How to Build a House on Fraser Island

After we morning tea, we headed for Gympie's least-known op shop, the Salvos, which is at 42 Stumm Road, Southside, well away from everything.  It is quite a good one.  I tried on a Maggie T top there which was my size but didn't suit me :-(  Jo, on the other hand, bought a complete dinner set.

At this point, it becomes relevant that Jan and John and their son Tim are building a house at Kingfisher Bay.  Just after we'd left Imbil, the first phone call came in from the plumber. He needed to book the barge and the barge booking person wasn't answering her phone or returning messages.  This meant Jan spent most of the morning not relaxing, but on the phone, or on speaker phone while we drove along.  When we reached Tiaro, she called the plumber again, as she had actually brought some materials to deliver to him at home in Tinana.

Meanwhile, we inspected Hippie Garage - not an op shop but it has some interesting stuff - and considered morning tea at the Tiaro Cafe. On second thoughts...no.  

Do you know that on that stretch of the Bruce Highway, there are trivia question on billboards to keep drivers awake?  Q. What is the longest river in Queensland?  On to Tinana, while learning more about the difficulties of building on an island.  More phone calls to and between plumber and builder, delivery of the hardware, and finally we could head for Maryborough and food. After a quick lunch at the local shopping centre, we headed for the Salvos. It is a small shop, but they had CDs for half price. Judging by the one they were playing (Perry Como's tone deaf cousin perhaps?) they would have been better off just giving them away.

Vinnies was next and it was much better, although their clothes were all over the place.  They had a lot of good bric-a-brac and furniture, and a large statue of St Vincent gazing benevolently down on the customers.  I needed a button for a skirt I had bought earlier and found it there.

Back at Kingfisher Bay, the calls continued off and on for the next three days. Jan would go pale when she saw the plumber's number pop up on the display.  It turned out the woman who was not answering the phone, and who the resort declared was definitely on duty, was actually on annual leave that day.  Eventually the workers made it to Fraser, their accommodation worked out, and they were able to get onto barges back to the mainland.

Meanwhile, the travellers headed for the coast, and the cabin we had booked at Urangan. It was perfect (apart from the scary ladder to the top bunk) and literally metres from the boat club, where we had a most pleasant dinner.  This is the outfit I wore.

Many good clothing purchases had been made, but as we were posing for the fashion show, my camera batteries ran out.  I dived into the camera bag, which I had brought only because it contained spare batteries, to discover that I had used them for something else.

We voted Vinnies at Gympie the best shop of the day; the Little Shop of Horrors was the worst.  My total spend for the day was $34.50. 
A.The Flinders River.