If you’re a regular blog reader then you should be aware that Berna, Marjo’s friend from primary school, and her friend Jos started their Australia holiday in Cairns to coincide with our trip. On 1 August they woke us up in Kuranda where we planned to meet first. We programmed the alarm and promptly slept through it. Some might say that I didn’t program the alarm correctly but that’s just nonsense.
Marjo just prompts me what to write and I’m surprised that after 30 years she still doesn’t realize that this means that I will do the opposite. Or…..did she just say that because she knows how I will react and she wants me to write the opposite of what she suggested. Hmmm, food for thought.
When Berna reads this, I can predict her first reaction “Berna and Jos? Why not just a post about Berna?”. I know that she would warrant a whole dedicated post but that would just put her on a pedestal and we still have to travel a bit together. Dangerous to put people on pedestals certainly at the start of a holiday. Enough rambling for now.
They arrived early bearing gifts: Marjo her favorite licorice and smokes, Axel Donald Ducks and groentjes (apologies for the English speaking readers but there’s just no word for this kind of lolly, even in Holland it’s hard to get them so I was very pleased to find that Berna and Jos were able to find and export them). And no, for those in Turramurra, groentjes is not some kind of (everywhere but in Holland) controlled substance. Also for al of us they brought some booze to come through the cold evenings. Or just because it’s nice to drink ;). As you can guess we were happy to see Jos and Berna.
Marjo and Berna went to explore the Kuranda markets and Jos dropped them off in the village. One of the added benefits of Jos and Berna is that we suddenly have an extra vehicle – that is not our home – to go beyond where we can walk or get by bicycle, kayak or kite. Jos and I walked the dogs and found out that walking from the camping along the river the Kuranda markets are only 300 meters away. So the ladies could have walked as well. But that would be unladylike.
Marjo was so hyper from seeing her friend Berna in Australia that she couldn’t eat her breakfast and forgot to take a single photo. So you’ll have to imagine this day for yourself 😉
That evening Marjo cooked a fabulous meal and we talked over coffee and later some liqueur.
The day after Jos, Berna and Marjo wanted to have a look at the Barron falls and took the car and had various walks. They had a good time.
I meanwhile spent the day in, under and between various bus parts to try and resolve our power problem described in an earlier post. Joran had been so kind to send a new regulator to this camping and I had to see if it solved the problem. Many hours, sore fingers, and swear words later I replaced the part but the problem remains. Don’t you hate that? Time for the expert…..
That evening we ordered takeaway from the camping restaurant; a real Indian restaurant manned by an Indian couple, he in the kitchen and she serving. It reminded me a bit of Fawlty Towers. He dropped the plate with Marjo’s dinner and she left people wait for a very long time. Then we all had lukewarm dinners as he had to remake Marjo’s garlic prawns. And the people kept waiting…….
The taste of the Indian food though was superb and the best part was that it was Berna’s treat! That made me forget my fruitless Car Mechanical day. At least for a while.
Posted from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia.
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