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View from our camping ground
Riverside camping ground - Mareeba Sat 9th: Cairns, Kurunda and Mareeba Got up early and flew - well drove really fast anyway, down to Cairns. Picked up a nice shiny new Nikon D80 with a 18-135mm DX Lens, not as good as the 18-70mm they did to start with (cheaper lens with a wider range to get the price down) but still, Matt is very happy. On the way we stopped at the lookouts again as the sun was shining this time.
So off to McDonald’s we went, did the tinterweb for a bit and then went to Coles.
Coles was amazing. Supermarkets are amazing. Seriously, go traveling for 4 months with bamboo huts for shops, and a serious lack of options and then go to a supermarket. They have everything. Everything. So we did the food shopping, stocked up the campervan, filled up the petrol (unleaded petrol is $1.24 and there are $2.3 to one UK Pound. 50p a litre for petrol!) and went on our way at 100 kmp/H Down the Captain Cook and Kennedy Highways in a Sothward direction, cutting inland.
First stop was Mareeba, where we found a powered caravan site. Unlike Daintree park it had electricity, and
in addition to the National Park compulsory toilets it also had a hot shower, laundry room, drinking water - for $24 it had the works. So we parked up and went for a walk down by the river. It was pretty.
Sun 10th: Granite Gorge, Atherton, Yungaburra and Ravenshoe Waking up to a Baltic, but pretty campervan. Was bad. Frost. Neighbours and Home and Away had no frosty mornings.
So we drove off southward and got to Granite Gorge. The 2006 Lonely Planet guide said it was $2. It was $7.50 - They are so naff. So we paid and entered, inside it has a rock wallaby reserve, and you can hand feed the bouncy critters. Although they can be a bit jumpy. There are also loads of things to see along the walks, and you get great views of the outback. We spoke to a couple there with a kid, they used to travel. The bloke was from Australia and the woman was from Holland but they met in Jerusalem and then fell pregnant, which kind of put an end to their traveling for a few years.
Later we drove through Atherton, and the Atherton Tablelands
Granite Gorge
You can see Leanne in the distance - it's with a maze of walking tracks over the acres of massive granite boulders, and through National Park. The boulders were formed from volcanic activity which created a dramatic and chaotic path for the stream to meander through.
which has probably the best view you can imagine from behind a dashboard, and we got to Yungaburra.
The main attraction of Yungaburra is basically a giant curtain fig tree. It’s a bit overhyped to be honest.
Then back to Atherton and down to Malanda to see Malanda falls (a waterfall) which was huge.
Then on to Ravenshoe (Pronounced Ravensoe), which was the set used in the film Deliverance. Inbredsville. It was weird.
Rushing on we got to Millstream falls (another waterfall) and decided to camp there illegally (we’re so naughty). When we got to a carpark we saw two other caravans were doing exactly the same thing, so we chatted to them a bit, one of them, an older guy has a son that now lives in Sweden.
Mon 11th: Innot Hot Springs, waterfall circuit, Innisfail and Mission beach Got up at 6.30am to avoid park rangers. And drove down south somemore to Innot Hot Springs - a Geo-Thermal Natural Mineral Spring.
The dreamtime story is that a father and son went hunting, the father used to leave half the honey-bags behind for the gods, and one time the son stayed behind
Turks head point
At Granite Gorge and ate it. So naturally a rainbow serpent ate him, as they do. The father noticed his son was missing and saw the rainbow serpents trail so followed it, and cut it open. The son was free but the rainbow serpents fury was so great that it’s blood boiled as it washed into the water and so it’s remains hot to this day.
Basically there is a tiny crack in the earth’s crust which heats the water up. It’s bizarre because water can be at boiling point in one place, then less than a foot away it’s too cold to put your feet in. So we paddled around there for an hour or so. Then had a cuppa and flew off.
Then we hit the Waterfall Circuit, seeing Millaa Millaa, Zillie and Ellinja falls.
They were all excellent and spectacular to watch.
Next stop was Innisfail for McD’s again. It’s the only food that we can afford. Honest.
Got more Gasoline and shot southward in our Campervan to Mission beach. Stopping on our way for a forest walk of some description. Arriving finally at Mission beach camping ground (right opposite the Big 4 campsite). Unpowered site, but
Leanne feeding a Wallabie
They were very cute and let you feed them and stroke them. it had showers laundry etc. And we got a space about 50 metres from the sea. It was nice, but seriously Coconuts dropping from the trees were a major concern - with a $1500 insurance excess on the van.
Met loads of people, some Aussie woman had been to Sarawak (Malaysia) and seen a longhouse which had a giant basket full skulls in it from invading Japanese soldiers in WWII. Behind it is a giant poster of Diana.
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