THURSDAY 1 OCTOBER     CAIRNS

We had showers and occasional heavier rain, through the night.

This is the start of our fourth week here. It has been better since the TV sport is over and we get out and about, some days, doing things.

John stayed up last night playing his computer game until 5am, so he slept in this morning.

I walked to the shop for the paper, then around the local streets, looking at the houses.

When John did get up, he phoned a doctor, as he wants to get some lumpy bits on his skin checked. He couldn’t get an appointment until Monday, so I will have to extend our stay here yet again. I went to the office and did that. They made a mistake with the $17 they charged me for the last extension – it is actually $15.70 a night. I am not sure I am following their calculations any more!

We decided to tackle the Mt Whitfield Environment Park walks, so I packed lunch to take.

We drove to the Botanic Gardens and left Truck in the parking area there.

Walked the red track, then onto the blue circuit and back via the red. It was almost 7kms of rather tough up and down hill walking. It took us four and a half hours. A sign near the walk start warned that we might encounter cassowaries, but no such luck. There were some good views over parts of Cairns as we climbed.

We had lunch at a lookout on the track that overlooked the airport, and watched the occasional plane coming and going as we ate. Some of the rainforest that we walked through was brilliant, but it is all drying out somewhat now. It would be a superb walk with the little creeks and rivulets flowing.

We chatted for a while with a walker met on the way. She is a GP and does contract work as a way of seeing the country. She lived for a while in Tasmania and knows all the great walks there.

By the time we’d finished today’s exercise, my legs were screaming “enough”. John did really well – he has sore legs too, but his hips are ok. The walking stick he manufactured at Silver Plains is working well.

Tea was beef and black bean stir fry.