Leaving Party Weekend

11/05/2012
 
Today we find we are in the odd situation where once we were in charge of API holiday units then suddenly we are lodgers. It was always going to be so but nevertheless it does feel a bit surreal.
 We have had Hamish staying with us and enjoyed his company immensely. Richard and Ed came and went yesterday, that was really good to see them but now we are in this hiatus waiting to get away. Now Jules, our organiser, has arranged a secret going away party, the worst kept secret in Cairns. In the meantime we have had our last trip and session at Centrals Rugby Club with a few of our friends.
 Frank invited us round to his place to have a look at what we will get when we do our house swap next year ( no doubt who is getting the best of the deal). Maybe it was the four bedrooms, wide screen TV, swimming pool and the boat with outboard motor that edged it! They are going to just love our whitewashed back yard. Anyway it seems a done deal as we google earthed Ettington Park Hotel and told him that was our neighbour, well it’s fairly close!
 So what’s left?……. Two more days of partying, then the road.

 12/05/2012

The going away party continues!
  After a very slow start and an early morning skype with John and Vanessa ( it always seems a bit one sided as we have just woken up and they have been on the lash for hours), we managed to get ourselves sorted for an afternoon trip to the boat club.
 The skype left us thrilled to hear of the progress our eldest grandson is making in his rugby career with Gloucester Rugby Club Academy he is going from strength to strength and is the idol of his younger brother Tobi.
 At the boat club we had a good chat with our friends Warwick, Trevor, brother Stephen and Charlotte and others before saying our goodbyes, we will miss them.
 That evening we had a nice personal get together with Phil and Jules around the BBQ making cunning plans for the future. They very kindly presented us with an iconic Aussie print depicting budgie smugglers which we must send home for fear it gets damaged in our cramped van. It will be on our wall at home when they visit us for Christmas 2013, ( part of our cunning plan!)

  13/05/2012
  Our last night in Clifton and we have been seen off the premises in good fashion. Earlier, I helped out with the usual duties of caretaker mainly to get the place looking tidy for our final going away party, before popping up to Palm Cove for a late lunch and to say goodbye to a couple of people we know up there.
 From 5 pm it was full on, friends around to say goodbye, people we have met and are now firm friends who we will see again later in the year and hopefully will visit us in the U K.
 As we all sat round the BBQ, Julie (as only she can) had composed and sang a song( based on a well known ballad which we can’t remember!) all about leaving on a jet plane except it became a campervan. It was a hoot! Our time here at Clifton beach has been fantastic, the people we have met, the kindness and friendship we have received has been wonderful. With luck it will go on for many years, in the meantime, we move on.