Coffee Heaven, Hot Springs, and Tragedy in Undara

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Coffee Works in Mareeba – chocolate and coffee heaven. Thank God they have a website where you can order more. Tried a Stump Jumper – an espresso shot with whipped cream on top – quite a strong coffee, but worth the effort. Anthony has started his coffee experience – and may find that it keeps him addicted throughout his HSC days. Oh well, maybe he’ll learn how to brew it properly and make his parents one in the mornings. One can only hope!

Windy Hill was the first windfarm in Qld. It was cold and extremely windy. Amazing to think that only 20 wind turbines provide power to 3,500 homes.

Lunch was at Innot Hot Springs – we stopped by this small bridge that crossed a creek, wondering if this really was the place. But we wandered down to the creek and dipped our feet in the surprisingly warm waters. The deeper you went in the water, the hotter it got. Some of the pools had steam drifting off them due to the heat. We met a Japanese couple who travel there from Cairns at least once a month just to feel like there were at home.

Today’s road trip wound through so many different environments – from the tropical rainforest of Kuranda, to the orchards and coffee plantations of Mareeba; from the quiet pastoral lands of Ravenshoe (Qld’s Highest town) and Windy Hill, to the scrubby flats of Innot and Mount Garnet.

So we arrived at Undara Experience. Talk about a great campsite. It is the epitome of bush camping. Also, if you wanted to, you could spend a mint on food and accommodation. We had booked a powered site – nestled in the backer blocks of the park. As we drove up, we hopped out to head into our ‘how quick can we set up rush’. The door handle on the caravan was a little sticky, so I pulled a bit harder. To my dismay, the door handle came off in my hand. We couldn’t get into the van. Luckily Anthony had a set of needle nose pliers on his pocket knife. So we got in … just. 20 minutes of trying to figure it out, asking the front desk for help, and then praying that we'd get in. (I guess I’ll fix it tomorrow, somehow).

We met our neighbours who wanted to share our campfire … and continued to share our lives for the next 2 days. This was the most friendly park we’ve stayed at. The younger boys made some great friends.

Song of the Day: Every day is a Winding Road by Sheryl Crow

Game of the Day : How hot is it in this hole?

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