It is the middle of winter.
Cold. Colder than it usually is - enough
even to partially freeze  the
water pipes in the house, one morning in
Castlemaine.
So we went off for a two-week trip up
to Cape York; a flight to Cairns, 3 1/2
hours north by air, then a 4WD bus trip up
to the tip of Cape York - and a little
beyond, to Thursday Island in the Torres
Strait, from where we flew back to Cairns,
and back home.
It was very worthwhile. Not only were
we  able
to wear shorts and discard warm clothing, it
was interesting an fun. We went with
"Outback Spirit", the company we'd been
across Arnhem Land with last year; it was
very well organised, and even the couple of
longish days in the bus were not a problem.
There was a plan for people to rotate around
- you never sat in the same seats for more
than one day - and there were ten vacant
seats anyway. We travelled over a lot of
very dusty dirt roads, seeing lots of very
dust-encrusted  4WD's,
trailers, and caravans, but we only got
dusty when we stopped and got out.
We were also very fortunate in many of
the roads we travelled on having opened only
a  few
days prior to our trip; they had been closed
because of damage from exceptionally heavy
rain. Rain which had almost entirely gone
when we went.
Cairns, Port Douglas, the Bloomfield Track
to Cooktown; across the Battlecamp Road to
Laura; up through Lakefield National Park,
to the bauxite mining town of Weipa, and up
to Bamaga, the closest town to the cape.
 I
always find life hectic before we go off on
a trip. This time, it was moreso; we bought
a wall bed, and five adjacent cupboards, to
install in the green room in Castlemaine. It
was delivered in a large box, ~ 2 x 1 x1
metres, weighing over 500kg, and needing us
to put it all together. It took up about 2
weeks to do so, with us living in a degree
of chaos, but it all worked in the end and
it works remarkably well. So now we have a
bed for visitors again - something we've
lacked since we sold the house next door we
had on Airbnb. A wall bed is not quite as
comfortable as a whole house but it's a lot
better than nothing.
Now, we're about to drive up
northwards in the motorhome for a month.
We're leaving in a few days and have no
definite plan at all.
Simon's
Journal
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