Mossman – January 2015

Welcome to 2015 everyone.  Bit late doing the Blog this month but here goes!  We hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Years break and that 2015 will be full of fun, laughter & prosperity!

Christmas celebrations began with Tui’s work Dinner.  Jude went up to Atherton for the night and we had a quiet Dinner at Nicks at Yungaburra. Tui was called up to do a load to Cow Bay the day after he was suppose to finish.  A very narrow windy road for a big truck! As he had to go past the park Jude raced out and got a photo.

Oakdare Christmas DoCow Bay Load

Christmas Day for us was a real fun Day!  11 of us got together on a spare concrete slab at the Park and had our traditional Champagne Breakfast. The day started off with heavy rain so we thought we would have to go to Plan B, but it soon cleared up enabling us to stick to our outside partying.

Christmas rainHei

Gang 1Gang 2

Tui bought Joe (Carolyn & Charlies Dog) a blow up swimming pool which made for a great ice bucket! Bacon, eggs tomatoes etc being cooked by the 3 amigos.  Don’t know who did the cooking and who did the watching!

Joe's poolCooks

As the day wore on it got hotter.  Hei decided Jude needed cooling down! The water bombs came out and it was all on!

Cooling JudeWater bombs

DrownedCarolyn & Charlie

Glove blowing

Not to mention the “Glove Blowing” challenge!! Wonder whose idea that was?

 

 

 

Carolyn & Charlie gave us awesome hand painted mugs, love them. Jude’s has her in the drivers seat and Tui’s has him in the drivers seat. Of course both have Joe on the reverse side.

Jude's cup frontJude's cup back

Desert Boxing Day

All in all a great day!  Of course as usual the Ham, Christmas Pudding, Trifle etc was eaten Boxing Day!

New Years Eve on the other hand was really quiet!  Celebrated mid night NZ time (i.e. 9pm) and not long afterward Jude was off to bed!!

As mentioned in the last Blog, Tui had 2 weeks off, but we never went anywhere as he was focused on getting as much flying in as he could while we are still here.  We did however go up to Julatten to the Highlander Tavern for lunch with Carolyn & Charlie.  Lovely spot, great food & a nice atmosphere.  Julatten is a vibrant rural community situated on the northern end of the Atherton Tablelands approximately 25kms from Mossman.  It has cooler temperatures during hot humid summer months, making sitting outdoors a more pleasant experience than on the coast.

Highlander 1Highlander 3

They are off

With the Sugar Cane season coming to an end it was time to say goodbye to more friends!  Vanessa & Gavin are “on the road again”, at least until next season! The Van Park is getting really quiet!!

 

Jude has finally taken the plunge and been flying with Tui! Too focused on hanging on and didn’t take the camera! Bit scary but good, fantastic views! Thanks to Janine for the aerial photos!

Jude's maiden voyage 2Aerial Port Douglas

Sheraton Mirage Port DouglasPrawn Farm

Aerial view of Port Douglas and the Sheraton Mirage. Approximately 15kms by road from Mossman but just over the hill by air!  Permanent population is approximately 1287, however the population often quadruples with the influx of tourist as it is a popular gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, Daintree, Cape Tribulation & Mossman Gorge.

The Prawn Farm, Australia’s northernmost farm, when it was in full swing. With the season over the ponds are now dry and it looks very different. Prawn farming is the largest aquaculture sector in Queensland, followed by Barramundi. Aquaculture was estimated by the Queensland Farmers Federation to be worth about $103 million per annum, about 14 per cent higher than the average over the last five years.

Carolyn is currently in Victoria for a wedding so Saturday night Jude, Tui & Charlie decided to go to the Bowling Club for a few quiet ones!!  Got as far as the Mossman Hotel, very hot, sticky and thirsty so called in for a drink!

Mossman HotelDecision was made to do a Pub crawl and send Carolyn photos of each one!  Next stop “The Post Office Hotel”.  No photo as they all came out blurry!  Then to the “Exchange Hotel”  finally making it to the Bowling Club for drinks and dinner! Where Charlie got told to take his cap off!!

 

 

Exchange HotelBowling Club

As usual, lots of laughs but miss you Carolyn!

Tui is back at work, cleaning out Culverts!  Tiring & dirty work so he was not very enthusiastic! Some nice scenery!

Cleaning CulvertsWork views

Well that is about it for now!

As always “Laugh more, live longer”  See you next Month!!

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