When we flew back from Brisbane we brought my mum with us for a mini holiday.  Mum is almost 85 and I was a little worried about the heat in the tropics at this time of the year.  I need not have worried as it was quite a pleasant week with showers of rain each afternoon to cool things down.  I think there was only one day when mum said that she was sweating around the neck.  We keep the air-conditioning turned off throughout the day (we do that most days) and only turn it on in the evening. We rely on ceiling fans during the day that work surprisingly well in the humid conditions.

Mum has Wegener's (also known as GPA) that affects the immune system.  It is not a life threatening disease anymore and 80% of diagnosed people, taking the recommended medication to suppress the immune system, go on to live a long life.  Mum is certainly one of the 80%.  However one of the side effects that mum has is cold feet.  This is because of restricted blood flow to some organs and is directly related to the Wegener's.  Mum doesn't handle air-conditioning very well.  Airplanes are a problem where the crew insist on keeping frigid conditions in the cabin.  Why they do this I have no idea.  I have learnt to always carry a wrap but I forgot to mention this to mum who was shivering within the first 20 minutes of our flight.  I handed her my wrap and swapped my seat for Philips seat that was in the sun.

When mum was here we drove to Port Douglas to pick up mum's oldest sister, Shirley, who is now in the nursing home at Port.  We arranged to pick up Shirl and have lunch at one of the local restaurants and return her to the nursing home afterwards. Finding a restaurant that was open was quite the drama.  Our first choice was closed for renovations and our second choice, beside the ocean, had a very bad ocean smell due to the extremely high tides and the rotting seaweed.  Our last choice was the Courthouse Hotel that was thankfully open.  It was a very hot day but we managed to find a seat under a fan that made it comfortable.  We all ordered light meals and enjoyed sitting back and catching up on all the news.  Aunty Shirley is very settled in the nursing home and gave us a run down of the various daily activities.  There is certainly plenty to do if you so wish.  This seems to suit Aunty Shirley who, up until her fall, was very active. We look forward to taking her out again before we head off on the big lap.

After lunch, and back in the comfort of the air-conditioned car, we did a few touristy drives around Port Douglas before taking Aunty Shirl home.  It was a lovely day and nice to catch up with family.