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Looking for an excuse to justify that situation, of course, the prospect of cataract surgery meant that if we put it off by twelve months or so I'd be able to see Angkor Wat, the Bayon and Angkor Thom properly, wouldn't I?

The cataract surgery, two eyes, three weeks' recuperation after each, an extra week between them to fit into the surgery schedule and another week tacked on the end to see the retinal specialist meant we weren't going anywhere before late April, and getting caught up in The Actor for Mayor in the local government elections pushed things back to mid-May, once the final results were posted on the 8th.

With a choice between New Caledonia and Cooktown, things became pretty clear pretty quickly. new Caledonia needed a bit of research, air fares on special (not totally essential, but The Supervisor's firmly in budget mode when scheduling flights on the basis of why fly there now when it's going to be cheaper then), and the fact that flying out of Brisbane meant at least one night either way in Brisbane. The el cheapo option would be to spend a couple of days in the unit at Southport meant Cooktown moved into firm favouritism.

I already knew a bit about the area, we had friends who'd been there recently, travel by car delivered a degree of flexibility that meant research wasn't quite so vital and a quick spot of calculation suggested a week and a bit would get us there and back with a couple of stops along the way. It'd also be long enough to start getting the furry felines used to the idea of lengthy absences while the neighbours keeps the food up to them.

The schedule wasn't that difficult to get together. Bowen to Cooktown via the inland route would involve a minimum of two days' drive, with an overnight stop on the Atherton Tablelands, an area Madam is keen to explore. Bowen to Atherton or Mareeba is doable in a day, but Townsville's two hundred kilometres closer and that's two more hours to have a look around along the way, so a phone call got us the spare rom at The Golfer's Motel and the rest fell into place fairly quickly.

Overnight in Townsville and Tolga, side trip to Laura to see the rock art, overnight at Lakeland Downs, back up to Laura if there's more to see, Cooktown that night and a couple more, back to the Tablelands for two nights and back off home.

A phone call to the Quinkan Centre at Laura revealed most of the galleries were still inaccessible after the wet which was not long finished up that way, so the back up to Laura isn't definite, and if it isn't that just gives us longer in Cooktown, doesn't it?

© Ian Hughes 2012