Cooroy

Monday 11^th  – 18^th August  

We always enjoy travelling through Maryborough. We really love looking at the many beautiful Queenslander houses with their brightly colored gardens. Everything looks attractive and full of character. Instead of going down the highway we decided to travel on a more secondary road towards Gympie and then went through Kin Kin and Pamona along narrow and winding roads through the hills. It was a lovely drive and we arrived at my sister Cookie (Judy) and her partner Rob’s home at about lunch time. As we drove in we were confronted by Rob’s new toy, a 20+ foot Coromal caravan with all the whizz bang extras. He was given the heads up about it by his daughter who knew of some new vans that had been water damaged and had been put on the market cheaply. It was an absolute steal at the price and only had to be dried out. You would never know it had ever been wet. We had a quiet afternoon and a lovely barramundi dinner. Rob made his extremely popular creamed rice for dessert – the best creamed rice you could ever taste.

We did a sight-seeing tour of Noosa and surrounds and went up to the lookout to see some great scenery at the mouth of the Noosa River. It was a pity that it was a bit cloudy and visibility wasn’t perfect. There are wide sandy beaches that have been restored. Hastings Street certainly continues to attract its share of tourists although I can’t imagine how so many similar shops manage to survive.

On a day trip to Gympie we visited our friend Gary. It was good to see him looking healthier than last time we saw him. He seems to be getting on quite well on his own with a small amount of assistance weekly with  housework. It is not so easy when one arm and one leg don’t work properly.

On Thursday night we had dinner with Rob & Cookie at Cooroy RSL. Their courtesy bus picked us up and delivered us home to the front door. As usual the food was excellent, plentiful and well-priced.  The club was fairly quiet and we enjoyed a pleasant evening. The best thing about the home delivery was that it was raining when we got home, so we got in without getting wet. And did it rain! The weather report said to expect a “weather event” Actually it wasn’t as bad as we were expecting, but it did rain almost constantly for a day and a night, at times waking us up with the noise on the caravan roof when it really poured.

Rob brought his mum, Biddy up, to stay for the weekend. She seemed the same as always, recovering from her recent fall and broken arm with no ill effects. I hope I still have my wits about me in my 90s like Biddy does (and I really hope Mick does too.)  We had a couple of very quiet days because Cookie was suffering from the flu. Mick spent them cleaning the car and caravan – they were still full of red dust from the outback. Even scrubbing didn’t remove it completely. We were glad to Cookie looking a bit brighter by Sunday when Bev and Graham called in on their way to Caloundra and we enjoyed morning tea on Rob’s front porch which was bathed in lovely warm sunshine.

A group of kangaroos regularly graze on the grass in front of Rob's house.

The only down side of our stay was the last morning when Rob was putting the bins out and he paused to chat to his neighbour who was taking his dog for a walk on its leash – an American Staffy/ Red Heeler cross. From out of nowhere it dashed around the bin and bit Rob quite badly on the foot, causing bleeding, severe pain and a big fright for both Rob and the owner, who later admitted that it wasn’t the first time the dog had attacked unprovoked. Rob needed medical attention and has informed the local council.