Saturday 5th October

For the first time I'm writing the blog, so be prepared for something rather less witty than usual.



I always get my frog.

Today, we decided we’d better make use of the car we're still renting and have a look at the country around here and what amazing country it is. Heading off towards Kuranda again we drove along what we thought must be the bendiest road in Queensland (but we were wrong). We seemed to turn back on ourselves over and over again and the Sat Nav was going crazy.  We were heading for the Atherton Tablelands and the Historic Village of Herberton.



Sat Nav in meltdown mode.

Somewhat disorientated by all the twists and turns we decided to stop for coffee at a coffee plantation in Mareeba called, of course, Coffee Works! It was great coffee and we were surrounded by the biggest collection of Hippie artefacts I've seen since the sixties! When we discovered they had a chocolate section too we were in seventh heaven. A small bag of chocolate gingers that cost almost ten dollars (that's about £6.50 in English money!!) was consumed before we even left the store. Mareeba itself was disappointing - just a few (quite interesting looking) shops along a wide road but as he's now in sole charge of driving there was no stopping.





Looks like an authentic village but
Herberton is a sham.

We arrived at the historic village in no time through some countryside that could have been Sussex if you didn't examine the trees too closely and ignored the kangaroo warnings! The village itself was all a bit of a fraud as the buildings had been brought together from all over the area and reassembled in one place. It was kitch, but it worked and we had a happy time examining everything and (in my case) striking silly poses in the various settings.
We had lunch in the cafe there over looking an almost dry creek which we then crossed via a shaky wooden suspension bridge to see a 'bush camp'.  Had we realised earlier, we could have had lunch there with stew (variety unspecified), damper (bread) and billy tea. Never mind - maybe next time. 



It was then time to head back to Atherton, the unofficial capital of the tablelands, because I wanted to see the Crystal Caves. We both expected a genuine gemstone mine but it was another artificial creation, a man-made cave stuffed with imported crystals from South America. Unsurprisingly, it also had a shop attached. Not impressed, Ray harrumphed and took himself outside to sit in the shade. I had a happy half hour examining the bling (and buying a bit too).

After that Ray'd had about enough and so we decided to head home via an alternative route – the Gillies Highway. And that's when we started to see some amazing and beautiful things.  Driving through some stunning countryside we saw a sign for the “Curtain Fig Tree” and although it was a short detour off the main road we went for it and I'm so glad we did. 

Curtain fog tree. The picture really doesn't capture the scale and
 peaceful atmosphere.

The Forestry Department have built a wooden walkway right around this ancient tree, which is sacred to the indigenous people, and we just marvelled at this huge thing created by nature and looking like something created in James Cameron's Pandora. Breathtaking. The photo can't really give you an idea of the scale but believe me, it was huge!

We carried on and I spotted a sign for a tea-room beside a lake. Ray took a bit of persuasion to turn off the main road again but we parked up and whilst he went to the loo I made friends with a wild turkey (nowhere near fat enough for Christmas).

Apologies to the newlyweds (whoever they were) for
this intrusion but what a great spot to get married.

We’d found ourselves at Lake Barrine, a magical freshwater lake in the middle of the rainforest. We weren’t the only ones who thought it was magical as a wedding was taking place at the side of the lake beside the tearooms. The celebrant was using a microphone so we cold hear them make their vows and be pronounced “man and wife”. I hope they’ll be very happy together – they should certainly have wonderful memories of their special day.

Remember I said we thought we’d been on the windiest road in Queensland? We hadn’t. The Gilles Highway – our alternative road back – must surely bear that distinction. As Wikipedia puts it “The Gillies Highway … Famous for its 263 corners, and 800m elevation change in only 19 km of road.” Gulp. And those corners weren’t just corners; some of them were more than 180 degree turns!

By the time we got back down onto the flat and joined the Bruce Highway, Ray was ready for a drink so we stopped in town for a beer before heading home where I cooked up a bbq on the balcony. After that we both flopped in front of the telly and watched “Gnomeo and Juliet” – sad old gits, aren’t we?