Atherton Tablelands

After a hectic morning in the camp kitchen partly due to some of the vans having been robbed in the night we head south to Gordonvale. Then about 15 kms of winding uphill road to the tableland. Seems very high at the top of the hills looking back to the coast.
Rolling green field with patches of magnificent rain forest. Visit the Cathedral Fig Tree. Huge magnificent and looking like a cathedral. Sad to think lots of this forest has been cleared for farming.

Lake Barrine is a beautiful volcanic lake with rain forest walks and a lovely Devonshire Tea. Yungabuura is a nice little town with platypus viewing on the creek. The lady in the info centre is from Blackpool and recommends the Lake Eacham caravan park. Great place on edge of the rain forest. There is a big shed for the camp kitchen with a log fire. Perfect for evening chats.
Dave walks through the rainforest for 1 km to the lake then 3kms around the lake through more forest with two fig trees. Lots of backpackers swimming in the lake as the sunsets. There is a python in a hole

As Dave looks for the path home it goes dark. Even with a torch it is very dark and with lots of jungle sounds Dave can't find the path back. Luckily there is a road that leads back.
Early morning lots of noise from the campsite turkeys and chooks.

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Next day visit Malanda Falls. Great visitor centre and chat to a lady from South Africa who shows a stuffed tree kangaroo. These guys only live on the tableland and in PNG and are difficult to spot as they live high in the rainforest and swing around using their tales.

Atherton is a biggish place and Dave tries a lady hairdresser. Never a good idea. She says Max cut my hair too short and it only needs a 2 minute trim. She did start my pony tail so fingers crossed that will grow.
Walk up Mt Baldy which turns out to be steeply uphill for 50minutes. Surprisingly hard work and very dry although only a few kms from rain forest. Great view including Mt Bartle Frere
Back to the campground and another night of chatting by the fire. Tom, a belgian guy is great company. Very cold that night and everything soaked with rain forest condensation in the morning. While I am having my coffee and toast a very distressed lady comes in and says a malaysian airline has been shot down over Ukraine with 295 people killed. No good
Go back to sunny Cairns.
Walk to the lagoon have a swim at last which is great. African ladies being photographed on the beach.

Pelicans are in their usual place on a small patch of grass on the beach

 Walking back we pass a circus with a few lions outside. The keeper is being friendly with the ladies. He doesn't do this with the male lions.

Pizza hut $5 pizza and white wine for dinner at the campsite. Chat to a dutch couple who have got jobs in restaurants in Palm Cove. They have travelled for 2 months from Sydney and said it was hard to get work. They showed us wikicamps App which has campgrounds all over Australia including all in the guide Camps 7.

Dave's birthday in Cairns

Wake up to hear rain hammering down.A cassowary stubby holder is a great present. Breakfast with Michael, Briggitta, Lisa and Tim a family from Melbourne. The kids know a bit of korean.
Walk to the botanical gardens which are a real delight.

Rain forest walk up a hill and through swamps. Beautiful, exotic gardens with lots of colours and spikes on trees. Devonshire tea in a jungle setting.Lots of sunshine as we walk to town stopping at a very popular fish shop for more fish and chips. Pours as we walk along sea front. Pass on the lagoon swim, visit the faded casino and back to campground for another chat and a wine.

Parma dinner at the RSL on the sea front so filling. Walk to the marina and find lots more busy bars and restaurants. Massage at the night market which Youngmi says is backpackers massaging backpackers.
Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes, much appreciated.

Mareeba and Cairns

Drive past Mt Molloy free camping . Looks busy and good.
Great info centre and museum in Mareeba but campsites are not flash. Long term places with post boxes for residents and signs saying do not watch porn in the TV room.
Rodeo ground has camping for the weekend but looks hot, crowded and basic.
On to the top torist park in Cairns which is excellent.
Lots of camper and campervans but only a few tents in a grassy shaded area. Good camp kitchen with heaps of backpackers to chat to. Vans range from enormous to an I20 with a tent on top.
Drive off to DHL and I finally get my new UK passport which I have chased around Australia.

 Into the shopping centre where Dave is amused by an estate agents poster and is very keen to buy camel burgers.

 Friday night so we can go to Dan Murphys wine tasting. The taste manager puts a picture of us on Dans webisite

Next day walk into Cairns along the sea front. Youngmi looking for crocodiles again. Check out the famous Gilligans backpackers enormous. Town seems much quieter than when we last arrived. Local theatre in evening for Talking in Tongues, aussie play basis of Lantana film. Couples misunderstanding each other. Good enough but not Crucible.
Up early Sunday to drive to Mareeba. Quick stop for breakfast at Hungry Jacks then to the Rodeo. Hot and sunny and heaps of people at 10am. People with big vans and beds and couches. Horse riding and bucking bulls are brilliant.

A stall selling pig hunting gear and others selling the dagwood dog - a hot dog sausage in batter. Even Dave can't eat that but it is popular. Fish and chips and a pie from the cricket club must be healthier. Speak to labour candidate who says Clive Palmer is very popular in Queensland.
Steer wrestling, bareback bucking broncos and more bulls-brilliant. Youngmi buys a cowboy hat.

Drive back stopping at Kurandra.Arrived about 3.30pm and it is quiet. Great walk in rainforest to Barron Falls. Wrights lookout and river walk are very quiet. Back to the crowded camp kitchen where Youngmi finds we have an octopus in the marinara mix.

The world cup final is in extra time when we get up so join the crowd in the TV room. As most overseas visitors here are from Germany it is tense until Germany score then euphoria.
Walk to town. Shopping centre. Coffee muffin and newspaper. Back along the sea front. Black clouds and windy. Arvo another shopping centre then DFO and we find the Merrell shoes that were $200 in the morning. $230 for two pairs Jackpot. His and hers shoes. Shop manager is from South Wales. Four years in Cairns and loves it. Quiet place.
We have noticed houses are heaps cheaper than Melbourne and Cairns seems to have seen better days but its good.

Laura and Mt Carbine

We finally drag ourselves away from the Cooktown Caravan Park after a wonderful five days of friendship, sun and a special place. Drive Marlons dad to the garage to see if his flooded and surprisingly small 4 wheel drive can be fixed. Computer problem and auto electrician needed. 1600cc diahatsu which was pulling a caravan to Cape York amazing.
Drive to Laura where it is red hot.

The pub is staffed by two backpackers from hong kong. Very small place and we decide not to stay. Visit the Split Rock rock art about 20kms down the road. Impresive.

 Red hot climb through the scrub up a sandstone escarpment. Three lots of art to see.
Drive on to Mt Carbine and a good cheap campsite. Run by a couple from Melbourne in their early 70s. Looks a big job. Full moon and no wind. Peaceful.

Cooktown-my pub blew away

Back to Mossman to take on supplies. Good Woolworths and we loaded up with lots of goodies. Road then goes up hill for about 10kms but our heavily loaded polo has no problems. Mt Carbine, Palmer Road house deserve a stop. Road is really good for 240kms up and down over big hills and past termite mounds. Big white brahmin cattle are wandering around so we take it easy.

 4kms down a side road is Lions Den pub. Only 100kms from Cape Trib by the Bloomfield Track but as this was too rough for us we had driven over 300kms. Yorkshire back packers behind the bar of this 1870s hotel. Nice camp area but shocking showers. Good for one night.

 

Nice sunny morning as we drive on. The Black Mountain is a mass of black granite boulders. People are said to have gone into this area and not come out. Check the four caravan parks in Cooktown and settle on the first run by John and Mary. Walk along the sea front. Blue sea, palm trees a few grand old buildings. Capt Cook was here in 1770 repairing his ship Endevour and meeting the locals.August 1873 there were no non indigineous people here. By July 1874 20,000 chinese and 15,000 europeans had arrived and there were 65 pubs and assorted other services for gold mining.
The Top Pub had a band so we enjoyed a beer in the garden and the company of many characters. Happy hour at the campground and a campfire.

Sunday cricket next to the botanical gardens and Youngmi almost caught a six as she emerged from the mango trees.Walked along the beach and forest track to the lighthouse. Great apart from two alsatians attacking Dave.Another happy hour at the camp ground. At 5pm a few people gather to have a drink and a chat. Pat our neighbour explains he has two shopping trolley bags with him. One for clean clothes and one for the laundry. Bert at the head of the table has driven from Perth. He has been here a few times before when it was a real challenge to get here. John and Mary and assorted others make for a pleasant couple of hours.Another campfire and pasta dinner.

Another sunny day and we get our washing done and get organised. Dave walks up Mt Cook a fun climb through the trees to a lookout over the sea and great barrier reef. Meet Bob the kiwi on the way down. He is visiting his son who lives in Cooktown and likes pig hunting. Make our daily visit to the bottle shop. The pleasant guy there was saying he comes from Melbourne and has run pubs between Darwin and Normanton for the last 20 years. He came to run the middle pub a few months ago but he and 5 others had to take shelter in the cool room when the cyclone came. When they emerged after 7 hours the pub was gone-blown all over the hillside. He has been running the bottle shop since. Get another bottle of Hidden Gem red.and join the happy hour. Egg and bean dinner by the campfire. Loads of stars. Youngmi is convinced a wild pig is outside in the night but it turns out to be a campers dog. Next morning a brush turkey joins us for breakfast and we watch the 4 wheel drive bus tour packing up. Very impressive.

Another day in Paradise. Fish and chips at the Top Pub for lunch then walk it off to Grassy Hill. James Cook museum is splendid in a big old catholic school which was repaired for Queen Elizabeth's visit in 1970. Displays on everything including catholics, indigineous life, chines and of course the Capt. Anchor and a cannon from the Endevour are there. They were thrown overboard as Cook tried to sail back over the barrier reef.




Another good happy hour at the campground chatting to lots of interesting people. At the campfire chat to a youngish aussie couple who work in a Queensland coal mine. They are going to Cape York and hope to go pig hunting. They use dogs to chase the wild pigs and as the dogs try to hang on the hunter dives in with a knife and stabs the pig. The pigs have big tusks and the dogs wear armour on their neck. Scary
Next morning say goodbye to Pat who is moving on. He says it has been good to have intelligent conversation.

A guided walk in the botanical gardens takes 2.5 hours but is very interesting. I can find a vanilla tree and a red beach. The latter has flower, fruit and bud all at the same time.
Lighthouse again with a great view of the reef and a last visit to the bottle shop of the blown away pub.