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Published: August 1st 2022
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It was only a forty five minute drive to our next booked stay, being the town of Mareeba. Mareeba is located within a large agricultural region, with a wide variety of crops grown including avocados, mangoes, lychees, longans, sugar cane, cashews, macadamias, bananas, pineapples, tea tree oil, coffee, cotton and various vegetables and tropical fruit. A sign entering the town boasts that Mareeba has 300 sunny days per year. Tobacco was once the main grown crop in the area, but is no longer grown within the Mareeba Shire. I did notice the faded Tobacco Co-Op sign on a older building in the main street as I was driving through.
After our busy schedule in Atherton, it was good to enjoy the laid back atmosphere of Trinity Plains Caravan Park, located just outside of the town. There was a large orchard containing various fruits attached to the caravan park, that we were free to wander through and pick from at our leisure. Kim picked a couple of Pomelos (similar to a grapefruit) and I picked a hand of bananas.
Deep gorges and waterfalls are accessible from Mareeba, and our first falls to visit were Emerald Creek Falls, located just near
our caravan park. We walked to the lookout, and then found a swimming hole below the falls where I had a swim. The next day we visited Davies Creek Falls, which are famous for the Great Northern Beer advert where the young climbers make it to the top of the falls. It was spectacular, and immediately above the high falls is a natural infinity pool. The water was flowing a bit too quick for me to try out the infinity pool, so we walked down below the falls and found a quieter pool to swim in. The next day we drove again to Emerald Creek Falls, and this time both Kim and I went for a swim in the swimming hole below the falls.
Granite Gorge is a privately owned tourist attraction located around thirty minutes drive from Mareeba, which had been recommended to us. The gorge is filled with massive granite boulders, and there are two paths you can follow, a red difficult path, and a yellow easy path. Of course we chose the red path, although Kim was a bit anxious with some of the gaps we needed to negotiate. It was in effect a parkour course,
but I loved it. We also fed Rock Wallabies and turtles in the weir.
The Mareeba area grows 90% of Australia's coffee, and we were keen to sample the local product. Skybury Coffee was known to us, as I had ordered some a few years back after they won a major international award. We visited the farm and roastery, and enjoyed a cup of coffee and lunch in their on site cafe.
The next day it was time to bring out the golf clubs, as they were gathering dust in the back of the Isuzu. It has been at least fifteen years since I played a game of golf, and so my expectations were pretty low, but surprisingly I hit the ball really well, getting a score of 98 for 18 holes. Kim drove the gold kart.
Kuranda is very trendy village, which lies at the top of the mountain range above Cairns, serviced by a steam train and cable car. Being only a thirty minute drive from Mareeba, it was a must place to visit. We walked through the markets, and visited Bird World and Butterfly World, and were amazed at the variety of birds and
butterflies. We enjoyed the yummiest gourmet crepes at a local cafe, and then drove to nearby Barron Falls, which drop over the escarpment. After stopping off at Wrights Lookout, which has a valley view looking down to Cairns, we headed back to Mareeba, stopping off at Emerald Creek Ice Creamery for home made ice cream/gelato. Yum!
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