THURSDAY 13 AUGUST TO THURSDAY 20 AUGUST     FORREST BEACH

THURSDAY: Sunny and hot again today.

I went for my longest walk yet, along the beach, to well beyond the Cassady Beach settlement.

Spent some time on the computer too. The Share Market Game was interesting and I was pleased with my “earnings” to date, but suspected it would go into abeyance once we were moving on each day.

John went early to bowls, taking our new acquaintance with him. Irish N had been living in a tent, a few sites away from us, for over a week now. Her daughter and son in law were on a site opposite her, in a van, and with three dogs. They were building a house in the village – had moved up here from Brisbane, for work. The house finishing was running late, hence the move into the park. N would have a flat as part of the house, when it was finished. We’d spent quite a bit of time chatting with her, over recent days – good company.

N had expressed an interest in learning bowls, to John, and that was all the encouragement he needed.

On return, she said she had a good time at Macknade and would be keen to go again.

Chow mein for tea.

FRIDAY: had a long walk on the beach. Reading, sewing, some computer time.

I cooked the mackerel in beer batter, for tea, while John went and got chips from the take away.

The weather was definitely getting hotter – almost 30 degrees each day. The skies were now clear, so it was a bit cooler and easier to sleep, at night. We even occasionally needed the doona for a couple of hours.

With no wind at all, this week, the mozzies had gotten bad in the late afternoons.

SATURDAY: as usual, walked to the shop for the paper.

We left for Macknade bowls at 11.45. It was a Memorial Day match. I played lead, which I always tried to avoid, as my delivery of the little white jack was erratic, to be kind about it. Forget accurate length and line, it was lucky to stay on the designated rink!

John played second, about which he was not happy, preferring more of the action as third or skip. We both played average games. My team won one game, drew one game – and that was against John’s team!

John suggested we go back via Ingham and buy pizza for tea, which we did – at Dominos. It was not particularly nice.

SUNDAY: usual sort of day for me.

John went to bowls for the afternoon, and took N too.

I made ratatouille for tea. John was not impressed – vegetables!

MONDAY: much the same as yesterday, except John joined me on the beach walk, and didn’t go bowling!

Sausages for tea – much more approval…..

TUESDAY: we drove to Ingham to do a final stock up of things we’d need for the run south. John bought some car cleaning materials.

We went for a good long walk along the beach, as far as the creek mouth to the south. As the creek nears the beach, it turns and runs behind it for a way, before eventually emptying  across the beach. So there was a stretch of low dunes between beach and creek, for maybe a couple of hundred metres. I reckoned it was a certainty that there would be a croc in the creek inlet.

I had an email from our Griffith friends, who we’d been planning on stopping to visit. They would be away when we were passing through. That would give us an extra day or two to play with.

The ladies’ amenities were closed all day, due to a carpenter fixing a big hole in the ceiling lining, that had been there ever since we’d been here. We had to wander up to the hotel toilets, when necessary – quite a distance. But at least the facility was open for use again, once the workman had departed for the night.

Rissoles for tea.

WEDNESDAY: the amenities  were closed again, all morning. That carpenter must be a slow worker – it was only one panel, not the whole bloody ceiling! There was also an electrician working in there. I supposed it was an encouraging sign that some repair work was being done.

Now – if they wanted a list of suggestions for further works, I reckoned I could fill a good sized page!

We cleaned the van, the Truck, the underside of the awning roof, and under the overhanging edges of the poptop roof. That cleaning orgy took hours, but the rig looked good. Once we got home again, a thorough clean would be needed to get rid of salt residue from the time by the sea.

Tea was a prawn Caesar salad. The prawns were very tough.

THURSDAY: I did two loads of washing.

John went to a final bowls session, in the afternoon, at Macknade.

I went for a final walk along the beach. I would really miss this daily outing along the sand.

We had actually managed four whole weeks here, without having to dash back to Townsville for repairs to something! I wondered how we would get on, going home?

When John got back, we took down the awning and packed it away.

Tea was tinned mushroom soup and leftover salads.