Banana Festival time!

[Michele]  The Mission Beach State School's big fund raiser is the annual banana festival.  Having been to this party four years ago we felt that we knew what to expect: banana art, cake contests, fresh coconut juice, guessing the weight of banana bunches and a lolly drop (someone throws candy down at the kids from the roof of the school -- very amazing to watch).  This year's banana festival did not disappoint.

In fact, this year provided some unexpected entertainment, such as juggling Aussie-farians.  The jugglers were patiently teaching young kids how to throw soft balls into the air, watch them fall and then pick them up.  Some kids proceeded to do this repeatedly for 1 or even 2 minutes before wandering off bored.  When Gavin came up and started tossing a few of the balls around the Aussie-farian perked up at the chance to work with someone with juggling skills.  They had a grand time juggling and trying out new moves.

Gavin shows off his moves to the Aussie-farian and Robin.

Another unexpected entertainment feature was country-western dancing jet-lagged Americans.  Yup. You read that right.  The morning of the banana festival, we drove to Cairns to pick up my mom and step-dad. Did we let them rest or regenerate after 30+ hours of travel?  Heck no!  We drove them right down to Mission Beach and brought them to the Banana Festival.

When the musician started playing a rhumba, they took to the dance floor (aka staff parking lot).  Now, one could blame jet-lag on this odd behavior but truth be told, they have been known to break out country western dancing in all sorts of places when they hear a song that they like. Super markets, malls, school fund raisers, you name it.  One is prepared for this when going anywhere with them in public.  Fortunately for Barbara and Phil, there is a line dancing group that meets in Mission Beach so they can get a good dance fix while here.