The Great Birthday Escape

Saturday 30 October and I woke to the sobering truth that I am now 61. My young husband, who STILL does not qualify for a senior's card, was recovered enough from his cold to be able to sit upright in the car, so we left Cairns, after being there for the best part of a month. Here I am, holding him up so a photo could be taken.

Actually, he was quite a lot better. It was a bit of a wrench to leave Marjory but I do think our visit did her good, she seemed happy by the time we left (or was it that she was happy we were leaving and she could have her house back?)

Thanks to everyone who remembered my birthday! Your calls and messages were appreciated more than you may realise.  I felt cared about! David gave me a bike light, and also a great book, Steve Biddulph's new one.  He knows I enjoy Biddulph's laconic writing style and his ideas about What Makes Blokes Tick.

This is Port Douglas. (aka Port Dogless). We had decided to head north out of Cairns after all, and so we struck out on the Captain Cook highway, heading for Cape Tribulation in the Daintree rainforest.  What better place to spend a few days recovering from the trials of a head cold? It also seemed an appropriately beautiful and worthy location to mark the end of our push northward up the eastern seaboard of this great big country. No Cape York for us, not this time anyway.  Too hot, and the cyclones, they are a-comin'.

As expected, there were no dogs. Still hoping to see one, we stopped at the Rex Lookout a bit further up the highway. But it turns out it was named, as they often are, after some Queensland local politician of the day.  He must have had some enemies, old Rex, because his name had been chiselled off. What we saw, apart from a splendid view of FNQ coastline, was a parasailor getting underway. This was the point of lift-off and a moment later he was gliding above our heads like an eagle on the updraught. Are you too old at 61 to take up parasailing?