Townsville

Well I write from paradise, or as I often say, "so it seems".  We managed to relocate to Rowes Bay Caravan Park and they had two spots available, one for us and one for our friends from Port Hedland.  Good work Rick, that bearded charm was useful for something. As we arrived we saw four big caravans leaving and people lining up to take their spots.  We were lucky to secure two of them and happily drove into the park past the other suckers fighting for the scraps.  Paradiso at last.  Hmmh I thought smugly, this is good as I noted the nice vans around us and cleanliness of the park.  And then I stumbled across the park map and guest information booklet, which boldly displayed across the front the park motto "Thieves love the tropics too.  Lock it or loose it". Ah ha, what have we done.  And then we met the neighbour who was tinkering under his mobile workshop, which Max immediately honed in on. It was love at first sight and he was mesmerized. So the neighbour "Eric" who's wife works in the park as a cleaner, has been living here for seven months and informs us that "town common" an aboriginal settlement is just behind said paradiso.  Apparently the natives are very active in the early hours of the morning and he has often chased young "black fellas" out of the park and his annex.  Thankfully we dont have one of those. So we have chained the kids bikes to the caravan (for the first time), not unpacked anything outside and are battening down the hatches tonight. I am scared already. So we headed off to the Aquarium which is home to a turtle hospital.  It was great and the kids loved it.  We took a tour of the hospital and a huge green turtle kept popping his head out of the water right near Scarlett and I.  It was so cute and one of those special moments.  Lunch at the aquarium and then home to drop Rick off to do some book work.  I took Scarlett and Max back to the waterpark for a play which ended promptly when Scarlett took a stack and cut her leg.  On to get some groceries and Barbie band aids and the day was done.  As for our lovely friends from Port Hedland, they called the caravan park and supposedly confirmed their late arrival this afternoon.  It seems they arrived back on the mainland today not yesterday as we thought, and were greeted with a caravan disaster as the fridge had not been working for the past 10 days and everything was rotten.  So after cleaning up the mess and airing the van, they got away late, hence their late arrival.  I put dinner on thinking it would be a nice thing for them to arrive to, only to be called and told reception have given away their spot.  Apologies for the language, but what assholes.  So as I write they are desperately trying to find anywhere to stay the night and so far its looking very dismal. Rick went down to reception to plead their case and they said they will try to accommodate them in the morning.  So sadly I have more bolognese than we can eat in a month.  Speaking of, I'd better get to making dinner.