. Cooked fries as well.

We have decided not to go to Thursday Island, after all. It seems very expensive to do, and perhaps does not offer enough value for us. John’s main motive for wanting to go there was to be able to say he’d played bowls there! For him to do that, we would have to stay overnight, which would make it even more costly. I would have found much of the history and touristy bits, interesting, but John was really only interested in claiming the most northern bowls experience. I did suggest that he could maybe do the trip alone, which would halve the cost, but he wasn’t keen on that. So – pass.