The loose plan was to head back to Port Douglas for a bit of a look around but before we knew it it was about 9 o’clock so we thought we’d go to the aquarium. We decided to have breakfast in the cafe there before checking out the marine life but the single campest bloke I’ve ever heard informed us they weren’t cooking today. He was as gay as a Mexican table cloth and did for public relations what Jack The Ripper did for door to door salesmen. Nah, in all fairness he wasn’t too bad but you know what they say - you don’t want to look them right in the eye in case they think you are gay too so I bumped my head twice looking for for the ticket box. We paid our ticket money and went inside to see the fresh water groper and other marine creatures.
It was raining all day so a thousand other tourists also had the grand idea to take their snotty nosed little shits to the aquarium and I couldn’t help but think it was akin to having someone sit next to you at a Dean street cafe with 2 dogs in hand expecting you to love them as much as they do. For most the day I was wondering who was behind the glass as I reckon the marine creatures probably thought they should have bought a ticket.
The aquarium was a great couple of hours but I have to say it did feel very COVIDy. You’d need a shoe horn to fit one more kid in - If someone was crook we are all buggered.
From there we moved down to the esplanade for a late breaky. Caroline and most the kids went one way but I was dying for seafood. The band and I stumbled over the ‘Prawn Stars’ seafood ship on the marina a couple of years ago so Tilly and I went that way for the freshest seafood ever. We picked our own mud crab during entree and I thought to myself this is taking “don’t look him in the eye” to a whole new level as the first poor bugger that looked up got sent off for a very warm bath. I got talking to a bloke across the table. Bit of a high flying fella who runs a tax business. He gave away a lot of information for free and is also a bit of an expert on F Trucks. He has one getting tuned up by an Albury company I didn’t know existed so it’s nice to know we have options the next time Donk let’s us down.
After rejoining Caro and the kids we jumped in the car to check out a camping store Steve and Jackie put us onto. Steve is the single most efficient camping packer we have ever met and we were aiming to follow his lead with some camping gear. The store was sold out so we then drifted aimlessly in a northerly direction trying to get a plan for the rest of the day. I was particularly keen to get a plan because after the 2 beers I had at lunch I could sense I was drifting towards a watering hole - and after making a new friend in the wee hours last night watching the Tim Tsu fight, I really didn’t need another huge one (Wayne from Sydney sends his regards). We drifted in a northerly until we arrived at Port Douglas.
I tried to catch up with the licensee of LJ Hooker who I knew from years ago but he was away on a fishing trip so I plonked myself at the front of a pub while the rest of the crew filled in a couple of hours shopping.
On the way home, on spec, we stopped at Ellis Beach for tea. Our meals were very nice and Caroline took over the driving from here.
We are now back at camp and it seems we have a new neighbour in the caravan park who looks like big foots cousin - from the fathers side. I was talking to a bloke here who locked himself out of the dunny yesterday and I came to his rescue with a key ( not all hero’s wear capes!). He has a trailer building company. I’m hoping he’ll come good with some contacts to get our truck engineered.
Paddy has adjusted to road life well. With a fire bucket burning and the kids keeping themselves busy with reading and journals, I am already missing these days. The unavoidable cabin fever we get from time to time with growing bodies confined to a small space pails into insignificance for the memories we have shared over the years.
In support of the endangered green sea turtle tonight I am drinking ‘2 turtles pale ale’ whereby a dollar from every beer consumed goes towards conservation. As I said before, not all heroes wear capes. Goodnight.
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