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 31st July 2026: a stay at home day of washing and cleaning for me and determinedly trying to fix a water leak in our caravan for Nic! Nic succeeded in locating the possible source of the leak but further exploration was in an inaccessible area! We hope to get professional assistance in Port Macquarie! In the afternoon we went for a lovely walk on a walking path from the caravan park along one arm of the breakwater past the Marine rescue centre to the end of the breakwater. We returned back along the breakwater but continued to walk right around Shaw’s Bay. There were beaches and mangroves and salt marshes with the principal plants being Samphire in areas subject to inundation, Salt water Couch in mid areas and Sea Rush  in the drier areas.  I cooked shakshuka for dinner using tomatoes onion zucchini beans corn and kidney beans with the last of the chilli jam, with 2 eggs nestled within! We leave for Nambucca Heads tomorrow! Our walk along the breakwater and around Shaw’s...
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 30th July 2026: I have finally caught up with the blog such that I am writing it on the right day! Not that today was much to write home about! Nic and I played 18 holes of social golf at Ballina Golf club, in a mediocre fashion! They offered a free cart which we took advantage of, which was fortunate because much of the course was under repair and the route from hole to hole in a non- consecutive fashion, was tortuous! The other issue was the muddy fairways when our balls constantly acquired a mud coating needing to be removed with our one shared ball rag! The greens were quite slow, due to the amount of water in the ground and the type of grass.  When we got home we attacked one of the many annoyances in the maintenance of our caravan! There is a recurrent wet patch in the  second drawer down at a certain spot only! We needed to take out the drawers under the sink to find the plumbing! This took a lot of inline research trying to work out how to take the drawers out! F...
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 29th July 2026: Left Brisbane before nine and drove to Mt Coton, where we hitched up the caravan and headed for Ballina, stopping at a wayside stop south of Tweed Heads for coffee. We reached Ballina before 2pm and set up on our beachfront ensuite caravan site, such a good site that we changed the booking to 3 nights. We  then went over to East Ballina to the golf course to book a game for the next day and then did a grocery shop at Woolworths. I cooked us a mushroom risotto for dinner, accompanied by a green salad, Ballina Caravan park Beach near our caravan Google map view of where our van is parked 
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 28th July 2026: Awoke with a migraine, a rarity for me these days, which cast a pall over the day, however our washing got washed, we packed up for tomorrow and in the afternoon Mark took us to the Mount Coot-Tha Botanic gardens, founded in 1970 and opened in 1976. We had a delightful walk around the Bunya Forest trail, and around Melaleuca  Lake, on the Australian Native Plant trail. We shopped at Toowong shopping centre after a trip to a fish shop where I bought a baby barramundi which I mistake thought looked the best of not a great selection of fish. We did the barramundi in foil in the oven stuffed with lemon slices and lime sliced, accompanied by baby kipfler potatoes and salad followed by raspberries and cream washed down with a French Chardonnay. The barramundi was very disappointing, tasting muddy, with soft flesh.                      Lake Melaleuca                  ...
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27th July 2026: up early to play 18 holes of golf at Brisbane Golf Club. It is a beautiful golf course, with lots of water features for the unwary! We were joined by Janice from Malaysia for the first 9 holes, practicing with her new 1 wood! I started off reasonably well, but then tired and had 2 pickups and 4 lost balls- 2 on one hole! The three of us all ended up with about 30 points, with playing abilities commensurate with our differing handicaps! I had borrowed a golf shirt from Helen, so bought a long sleeved shirt on sale for future use! We had a coffee after the game.we then went shopping and I bought us some basil and Pine nuts to make Pesto, I made us a delicious pesto loaded with garlic and basil and Parmesan, accompanied by a green salad. Blue- faced honeyeater on Helen and Mark’s verandah.  
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 26th July 2026: Helen left for her conference on Indigenous Bush Tucker in Cairns at about 11.30am and we helped her get ready.. In the afternoon we picked up Alice Upcher from her apartment in Greenslopes and we drove to the top of Mt Gravatt. With Alice leading, we took a walk down quite a steep slope and up again. We then went to Slice’s local Greenslopes pub for a drink and some hot chips.  We dropped Alice off back at her apartment. We had leftover seafood chowder for dinner and I made us a salad Pied Butcher Bird Young Pied Butcher Bird Alice, Mark and Nic Along the Mt Gravatt trail Sculpture at coffee shop on summit Mt Gravatt View from Mt Gravatt across Brisbane  Regatta Hotel along Brisbane River with flood marks  
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 25th July 2025: had a slow start to the day, including a brisk walk to Chemist Warehouse, but in the afternoon Mark drove us all to Guyatt Park and then we caught a City Cat to Riverside Terminal. Each ride only costs 50 cents. We walked via the Botanic Gardens along a walk path beside the river, with mangroves on one side and then on to redeveloped land underneath the roads inappropriately running beside the river, and now converted to pleasant useable recreational areas.We reached Star casino and went up to the Skydeck for a drink  after circumnavigating the deck to look at the wonderful view of Brisbane below.  We returned via North Quay and Cat to Guyatt point and home. We then walked to Nowhere cafe for an OK Italian meal, sitting outside on a sloped footpath. Fortunately there was a street library from where Mark borrowed a book to level our table!  City Cat Star Casino and Neville Bonner Bridge Fig trees along north side Brisbane River View from Skydeck looki...
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