Some light showers had occurred throughout the night, however Vicki is so magical that she can be packed up without bother in such situations. By 9am we were hugging Col and saying a fond farewell, we are going to miss him. Till next time old friend. We head back into the hills to hop onto a road that skirts Mackay. The road winds and twists and turns but it does not manage to dodge the random showers of rain that gust upon the hills. We see our first Cattle Egret and in true Uncle John style, "throw a screaming Uie" and get a couple of shots out the car window.

Mal is in raptures as the rain sweeps across the hills in soft veils and while there are no great opportunities for a quintessential photo of the area - he still snaps a few shots off for memory's sake.

We stop for fuel and morning tea in Sarina - Mal has a new book to read - we start over a cuppa. David Malouf takes no time to lure us into the Antipodes - we don't finish the first short story in the book - BUT we have started.

The rain is fading in the rear vision mirror as we make our way South and the land here is dry and parched. Some cows pick at what is almost dirt looking for a feed - they are gaunt and slow.

After lunch a strange event happens, Mal ends up in the passenger seat and the car is rolling down the highway, wow we have a new driver, well at least one we have not had for a long time. She gives him cheek about not looking out the window as he scribbles in his note book - he responds to her provocations by putting his head back and snoring his way to Rockhampton - oh he loves that passenger seat.

The Gracemere Shopping complex is polluted with noise and music which is smudged and blurred by a sound system which probably wasn't the best money could buy. We get in, we get out and soon we are driving into the exclusive Gracemere Resort where our host comes out to meet us. Unfortunately Bruce has been unwell so his smile is just a little diluted by his pain.

Still soon we are catching up around the kitchen table, about memories of Thursday Island, and Mal doesn't need to remember the details of out trip, because Bruce has read the BLOG and he knows what we have been up to. We watch a video about a road trip across the North of Australia - we want to do the route next year - then just before Mal hops in the shower - Bruce comes in to tell him, tug boat Tony is out and Malcolm Turnbull will be the new Prime Minister of Australia -

We head off to bed, what a day.