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Published: February 7th 2011
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We had a leisurely morning and didn’t set off till lunch time. One of the bonuses of free camping is not having to set your alarm to get off site so once in a while we like to lounge about for a morning. We needed to stock up on a few things so we drove to Innisfail which was the nearest large town. Driving through we noticed a radiator specialist. Although Hilda had been much better we were planning a trip up some pretty steep mountains so it wouldn’t hurt to get her checked out. After a quick chat with the owner we left Hilda with him and wandered into town to kill some time. It was a blistering hot day and we were desperately in need of a shower and some food. The heat soon sapped all our energy so we spent some time wandering in and out of shops just so that we could take advantage of their icy cold air con. When we returned to Hilda he had flushed her radiator, drilled a hole in the thermostat, put a new radiator cap on and checked the head gasket. He said that she appeared to be fine and we
were worrying about nothing so we paid him $125 and were on the road again with peace of mind
As we made our way into the mountains we were pleased we had her looked at. The roads were even steeper than we imagined but Hilda took it all in her stride. We reached Ravenshoe which is Queensland’s highest town and stopped for a look around. We found that in Ravenshoe if you cant make a profit selling one thing then its quite acceptable to sell lots of things - even if they are totally unconnected (see photo).
Shortly after we arrived at Innot hot springs. Our site had six pools all filled with the natural mineral waters from the hot springs in Nettle creek which ran alongside the pitch we had chosen for the night. Being this high meant that there were no Crocs. At least we hoped not as there were many children swimming in the creek.
We went for a dip in the pools which were all varying temperatures from the slightly chilly to the “there’s no way I’m getting in that it almost boiling point!”. There was a warning sign next to the hottest
pool advising no longer than 10 minutes in the water. I like my bath really hot but I couldn’t even keep my toe in it for 10 seconds!
The site was noisy but this time it was nothing to do with our neighbours. There were a large group of red tailed Cockatoos who resided in the many trees on the campsite. They are quite comical and seem to take pleasure in throwing seed pods at your head as you walk beneath them.
On our second evening we had a walk to the Hotel bar on the other side of the creek. We only managed one bottle of beer before we had to make a dash back to the campsite because there was another big thunderstorm on the way. We sat outside under the awning watching the rain pour down. It was coming down so fast that the water ran off the awning and filled a bucket in about 7 seconds! We did feel sorry for our new neighbour who had just arrived and was frantically trying to set up his trailer tent while his wife watched from the comfort of their car.
When the rain calmed down
I went to the kitchen. When I got back to the tent Andy took one look at me and burst out laughing. I had brown legs up to my knees where I had managed to stand in a very deep and very muddy puddle. At least we had a use for the bucket of rain water we had just collected.
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