SUNDAY 8 NOVEMBER     ATHERTON

We spent a quiet day, staying away from the Sunday drivers who come out for the day from Cairns.

I did the washing, and got most of it dry, although the day was cloudy and threatening rain.

John played computer games, and read. I read and sewed and started on the produce drying – mangoes –  using our electric dehydrator.

John’s daughter S phoned. She wants to come and visit us here, on an R and R break from Port Moresby. So we will have to stay on here for that to happen. That is no hardship! John phoned his other daughter and chatted.

I made soup for tea – kumara and nutmeg. Is good. We shall have mango for dessert – yum. The new season mangoes are so delicious.

On our treks to the amenities block, we have gotten to talking to two ladies, a bit older than us, who have their caravan parked under one of the park’s shelters, that we walk past. They are sisters – L and J – from WA. They have towed their van over east, with the intention of seeing a lot of the country. They plan to stay here over the summer period and say the park people have assured them that there are not cyclone problems up here. I would not be so certain about that, and we have decided that we will – eventually – go further south for that time. We are not sure how far south, though – maybe to the sapphire fields near Emerald? Maybe Toowoomba? Has to be somewhere with tolerable weather conditions, and away from the holiday crowds that will be at the coast.

We do know that we need to spend a lot more time, in another year, in Qld – we have barely scratched the surface of this big and diverse State.

L and J are interested in taking up lawn bowls here and are also very interested in my dehydrator.