Did We Forget You? Never! Not on your Nelly, Sunshine

The Thank You List has been updated. If you helped out and want to see your name in type, then this is the place to go and have a butchers. It's a small tribute to some large hearted individuals. This is really the least we could do for you all. Magic. Read a cheeky bit more!

Deeral

The torture boarding gang with Rick and Yvette
Deeral is a small town just south of Cairns on the banks of the mulgrave river,we were heading up this way to meet Rick Terkelson who had offered us some work on a boat he was building. We met Rick through Kerry who we had met through Carol Curtis.

On our way up up to Deeral from Ingham we ran out of fuel and had to canvas all the local businesses in Tully for any help they could give us with fuel. We managed to get $20 worth of fuel donated and Mobil Tully donated a further $10, this was enough to get us to Deeral and after a quick swim at the boulders in Babinda we arrived in Deeral just in time for tea.

We were to wait a few days for a friend of Rick’s called Michael to arrive so after Rick had filled up our tank we headed to Walkamin for another job wwoofing. Our job with Rick would be to sand down the resin that Michael would be applying to the fibreglass hull. This process is known as torture boarding and it would soon become apparent to us why. A torture board is a long piece of plywood with handles on the back and sandpaper on the front. The board can be custom made to different lengths depending on the requirements of the job. We had a couple of smaller boards that could be operated solo and a longer 8ft board that needed two people. This longer board gives a more uniform finish and helps detect any imperfections or depressions in the finish. The moving of the different torture boards back and forth and round and round became a major part of our routine for the next week. Reflections in the crystal clear water
This process also created clouds of resin that managed to work its way into every orifice and cover every inch of bare skin. This had to be blown off as brushing or rubbing it would just form a paste with the sweat. To stop the dust getting in our eyes we would wear goggles and to stop it getting in our lungs we attempted to wear face masks. These however just made our goggles steam up so we had to do away with them and just hold our breaths. Using this method we torture boarded layer after layer of resin away in an attempt to create a smooth finish on both hulls of the catamaran.


Michael helps with bogging the boat
At night we were rewarded with fantastic food and as much wine as we could drink an offer that we all gratefully received, nobody more than Michael. Michael had been helping Rick on and off with his boat for a while now and made it up to Deeral whenever he had time. In his forties, Michael owns a nightclub back home in Germany and in his spare time enjoys prospecting for gold. He told us many a night of his plans to build his own boat and sail to Papua New Guinea to make his fortune in gold.
Phil eats fresh coconut from the garden
Anne had her first injury at Deeral with a flowering plant called Bouganvilea. The wildly sprouting soft looking branches arched over the overgrown grass surrounding the neighbour's property. Thinking it to be harmless enough, in an attempt to mow down the long grass under the branches, Anne drove the mower through the purple flowers. She explained to us, as she asked us to pick the deep thorns out of her arms, that in an instant her top had been ripped off her, the mower had driven into a drain and the sharp branches had clawed gashes through her boobs. Half a bottle of detol later she had manged to remove the evil flower from her skin and had regained composure after her embarrasing ordeal with one of Australia's flowers. Even the shubberies are deadly around here.
Our week in Deeral saw us earn a sizable donation to Book Aid as well as providing us with as much fuel as we could carry. Rick and Yvette had been wonderful people to stay with, and the opportunity to stay in one place for a week was very welcome, giving us the opportunity to experience the Tropics a little more closely.

With the Wet season soon approaching, little smatterings of rain had been falling and while never for very long, they nevertheless embolden the vegetation, encouraging it to grow, and this it does very quickly, giving a lush, multi-green hued vista. The sounds too, are incredible, especially at night, when everything wakes up and starts moving around. With their house beside the Mulgrave River, Rick and Yvette’s was a perfect location to acclimatise to Tropical life.
The gorgeous lush tropical lands of Northern Queensland
The synchronised croaking of the green tree frogs (every toilet bowl has one) is fascinating as first one, then another, then more, and before you know it many of them chime in and it the frog chorus. The cicadas can be deafening at times, their continual rhythmic drone all of a sudden erupting as if on command, and ending just as suddenly, leaving an audible hollow where all the noise used to be. The bird song is more intermittent but no less enchanting as they make a variety of whooping, cackling, popping, screeching calls, the butcher birds in particular sing all the time, their melody a duet as they call out to one another, answer, call again, and on they go. The flies, less welcome and always the herald of exclamatory cursing, buzz and land, buzz and land, the march flies being the worse of the lot; the possums fight and chase one another, a cacophonous racket on corrugated iron roof, the scrub turkeys burrow and roam about pretty absent mindedly rooting aound dead leaves. Crocodiles are heard around river banks at night, charging into the water after some unsuspecting creature (at least, that’s what we think, it may be a log falling, but, you never know. It’s the croc you don’t see that’ll kill ya, as people keep telling us). In the evenings we would even head down to Rick's pontoon for a spot of fishing on the Mulgrave River. Being full of Mangrove Jacks and Barramundi, we often ventured down with much hope of success but in the event caught nothing but tree branches and mooring ropes.
Gareth laughs with the small but handsome Rick
It was here that we first heard a banjo playing in the distance and Anne following the sweet tune up the road found an underpant wearing scouser called John picking away on his porch. Surrounded by cane toads and swarms of flies we learnt that a long time ago John had success in a UK band called The Cryin Shames and was briefly in the charts.
Phil talks to Rick as he sands down the resin

We stayed in Deeral for over a week and had a fantastic time. Thank you to Rick and Yvette for opening their home to us, for feeding us lots of fantastic tasting and healthy food and for all the wine. We miss you both and will never forget being woken up at 6.30 with enthusiam every morning to the sound of that awful music.
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Welsh Rarebits on Fitzroy Island

It only took a couple of hours to drive from Walkamin to Cairns where we were to meet a man called Kerry who had been introduced to us by a previous host Carol Curtis. He and Carol had known each other a long time and he had kindly agreed to take us to Fitzroy Island early the following day on his Catamaran. Welsh rare bits! Ouch!

We arrived early evening to a hearty meal of bangers and spuds and after dinner were shown a seemingly never ending series of short and apparently amusing email video clips from Kerrys upsettingly vast collection.
Phil tries to teach a frustrated Gareth how to do a bowline knot You'll get it in the end Gareth
Up early the next morning we were down at the marina by seven thirty to meet Deb and her daughter Billie Jean who were also coming along. As part of a programme run by the yacht club Kerry takes people out most weeks to Islands dotted around Cairns.
We were on board and motoring down the Trinity inlet by eight, the decision had been taken to motor there and sail back due to the wind direction.
With little to do but lie back and enjoy our day off we headed for the front of the boat and assumed a reclined position. In flagrant defiance of his strawberry blonde complexion Gareth even hitched his shorts up to expose his prime quality Welsh thighs a decision he would soon regret. For three hours we watched the coast go by as we glided through the crystal water, the sea breeze masking the smell of Gareths right thigh cooking in the midday sun.
Kerry and Deb on the catamaran Paladin
We arrived at the Island just in time for lunch and it wasn’t till we all sat down to eat that Deb noticed the offending leg. With a shrug of his pink shoulders and a proclamation of his well being Gareth tucked into his sandwich, everybody else following suit. After lunch we took the dinghy over to the Island to explore. Anne and Phil chill out on the trampolines
Fitzroy Island is located approximately 35 kilometres (18 nautical miles) south east of Cairns and forms part of the traditional lands of the Gurabara Gungandy people. This aboriginal tribe still has descendents living in the local region (Cairns and Yarrabah). Fitzroy was once part of the mainland so the rocks are the same as found on the mainland (ie, granite). Most of the island's water comes from a natural freshwater spring originating in the Tablelands near Mareeba, and surfacing in the National Park bush.
Here is the police boat named "Ivan Brodie" in memory of an officer in Queensland Police Service.
Captain Cook named Fitzroy Island in 1770 in honour of the duke of Grafton, Prime minister of England at the time whose surname was Fitzroy. It is one of 600 Continental or High islands on the Great Barrier Reef. It is located on the inner barrier of the central region of the Great Barrier Reef, and is part of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. The reef surrounding Fitzroy is known as a fringing reef and is teaming with marine life. Phil reels in the anchor


We had an hour ashore before we were due back so we walked through part of the National Park that covers most of the Island to Nudey Beach. The Island has a dense population of Skinks, a type of lizard with really short legs that moves more like a snake. We saw plenty of these along the way of various size and colour, these animals when caught can shed their tails in an attempt to avoid capture. The lovely Billy Jean hides from the fierce sun
Disappointed at the lack of nudists but not the beaches beauty we headed back as it had been made clear that morning that Kerry wouldn’t tolerate any tardiness.

Back aboard we lifted the anchor and once out of the sheltered bay and in to the wind hoisted the sail. It is a very liberating feeling to be at the mercy of the wind with no artificial power to propel you and a strange sensation to be moving so quickly and silently. On the return journey Kerry tried teaching us how to tie a Bowline knot and once we had managed this he had us attempting it with our eyes closed and behind our backs. Ohhh sailor
Fitzroy island is covered in skinks
Back in Cairns Gareth applied liberal amounts of Aloe Vera cream to his legs and we met Kerry's family who had been away the previous night. We sat down to a well earned dinner after a hard days relaxing at sea. In spite of what people might think it is very rare that we have any time to ourselves on this trip and for this we are very grateful to Kerry.

We meet some ladies who are rowing to raise awareness of breast cancer
The next day Deb had arranged for us to do some weeding for her and we got a few extra dollars for our cause. Next, off to Deral to see Kerry's friends Rick and Yvette. Read a cheeky bit more!

Yungaburra Festival

Whilst staying with Erwin at his succulent nursery in Walkamin we visited the Yungaburra Folk Festival.
The first folk festival on the Atherton Tablelands was held not far away in Herberton in 1981 but then moved to Yungaburra the following year where it has been held ever since. Organised by local folk clubs for the first eleven years, it is now run by a committee of Tablelanders. The festival celebrates world-wide folk traditions through music, storytelling, circus, dance, and crafts, and features musicians, dancers, circus and fire artists, comedians and festival performers.
Women and children make hats out of palm fronds
We established comms with festival organiser Chenny Cockburn who waived the usual fee and allowed us to set up a stall for free in the market area.
Here we tried to get peoples attention - displaying information about the charity and what we were trying to achieve on the trip. We also offered items of clothing and books that had been donated to us along the way in exchange for small donations to the charity. Erwin on his cacti market stall People enjoying the festival under the amazing purple flowering trees
The night turned out to be quite cold and we waited till most people had left before packing up and leaving. We returned the next day to visit the main weekly market and set the stall up again for a few hours at the festival.

Our stall at the festival
The weekend was a success and we managed to raise a few hundred dollars, together with the money we earned on the nursery, for Bookaid.
Thank you to the committee for granting us a free position and to Erwin for lending us the display equipment. Thank you also to those who donated food to us!
This amazing lady in pink was collecting for breast cancer on her trike. Well done!
We also visited the giant curtained fig tree.
This world famous fig tree is of the species Ficus virens, it is a strangler fig tree with its curtain of aerial roots dropping 15 metres (49 feet) to the ground.



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