I was right! We were up and on the road by 8:45am. That’s pretty good for us.

Caleb really surprised us by flying through his schoolwork and doing really well with it all. He even wrote about his new attitude and how we were really impressed with him. He attributes it to his sleep last night. Normally he sleeps on the double bed where Aaron used to, but last night he changed back to the top bunk. He is preparing for our visitors who arrive in a week or so, and getting used to the bunk again. How sweet! Whatever the reason, it put him in a fabulous mood! 

It was a long drive, and morning tea was at Sarina, near Mackay. We pulled into a park, made our coffee and gathered our snacks. Caleb ran off to play on the equipment and we were approached by a friendly older lady. She pointed to the picnic shed where there were about 30 other older people enjoying morning tea. She told us that the Chaplaincy in the areas got together to organise a Tuesday morning tea in the park every week. Anyone could come and she invited us to bring our coffee and enjoy some of their homemade cakes. Now, there is nothing Ray enjoys more than chatting and throw in some homemade delicacies and he is in his element. He finds older people particularly good for conversations and my theory is that they have plenty of time to listen to his extensive monologue and he can always get a laugh out of them. He charms the ladies in a roguish way and impresses the men with his diverse knowledge. I knew there was no chance this would be a quick stop. After Ray and Caleb had each had 3 homemade lamingtons, and we had swapped a few travel stories, we thought we had better be on our way. We tooted the horn as we left and received and invitation back the next time we were in town. 

It was a long trip but finally we arrived in Proserpine. We are staying 25km out of town near Lake Proserpine, at a school camp site that is hired out when school and community groups aren’t using it. It reminds me of Camp Coonawarra in Victoria. It has a challenge course and other activities which would be tremendous fun with a pile of kids. The camp is run by the Lions Club so it had touches of “Grandad Maintenance”. 
Mismatched tiles and paint just makes it more endearing, not to mention cheaper. We were surprised to discover that there were only 3 other campers there. All men with their fishing stuff and their boats. We both smiled widely. Ray, because that meant he had arrived at a known fishing spot, me because I would have the toilets and showers to myself. Score!
Apparently this place is booked solid in July when the Grey Nomads stay for the month or more. Luckily we are ahead of them. 
We explored the river, checking out possible fishing spots and then played on the initiatives course equipment together. We had a go at the beach volleyball, using the vortex instead of a volleyball. There is plenty here to do so we are looking forward to some real bush downtime. Hopefully the rain will remain as light showers and the bursts of sun between the showers will mean things will remain relatively dry.
We will stay here a week and then move closer to Airlie Beach just before our guests arrive.