Pink is the new green

One of the nicest things about this job is meeting so many people not just happy in their work but bubbling with enthusiasm; and on the Queensland trip Neil had to be one of the chirpiest. He's a classic Aussie bloke: outgoing, down-to-earth, cheerful and chatty - and obviously so comfortable with himself that he apparently had so few qualms about taking ownership of a military amphibious vehicle painted bright fairy pink, that when he got another one he painted it pink too.

And so he spends his days LARC-ing about (Lighter Amphibious Resupply Cargo, in US army-speak) in Bustard Bay ("Careful with that pronunciation," he warned) on the Capricorn Coast, taking tourists on day trips from the Town of 1770 along the beach and across the water to the Bustard Head Lighthouse, or out for a sunset spin, which is what we did.
It was great fun, picking our way through armies of soldier crabs, spotting stingray wallow-hollows in the sand, kangaroos in amongst the she-oaks of the National Park along the beach, and being treated to a sparkling double rainbow over the point as a shower swept past. Though it appears a large and lumbering beast, the LARC actually has a surprisingly light footprint (Neil's business is eco-certified) and is perfectly at home in the water too - although Neil's assurance that if it were flattened by a big wave, it would go all the way round and end the right way up again, was actually less reassuring than he meant it to be.
But we had no dramas, and it was a lovely way to spend a couple of hours and watch the sun setting over the sea - a bit of a special boast for somewhere on the east coast.