20th September 2008

First up this morning, I went for a 30 km ride of the perimeter of the main part of the town of Emerald and included a small ride out onto a rural road surrounded by farmland. The wheat is starting to turn and I guess by the end of October the harvest will be over. There were also some canola crops. Prue had a catch up on some rest and did a little washing.

After a shower, we went into the CBD of Emerald where I had noticed a coffee shop as I rode around earlier. We had cappuccinos and raison toast. The coffee was not the best we had ever had.

Then we went to the Coles Shopping Centre and did some shopping for groceries. As usual in these places there was a queue with not all check outs working. Eventually through and away we went.

After our shopping, we went to visit some former Ballina residents, José, Louise and Madeline Sanchez. José is an electrician with a contract company that works for the mines in the area. They extended an invitation to attend their home for a BBQ in the evening.

We returned to the Caravan Park and packed away all the items from our shopping trip. Then we had lunch. The afternoon was quiet mainly reading books and Prue catching up with emails.

Early evening, we were able to walk to the Sanchez home as it was only about a block away from where we are staying.

A lovely evening was had just chatting and having a few Brown Bros Dolcetto & Syrah red wine. It is a lovely wine to have chilled especially in the warmer months.

After and not too late, we walked back the relatively short distance to the Caravan Park.