Here We Go Again - Chapter 26 - Airlie Beach Day 2

Looks like Forbsy has brought the sea mist with him. When he left Mackay yesterday a mist had rolled in off the sea and during his trip he had patches of rain. Now this morning it is overcast with very low cloud. 

Silver Leader has booked us in, right by the airport and the mail run planes start early. Its a busy little airport with helicopter flights going in and out constantly. They are no bother though.

The rain has started, although it was predicted for later this afternoon. Good time to get some washing and some administration done. I take a video call at 7.30 and another at 9.00.

Tonight I am presenting a webinar and the material for it is not yet ready. I need to finalise the slides with our Filipino staff.  The air is still and quiet. The rain has kept the children away from the jumping castle adjacent. I think tonight will be an eat in event at the park food outlet. We hear they do a reasonable schnitzel. 

Once Robyn started to stir, I grabbed the left over prawns and made an omelette, posting it all over social media to the chagrin of those eating less heartily. Our friends on the SV Pyrenees retort with peanut butter muffins and attempt to suggest they are much better off. Watching my wife devour her share of the meal, I don’t think so.

All through the morning and the rain I work on the webinar slides and other pieces of material for clients and other projects. The helicopters still seem to come and go, not as frequently as the day before I suspect because of the inclement conditions but obviously doing transfers to one of the many Whitsunday Islands just off the coast.

By lunch the rain has gone and the sunshine has returned. There are restlings about what to do this afternoon. There is a shop in Properpine Robyn and Rose want to visit and Forbsy has found a nature experience called Cedar Falls to be investigated. It looks like I am going to iss this adventure but when it comes time to go, I throw my hands up at the frustrations of the morning, close the laptop and clamber into the back of the Silver Leader Cruiser and head off with them.

Normally I would drive as I am not the best passenger. Motion sickness is not my friend and very quickly I am starting to feel a little queasy. Thankfully it’s only a short drive into Proserpine. The can fields dominate the vista once we are out of Airlie Beach. I note a field that is only about 30cm high. Into the memory banks for a snap on our return.

The first stop is the shop aptly named Colour Me Crazy. MY immediate impression as we head down the back street, Dobbins Street, is this is going to be one of those shops I will not last long in. The aromas of essential oils (the ones that give me an instant headache) permeate up the street, warding us off investigating further. The outside of the shop is nothing like the inside. Yes there is the colourful sign beckoning the passer-by to come and see but once you are inside (other than the smell) the shop is a labyrinth of colour and textures.

What looks like a small boutique shop of knick knacks has cavern after cavern of “stuff” The girls will have to be careful with the handbags as there definitely not enough room in any of these caverns “to swing a cat”. 

The intrusion of colour is everywhere, and between forays outside to clear my head, I snap many shots, some in panorama mode to engulf everything that can be seen. I can see the girls coming back here on Saturday, after the obligatory markets expedition, while the men folk go fishing. You could spend hours in this shop and still not see everything.

Forbsy has found an Op-Shop next door, and cashless, comes looking for $5 for a purchase he would like to make of another set of swimmers . I haven’t carried cash on this trip at all, letting Robyn handle that side of proceedings, so I send him search of her. Thankfully she is at the opening of the store, about to head into another cavern. She hands him the cash, knowing he is good for it, and he is off the negotiate his purchase.

On one of my head clearing journey’s outside I notice Silver Leader disappearing into the adjacent drinking establishment, the Prince of Wales Hotel. Forbsy is back from the Op Shop so we head off in search of our leader, but he is nowhere to be found. We look here, we look there, we check all the drinking parts of the hotel to no avail. Forbsy quipps he might have gone looking for an ATM. Makes sense the girls are in a shop of delights, but no, we finally find him as he returns from the door from which he had entered, suggesting he needed to “spend a penny”.

We are going to have to get the crow bars out to remove the girls from the shop. The next stop in the trek is the Prossy Pie Shop which closes soon according to Mrs Google. The girls are none too happy about the intrusion either, but as soon as Forbsy suggests the pie shop is renowned for its vanilla slice and heckles are smoothed over We clamber back into the Cruiser and expectantly head down the road, the 1.5 kilometers.

Disappointment here, because we are late in the day, the vanilla slice is all gone, much to the angst of the womenfolk. They placate themselves with other sugary morsels. A quick diversion to a local tackle shop by myself and the Silver Leader sees some important pieces of tackle purchased and information gleaned from the owner about the not so “secret spots” producing good fish.

This information packed away, with the sun starting to fall, its off to find Cedar Falls. There were signs on the way in and we head in that direction guided by the GPS. At one time, one of the turns comes up unheralded by the GPS and we are thrown around the back as Silver Leader hits the anchors in order to make it. Anything dishevelled by the action of the driver is short lived.

We come to a causeway with the obligatory crocodile signage. It is again majestic in its serenity. Silver Leader stops in the middle of it for the obligatory pictures. As we pull out of the causeway we are met by a speeding motorist on the wrong side of the road and Silver Leader takes evasive action. 

All good, just a little more dishevelment. My wife suggests I am going to need more than just a comb over to be ready for tonight, and then suggests that was going to be the need in any event and further it the actions were going to be futile. Funny lady, my wife.

At the car park, we ready ourselves for the trek to the falls. There are noises coming from into the bush. It must be people returning from the walk. No, on further investigation the people are actually in eyesight and they are not moving. The babbling of the creek is actually the sound of the falls.

Less than 100 metres from the car park you are setting into the pond at the bottom of the falls. The rain of the morning does not appear to have enhanced to falls any great amount, They seep down over initial rocks to a cascade effect into the pond. There is a track to the top mut not even “MarkGyver” Forbsy is interested. I walk through the stream to take some differently angled shots but other than that we all snap happily from the first access point.

Forbsy creates an effect on his phone to take a portrait with the falling water smeared behind. We all have our pictures taken. Forbsy cannot help himself, he feels the need to stack and yet another cairn is born.

Time to go, as the sun is setting and I need to be back to set up for the webinar.

There are two shots that need to be taken. The not so tall sugar cane and a shot of a nursery where the trimming of the trees adjacent to the road are cause for camera snapping. This we do, drive into Airlie Beach and out again towards our destination but Silver Leader does not pull into the park.

Not overly worried about the time, I let this pass as it is obvious he wants to investigate Shute Harbour. Silver Leader and Rose have been here before and they are eager to show us.

What they find is vastly different to what they remember. There is a major development going on in the harbour to restore the wharf and potentially turn it into a major port access for the surrounding islands. Even the scars of development do not detract from this Hawkesbuy like vista. You cannot see the ocean proper from the look out but see the canal type access as the bay meanders around the headlands.

The sun is waning and there are a couple of shots taken, although without cloud cover there are little reflections to capture. 

We are back well in time to set up for the webinar. The virtual backdrop disguises the fact I am transmitting from the van. I do have to ensure all the windows are closed and blinds drawn. Being dinner time Robyn has to flit between the van and the barbeque of Silver Leader. I am set up early enough that she brings me my dinner which I can consume before the 7.00pm start.

The webinar goes well and is finished off in the planned hour. Breaking from the van to join the others I find the rugby league game of the evening is on and my team the Rabbitohs are about to take on the Broncos. Sorry Grady Clarke (an avid Broncos supporter) your team was given a lesson in attacking football. Their defence was not bad either, letting the opposition score no points. 

Its been a long day and we have an early start tomorrow. A friend of mine Roger is a part owner in Whitsunday Bullet, a power boat that does trips to the islands and he has booked us on. His cousin Roy is the other owner and I have been in touch with him ensuring all the arrangements are in place.

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