Change of season

 For those with limited reading time (or a short attention span):

Highlights	Less of a highlight
A trip down the Burnett River with Gail and Jeff - both	Bloody swooping magpies – Kate!
Seafood lunch at Grunske’s by the River, with Gail and Jeff - both	Homesickness - Kate
A walk through Grunske’s fresh seafood market - Kate	Spelling a name incorrectly in my research for the whole world to see - Kate
Attending the launch of the Milbi Season which included a performance by Christine Anu – Kate more but Will too
A Kate day wandering Bundaberg, finding book shops and free music– Kate!
Completing 3 & ¾ s of my first 4 chapters – Kate!!!
Neighbours – Bruce & Pam, Laurie & Wendy – both, Kate especially
Finding a ‘lost’ truckie - Kate
Boolboonda Tunnel – longest tunnel without structural support in Northern Hemisphere - both
Having a day off while waiting for my computer to be serviced – lucky Will doesn’t read these blogs!! - Kate
Lizard hunting -Kate
Sunsets – sunrises are too early even for me - Kate
Toad hunting – it doesn’t take much effort, step outside after dark and you’ll spot them - Kate
On main streets in major city and you’ll spot a load of sweet potatoes or a John Deer tractor – where else in a city of 100,000 people?? - both
Spotting and photographing different flowers - Kate

Up here, it is Milbi Season – the return of the loggerhead sea turtles. From late October until late December they arrive to lay their eggs which start hatching about 60 days after being laid. The early hatchlings are popping up as the late arrivals lay their eggs. To celebrate, the council hold a ten day festival, it kicked off with a Welcome to Country, passing on of a Message Stick between elders and a free 45 minute performance by Christine Anu at Bagara Beach.

Contain the excitement, Will!

Will had the day off work, so we headed out together. We arrived early so I suggested a wine at the trendy pub in Bagara. “The prices of these drinks…grumble, grumble. What are we doing next? What, two hours at this thing?” muttered Will.  I reminded him that I had told him all of that before we left home and that if he hated it too much, he could sit in the car while I enjoyed it. Anyhow, with still more time to wait, we enjoyed a snack of hot chips while looking at the ocean which seemed to settle him – maybe he's like a little kid, keep him full and he’s happy.

We spent the next couple of hours enjoying crowd watching (so many tattoos up here!!) and the festival. I must say the Welcome to Country and Message Stick handover were not as special as I had expected, it felt a little contrived. I’ve heard some wonderful, thought-provoking speeches at these occasions over the last few years and I was hoping for Will to experience the same, but not this time. Anyway, I certainly enjoyed the performance by Christine Anu and Will stayed until the end, so it can't have been too bad after all.

We seemed closer than this during the performance!

Another part of the festival was the free midday music sessions. In the main street of Bundaberg, they have built a performance area with raised concrete seating and a piano which sits waiting for anyone passing to play. For five days they had performers entertaining the lunch time crowds. I had made my way into town to work at the library but found myself at a coffee shop whiling away a little time. When I saw the Milbi program I decided to turn my workday into a Kate day, so I spent some more time wandering until I could enjoy the music.

I popped into a second-hand bookstore, it was right out of a TV show, ‘Friends’ or something like that. Little nooks to sit and read in, a café, beautiful old chairs - just sweet. My thoughts raced to my book club mates, our favourite authors all lined up, ‘a blind date with a book’ section – that was a cool idea, tea cosies for sale and a poetry writing session anyone could join coming soon. I had hoped to join the poetry writing time however, an unexpected interview (more on that soon) was arranged for that afternoon, so whilst I missed it this time, if we make it back to Bundaberg, visiting that book shop will be one of the first things I do.

Now, the interview which interrupted my poetry writing day was pretty special. Of the six men who became the elected committee on Razorback Mountain two are deceased, three I had spoken with and one was MIA – Missing in Action, never to be found, or so I had been told. I was chatting with Billy, another man who was involved in the blockade and has been very generous with his time, he found the missing man on Facebook – not so hard to do when you spell his name correctly, know what he looks like and what truck he drove – all things that were on his page which helped us track him down. He really wasn’t MIA, but his name was spelt incorrectly on the official plaque which led us down the proverbial garden path. The phone ran hot once I let one person know I’d found Jack, people were ringing each other with the news and ringing Jack for a chat for the first time in 30 or 40 years. Everyone had said the same thing, “He was a quiet respectful bloke, a real good bloke.” It was lovely to have helped old mates connect and it was a relief that Jack and his wife Pauline were very understanding of the situation.

I spent the afternoon chatting with Jack and Pauline, getting their recollections of the lead up to the blockade and their memories of those days. By that evening, Chapter 4 and 5 were finished and hopefully I’m only a few hours away from finishing Chapter 6. It was a surprise to have my early chapters (1 – 3.5) accepted by my editor without any major changes but it was a thrill to have those same chapters accepted by my wonderful friend, Karen, who has spent years editing the student reports I wrote. Having worked together for over twenty years and having been friends for over thirty, we have such respect for each other that we can always offer an honest opinion and constructive feedback. (Kaz, I’ve taken out 4 sentences that begin with ‘So’ in this blog – LOL) To have her say she wanted to read the next chapter was such a thrill!! If Chapter 5 and 6 aren’t as good, I’ll blame the time spent on blogging!!

Three Wise Monkeys???

We've still been getting out and about but not quite as much as when we first arrived. Gail organised a lovely day out for us on the Bundy Belle boat. It was such a lovely, relaxing Sunday. Something different, great views and great company. 

We also popped over to the longest unsupported tunnel in the Southern Hemisphere. I had planned to ride our bikes through it, but Will said "No way!" when we saw how many bats call it home! The country side up here is so dry - not what I had expected but they are certainly in the midst of a droubt. There have been a number of fires within an hour or so radius of Bundaberg, nothing to worry us, but enough to make you think about which direction to head when having a day out. Woodgate Beach is on my to do list, but they have had fires down that way, so it seemed the wrong place to head just for a day out, maybe this weekend now that things have settled. 

Look out above the township of Mt Perry

We are beginning to feel a little like those turtles I mentioned at the start, we are both ready to head south, back to family and friends for a while. We have both loved Bundy but finding a home here has eluded us this time. Will’s work has turned into longer hours than he had hoped. He's leaving here just after 6am to return just before 6pm five days a week. We know that’s not a long day compared to many, but it’s not what we want. It’s been a good reminder to us that we gave up our beautiful home and close proximity to family and friends because we wanted out of the everyday rat race we were in – no matter how nice the place is around us, we don’t want that.  We are in an incredibly fortunate situation, we can make choices to live the lifestyle that we want, so Will finishes up at the end of the week. We will take a little ‘holiday time’, spending time with Bundy mates (hopefully, if they’re happy too), revisiting sites of Bundy, local beaches and bike riding before having the RAM serviced and packing to head south.

We haven’t decided which route we will take, but don’t worry, Mum, Benalla will be on the way. We have had many offers to stay with people around the Picton area from people I've interviewed or met through my research. Seeing as I’ve spent so many months writing about the event that occured there, I’d love to travel over Razorback Mountain. It would also be nice to spend some time with the people I now work with or for. However, we’ve made enough decisions for one week, we will go back to ‘seeing how things go’ and ‘going with the flow.'

A ship docked at the sugar refinery warf, being repaired not a sugar carting ship.

Apologies to the vegetarians but the fresh seafood market was an eye opener for me.

Bundy's fresh water arrives via hundreds of kms of channeling - makes for a nice sunset.

It's hard to imagine enought water to fill these drains, but there is a huge advertisement campaign at the moment telling people to prepare for storm season. The guard rail on this particular drain stopped me from running into the ditch when I decided to eyeball a 'bloody' magpie. 

Seems I can't ride straight when looking over my shoulder - Magpie 1

Kate 1 - you can't get me now!!

Boolboonda Tunnel Entrance - that was far close enough for us

Sweet potatoes heading through town

I remember Dad telling me that the intricacies of a flower was proof to him of God, I rarely look at a complex flower without thinking of my dad!

Shh, don't tell Will, it's our secret! I really did have to sit around and wait for my computer to be fixed!