Here’s the approach to the rock at the very northernmost tip of Australia.
I can laugh about it now (well, almost), but just ask my husband…I have been grumpily uncomfortable for the past few days.
It was a typical night as far as this far north Queensland portion of our road trip goes.
We had just arrived back at the station where we’d left our caravan before driving up the last few hundred kilometres of Cape York peninsula. A wise decision. The one and only developmental road up to the very northernmost tip of Australia was a mixture of some short bitumen sections amongst kilometres and kilometres of diabolical potholes and dirt corrugations that juttered the heebie bajeebies out of our four wheel drive. If we’d been towing our little caravan it may not have made it back in one piece!
But now here we were back (oh bliss), to the comfort of our caravan after five nights of tent camping while we were up the Cape.
For my readers who may not be familiar with Cape York, it is a wild and spectacular part of Australia. It has the diversity of rainforests, tropical beaches, the Great Barrier Reef, savannah country, rugged ranges, and beautiful rivers and waterways. Far north Queensland is also home to the infamous salt water crocodile and being “croc wise” is a real thing to be aware of, as well as only swimming at beaches with nets for marine stingers (which can be fatal), and not approaching cassowaries (if you’re lucky enough to see one).
Yet it wasn’t any of these creatures which attacked me that night.
My attacker is small and ferocious and relentlessly attacks any area of weakness, unless of course you don’t have the type of blood or skin it’s after (like my husband 🙄).
“Let’s walk up to where we can get a phone signal” suggests my husband this night.
Now usually I’d be completely covered if venturing forth from behind the safety of the fly screened tent or van at night, but for whatever reason I replied “Sure,” and gave my T-shirt covered arms and shorts covered legs a quick spray before joining my husband outside at night. 😳
Later, I started to itch, and itch, and itch. Sleep evaded me.
Yes, I am very allergic to mosquitoes. A single bite erupts into a hard big red lump that itches incessantly and takes a week before it starts to subside. Up to this point I had been meticulous about applying the tropical Deet spray and was proud of the fact I had survived all our camping adventures thus far bite free!
But the morning light revealed mosquitoes had found me in the very area I forgot to spray…my neck!!! I stopped counting the bites when I got past thirty five, and in misery stared at my lumpy and red reflection wondering how I could have been so stupid to let down my guard like that!
I could try and draw some neat spiritual lesson from this whole experience…but the reality is sometimes we just do dumb things when we know better, and must suffer the consequences.
I thank God for antihistamine, calamine lotion, and ice-packs.
And I’m working on not grumbling. 😉
Jo
Quietly Roaring 
Oh Jo, I can only imagine the itchiness. I liked what you said at the end that you could draw a neat spiritual lesson but the fact is that sometimes we just do some dumb things, I can relate to that 🤷🏻♀️
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Thanks Manu 🙂
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Isn’t that the whole premise of the gospel – that we all do dumb things and sinful things, and that’s why we need a Savior.
Jo, I’m scratching my neck just reading this! I’m sorry you had such an unpleasant interruption of your vacation. Otherwise, it sounds like an amazing adventure.
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It was a grand adventure Annie, even with the mozzie attack! And yes I’m sure grateful that the more serious dumb things I’ve done are covered by the precious blood of the Lord!
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Amen!
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The title of your post is certainly click, or tap worthy. Of course, you weren’t actually eaten alive or you wouldn’t be writing this! Seriously, a good story let’s readers create their own spiritual analogies, and maybe that’s better. Yours made me think of the danger of an unguarded moment. The Bible says we should be vigilant because our enemy is like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Blessings, Jo!
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Ha ha thanks David, my first click bait title? 😆 I’m with you, I thought about how this was an analogy to having chinks in my spiritual armour, but sometimes it’s good as you say to just let the reader draw their own conclusions. 🙂 Thanks for reading and commenting and I’m happy to report that I’m needing less antihistamine today!
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I too have one of these stories. My husband and I were semi truck drivers in the 1980’s. We were in Arkansas, and pulled over to sleep. There are no screens on the windows and it was summer and hot, so the windows were opened. That’s when the feeding frenzy began. I was smacking and batting at these little blood suckers, and finally lost it. So we found a motel with air conditioning, even though we really didn’t have the extra money to spend on this. The trouble was, the room had more mosquitos in it than the outside, and I really got bitten. So we packed up and left, went back to the truck and drove on, since we weren’t going to get any sleep anyways. I was covered in welts and we had to find a pharmacy so I could get large quantities of calamine lotion to slather on myself. So I can totally relate!
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Oh no! You must not have known whether to laugh or cry once you got inside the motel room! Thanks for sharing your experience, they certainly are the most irritating insects!!!
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So very true!
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Oh Jo how awful! Those suckers are truly relentless at finding weak points. My youngest has sweet tasting blood as well. They bite through her clothing and more than once she’s gotten bitten near the eye and her eye has swollen shut. I remember her once asking if the Garden of Eden had mosquitoes.
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Oh the poor thing, I’d hate to get bitten near the eye! Her question is a good one!
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Oh no, I’m so sorry! I do understand and have been eaten alive a time or two myself. I hope you are feeling better now. Thanks for sharing the beautiful picture.
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Yes I’m fine now Bridget. Thankyou 🙂
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An itch that won’t stop is SO frustrating. I can’t imagine such misery–times THIRTY-FIVE!! Have you ever tried the product called After-Bite? It works well for me, but then I’ve never been attacked as ferociously as you!
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Yes…thirty five. It was the itchiest I’ve ever been EVER but thankfully the antihistamine did the trick after a few days. I’ll keep an eye out for that product you mention, thankyou Nancy. We are now by the seaside and the sea breeze helps keep them away. 🙂
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