We've got ourselves a blogger!

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Day 104 - Port Douglas to Atherton Tableland (Lake Tinaroo)

First things first, we would like to wish Mr and Mrs Coulsell a very happy wedding anniversary and we hope you have a lovely day. There is a card on the way guys, we hope it gets to you soon!! We've even called todays blog after one of your favourite sayings, can you tell what it is yet?!

So today is the day we leave Port Douglas and head off to the Atherton Tablelands. Fellow bloggers Kangaroojack whom we’ve never met but have been in touch with since January, have been in touch to say they are camped at School Point, one of the permit sites on the Danbulla Forest Road at Lake Tinaroo which is pretty much in the centre of the Atherton Tablelands. They’re also doing a tour of Australia but travelling the opposite way around to us and we’ve been keeping in touch as much as bloggers can. In fairness they’ve sent us text messages, skype messages and even left us a voicemail as it seemed more and more likely that our paths would come close to crossing but in true Wallaby Wanderers style we keep missing them so although we’ve returned the messages we haven’t managed to actually speak as yet! We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed as the day goes on!

Before we leave the Big 4 Glengarry site I wander round to where Michelle and Andre (the family we swam with in the site pool) were camped but darn they must have left early and we’ve missed them. We’d got some video footage of Bella swimming in the pool and as it was her first ‘big’ swim it would have been nice to share it with them. Luckily Dennis on reception is happy to share their home address with us so we’ll be able to post them a CD which is good.

The first part of the journey today sees us tackling the range road up to Mount Molloy which was the same road we travelled on the Cooktown day trip. Passing Abattoir Swamp Creek we just about managed to resist temptation to visit! What a name!

There’s a lot of traffic on the road today and most of it seems to be tourists! It’s a great laugh listening to the guys and gals on the UHF radio but the language, wowie baby! We’ve got nothing on them!!

We travel through Mareeba where there’s a lot of activity with the market stalls, a bike show, a scout meeting and goodness knows what going on! We’ve managed to put a destination into Tom Tom which is sort of close to where we’re heading but not the exact end point! As we turn off the main road and head through Tinaroo we find ourselves on the Tinaroo Dam Road and everything starts to get way more relaxing and you just know that the views are going to get very interesting indeed! We’re not wrong!

The sealed road ends shortly after the information hut which reminds us we must have pre-booked our campsite … which we haven’t! The plan is that we check out the gravel road condition before we book anything and if the road is good enough we’ll keep going round to School Point which is where we should find those bloggers! The road is good so we keep going and soon pass the Platypus campsite, the Downfall Creek site and then Kauri. It’s another 8k’s round to School Point but it doesn’t take us too long and soon we’re both pretty excited that we could be meeting our fellow bloggers at any minute!

We park up at the top of the campsite, it’s a beautiful spot really gorgeous, probably the best we’ve been to yet (yes, it’s that stunning!). We wander around looking for signs of them, their Patrol or their camper trailer and we’re eventually pointed in the right direction by another couple here for a 50th birthday celebration. Through the trees I spy a pink T-Shirt and a blonde haired lady, we’ve found them! It’s like meeting up with long lost friends and there are hugs all round as we’re face to face with Caroline and Andy of Kangaroojack! We’ve travelled a combined 50’000 plus k’s since beginning our adventures in Australia, KJ have completed around 40’000 and we’ve just passed the 10’000 mark! We’ve got one minor issue to overcome, we’re not actually booked on to a site and it’s at that point we find out the birthday group has the whole site booked for tonight! Bugger! We head over to them for a bit of grovelling and they’re very welcoming but they’ve been on the beer since 9.30 this morning so it’s not surprising we get greeted with such gusto! With thanks to Rick and the gang for their genorosity, we're invited to park up on to pitch one and stay the night. Fantastically sporting of them considering we were totally invading their privacy! We’re all sorted and slot the caravan into the lovely pitch with a great view down over to the lake. Did we mention how gorgeous it is here?! Honestly, it takes your breath away! It's at this point I realise I didn't take too many photographs to prove it but bare with us til morning and we'll try and prove it then!

The drunken buggers across the way are having a great time this afternoon and invite us over tonight, now, in a minute, whenever we want for a beer, food and general merriment! The newly acquainted Kangaroojack and the Wallaby Wanderers spend time catching up, chatting about allsorts and generally enjoying our surroundings, which by the way are glorious! There are a couple of sights to see around the immediate area and when Caroline & Andy suggest we all go off in their Patrol that’s exactly what we do! We find a short walk, the Mobo Crater and then the Chimneys which were once part of a homestead, then head back to camp to make dinner and see how the birthday party is coming along! In return for the use of their vehicle we hand over a pot of gold to Kangaroojack in the shape of a jar of Marmite! They've been missing spreading it on their toast in the morning and we've got plenty with us, in fact I had the disgusting stuff so they could have the lot as far as I'm concerned but apparently that's not going to happen says Darryl!

The sun is setting so the girls leave the boys to crank up the campfire and we both grab the cameras to see how the sunset pans out. It’s not spectacular in colour or anything like that but it is such a nice view that the sun setting behind the water and the backdrop of the forest just makes the place glisten that little bit more and we happily snap away! We can hear the party in full swing now and shortly we get a visitor down on the edge of the water, it’s Steve and he’s still urging us to come across and join them! We promise that we will later but we really should be getting back to see how dinner is going!

We decided that the Wallaby Wanderers would do dinner and KJ desert tonight then we’d swap for tomorrow! That meant our best chicken stew tonight and a chocolate chip damper with banana custard for afters! Beautiful! Dinner was great and the desert divine, food always tastes better when cooked on a fire don’t you think? We were joined again by the birthday crew, Rick, the two Steves and Neil plus a couple whose names we didn’t manage to get but the conversations were all very interesting and highly entertaining! The sun had gone by this time but the night was illuminated by a terrific moon behind the trees of the campsite. Fabulous, just fabulous! We made our way over to the awesome birthday campfire which kept us warm and glowing for a few hours. The gang was great company and we chatted away the hours going through all sorts of subjects but finally settling on marine life as most of the lads had a navy or diving background! Birthday boy Rick had long gone off to bed but the rest of them were still at it and going well!

It was a fun night and the gang were a hoot, although hammered but a hoot nevertheless! We out stayed most of them but headed for bed before the youngsters saw in midnight and beyond!

It was great to fall into bed knowing that we’d managed the meet with Kangaroojack and that even though tomorrow was a few hours off we just knew it was going to be a good day!

Take care everyone and speak to you soon

Dar and Sar

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