Day 261. Mission Beach

The Good, the bad, and the down right ugly....

The Good. Today we finally woke to blue skies and no wind. This is the weather we have been waiting for! Today was such a beautiful day that we decided that we should try to enjoy it, so we spent most of the day lazing around the pool.... again!

After breakfast, Sarah, Lucy and Isabelle came to get Scarlett to go to the pool. It was great watching Scarlett play with three little girls around her own age, as they had such a great time. We took turns during the day watching them, as Scarlett has so much energy that she never stops, and I think we would find it exhausting if neither of us 'tagged' one another to get a break. She's just so full on!

Before we knew it, it was lunchtime and Bec brought over sausage sanga's to the pool so we didn't have to drag Scarlett away. It was wonderful just sitting around, enjoying a bite to eat and a cool refreshing drink under clear blue skies again.

Tully Sugar Mill

What big golden boots you have Bec!

At just after 1pm (which meant over 4 hours in the pool for Scarlett), we went for a leisurely drive over to Tully to check out the town and have a look at the Tully river. As we were driving into Tully township itself, we couldn't help but notice the 7.9 metre tall golden gumboot standing on the corner of  a local park. Further investigation showed us that the height of the gum boot indicates the amount of rain that fell in Tully in 1950; which still stands as an Australian record.  Tully is known as the place with the highest rainfall in Australia, with an average annual rainfall of 4.17 metres! I can certainly believe it, if going by the amount of rain we have experienced up here so far is any indication.

Bananas....

.... and more Bananas

Crossing the mighty Tully river

We then wanted to drive out to the Tully Gorge to have a look around, but soon discovered that the gorge was still another 47kms out of town. We started to drive out, and soon found ourselves in a sea of bananas. There were banana plantations for as far as the eye could see, and Scarlett couldn't understand why someone would want to grow so many bananas. :-) We ended up travelling about 35kms out of Tully, when we found a great lookout to see the river from. We noticed that Scarlett was tired and falling asleep in the car, so we decided this was far enough and grabbed a number photos before heading back to Mission Beach - approx 75kms away.

Tully River

A young Cassowary walking the tree line near Mission Beach

We had a rewarding experience on the way back into Mission Beach, as Bec spotted a young Cassowary coming out of the rainforest and walking along the roadside. We stopped to take some photos and were surprised to find it wasn't worried about us at all, just continuing on its merry way. Scarlett was stoked that she got the chance to see another 'wild' Cassowary; and this is the first  for Bec, as she didn't see the ones that Scarlett and I saw back at Etty Bay.

We returned to the caravan park and Bec and Scarlett went to visit Sarah, Lucy and Isabelle; as they had a date with some cup cakes. Bec had made some fresh cup cakes earlier in the day, and had organised with all the girls a cake decorating class. The girls had so much fun decorating and eating, and didn't want it to end.

Did someone say 'Cup Cakes?'

It was then another quick dip in the pool before dinner back up at the camp kitchen where we enjoyed a meal of gourmet sausages and veg on the BBQ. After dinner, Bec took all the girls back to our van to watch a movie inside, while us adults enjoyed drinks and nibbles outside.

The bad. Just before dinner I received an email from QBE Insurance informing us that our claim (that we were disputing)  lodged earlier in the year had been finalised. Unfortunately for us, they have decided to decline AGAIN! So now we find ourselves without a whole house hold full of furniture and belongings. To say we are devastated is an understatement! Bec took it pretty hard, and I must admit that I'm tiring of getting kicked in the guts all the time. I'm not saying that I'm not going to fight, as this is starting to become a regular occurance, but it is getting very disheartening. All we seem to be doing is hitting brick wall after brick wall, and all we want is a break! Sometimes it feels like life just isn't very fair.

The down right Ugly.... is that an Australian company can treat its customers so cruelly! As Bec keeps saying: QUOTE "QBE Insurance are Un-Australian arseholes, anyone with insurance with QBE needs to know it's not worth the paper it's written on. We had their flood cover and after losing everything in the Brisbane floods they said 'sorry wrong type of flood', so we don't get a cent. Good bye $80,000 worth of belongings. Now I know why no-one has insurance these days...." UNQUOTE.

Now thats just our opinion mind you....

posted by Shane