Back in the Country

Highlights	Not such highlights
Generosity of strangers - both	Beautiful beaches but recent sightings of crocs and need for stinger suits – both, Kate especially
Seeing places never seen before – both	Being a car drive away from everything - Kate
Being back in the country – both especially Will
Sunrises - Kate
Warmth – both although we wonder how we’d go if we had to work in it
Low need pets - both
Long phone calls and face time with family and friends – both

We’ve now settled into our fourth housesit which was the first we booked. It had Will written all over it, except maybe looking after horses. He grew up with horses, but it was his sister’s, I believe, that enjoyed riding them. Not quite enough horsepower in one horse for Will.

However, he agreed to look after these two aging horses – low maintenance as far as horses go Rosie assured us and they are. Feed them twice a day, give them a handful of carrots now and then, top up their water trough, check for drowned cane toads and all done! No riding these two old, retired horses.

We had only communicated via emails with Rosie but I certainly got the sense that she was laid back and comfortable with the housesitting process. And she was and she is! She has a great Irish accent “Oh, this dog, well, she’s daft, just daft. Always has been, always will be, be we love her. Oh and this one, oooh, she’s old. We don’t carry her up the stairs
because once we start we’ll have to do it all the time, but oooh, she is getting old.”
Will and I looked at each other, both thinking what the hell if she dies! But Rosie who is a nurse and obviously pragmatic had started her housesitting notes with a) if you break something move on, nothing matches and nothing is special don’t worry about it, b) if a dog dies, which I hope for your sake it doesn’t on your watch, either dig a hole or ring the vet for disposal – yep, pragmatic. So far nothing broken, nothing dead!! However, Will does often carry the oldest dog up the stairs after ‘piddle’ time, because she’s too blind to realise her mates have already come up, so Will pops downstairs, calls for a while, locates her and carries her up. Yep, Will has a soft spot for that one!

Rosies third note was c) If it's in the fridge, pantry or freezer eat it, drink it and don't replace it! Including all the beer and wine!! Her fridge was fully stocked with fresh produce, roast chicken and food that couldn't possibly be eaten in a month upon their return. Not to mention the hamper she'd prepared for us - yep, generosity of strangers!

Will is enjoying being back in the country, people wave as they drive by, there is space and things to tinker with. When we arrived Rosie was concerned as she couldn’t get the electric fences to work, Will has them up and running. There was space for him to work on the ute and upgrade the springs. You can take the man out of the country but not the country out of the man. I’m loving the views but I also really enjoyed being on the edge of town so I could walk or ride to a nice place without needing to get in the ute.

Loaded cane bins waiting for the engine, just a few kms from our back fence - we hear them from the verandah

We have a creek along side us, love these big root systems

Mackay is a very easy city to get around, both in a vehicle or on a bike. Everything you could need is here but it feels like you are in an overgrown country town. I guess with a population of around 77,000

View from Lambert's Lookout

There are about 23 cargo ships lined up to go into port - not just a whale highway

you are. We did some touring the other day starting with Lambert’s Lookout before driving down to Mackay Marina. We enjoyed fish and chips while we watched a large yacht being lowered back into the water after being in dry dock. We walked past a sign reading ‘Crocs spotted in the last 7 days’,

so we kept our eyes wide open!

We headed into the centre of town as we had seen a bike path on our first day. Off we went, leaving the ute in a 2-hour parking zone at about 1ish. No way we’d be that long! I knew the track was a full loop and I had a sense of how far it went because we had driven past the botanical gardens the day before. I wasn’t expecting we’d do it all in one day, but Will’s not a great one for turning around. If you can go forward and arrive back that’s always much better than retracing your steps. And besides, the signs pointed you in the right direction but none of them had the distance marked on them that I saw.

By 2.10pm I was keen for a cold drink and an ice-cream at the botanical gardens which I guessed was probably, hopefully about two thirds of the way but I really couldn’t be sure. Will was less keen on that idea so we stayed on our bikes hoping to make it back to the ute before a parking inspector wandered by. Turns out we made it by about 2.30ish. When I googled the track, the site said it is approximately a 20km loop, all four legs agreed with that suggestion!!

I’m trying to keep up the routine of daily walks that I established so well with the dogs at the last place. I was rewarded the other morning when I was up and about just before sunrise! I had a song lyric pop into my head about sunrise over cane fields but when I googled it, the song actually refers to lighting over cane fields.. oh well!

Will and I have decided our next stop will be Alice Springs to help at the festival up there again (from here I guess it’s over there). So, I’ve already started working on editing stories for them which fills in my day. But before we leave here, we plan on doing more sightseeing, so today we are off to Sarina Sugar Shed to learn about cane harvest and the rum distillery (yes, I’m told there are tastings on the tour) and Sarina Beach as well as Sarina Auto Wreckers – I’ll let you guess who picked each of today’s locations.