Our next stop Malanda was wonderful and we made full use of their Bakery with Ella opting for the pastrami roll to avoid the usual cheese and bacon roll that the other two had. Malanda was one of the few towns we have come across with caravan parking, which is a big deal when you have a 40 foot rig. On to Nerada Tea Plantation, where I missed a turn and sent Thea on a navigational frenzy which resulted in her guiding me on the dirt back roads to get us to our destination. Good practice for the weeks ahead as we leave the coast and take on the dirt roads of outback Queensland and NT.
Overnight in Atherton and running repairs to the awning before finding the sunniest town in Queensland, Mareeba, 300 sunny days a year and today was no exception and it was great. A quick stop at the not so kid friendly Coffee Works in town where every hippie nick nack was on sale and all at kid height, combined with loads of people meant it was not a place to hang around long with kids, just long enough to sample their excellent chocolate.
Mareeba is the coffee capital of Australia so to ensure we (I) enjoyed a cup or two it was off to Skybury, which was 9 kms out of town. It was our sort of place. A large timber building, not too fancy but with views forever and a huge inviting deck to enjoy coffee, which became lunch and we could have stayed all day. They had a pet cockatoo, which provided much entertainment for the kids. We dragged ourselves away to head to Cairns and back into the rain, which was thankfully short lived. The drive into Cairns from the Atherton Tablelands is very scenic with a lovely lookout on the windey road down from Kuranda.
We have a couple of days to relax in Cairns. Although with so much to do and see there will probably not be much relaxing.
Until next time.
Tig
No comments:
Post a Comment