Aug 2022, Mulambin, Qld

Woody walks to Cooee Bay to buy a loaf of bread. That’s a 12m walk. I pick him up from there. I never tire of driving along this coast. In the early morning, each bay vista is so different and sparkling and blue.

At last, we’re seeing spaces in the park. The southbound evacuation has begun. Some need to be home for Father’s Day, the opening of the bowls season, or the footy finals.

This afternoon I walk Ritamada beach. As I wander up the beach engrossed in the flotsam, I glance up to see the bare bum cheeks of a septuagenarian gent in a G string. Phew, the dead seaweed is much more attractive. After walking half of this beach a few days ago I’m determined to see more (by more I don’t mean bare bum cheeks). I walk to the northernmost point where there’s an outdoor campus of Rockhampton Grammar. I later learn that one of their first students, solicitor Robert Gambling Brown built a grand home here in Tanby Point in 1901. His family donated the 80 acre property to the school 50 years ago.

The computer is on a go slow and blogging is painful. Woody buys bread and chocolate twists from Baked on 44 and picks up a pineapple. We’ve been chowing down pineapples since we’ve been here. The local variety is sweet and low in acid, and the farmers sell them from roadside stalls for a few dollars. For lunch, we have prawns and fresh bread. The prawns are a bargain only $16 from Drakes supermarket in Emu Park. Lunch is so delicious we decide on a repeat for dinner.

My doctor sends me a script by text so I drop into the pharmacy to have it filled. They suggest a 20 minute wait so I head to the beach for a walk while I wait. I return 2 hours later to be told that mine is next to be done…and wait another…20 minutes! We must be on ‘island time’.