Every now and then you need to have a ‘down’ day. One of those days where you just do jobs around the motorhome, clean stuff, read a book and generally have a relaxing day.

That was our day at the lovely Takarakka Bush Retreat. I spent most of the morning washing everything. It was time to change the sheets and towels etc. Richard just doesn’t ‘get’ why I love my little washing machine so much!

Once everything I could wash had been washed it was time for some maintenance. A cover strip was coming off the laminate in the bathroom so that had to be glued. The screen door was becoming hard to keep closed so that needed attending to. The electric step is playing up so Rich got underneath and sprayed all the fittings with Silicon spray to see if that helped. The floors got washed.

How good are MukMats? Have you got one? We have three. We bought a large one to put on the ground at our doorway and I am amazed how much sand, dirt and leaves are trapped on the mat and no longer make their way inside. I was forever sweeping the floor inside but no longer have to do it as often. We loved out big mat so much we bought two small ones to use as car mats in the cab of our motorhome. They make brilliant car mats and trap dirt, grass and leaves from our shoes BEFORE we move inside the motorhome and take those things with us. A quick shake of the mat and it’s all clean again.

In the late afternoon we both went for a wander around the lovely park. I did the walk along the creek but I didn’t see any platypus.

While we were sitting outside reading our books one of our neighbours that we’d sat next to at the bar the other night, Tony, came over to see if we had any matches. He had never made a camp fire before and wanted to give it a try. Richard asked if he wanted some help so off they went to organise a camp fire. At Takarakka you can have a camp fire but only in their designated fire pits. Tony chose the fire pit that was closest to the bar area and around 5pm we took our chairs and some drinks and nibbles across and set up around the fire pit.

Richard showed Tony how to stack the small twigs and then the bigger twigs so that the fire would draw. He used a small piece of fire lighter and lit them up with our gas lighter. Tony was so pleased to have ‘made a fire’. Tony and Clare set up their tripod so it was all recorded on video. The four of us then sat around the lovely little fire for the next few hours and shared stories. We heard more about life in Taiwan and what it was like to move to Australia having only school English. Clare told very funny stories of going to language school and how she got her first job in Australia. They have both traveled a lot and we loved hearing about Tony and Clare’s world travels.

We were later joined by another young couple Al and Kat who were camping in their tent not far away. We both love meeting people on our travels and hearing their stories. Kat is originally from Austria and came to Australia seeking adventure. When I asked them how they had met they replied ‘Tinder’. That is such a common way that young people meet these days. What a lovely young couple. They are both software engineers and live in Brisbane.

What a lovely relaxing day with a perfect finish sitting around a campfire sharing stories.

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