Wednesday 27th August, Active Around Mirani

Everyone was up early today because Rob was heading off to play golf and Lyn and I had decided to kayak to the Marian Water Ski Club. Marian is east of Mirani, on the Pioneer River. Steve was to be chief organiser and “kayak boy”! Lyn and I set off at 8.30am and Rob headed out to the Mirani Golf Club. Lyn and I had a delightful kayak, and we saw a few platypuses swimming out from the banks. We couldn’t get any photos as they are both quick and shy. There were also numerous numbers of turtles. On my return trip I saw a long log out of the water, and it had about 10 turtles sitting on it, sunning themselves. It took us about 2 hours to kayak to the Ski Club, a distance of just over 7km. but we had many stops along the way enjoying the wildlife. Steve was there to meet us. I hopped out of my kayak and had a bit of a break, munched on my apple and then decided I would kayak back to our starting point, Platypus Beach in Mirani. I was going to have to wait for Rob to finish his round of golf anyway so it seemed like a good idea. Steve and Lyn left me and I had another lovely kayak back but didn’t stop too many times. Great timing as Rob had returned from golf and drove down to the river to pick me and the kayak up. It took under two hours to kayak back and we returned to the van and had lunch. Rob had enjoyed his round of golf and didn’t have anyone holding him up. In the afternoon Lyn and I, enjoyed visiting the Mirani Cemetery. The oldest graves seemed to date back to the very early1900’s. We noted some famous “cane-cutters” buried here. The cemetery had beautiful old gates, attached to a solid brick wall with the words “God’s Acre” on them. These gates were the entrance to the Catholic area. All the other religions were about 400mt outside “God’s Acre”. We thought it a bit strange. In many of the little cemeteries we’ve visited there are numerous “Australian War Graves”. These graves are well maintained and even if the family has a grave for the deceased, the War Graves, takes over the maintenance. The graves are for anyone who has served no matter, when or where, even if they have returned from conflicts, they are entitled to a war-grave.