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Lawnton, Qld

S 27°17'05" E 152°59'13"

Tue 20 - Sat 24 Dec 2005


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photo of the nesting plover
Tuesday 20th

The magic of modern medicine has once again demonstrated itself. I have my right hand back with the trigger finger apparently completely gone. Of course it might come back but, for now, I am well pleased.

Another bright and clear day which will make the rest of the journey to Brisbane a pleasant one. We were visited by a Water Dragon before breakfast in a continuation of our unusually prolific wildlife observations. It was later joined by a second one.

With the advantage of an extra hour because Queensland doesn't have daylight saving, we arrived at Lawnton before three o'clock. We got in touch with Sarah and Al and, having arranged to meet up with them, we then vegged out for the rest of the day.

Wednesday 21st

It was warm overnight which made a change from the last few days on the high ground. It turned out to be another bright and clear day.

In the morning, we visited Sarah at her place of work at Breakfast Creek Wharf. The office is a great work environment with a great view out over the creek to some delightful heritage buildings on the opposite bank. As she was the Project Manager for the new office, we congratulated Sarah on her effort. We went out to De Bella Coffee for coffee and a chat. Sarah railed against her new boss a bit but gradually she turned to more happy thoughts.

photo of the plover defending the nest

As we drove towards Ferny Hills, Jean began to feel ill again. After a bit of shopping at Brookside we had tea and Jean had some dry toast because she felt hungry despite the nausea. I decided that we should go back to the Motley so that Jean could lie down and rest.

As we were having afternoon tea, the caretaker started to mow the grass. We had seen a pair of Spur-winged Plovers sitting on eggs a little way from the Motley. I asked the caretaker to take care but he didn't leave much space and the Plover was scared off the nest. I put the frame of the picnic table over the eggs so that he couldn't mow the eggs. The Plover came back to the nest and bravely sat on the eggs while the mower drove by only inches away. We were pleased that we had achieved success in our rescue mission.

Thursday 22nd

I went to Kippa Ring to buy Jean's present. When I got back, I made marzipan and royal icing for the Xmas cake.

I flaked out and had a nap. I was woken up by Sarah ringing to ask us to go to Ferny Hills. We picked up the mail, chatted with Max and the kids and had supper when Sarah got home from work.

Friday 23rd

I was another hot day. We had the air-conditioner on before breakfast. Jean was feeling less that 100% so she veged out in the Motley.

I went to Ferny Hills planning to mend one of Ross's toys from a previous Xmas. When I got there they were just about to go out to have a swim. I took the toy back to the Motley and mended it.

In the afternoon, the Motley air-conditioner failed. I will try and resurrect it but don"t hold out much hope. This is the third Coleman Faulkner air-conditioner we have had in eight years. If this one can't be mended we will have to buy another one but this time it will have to be a different brand.

Saturday 24th

Another bright and clear day with the weather forecast predicting temperatures in the thirties.

We went to Al's place to borrow his washing machine and then went to Ascot for morning coffee. The proprietor of the coffee shop responded to a comment about the tea being too strong by giving us free replacements.

In the afternoon, we both had appointments at the Optician. My prescription hadn't changed at all in two years and my eyes hadn't deteriorated at all. I had to get new glasses because the old ones were scratched and the frames were on the way out. Jean got a new prescription which will improve her vision considerably. She has to go back for her diabetics check early in the morning and we made an appointment for Wednesday week.

We bought some booze for the Xmas celebrations and went to Pats Rd to get it in the fridge.

When he finally found some new batteries for his radio controlled car which I had mended, Ross was quite excited.

Sarah had bought fruit for a summer pudding so we took them back to the Motley, cooked them and made the pudding.


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Created: 20/12/05 and last revised 25/12/05
Author: Robin Chalmers Copyright in all the material on this site is asserted by the author
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