Day 3 & 4

Watch out fish, here we come!North Arm Richmond River, Ballina, Australia

Australian Outback Spectacular - Yee Haw!
Could you help me with my camera?

Joe Bill & his Bride at Dangerous Palm Cove

Wednesday was a beautiful day in Ballina, so Murray & Joe Bill went to the sand bar on the river and got some yabbies to use as bait. Sandy & I sat on a bench and watched them for awhile, and timed it just right to witness Joe Bill pull in a small whiting fish. We then took a drive into the country, accompanied by my 85 years young Aunt, and had lunch at a delightful restaurant called Eltham Pantry. We then drove 1.5 hours north to have afternoon tea with my younger sister Loretta and her husband Peter who live on the Gold Coast. A late decision saw us getting tickets to attend the Australian Outback Spectacular (Aussie version of the Dixie Stampede) and we donned our ten gallon hats and took our seats in the arena. The background scenery of the Australian bush was beautiful, but then I am prejudiced of course. The horses put on a great display and the riders were very talented. I loved seeing the riders wearing their Drizabones and looking very much like our traditional stockmen and women.

After the show we drove up to Brisbane and checked into a motel which was only 15 minutes from the airport for our flight to Cairns this morning. As we drove into the grounds of our motel late at night, Joe Bill thought he was experiencing deja vu. The motel reminded him of Bates Motel in the movie Psycho, and he was a bit wary, but did not mention his concerns until this morning. Fortunately he had no complaints. Cairns was a very smooth 2.15 hr flight away and despite the recent cyclone and residual tropical depression, we were greeted by blue skies amid the threatening clouds. Our motel overlooking the ocean is spacious with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a kitchen & laundry. Our taxi driver recommended that we catch a bus to Palm Cove to enjoy the lovely beach. Well, none of us thought much of the beach for a start, but when the female lifeguards said it was a very dangerous beach due to deadly jellyfish, we were glad it was windy and spitting with rain and therefore we had not been tempted to go in for a swim! Joe Bill espied a pretty young Japanese lady and quickly came up with an excuse to chat with her - he thought he had a Japanese Nikon camera and went over to seek her assistance, but she pointed out it was a US Kodak camera! Oh dear, Joe Bill!! But yes, she was cute....