We left Atherton this morning to head back to Cairns. A phone call back to the caravan park that we stayed in 5 weeks ago secured us a stellar spot in the height of the busy tourist season. It might have had something to do with Uncle Tony personally using his influence as a long time seasonal nomad in the park too. He visited the office, negotiated with management, promised to mow the lawn and before we knew it, we had a sensational spot lined up. 

It was good to be back with the crew who all head back to Melbourne next weekend. So it will be our turn to wave them goodbye this time. 

We have booked for 17 nights here. Nice to be putting down temporary roots for a while. Ray competes in the Masters Games next weekend (the reason we returned to Cairns) and then Shane (Ray’s eldest son), Kylie (his partner) and Ryder (grandson) arrive in Cairns for a holiday. We are very excited and will be offering our Grandparent babysitting services while they are here. Kylie’s sister and her partner are also here from where they live in England so we have all decided to rent a house together for the 5 days. 

While we are excited to see them all, coming a close second is the thought that we will be sleeping in a real bed and sitting on a real couch. Whoo Hoo! 

The trip out of Atherton took us through Mareeba where my “non sign reading” husband noticed that the Mareeba Speedway had races on today. It’s amazing what can be gleaned from signs when the topic suits! 

A quick stop at the Information Centre and Ray had the address. We drove a little way out of town, pulled up at the entrance gate then with the van attached paid our admission and drove on in.

We got a good spot, pulled out the folding chairs and sat down to watch. I patiently waited, watched and stuck my fingers in my ears, silently calculating my degree of tolerance for this activity into hours worth of dragging Ray through Myer in Cairns. I reckoned it was worth a good 3 hours with another hour thrown in for the obscene level of noise I had to tolerate. 
In short, I had some good shopping credits up my sleeve. 

We arrived in Cairns after lunch and caught up with Aunty Barbara and Uncle Tony and their lively group of friends. We will enjoy being back in Cairns, soaking up the sun and catching up.