KURRIMINE BEACH (12 - 15 AUGUST)

All good things must eventually come to an end, or at least that was the way we felt about our immanent departure from Kurrimine Beach.  Not only had we made some great mates in this park, we had a couple of excellent evenings entertainment as a bonus.

Believe it or not, this chap who sang and played for two hours in the camp kitchen (for a gold coin donation!) had previously played for six years with Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs.  He also did a lot of studio work with Col Joye in his heyday.  Even shared the secret of the 'drums' in the background of one of Joye's hits....it was him bashing on an old typewriter!  Not the best voice we have ever heard, but great fun (and we knew all the words!)

At the risk of appearing like a couple of senior headbangers, we toddled off the following evening to the nearby King Reef Hotel where, for the extraordinarily cheap price of $25 per head, we munched our way through a huge buffet and then sat for the next three hours listening to the Shotgun Boogie Showband.

Now I have to concede this is a name which could evoke a number of thoughts, none of which would be particularly positive, but I have to say we were completely blown away by the professionalism of these guys.  In addition to their 'straight' presentations, each member of the group could imitate a well know country singer and so, in the course of the evening, we listened to Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Christoffeson and Willy Nelson, and, as a group, The Highwaymen.

 

Here you can see the guys in character, and I can tell you, whilst each was good, the chap nearest the camera who took off Willy Nelson, was eerily accurate.  He had the advantage of being Canadian to start with, but his imitation of the Nelson nasal twang was quite uncanny.  Apart from that he played a mere five instruments (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, electric mandolin, fiddle  and banjo).  And it gets better...he only had three fingers on his left hand!!   (try and picture the speed at which they were working when he played the lead fiddle in the violin instrumental  'Orange Blossom Special').  The other two also played a number of instruments and could more than hold their own vocally, but our Canadian friend was the standout.  We had a great night.

And I finally got to do some serious fishing.  For the last two weeks of our stay, our neighbours were a Queensland couple who had sold up their cane farm and had been itinerants up and down this part of the coast for a number of years.  Indeed, Ron had spent quite some time in the park immediately following Yasi helping with the clean up.  Most mornings he would take his boat out at about 7.00 am with various park residents.  In return for our forbearance in respect of the noise, our table was often graced with massive fillets of Spanish and Spotted Mackerel (notwithstanding my potestations that we were not the least concerned about the noise).  I was all set for my turn when that wretch of bad luck 'Murphy' struck. As I was bending to tie my shoelaces two days prior to launch...bang went my dickey spinal disc  Thank goodness we were staying for the next week.  I finally went to sea with results you can see.  A number of more than acceptable 'spaniards', some 'doggies' (spotted macks) and over two dozen pan-sized golden travelley.  Now the freezer was indeed full.

 

Who's a very happy boy then?  (and don't let anyone tell you that holding up fish this big is not hard work..especially after two shoulder reconstructions!)

 

Of course, after the fun comes the work, but what a labour of love this was.  That's Ron in the boat, whilst my fellow filleting mate, John Consedine, was no slouch with the rod or the knife..believe it or not he actually used to fish with Rex Hunt on his fishing show many years ago. (and he was a great bloke to boot!)  We have a standing invitation to visit him and his lovely wife Bev in their home town of Warnambool at any time.

Whilst ours had not been the best catch of the week,  we really had oodles to share with fellow residents at a mackerel BBQ that evening in the camp kitchen.  This was our penultimate night at Kurrimine Beach.  What a great way to farewell a spot to which we shall undoubtedly return.  I was just a tad hurt, however, when Liz was less than enthusiastic about my suggestion that I would dress the grilled fish with my special lemon butter sauce with pears and chives.  "What's wrong with ordinary lemon?", sent a pretty clear message.

 

I have mentioned Yasi and its aftermath on several occasions previously.  Kurrimine Beach itself, like most in the area, still bears the scars.  Whilst a significant number of the coastal palm trees did not survive and lie like stranded whales on the beach,

 

 

many did survive the wind's fury, but only just.  We were amazed to see how these two, for example, had begun the process of regrowth after obviously being almost totally uprooted.

 

More on the effects of Yasi later, but for now we are again on the move, this time a mere 90 kms south to the town of Cardwell from where we intend to explore further south to Ingham and back before pushing on to Bowen and beyond.







But just before we go, I know some of you are just itching to know what adventures have been befalling the ship's cat.

Max loved Kurrimine Beach.  The fence line at the back of our van was 'skink central'.  Luckily for the Kurrimine Beach wildlife Max is a total duffer when it comes to hunting, but he does love to try.  As you can see, he is having a much better time than Liz!

The great advantage of all this effort is that the usually unrequited 'Black Panther' (as the girls at Winton called him) then 'retires hurt' for the day and leaves us in peace,












unless of course, he is in travel mode, when he leaves no-one within earshot in any doubt as to his displeasure.  Having said that, in all fairness, I must concede that our little travelling companion is adapting to life on the road with much less fuss than was the case in the first few weeks.  He generally falls asleep within five to ten minutes of departure. (thankfully!!)