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Day Seventeen - July 23rd, 2013
Noosa
Two very special birthdays have occurred since my last blog: the birth of Baby Cambridge - a son for Will and Kate (22nd UK time) and my beloved granddad, known as Duke, turns 80 today. I wish I was with him.
We had a lazy morning around the campsite - with the car out of action we are a bit stuck but don't mind in the slightest. We have the river right here and our bikes to get around. We need a few days to recharge. After some breakfast we finished off the now substantially slimy prawns as bait, with which Elly had a spot of luck. A very small puffer fish (to whom we lost a hook as we were too afraid to get close and pull it out) and another whiting. The puffer just buried himself in the sand once he found his way back to the water - we hoped nobody would walk barefoot along the river. For lunch we had the final dregs of the chilli.
We then saddled up and went out on the bikes to a parade of shops including an outdoor store and a bike store. Elly has his eye on a new cycling outfit. He had seen it once before, but tried it on today. Maybe next time he'll buy it. Shopping with Elliot is a very precarious process. We also had a look for a gazebo with no luck. The rain came down so hard last night that a lot of our things in the spare tent got wet, even with the help of an extra tarpaulin.
Back at the campsite we were greeted by a man and his mobile fruit and veg store. We hurriedly bought 2 pears as he was packing up ($1 for the pair!) and met our friends Andy and Tash from Manly as they pulled into the campsite. Andy worked behind the bar and Tash worked at the little sister restaurants next door - we have become good friends over our time in Aus and it was great to see them. They're both here from the UK on working holiday visas, so it will be easy to keep in touch once we're all home.
They settled into their site (97; we're on 95) and had an explore around Noosa. They're coming from Cairns so picked their brains about the places we are to visit. We also gave them some advice as to where to avoid. Elly took off for a long cycle unencumbered by me, and I went for a run.
Taking the same path we followed with Sophie and Dorian, I came across the land where we last caught a glimpse of kangaroos. There didn't seem to be any, but I got chatting to a man out walking his dog who lived down the street who told me they were nearly always there. There are a group of 11 he told me, but in the winter they separate into two groups - the mothers and their young, and the males. Suddenly we saw them hopping out from behind the trees into the woods - including a large male. I'm glad I was there when I was, they only made a fleeting appearance.
I ran past Andy walking back to the site, and once at our tent, went out for another fish. He'd bought some pilchards as bait, which I told him we'd been very unsuccessful with. Nevertheless, he persevered, having never in his life caught a fish before, as today was no exception. Even Elly joined in once he returned from his cycle but the best the pair could manage was a large twig.
We walked into town and bought some supplies for a BBQ. However, we arrived back relatively late and the hot plates had been used a few times already in the evening - and not properly cleaned. We attempted to clean them and get everything out on time, but unfortunately it was a bit of a shambles to put it nicely. My veggie sausages were awful (possibly an Aussie punishment for anyone attempting to be a vegetarian) but we had a great catch up and laugh over the whole thing (including the almost kilo of halloumi we bought!). I had a lovely catch up with Duke on the phone and felt a little better about being absent on his big day. Hopefully no more rain tonight - I want a quiet night!
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