Sunday, 4th March 2018
Woke up to a bright sunny day – great for a leisure day to potter around the campsite – some swimming in the ocean and in the swimming pool, prepare some breakfast, reading, writing up my blog but not being able to post anything due to the slow WIFI, then lunch and some dinner and then bed.
Well that’s the summary of the whole day but there was more that happened on this leisurely Sunday!
I woke up early enough to watch the beautiful skies as the sun rose. Such a wonderful experience!
Swimming in the partitioned ocean was much better than yesterday as the tide was high, however the sea is still a murky colour due to the previous heavy rains and rain water running down into the sea carrying earth, twigs and leaves. But for sure, we were protected from the stingers.
Back at the park, there was some commotion – a Cassowary was strolling around the park, picking at berries and just doing its own thing. The park keeper told us not to get in front of the bird’s as she could easily attack – and she does have massive feet with 3 claws! Anyway as long as we kept on to the side, we were able to take pictures of her – the park keeper told us that she was some 35 years old and there is also a male with two chicks roaming around as well but we didn’t get to see him. These prehistoric birds, which cannot fly, have survived millions of years, however recently due to heavy cyclones, quite a bit of the rain forest was ripped up leaving the Cassowaries and their eggs vulnerable – the wild pigs ate the eggs and the Cassowaries did not have any food as there were no berries from the trees. We were told that the younger generation of the Cassowaries is friendlier towards humans as they were hand fed but the older ones like this lady strutting around our camp could be quite aggressive.
After all that commotion, I went back to reading my book just before lunch. As we had done our grocery shopping the day before, we had fresh salad and I had in mind to prepare a Salade Niciose for the evening so had to boil potatoes, eggs and green beans to let them cold. So we moved all of our stuff to the camp kitchen and Gerry was a great help in cutting up the vegetables! In the meantime, I prepared some healthy toasted sandwiches and coffee for our lunch. We left our vegetables ready for the evening meal in the fridge and as there were hardly any guests, we knew that it would be safe and no one else would be eating it up……….
As I was walking back to the camper van, I cam across the park keeper who was cutting down excessive leaves around one of the cabins and he asked me whether I would like to see a native green frog – I was a bit hesitant as the other night we had seen a massive toad near our camper and it frightened the life out of me when it jumped close to me……….. So the park keeper rummaged between the leaves and yes – there was the most beautiful green frog that I had ever seen – a beautiful luminous green colour, not at all slimy and with little suction pads under its toes. He picked it up and asked me whether I would like to hold it – by that time Gerry was also around with his camera – anyway the frog jumped out of my hand onto my arm and made its way to my back – it was a strange sensation feeling those little suction pads on my body!! I didn’t know whether I liked it or not………But he was the most beautiful frog I’ve ever seen and if, as the fairytale goes, the princess had to kiss the frog to turn into a prince, I would have done it straight away!!!!
Well it was time for siesta – and to continue reading my book – I’m so into this book which is about the early settlers – The Dream Seekers – and the how this group of German Lutheran settlers try to get through all the hardships they had when arriving in their “promised land”.
After siesta, we had a dip in the campsite pool and here we met the same people as the day before but this time they had a couple with them (both senior citizens) and when the guy heard us talking in Dutch, he asked us which part of Holland we came from in very good but old fashioned Dutch!! He was an 80 year old man coming from Schiedam and came to Australia with his family when he was 12 years old and only 2 years ago, he had gone back to the Netherlands for the first time!! Well with Gerry being born in Rotterdam, these two men were like two old ladies in the pool chatting away and giving each other loads of information about the area where they had spent their childhood. Then this guy tells Gerry that he had lost a very good friend of his 2 years ago and he came from Malta and guess what his name was? – Joe Spiteri! Of course there are loads of Maltese here in Australia and everyone speaks highly of them – hardworking!!!
It was now late afternoon so after having a shower and getting dressed, we prepared our Salade Niciose, which we enjoyed with a good glass of Sauvignon Blanc.
Back to my book – haven’t finished yet – and trying to keep up with my blog and then program Miss Serena to take us to Cairns tomorrow!
