Day 17 – Woolgoolga

A pretty chilled day with very little action. Beautiful weather – blue skies, light winds, temp in low 20s. Gaz and I took a stroll around the Woolgoolga township – checked out some shops and reminisced about our holidays here when our kids were little. Gaz had a coffee, I bought some stuff. In some ways the town has changed and grown, and in other ways it all seems very familiar. Gaz in particular reminisced about the TAB that is no longer there – he seemed to have fond memories…

(Outside our cabin this morning)

Kev and Maz were much more energetic, taking off on their bikes to explore the surrounds. They subsequently regaled us with tales of lookouts and other scenic wonders … enough to make me feel like a lie down! Buddy seemed to enjoy the ride and he definitely needed a lie down this afternoon. Such an adventure for him!

After a light lunch back at the cabin, Gaz and Kev took off for golf while Maz and I hit the beach with Buddy. (We are taking Gaz and Kev’s word for it that they played golf as they forgot to take any photos – and, as I say, if there are no photos how do we know it happened?) It was a lovely afternoon and I stayed a bit longer reading my book. I also grabbed a whole heap more rocks from the beach for painting – I will be set up for quite a while. While searching for rocks I came upon the remnants of a shipwreck – the Buster was washed up in a storm in 1893 and apparently it gets revealed from time to time depending on tides, storms and so on. Not much of it is showing at the moment.

Speaking of rocks, at lunchtime I dropped my last four rocks at the Lake Reserve next to the caravan park and noticed this afternoon that one of them had gone. It’s been a fun exercise – you don’t always hear if they get picked up but it’s always nice to wonder where they might end up. Over the last three weeks, (as far as I can remember), I have dropped rocks at Willow Tree, Narrabri, Moree, Lightning Ridge, Goondiwindi, Toowoomba, Dalby, Gympie, Coolum, Kingscliff, and now Woolgoolga!

While Gaz and Kev went to Woolies to gather supplies for tonight’s feast, Maz and I took a walk down a bush trail that runs beside the lake. All was going smoothly until we heard a cacophony in the trees above us. Looking up we saw hundreds, nay, thousands of bats all carrying on in a most agitated manner. Maz forged on ahead for a while but they seemed to be growing in number and I was, I must admit, starting to freak out. Alfred Hitchcock movies flashed in my mind – we were hemmed in by a, (I was going to say flock but googled it), colony, (or perhaps cloud google tells me), of bats on one side and a lake on the other. It was time to retreat and Maz did not seem to need too much persuasion. Our walk back was punctuated by tales of weird viruses transmitted by weird animals – I was happy to not put any of that to the test.

Dinner was once again a communal effort – I made the veggie fry up, Maz did the potatoes, and Kev and Gaz commandeered the BBQ. It was all very yummy. We decided to eat outside at the BBQ area … and play our tension filled, everything’s riding on this, game of euchre. It got a bit cold as the evening wore on. Gaz and Maz won the first game, Kev and I won the second, then in the third it was neck and neck. We knew if Kev and I won the third game, it was all over – no deciding rubber tomorrow night – we would be the 2019 Road Trip Champions. Alas, it was not to be and we will all gather again tomorrow night for the decider as it is four rubbers all. This is big. Kev and I have agreed to forgo any other activities tomorrow as we will need to practise and strategise … well, not really … we are so confident we don’t need to do that. Tomorrow is our last full day – looking forward to some relaxation.