We found a friendly little motel complex in north Cairns – The Balinese –  that had the advantage of being a short walk from The Cock and Bull pub, resplendent with wall-mounted flat-screen TVs all showing sport. Our initial stay was between the house sit and trip in Landie which coincided with an early British and Irish Lion’s Tour game against the Maori All Blacks. After Cape York, we returned again long enough to see the 1^st test.  Then, when departing Cairns in the rain on 3 July for the journey west, we both came off on a diesel-soaked left-hand bend. I hit it first and slithered across the oncoming lane and into a rock face. Louise had a second or so of notice and came off more delicately.

So back to Cairns and the Balinese to sort the bikes out.

 This involved insurance claims with mine being a write-off. Two major strokes of luck: (i) I wasn’t a write-off, not even bruised; (ii) A BMW F650GS was on Gum Tree in north Cairns. I bought the beaut red bike (left), same model as Loise’s beyond it. While the to and fro was going on with the insurance company, we left for a 6 day Workaway Stay (similar to WWOOF) on a Daintree property where I was able to draw upon landscaping skills acquired on our Tai Tapu property, such as building steps up steep banks and making retaining walls. Below are

the two structures I had a hand in at Peter and Peggy’s gorgeous property close to the Daintree River.

Then back to the Balinese.

While in the Daintree I heard the dreadful news that my special uncle in Colchester had died so off to England we flew on 21 July to attend a family funeral on 31^st. For most of the time we were there we stayed with Sophie and Logan in Winchester, a beautiful historic city surrounded by classic English countryside. Sophie demonstrated the quality of her father’s parenting skills by taking us to the Wykham Arms as soon as we had dropped our bags. Before the table above became available, standing in that fine example of a fine old English pub with Sophie, Louise and Logan, supping a pint of hand-pulled Gales HSB (Horndean Special Bitter), was a beautiful moment in time.

The Colchester Thompson family had arranged a small, family-only service on 31 July with a larger celebration of a magnificent life well lived on 2 September. It was good to get there to be part of the occasion on 31 July despite the rawness and pain that my cousins and Auntie were suffering. Since most people reading this will not know the personalities involved, little else will be noted here except to say thanks to the Colchester Clan for keeping me in the loop and inviting me to both. On the flights back to Far North Queensland there was plenty of time to reflect on D. E. M. Thompson and what a wonderful man and Uncle he was. I shall miss him a lot.

And so it was back to The Balinese on 4 August.

Both bikes were going to receive attention in the Cairns BMW garage while we were away with the hope that all would be sorted when we returned. This proved to be wishful thinking but with terrific service from Westco Motors, Cairns, and Will Lamberton in particular, we were finally ready to go late on 8th.

Bye-bye Balinese.