Maryborough - clearing weeds

Hi all

Well I've come to the internet and left all my blogs notes (3 pages of them) at the camp, so I'll have to try and remember what I've done in the last few days.

Sunday afternoon I went to the Botanic gardens in Brisbane - it was similar to SYdney but instead of joggers there were lots of cyclists and families out for the weekend sun. It also had a mangrove area where you could walk across boards on the river edge and look for marine life (not that I saw any). There were lots of birds in the garden too and in the ponds you could see large eels and small turtles - the little kids and I were in awe of what we could spot first. I also saw lots of lizards which were unperturbed about who was walking by and the one in the picture had no intention of moving out of my way.
On my way back to the train I stopped for lunch in a pub and had sausage frittate with onions and tomatoes on a bed of greens - very nice
Caught the train back with Cory and then had to decide what to pack to take with me to Hervy Bay.

Monday Didn't get a good night's sleep as some of the youngsters were leaving and they just seemed to be laughing and having fun ( I think I was young once) ANyway on of them came to bed around 1.30 and climbed in the bunk above me, fidgeted for a while - by this time I was awake and then tossed and turned.

Got up around 6am, showered, finished the last of my packing and then was out there ready at 7.45 as instructed.
Don and Fabio were messing with the electrics on one of the trailers and then Cameron (our guide - and this was his 1st project away) arrived with the shopping, then after more consultation and faffing (and it wasn't me) we all get on board and Cameron starts to drive off - there was a funny sound in the engine so again they had a look under the bonnet and then decide 'all OK' By this time it's 9.10 but off we go.

We stopped at a local information centre which was an old pioneer's house (110 years old) It's original site was taken over by the Roads people and so they moved the whole building to it's current location.
4 hours later we arrive at the caravan park where we're to stay. It was not Hervey Bay as we'd been told but still a nice place and we will get to visit Hervey Bay while we're here.
There are 5 of us sharing the cabin and I went out for a stroll around the grounds and met Marjory - one of those interesting characters that you expect to find in a horror movie. Majory helps with the cleaning and tells me she loves it here and that none of her family speak to her and she doesn't see her grandkids. SHe mentioned drugs but I wasn't sure if this was her daughter or her. Great to listen to her though and she tells us to look for the kangaroos in the fields between 6 and 7am .
She took me on a tour of the campsite and it seems that most of the inmates here are permanent residents with I'm sure an interesting story or two to tell.
Cory and Cameron met Mick who has lived at the site for ages and does the odd jobs there. Apparently he is loaded but gave up everything when his daughter died and is just happy living where he is with his dogs. He invited us to come see him feed the possums on his shed roof in the evenings.
Teatime and Cameron organised that we have themed nights for dinner. Last night was Burger and chips with salad as Cory is from the USA.
Tonight we're having Japanese and a lot of the volunteers are from Japan.
Wednesday is Ozzie night BBQ which Mick says he'll invite all the locals - so that will be interesting.
Thursday night will be good old English Cottage pie (No I didn't make the point of being Welsh!)
Friday is back to base
Anyway that's all I can rememer for now. I'll tell you more about what I'm doing next time

Love. Sue xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx