MAAD Road Trip 2022. We go North

  Tue 19th sept Day 23 We got out of the house early as Mama had a massage booked (Thankyou Maerey for the recommendation!) and Sasha was needing some park time.  The first park was boiling hot, and lacked a bathroom so Papa found the Apex park, which seemed to have been built with the support of a local concreter - there was a sword in a concrete stone, a complete sphere 1.5metres tall in concrete, and various other curious but seemingly unconnected features in cement. Sasha enjoyed the shady play with some locals and Mama met us there afterwards to head for lunch.  The fierce sun prompted papa to get a sun reflector for the car (wise move, works heaps better than towels). Petals and Pinecones enjoys a place in our consciousness as the only place outside Canberra we had seen “Freak Shakes” on a menu. For the uninitiated, imagine a normal milk shake, served in a tall glass, with 8 to 12 extra ingredients attached to its sides and extending above the glass. We’ve had preci...

 Tue 18th sept - Day 22  Woke up to bird song.  After morning duties were cleared, and porridge was had, mama busied herself with muffin making. The local IGA proved to be excellent for local produce and special dietary requirements - big tick for gluten free flour that did not taste like cardboard or have the consistency of a dish sponge.  Speaking of IGA, throughout the trip we travelled with a big esky. Each town we stopped in we found the local supermarket and diligently found a staff member to ask, - What do you have that’s local? This was both to reduce our carbon footprint and to support the local community. Coles and woollies consistently gave disappointing answers - either blanks looks, “nothin”, “I dunno” or an aggressive “What, you expect me to know where everything comes from???” IGA consistently stood out in the positive (though was admittedly more expensive). And Atherton was the standout of the whole trip. The friendly avocado guy set aside his plump f...

  Mon 17th sept Day 21 Sasha had a persistent cough, and we thought it prudent to get him tested for covid. We discovered that in Qld covid test require a dr referral, and that there was no way to get him in anywhere nearby. As directed, Papa took him to wait at the hospital ER to see if they thought it was serious, but after several hours the only thing clear was that the QLD health system was very stretched in Atherton. The staff were wonderful, but run off their feet, and a lack of bulk billing doctors meant many people were doing what papa was there for - waiting for care a medical centre would be better equipped to give. Five hours later, still not seen, reluctantly they went home.  Maerey and Kai’s home is a quirky and beautifully updated wooden home (a Queenslander, I guess?). It has beautiful touches - (papa developed an affection for their induction stovetop). The shop front is, Azalea House, showcasing Kai, a jewellery making and artisan-talents. Kai is responsible f...

  Day 20- Sept 16th - Mission beach to Atherton So the morning proceeded under the pall of the distinct lack of the wildlife we wanted to see. Packing and ignoring the possible bird locations nearby did not work to attract a cassowary.  Sasha was not in a great mood. The day was hot, and while we intended to have a stroll around mission beach to take in the atmosphere, we ended up at a cafe while Sasha had a low key melt down. Nobody particularly felt like trying to push for the planned stop-overs.      Travel with kids will have these moments - parents will have enough, one kid will throw out a comment about not wanting to do the planned things, then the shoes don’t go on, the parents are frustrated, the youngest starts getting upset because everyone else is upset… we’d been on the road for almost 3 weeks, some tension was bound to form… After coffee, The family engaged in some deep breathing, and after a time Sasha managed to get half way out of his funk. It w...

  Day 19 - the  Sept 15th - Mission beach We had a rare very early wake up and decided to see if some cassowary sighting could happen. Mama breastfed looking over the beach as the sun rose, and we all enjoyed a hot drink while watching the foot traffic.  A dad pushing his toddler along the wet sand on a trike, people walking dogs, a guy turning up in his Ute for a swim.  As the swimmer showered after his very quick dip, mama asked if he was worried about the wildlife (crocodile and stinger warning signs were up everywhere), “nah, frankly, there’s nowhere for a croc to stash a body”. He suggested the creek mouth a bit further up was different, but no worries swimming here. After more probing, we learned he was a farmer, he’d just been to the gym between farm duties, and this was his cool down ritual - gotta love QLD for this. He was quizzed about the cassowaries, and suggested they were pretty much never around when you wanted to see them, but he’d seen one a couple o...