Not Before Time

First off, before I update about where we are and what we’re up to, I have to apologise to my sister Rosemary! We stayed a couple of nights with Rosemary and Graeme when we were in Melbourne, but for some reason I failed to mention that on here, so after a phone call from Rosemary reminding me (you know how bossy she is ) I would like to say that we had a great time with Rosemary and Graeme, we shared a bottle of Moet (ok, Rosemary shared it with me) and the room was gorgeous, with fluffy pillows, beautiful bed linen and it was very comfortable – a 5 star hotel But!!! – she forget to put the chocolates on the bed, we had to ask for them!! However even with that grave error on her part, I guess I would stay there again I am sorry I didn’t mention it here though – must be getting old or something.

We’re now in Mackay and hopefully will find some work here soon. On the way up we stopped for a few days in Flaggy Rock, 100km south of Mackay, to visit friends. Kay and Ray are caretakers of the Community Centre and swimming pool at Flaggy, and Kay is very involved in the various craft sessions they run there. It was great catching up with them, we haven’t seen them since they left Darwin to head west, and we went south. Apart from a few houses, some cattle and sugar cane properties, there isn’t much else in Flaggy – it’s peaceful, relaxing and lovely. The community centre has also just gotten approval for self contained motorhomes and vans to stay overnight, $5/night/vehicle. There are toilets there, but no showers. A good spot to stop for a night or two and do nothing.

On the way here we got held up by 2 of these on the road –

The pilot and police escorts actually did a really good job organising the traffic, keeping the buckets well apart and informing oncoming traffic that they were on the road well in advance of them suddenly finding themselves forced off the road It was quite interesting seeing them – they are each 7.5m wide .