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Lunch stop at Mission Beach - rude not to...
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A joint production. As in we both had input, not that we imbibed anything illegal...This feels a little like confession (not that either of us is Catholic but we have seen lots of movies with it in). Forgive me readers but it is 18 days since our last blog...
We left you in Port Douglas and an intent to head south which we have done, in a roundabout fashion. The days are certainly getting hotter and stickier and so we will continue heading south but, in the meantime, what have we been up to? Currently we are alongside in Bowen, a lovely little camp ground which is next to a dog friendly, off leash beach - although given the preponderance of warning signs for marine life that can, and will, kill we are a little hesitant of letting the Big D spend too much time in the water.
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Your dog is welcome to the beach... (as Dennis looks on forlornly)
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Bowen is the mango capital of somewhere. Maybe Australia, maybe just Queensland or Northern Queensland. Who knows? Town councils and tourist bodies like to create facts about themselves whether true or not. (I am monitoring the US elections, perhaps I am becoming a bit jaded regarding the nature of 'truth' and 'facts'.). Anyway, back to our travels. Having, very reluctantly, departed PD we ventured back to Cairns and the Crawford family who had packed up more boxes, pending their imminent departure, but who could still spend some time with us and so we a few cheeky beers at a local Brewery followed by a super sausage sizzle.
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At the McCalister Brewery. Dennis was most perturbed that he had to stay at the other side of the fence.
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You may recall we thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Atherton Tablelands and given it is so accessible from where Les and Julie live we decided to revisit. Fortune favoured as we happened to arrive in Mareeba on a Saturday and guess what happens on a Saturday? Yes, the drive-in movies are on and, even better, they allow campers to stay overnight after the film. Hurrah. Perhaps, in our Covid world, drive-in movies should make a reappearance? The pictures on offer were a little left field (Cool Runnings and Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid) but suffice to say, laying in bed, eating popcorn and watching films on a biggish screen that did not feature the frippery of the 21st century was lovely.
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Waiting for the filum...
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And what better way to enjoy the day after a movie than to go gin tasting and, even even better, to be able to camp at the gin distillery! Like we've said, the Atherton Tablelands truly is a gift that keeps on giving in the most delightful way. Australian Botanicals won us over and a purchase was made. I probably should have drunk more because the resident peacocks were VERY noisy and not exactly sleep inducing.
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Purchase made
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Peacock eyeing up the gin
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RV Retreat very much recommended but take ear defenders
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Unlike much of Australia, the Tablelands do have an abundance of water whether in lakes or crashing over waterfalls. Here is just a selection of the many watery marvels we witnessed:
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Our fab camping spot by Lake Tinaroo
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| And a rainbow too at Zillie Falls |
But the best was yet to come. During our travels many people had said to us that we needed to visit a place called Paronella Park and so, after dropping back down to the coastal region near Innisfail, we were able to spend a night at this most wondrous and bizarre location. Built in the 1930s it was the brainchild of Jose Paronella, a native of Barcelona, he emigrated to Australia with a dream to build his own castle or, as it turned out, castles. Words alone cannot describe how his vision became a reality so here are just a few pic's:
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| Everything was built from homemade concrete which, unfortunately, is not standing the test of time... |
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It was very hot and steamy, felt like we were on the set of an Indiana Jones film
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The waterfall and lake at night...we were a bit jumpy!
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He used local sand and rocks to make the concrete and old railway girders for the internal support
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From Paronella we joined the Bruce Highway (no, really)(I expect the Sheila Highway must be somewhere close) and piddled our way through more banana plantations, cane fields and, latterly, pineapple and mango plantations. It's fair to say it is a food bowl of Australia but it must be concerning to know their usual picker workforce of Backpackers will be in short supply in the seasons to come.
We nearly forgot to mention some BIG Things too....yep we are still hunting them down !
The first is a natural BIG Thing but worthy of note. A Curtain fig tree which was quite extraordinary ...and BIG!
Also the BIG Welly/Gumboot in Tully. Reputedly the wettest town in somewhere, maybe Australia, maybe just Queensland or Northern Queensland. Who knows? The town with the highest rainfall used to be awarded a Golden Gumboot. I am surmising with the advent of climate change they gave that up as a bad job. The best thing about this BIG Thing was being able to climb up inside it to the top and a viewing platform which looked over the town (the town was very quiet and closed as it was Sunday....who remembers that?!) The Gumboot also had a nice addition; a tree frog.
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You've gotta love the perspective...that's a MASSIVE welly!
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And we love a good information board
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The BIG Crab in Cardwell. We had hoped this might mean a gluttony of gorgeous crab meat; that would be a no then. Von, being a Cancerian, was very happy with the Crab though.
The BIG jetty in Lucinda. This jetty is over 5kms in length and has (almost) survived two cyclones and can take ships of up to 50,000 tonnes (that's a BIG ship)
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We could just about make out a ship being loaded at the end of the jetty
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And finally the BIG Snake in Ayr...not the Scottish one, obviously. Gubulla Munda is the Totem for the Juru tribe Birri-Gubba nation and represents sacred and cultural significance to the traditional owners of this land. Elders were buried here and, interestingly, this site now holds the remains of distant elders who had been returned from the UK.
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It's behind you!
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Well folks as they say "that's a wrap". This is what we have achieved in Queensland (in red) and where we are heading next (in green)...
It does leave me (Shazza) to say that I hope everyone in the UK is hunkered down with a full supply of food, drink, Netflix, wool, and, above all, a good sense of humour, kindness and love. YOU'VE GOT THIS...
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