Farewell to Ravenshoe

Dear Family and Friends.

Yasi has come and gone but its influence still has an impact on bird and animal life. When we first came to Ravenshoe Pauline had 25 -30 Rainbow Lorikeets that would come and feed each day but gradually the numbers dwindled down till there were no more. They seemed to have moved on but since Yasi they have returned. There are no flowers left on any plants anywhere and there food supply has disappeared so they are back looking for food again. This morning before we left we threw out bread for them and there were about 30 again plus the little minor birds have made this their home now also. The kookaburras have grown in number also. We began with just two or three, then we had a couple of young ones that the mother would feed and now there are ten that want to be fed. They are now conditioned to come when we sit out on the verandah and no sooner do we sit down they come flying in and land in the same tree on the same branch and wait. They are well fed Kookaburras between the mince they get from Pauline and the worms and bugs they get from the ground. There are also butcher birds that come in for a feed. They eat the raw mince also and Pauline throws it into the air for them and they catch it mid flight. Just in the last couple of days they have brought two young ones with them so they are also feeding their young ones. The butcher bird has the prettiest song not unlike a canary. It is beautiful to listen too. They perch on the verandah railing and wait for Pauline and if she doesn't get up their chirp gets louder until she goes in for the meat.
Yesterday a couple of maggies arrived with a couple of young ones in tow so the word gets around that there is food available. There are curlews and friar birds that have a bright blue patch on their head and others that I don't know the name of all trying to find food.

The two kangaroos that lay in the sun just past the fence line have returned and the other day a big grey one hopped along and over the road and was gone in just a few moments.


Today we have moved on from Ravenshoe. Just a couple of days before Yasi hit our caravan fridge died. A couple of weeks age we could smell amonia and looking for it's source we found it came from the back of the fridge. The inside was fine but when we sniffed around it was coming through the controls. Ken looked it up on the net and it indicated that we were going to have troubles. The leak disappeared the next day and so we thought it would be OK. It began leaking again and eventually the smell was so bad we knew the fridge had had it and so we pulled it out of the van. We had ordered the new fridge just a couple of days before Yasi. The new fridge is supposed to fit in where the old one has come out but it doesn't. The gas position is different and we could not find a gas fitter in Ravenshoe, Atherton or Mareeba who would do the job so it meant bringing the van to Cairns.

It was hard to say goodbye to everyone. We have made such lovely friends here and will always remember our time here. Peter and Erica had to be in Cairns today and Robin and Pauline came with them for the ride so we all met at the Brother's Club and had our last meal with them and as usual we had a great time before saying another farewell.

We are currently parked in the carpark of the Cairns Salvation Army as we are going to be here for a few days. It is a very busy spot as beside the church they have a family store so there is plenty of activity around the place.

One of the things we are going to do here before we move on down the coast is take a day trip out to Green Island. Dallas gave it to us as a christmas present and we are really looking forward to doing it. Because it's in the off season all we have to do is ring up on the day we want to go and check on numbers. It's unlikely they will be booked out. So, weather permitting we will go in the next few days. We have had a really heavy rainshower here this afternoon but that's nothing unusual. I think it made the humidity worse rather than better.

That's about all our news for now.

Love to one and all and God bless

Ken and Lyn.