Mareeba, Atherton and Millaa Millaa

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08/05/09 Friday Day 266 A flying day and a busy day
Early start this morning, very early. Up at 4am to go for a hot air balloon ride. Mareeba is the capital of hot air ballooning in Australia and since we’re here it’d be stupid not to. Went to our pick up point and was met there by the pilot, Dave in his 4x4 carrying a trailer with the balloon all folded up and the basket where we would all fit in. There was a bus load also coming from Cairns but they would meet us at the launch site. There was another older couple from Oz in the jeep with us also on the way to the launch site. Lovely people! Your man had been up before with the same pilot. Your one hadn’t along with the two of us. The actually setting up of the balloon doesn’t take that long at all, probably about 30 minutes. After we all got into the basket we went up up and away! There’s some fair heat that comes out of the flame that heats the air. Our pilot Dave was amazing. Every so often he would decent to start brushing the bottom of the basket off some farmers crops. We also skimmed over tree tops. Amazing stuff altogether. On some of the occasions where he did this I didn’t thing he’s clear the power lines just in front of us. Luckily he did. We got a good 50 minutes of flying time. Then it came to the landing. The site that our pilot had chosen didn’t work because the wind wasn’t quiet what he wanted it to be so up ascending again to pick another site. All this time he was in radio contact with the tour bus and the jeep and trailer telling them where we would land. The next site wasn’t good either because of more power lines. Eventually we flew about 1 foot over another farmers pineapple crop. The landing itself was quiet bumpy. We also hit a small concrete pole and flattened that as we passed over it. Then we all pitched in to fold away the balloon into a giant bag and went back to the pick up point. I still don’t trust balloon flying, even after that one. It’s too unpredictable for me with the landing and relying on the wind!
After all of this we parked in a lay-by to have some badly needed breakfast. Then it was off to Jaques Coffee Plantation. They give a small tour of the place and the plantation. In the video presentation it showed that this place had awful bad luck. Some cyclone hit it years back and destroyed it, it went into liquidation and moved somewhere else, there was also some insect repellent that the government sprayed on the crops which destroyed it also. So at the moment they have 25000 coffee trees. We also got a free coffee at the end of the tour!
After we were all coffee’d out, we headed to Mareeba airport to have a look at the warbird adventures museum which contained planes that flew in the wars. These are fully restored to flying condition and you can, with a load of money, get a flight in one of them. Before we left Mareeba for good, a trip to a go karting track was on the cards. Of course just before we got to drive there it started to rain which dampened the track quiet a bit. Got it completely sideways on the first few laps, even taking a short cut through the grass once!
After that we decided to head to Atherton as this was our next stopping point. One the way we stopped at a fruit and veg stall. After getting our supplies we went across the road to have lunch. Just as we were about the leave, this guy approached the van. It was your man from this morning with our mushrooms that we left behind on the counter. What the odds. We knew that they were also travelling down the east coast and we said what are the odds we’d need them again. Pretty high it seems. Atherton town itself is really nice. They seem to have two or more of everything, hairdressers, bottle shops, print works, internet cafes. It’s a small enough place so I don’t know how they all survive! The main thing in Atherton is the crystal caves, which sounds quiet cool but it’s a bit of an anti climax. Basically the “cave” is in the middle of the town but it does contain actual crystals. These are formed naturally underground but the shop is very well designed into a cave like tour, with hard hats and lights.
Having arrived at our caravan park, no sooner had we parked up when it started raining……..again. Every night now it’s been raining. I know we’re in rainforest land but I mean really!

09/05/09 Saturday Day 267 A rainy day
Today rained…….all day long. It never stopped but it didn’t stop us from sight seeing! First thing today was a trip to see the Dinner falls and The Crater. The Crater was formed from a volcano years ago and is 61 metres to the top of the water below filling the crater. Then it’s another 85 metres underneath that and then it’s an unknown distance underneath that again because the hole underneath bends slightly.
After seeing that we headed back towards Atherton to have a look at one of the only Chinese temples made of wood and tin in Australia. You’d think we’d have seen enough of temples from our time in south east Asia but this tuned out to be very interesting and our tour guide seemed to have travelled China before because he knew a lot about the symbols and what everything means and probably meant.
We then headed towards Lake Barrine to take a boat tour of the lake. On the way there we stopped off at the Curtain Fig tree which was amazing. It must have taken hundreds of years to form.
We got to the lake just after half 12 in the rain and fog. The next boat tour was an hour later so we decided against the wait and headed away. There was also a restaurant where you could get tea and scones. The place was full of nans endulging!!
Next on the list was Millaa Millaa waterfall. Another waterfall you say but this was right cool, almost perfect the way the water was actually falling over the edge.
We then headed to Innisfail on the way to Paronella Park where we would be spending the night in their caravan park. The accommodation is included in the admission price. We’re going on a night time walking tour of the park this evening at 6.30pm and it’s still raining. Oh the joys!

10/05/09 Sunday Day 268
Today we did the morning tour of Paronella Park where we learned about the history of the park. In a nut shell, this Spanish guy called Hose Paronella had a vision of a lovely parkland when he was 5. Eventually he build the 13 acre park from what used to be a cane farm. He reminded me of Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary. This guy charged for everything again. The park had a waterfall and swimming pool area, which he charged for. He also charged for using the changing facilities. After all, he was a business man. The place also has a small Spanish style castle build there. It’s still in decent nick but the place gets battered every so often by cyclones.
Then it was a drive all the way to Townsville. We did stop off at Mission Beach on the way. This place is basically a 14k stretch with 3 little towns in it and a massive long beach. We were going to check out a tour on the Great Barrier Reef but the tourist office lady said that the weather was so bad that there wouldn’t be any tours. We also decided, stupidly to go on a 1.2k walking trail since it was “one of the things to do in the rain”. The other option was a pub crawl. We decided with the walk. Just as we started it started bucketing down so we legged it back to the van and powered on to Townsville.
The caravan park is one of the nicest ones we’ve been in. Also pops was strumming his guitar across the way from us. He had an audience of nans and more pops! It was hilarious. And to make matters worse, your man couldn’t sing….at all!

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