Well here we go again, another exemplary writing of the blog by author extraordinaire, Ray. 
I thought it appropriate to write today as I witnessed a truly amazing feat, a record in fact, of a caravan park event. 
We have stayed at almost 100 caravan parks on this trip and have seen some sterling efforts from drivers as they position their vans on their sites. 
In Alice Springs we were witness to a lady with a walkie talkie in hand, standing next to the open passenger window, talking into the walkie talkie as she guided her husband, reversing the van into their site. She even walked next to the car as it moved backwards! Alas though it still took 5 efforts of backing to get it right.
Then in NSW we saw a man lay a rope in an arc into his site so that he could follow it on the correct angle as he reversed in. Still took him 3 goes to get in. 
At Mossman we witnessed a older gent attempting the reversing a small single axle van for over 35 minutes and eventually pulling back out, doing a lap of the caravan park and then reversing again. 
These guys were all experts compared to this latest effort. The park we are staying in have mostly drive through sites, meaning you can drive straight through the site and your van will line up nicely next to the concrete pad. No reversing required. A couple arrived with their van and the driver jumped out and surveyed the approach to the site. A degree of difficulty was a tree and the neighbour’s washing line both approx. 2metres away on both sides. The driver drove in on a slight arc only to arrive on an angle at the concrete slab and also approx. 500 mm from it. He jumped out and made the decision, after a conference with his wife, that it was not good enough. Well I won’t bore you with the next 11 attempts, including almost jack knifing the car and van, but he eventually settled for a slight angle approx. 300 mm from the slab!! However the car was on a acute angle and he was unable to unhook the van. Onlookers to the rescue! The neighboring campers came to assist and this was after 45 minutes of agony and embarrassment. We left to head into town with 3 men jumping on the tow ball, shaking the car and tackling the un hitching of the acutely angled car. We returned 2 hours later and thankfully all was well. 
The record was set for the longest time taken to unhitch a caravan in a drive through site. 
As a footnote, when we arrived at the Karumba Caravan Park, I had to back the van through a gate to get to our site. The office sends a man to assist and after just one attempt I positioned the van perfectly next to the slab. The guy said to me ” can you follow me I’ve got seven to do today and I’ve never seen anyone get it in ONE like you just did”!!!!

Now on to our days activity. We decided to stay another night as almost everything is closed on Sundays in town and we still have a few sights to take in while we are here in Charters Towers. I paid for the extra night and also for a special dinner on offer from the local Rotary Club. There are 19 people staying here at the moment who are walking from Townsville to Darwin to raise funds for cancer research. Rotary put on the dinner, steak & sausage, salad and trifle dessert all for $10!! Too good to pass up I thought so I also donated another $10 for the cause. 
We then headed into town to check out the Charters Towers Show which is on for 3 days starting today with the best day being Tuesday, a public holiday here because of the show. There was plenty of horse jumping and dressage happening on the arena and also heaps of horse poo to dodge while we walked. The local schools had huge displays of the children’s work which took up a entire pavilion. Annette loved looking at the efforts from all the different grades from prep to year 7. I had to drag her away so that we could have a bit of lunch, Caleb a hotdog, me a beef and gravy roll and Annette an ice cream of course. Caleb had a shot of his first gun, an air rifle at the Shoot a Duck stand. unfortunately he didn’t win one the high quality prizes on offer. 
Caleb has been talking often of his desire to have a horse. This has come to light while he has been watching one of my favorite movies – “My Name Is Trinity”, a slapstick Western, but very funny. However, he doesn’t want to pat a horse because he’s a bit afraid so I said he will never get to ride one if he doesn’t pat one first. We headed over to the stalls where we found a huge chestnut horse and a smaller Shetland pony. First we tried the big one but he was busy eating and desperate to do a wee so he got a bit angry, especially as the state of his anatomy showed he had something else on his mind. Annette couldn’t stop looking and giggling. We backed off and settled for a pat of the Shetland. His name was Benny and Caleb was happy to have a long conversation about his food and how friendly we were towards him. In the end Caleb still wants a big horse in our backyard when we get back to Melbourne. We watched a bit of the horse jumping but Annette and I both agreed that we don’t really get that excited about horses so we left. As we were leaving, a cattle truck pulled up with 10 bulls to unload for judging in the show tomorrow. The truck was owned by the local Catholic College as were the bulls as they have, as part of their curriculum, farming and produce growing. 
We stopped for a coffee in the Main Street at the only shop that was open. It was a little cafe with a very happy owner who, when I asked “how are you”, replied don’t ask you wouldn’t want to know. We felt really welcome and Annette really enjoyed her 1/2 strength chocolate milkshake. We also noticed the local fashion as 3 locals arrived in the shop to have a snack. Out to impress complete with matching stylish footwear.  
We went back to the van in time for Annette to watch the final of The Block and me to get my $10 meal, which was great. 
So ends another event filled day on the road with the Siggys.