July 2018, Elliott Heads, Qld

On our way south we meet up with Woody’s brother, Woody the Elder and his missus, the Really Good Golfer and their surprise visitors Woody the Elder’s old mates Macca and Maria. Life on the road is like that, you plan meet ups with folks and then others drop in or just like the look of you and suddenly there’s a happy herd. Anyway, camping with Macca is what I would call a rare experience and like a good steak, best not overdone.

We’re sitting outside enjoying a warm and pleasant happy hour when Macca regales us with how they spend their annual three month break on the Bellarine Peninsula where every week they do the rounds of the garage sales picking up bargains …and all the things that they didn’t know that they needed (a bit like shopping at Aldi). Says Macca “The oldies are dying and their kids are just busting to get rid of their shit.”

This Bundaberg region is renowned for its strawberries so we drive over to Bargara for an afternoon tea of strawberry pancakes and big bowls of strawberries and cream. Though, I might add the staff were a little confused when I requested just plain strawberries and someone had to ask the manager if serving a bowl of strawberries without cream was possible. The cream issue sorted we place our orders and the recently health conscious Macca (he used to be a big bloke) chomps his way  through a plate of strawberry pancakes but I guess that he didn’t want to put the staff to any trouble.

Next day Maria has goes down with the flu and Macca is hanging around the camp looking for someone to feed him. Yep, he’s one of those blokes who hasn’t found the kitchen yet. Anyway, Macca is threatening to put Maria on a plane and send her home to Melbourne if she doesn’t recover.

And thus all ended well. Maria recovered without flying south, Macca didn’t die of starvation and the rest of us? Well we packed up to amble quietly south.