We woke to a partially sunny morning, also happily noticing that Melbourne was to enjoy a nice day with a top of around 20 degrees. The weather there is suddenly becoming much more important to us than it has been for a very long time. 

We are also glad that our visitors leaving Cairns last night would have arrived home to enjoy a sunnier day today. That might help with the weather adjustment a little more easily. 

A lazy morning passed by, Ray deciding to postpone his original plans of fishing all day starting straight after breakfast. Instead, he waited out the sudden downpour of heavy rain then took off to the beach over the road with his rod and bucket. 

Caleb and I got serious with his schoolwork after his mini holiday from it all over the last 5 days. Once he had finished, we went to the beach to see if Ray had been successful. Unfortunately, all Ray had caught was a couple of crabs. 

We decided to go back to the van for lunch. Poor Ray! He really hasn’t had much luck with the fishing endeavours of late. 

Food shopping and a Nanna nap later, we got out the map book and took a look at the road ahead. We are heading for Longreach in Outback Queensland for the essential outback experience that Ray has heard so much about – a stage coach ride through the Australian bush. He has been adamant that this combined with the Stockmans Hall of Fame will be thoroughly worth the (over) 1000km detour on our trip South. Hope he’s right!