Rashes, Ramblings & Reflections

After Phil posting another one of what I call his ‘weird and wonderful’ postings yesterday I thought today I’d better come up with something normal. Actually it will probably turn more mundane than normal because of the weather; we haven’t really been up to much. The last few days have brought nothing much, other than dull grey skies and heavy, fast downpours of rain. They don’t last for long but boy, when they come, you almost don’t know what’s hit you. Still, it’s not altogether surprising, we are in the tropics in Townsville and it is, after all, the wet season.

Graham came round on Monday morning to let some of the water out of the pool because it was near to overflowing. The pool water is slightly salted and would kill off the grass if it over-spilled, can’t say it would do much for the decking area either. Phil watched him carry out the procedure and hopefully he will know what to do if we have more rain. Graham is a great guy; he retired once and then went back to work to help them out for a couple of days a week. Amazingly, he’s been with the same company for 51 years! Both Jean and Graham, Denise’s mum and dad are a lovely couple and have been very helpful since we arrived last week. Jean is an immaculate lady, hardly any lines on her face, obviously very good gene’s that she’s passed on to her 3 daughters.

Rainy days have given me time to glance over Phil’s many blog entries. Of course, I’ve skimmed them in hotels and motels along the way but haven’t had much time to read them properly. He’s done a great job managing a post nearly every day of our trip (aside from the weekend on the Derwent Hunter) but I do wonder if it comes across that all we do in Australia is eat, drink and complain about the weather! It’s true to say, we do spend vast amounts of our time eating and drinking but hopefully this blog gives visitors a few laughs along the way and portrays a fairly unserious glimpse of Australia. The feedback that we get in personal emails is encouraging so we must be doing something right. As to the complaining side, well we don’t mean to; during this trip we’ve had a few lows but mostly they’ve been far outweighed by the highs and as for the weather, well, that’s just an English thing!

On Monday afternoon we went to Reading Cinema in Cannon Park near the Willows Shopping Centre. We had really meant to go to the local cinema that Graham told us about but we were way out with our timings so ended up at the other cinema. We decided to see ‘It’s Complicated’ which wasn’t a bad choice; the film was light hearted with a fairly obvious plot but still good entertainment. I forgot to mention that Phil woke up covered in a nasty itchy rash in the morning and he scratched himself constantly in the cinema. I suggested we stop off at the pharmacy for anti histamine tables and some cream but he drove right past the shops instead. When we got back home Phil cooked a chilli con carne, some rice and put some shop brought garlic bread in the oven. The chilli was the usual ‘Phil hot pants on fire’ heat that is common in our house but still it was nice and we washed it down with a good bottle of Pinot Noir. A quiet evening spent watching a DVD in which Phil promptly fell asleep in the chair as soon as it began.

Phil always is complaining about some kind of ailment on a daily basis so I tend to ignore him most of the time but ‘The Rash’ on Tuesday was worse than the day before and Phil had to stay under the air con unit to get some light relief. Unfortunately because it was Australian Day we couldn’t go to the Pharmacy to get medication because they were all shut. I suspect it’s just a heat rash or maybe a slight allergic reaction to something but Phil of course, thinks he has contracted Dengue Fever! Men!


Being stuck indoors has given me much time for reflection and thoughts wonder back to home as they often do from time to time. Phil had an email from Jim to say he’d phoned the hospital and they said that Daphne was sitting up in her bed and was asking for Jim to come in and see her as she wanted some things from home and had a few jobs for him to do! This made us both smile as it sounds just like Daphne and so she must be on the road to recovery. We hope that she’s comfortable in hospital and able to come home soon.

I also picked up a couple of emails from friends back at home, one email in particular which was good news and made me feel really happy. It’s always good to keep up with other people’s news when you’re so far away from home but nothing really can beat face-to-face contact. I phoned Harriet quickly on SKYPE yesterday morning as she’d just returned from spending a weekend in Jersey with her cousin, Jessica. She told me that’d been out on the lash on Friday evening and had spent the entire day after, lying in bed watching DVD’s. These young girls just can’t take the pace! I’m not sure if Harriet saw any of the sights of Jersey bar the pubs and the clubs but thank you to Aunt Jemma and Jessica, who was poorly last week, for hosting her. I see that Harriet has updated her Face book this morning so I’ve copied a photo taken in Jersey that she’s just posted.

We don’t normally use this travel blog to plug stuff but I would like to highlight Vanessa’s very worthy plight to raise funds for Willen Hospice. In August this year she will be doing a 10 day trek on the Andean Lares Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru. This trek will take great fitness and will be a real challenge to Vanessa who has never done anything like it before. She needs to raise £4,000 and if she doesn’t meet her target she will have to fund her own flight and expenses which she is more than willing to do but it would be great if she could get this by kind donations. Phil & I both have friends that have been in Willen Hospice so it is a charity that we wholeheartedly support. So come on friends & family in MK, if you haven’t already given, click on this link and donate http://www.justgiving.com/Vanessa-Ford/ Every donation however little will help. Vanessa has started a blog recording her training progress which you may also be interested in reading http://thefordfamilyjournal.blogspot.com/.

Yesterday (Australia Day) was a quiet one; Phil laid on the sofa with his rash cooling by the air-con whilst I changed the bed and caught up with washing & ironing and general domestics. It was chilli again for lunch and in the afternoon we went to see ‘Mad Dogs’ at the Warrina Complex cinema in Currajong. Again, a light hearted film but very funny and we liked the quaint little cinema which reminded us of how cinemas used to be back in the old days at home. I am ashamed to say that I haven’t yet tried G & D’s cross trainer but this morning I am off to have a full head of mesh hi-lo-lights and a cut and finish. I hate going to the hairdresser’s and going to a new one has brought me out in a cold sweat. But needs must and I can’t carry on being seen in public looking this way for any longer. I’ll let you know later how I turn out. Wish me luck!