Townsville
Distance Travelled - 65.5 km
After waking up to a cloudy and slightly misty / drizzly morning I quickly packed to try and get things away before they got too wet. Once everything was packed away I headed into town to get the car serviced. After dropping it off they said they would possibly need it until 4.30 pm and they would ring me when it was done.
Thinking I could possibly have a very long day ahead of me, I wandered down to the nearby Maccas and posted my blog and then went off to the big shopping centre in search of the camera shop the guys from Kart Tyre and Auto thought was there. Couldn't find it in the shopping directory but a shop assistant told me where she thought it was located. Not finding it there, I went to the Information booth to be told they had closed and moved to another shopping centre some distance away that they thought would not be within walking distance but by using public transport I could get there relatively easily. I decided to wait until the car was done and then go in search of the camera shop.
Spent some time wandering around the shopping centre looking in a variety of shops including a book shop that had every Bourne book except the one I am missing. Spent a fair bit of time in the food court reading and waiting for a call to say the car was ready. I wandered back to where I had left the car after about 4 hours to see it on the hoist so went back and looked at a few more shops and then went back just as they were getting ready to call me.
Having picked up the car I went in search of the camera shop and found it easily enough. Talking to the people there they thought it might not be an expensive problem as it was just the mirror that had come away from it's mount. They made a phone call to their service agent and had some good and bad news when they had finished. Apparently this model camera is known for this problem and is essentially a design flaw and Canon have put out an advisory note about it some time ago. According to the service agent the whole assembly needs to be replaced, not just the mirror. It seems that in the past Canon have replaced the assembly box and fixed it for free so they are hopeful this will still happen. If not then it will cost me around $1000 to get it fixed. I will wait until I get home to get it sorted with paperwork etc and go from there. I am quite happy to continue with just the 7D camera I have plus the Olympus point and shoot I have with me. The biggest drawback will be changing lenses whenever I want to go from wide angle to telephoto but that is not insurmountable.
Got back to camp and relaxed, reading and listening to music and a bit later on spent time talking to the couple here about teaching, answering some of their questions in relation to the work they were doing with the kids - they were somewhat confused with the definitions and differences between nouns, verbs and adjectives and how to complete some of the work given to them by the distance education branch they were going through.
Had tea and settled down for the night having decided to stay here for a day or 2 more and have a bit of a break from the near constant daily routine of packing, driving and unpacking again. Once I am ready to go I will head to Innisfail, towards Cairns, and look at several waterfalls I had noted down before I left and then probably mosey up to Cairns seeing as I will already be more than halfway there. After that, maybe as far as the Daintree rainforest and then back down the coast towards Brisbane.
Day 62 - 13th June
Townsville
Distance Travelled - 0 km
Had a very lazy day today. After waking at about 6.30 am I lay in bed until about 7.30 am before succumbing to the needs of my back to not be laying down anymore. Got up and made a coffee and read for a while.
Just up the road from where I am camping the local Lions group was running a car boot sale so wandered over about 10 am when it started to peruse the stalls. Not much really worth getting although I did a see a cool fire engine pedal car that a lady was using as a prop for portrait photography of little kids.
Had a bacon, onion and sausage sandwich from the sausage sizzle store for lunch and spent the rest of the day either listening to music, reading or going for a half hour walk just to stretch the legs for a while.
The day has been a mixture of cloudy and sunny with misty rain coming through which at one stage provided a small part of a rainbow. Other than that there was no photography today.
I think I will chill here again tomorrow and then head off on Monday up towards Innisfail.
Day 63 - 14th June
Townsville
Distance Travelled - 0 km
After staying in bed for a while after waking I has a day even lazier than yesterday. I spent the day reading or listening to music or sleeping, all on multiple occasions.
Around lunchtime I was invited over to the 6th birthday celebrations for the middle of the three children staying here with their parents. Some other friends of theirs from nearby turned up and a pleasant few hours was spent chatting and eating sausage sizzles and cake.
After lunch it was more reading, listening to music and sleeping before making a few phone calls and heading to bed. No photography at all today.
Tomorrow I will head off towards Innisfail, looking at a few National Parks on the way that have some interesting things to look at according to the brochures I was reading today.
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