We left Sydney on an earlier flight which landed us in Hervey Bay in less than two hours. I had arranged for a rental car for the first time on this trip thinking it would make it easier to get around in this more rural location and to better show Myra around. I went with one of those rent-a-dent type places that rent out used cars for far less than the big name companies based at the airport. A very friendly lady from the rental agency picked us up at the airport and took us into town to get our not-so-new Toyota Corolla.
Our first stop was the home of Mary, Lorraine’s mother-in-law, and her husband Ed, who live in Hervey Bay (spelled “Hervey”, pronounced “Harvey”). We had met them over lunch in Gympie with Mary’s daughter Michelle and her husband Tony way back in November. I managed alright driving on the left side of the road apart from a tendency to be a bit center-shy, one squealing tire stop when I almost missed a turn and several instances of turning on the windshield wipers when I meant to use the turn signal. Slowly I became more comfortable with it. I think it helped that, even though we haven’t been driving here, we’ve been passengers in enough vehicles to get somewhat used to the reverse orientation.
Mary served us breakfast and Ed showed us their backyard aviary and collection of beautiful birds. Then it was back on the road down to Maryborough where Kaz, our next host, was staying with her daughter. We wanted to meet her before proceeding to her house in Cooloola Cove. Since Kaz wasn’t going to be at her own house while we were there, Deborah needed to interview her a bit because the main reason we were granted free lodging was so that Kaz could get some interior decorating and landscaping advice.
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When we reached the house in Cooloola Cove we were happy to find the place spotlessly clean and the ½ acre lot full of many mature, beautiful plants. Our plan is to spend most of our first week sightseeing while Myra was here, and to do most of the interior and landscaping design work during the remaining three weeks. Deborah, however, was unable to contain herself and, with Myra's help, immediately started rearranging furniture.
