More Crocs and a Man Eating Kangaroo

After waiting so long for this trip, all the planning and anticipation involved, as well as the issues encountered on the journey it’s quite sobering to realise that I’m suddenly halfway through my holiday. Depending, of course, on how far the situation in the Middle East might have escalated and affected flying by the end of the month. I may be stuck here!

Looking back I can see how much I’ve done though, and realise things may have been forgotten if I hadn’t recorded them in this one place. And these are all memories I want to keep.

I’ll miss being able to sit outside for my morning brew. I know I can still do that once I’m home, but not in shorts and a vest at 7.30am in three or four degree temperatures– unless I want another visit to Macclesfield A&E!

But for now it’s a case of continuing to enjoy my time and adding to my experiences and memories. The journey home will happen when it happens and I’m not going to dwell on it now.

I thought of going to the local Wildlife Sanctuary, but then read that the entry pass lasts for five days so I’m probably best going on Monday to get full use out of it. I won’t go back every day but it’s nice to have the option.

I took the triple into town, making use of the free motorcycle parking by the marina. I’ve yet to see anywhere that charges for parking and yet the local  council is solvent, everywhere looks clean and cared for, the roads are well surfaced, there are weekly general waste collections, and the high street doesn’t have half its shop units empty. Just saying.

The day wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Mowbray Bridge, and for the second day in a row I was rewarded with crocodiles. There were two at a distance with their snouts just breaking the surface occasionally, but nearer to us was one sunning itself half out of the water, which then turned towards us to have its picture taken from another angle. Someone said it was a female. His eyesight is obviously better than mine, even when I was passed a pair of binoculars for a closer look.

Eventually she got camera shy, disappeared below the surface and presumably swam off for a bit of privacy. There are some pictures below, taken at a distance. There was a girl using a drone and she got some great pictures, but her flying skills are far better than mine ever were, and if I crashed one into the water I wouldn’t be going in for it!

Later on we went over to neighbours Deb and Charles for drinks and nibbles. Michelle also joined us and it was a good couple of hours. A Skippy burger (there’s a link provided for younger readers) for tea later and that was us done. Yes, I’m the man eating kangaroo in the title of this post! What were you expecting?

On Thursday morning I nipped into town again, this time to pick up what I needed to make green chicken curry later. After that I fuelled the triple up then set off for Mount Molloy.

Once again I attached the camera to the bike , this time taking video of the ride up the range, the part of the Mossman Mount Molloy road that just seems to be never-ending bends as it rises through the rainforest to Julatten. I took some more footage of the ride back later, but so far have been unable to upload any video so there’s just a selection of photos below taken from it.

If you’ve seen a previous post, you’ll know that to look at the Mount Molloy Hotel wouldn’t be out of place on a wild-west set, so when someone started playing a country music track it didn’t seem out of place. It also didn’t last long!

There were only a few customers there. Mainly regulars by the look of it, content to sit with a smoke and a drink and watch the world go by. It’s cooler there than down by the coast, so I sat outside with my drink waiting for my food and just enjoyed the peace and quiet. At one point I had to think what day it was, but somehow it didn’t seem to matter.

Then my bacon and egg burger arrived. It had the look (and taste) of a premium burger but with a budget price tag. Rampant inflation and unrealistic pay demands obviously haven’t reached the two hundred and fifty or so people who live here yet, and it’s great that places like this still exist.

Back home for a dip in the pool. I saw Conor for a while before he went to work at Salsa for the evening, and later Kerry and I managed a walk along the beach before tea as the wind had dropped and the tide receded. It seemed a lot of other people were glad to have the sand back as well.

I’ve yet to see an Australian chicken, but if their breasts are anything to go by they must be on a different diet to ours, or workout a lot! I used three breasts when cooking rather than the four the recipe called for and there was still enough for an extra portion. There’s no need to buy ready meals here – you’re already automatically batch cooking and loading the freezer.

After tea a long cold drink was called for so the gin came out. Good job really, as a couple more converts to Monkey Shoulder meant the whisky was history. Just as well we’ll be in Cairns on Saturday.

And that’s me now starting the second half of my holiday. And looking forward to what’s still to come.

Pictures show croc in the Mowbray River, a cold one, kangaroo burger and me enjoying one, part of the route up the range, Mount Molloy Hotel and refreshments, scenic rainforest roadworks, riding back at sea level, a way on to to Fourmile Beach.