Fri 23rd sept Day 27 - Atherton region


Fri 23rd sept

Day 27



It was moving day. After 6 wonderful nights in Atherton, it was time to be
in Tolga as Maerey and Kai were set to host more family for the weekend. With the newlywed couple arriving that afternoon, and the Main house already full, we’d arranged to stay 15 minutes out of town. 



There was a lot shuffling and shimmying, and, as is usual between a full bump-in and bump-out, Papa’s precariously configured packing required defragging and tuning. 


Our new digs was an under house apartment. Sasha would be in a room with 2 sets of bunks, and, though he was used to being confined to the bottom one, still climbed the ladder hopefully before being rebuffed. The bunk room had an ample library of kids books, and the apartment overall had a feel of a comfortable poolside villa (mostly because there had been a pool until very recently).


Again the cousins came together later in the day to run with sticks and trampoline. Coming out of the covid period it's easy to forget what a huge part of growing up this rough and tumble is, along with the scraped knees, grass stains, pockets filled with pebbles and seed pods. Kids thrive when they get to tear it up with their peers. 

Today involved a little more factional interplay, with the second eldest finding comrades across the laneway who had built a curbside cubby. For Sasha, this was a heady brew of energy and socialising, and he was very happy to team up with the other little fan of cars and cartoon dogs, as they tore around the yard - a noisy comet and its tail in almost perpetual motion. 

Inside there were quiet chats and tea with Mama, Bonny and Aunties, downstairs Papa was fiddling furtively with a troublesome lawnmower and talking with a sister about her collection of plants. 



Guitars and basses throughout the house… perusing the collection was a must for Papa. While the kids' focus outside had turned entirely to the trampoline - the eldest cousin, who’d been enjoying their bedroom refuge, was called out to police the jumping, while the adults started the difficult task of winding up the play date. 

The call for home time brought new toys into play, tired resistance, and a few tears, but eventually all were loaded into the car. 

Dropping some of the cuzzies off, we headed to the Northern Star to order Thai (whacky fluro green rice). 




Sash quote of the day - 


It’s a good day!

Why?

Bonnie and maerey and chickens. I’m going to go chase them.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 12 - 8 Sept - Noosa

Image
  Day 12 - 8th Sept Noosa After testing the waters with the shortest Noosa Heads national park walk, it was time to do part of a larger one. All abilities and energy levels considered, the track leading to Tea Tree bay was chosen.  The path was a low impact monument to the protection of the whole headland. Originally the idea was to subdivide the various land parcels -  former farms, and build a road, cutting off any remaining forest from the sea (a key feature of the ecosystem), but even early European inhabitants recognised the environmental value of the area, when they set aside the heads for a future nature reserve in 1879.  60 years later the reserve became a national park, and multiple efforts to water down the rules, only led to firmer resolve to protect this lovely place.  This may seem small, but a string of protections there, to Hervey Bay and beyond, form a shield around K’gari (AKA - Fraser Island). The fresh water coming off this enormous sand islan...
Read more

Tue 18th sept - Day 22

Image
 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...
Read more

Day 16 - mon Sept 12th - Carmilla Sands to Cape Hillsborough

Image
  Day 16 - mon Sept 12th - Carmilla Sands to Cape Hillsborough Accommodation choices were a little different on this trip for us. Last time we stayed mainly in airbnbs.  This time both prices and availability (post lock-down restriction school holidays) meant that we searched wider for where to spend our nights.  Carmilla sands was a small motel (about 8 rooms), built by the owner/manager. His motel had very high ratings and catered for an interesting mix Of holiday-makers, travelling workers and motorbike enthusiasts. He was an interesting mix of happy-go-lucky and cautious approach to his visitors' political and environmental leanings. After packing, we made our way to the local sprawling service station. Atomically temperatured Coffee was obtained, and we headed east to check out the coast.  We had had our request for later check out declined, so papa managed to cobble together macadamia butter with blueberry sandwiches at the park while Sasha played and mama chec...
Read more