Almost Done

Tuesday morning, and once again rain and wet tarmac in the Sunshine State! Undaunted we headed off to the Tablelands in the ute to start making the most of my last few days. Despite doing so much over the last four weeks the time has flown by, and it’s hard to believe this trip is coming to an end. But before it does…

We headed south towards Cairns, and stopped first at Yorkys Knob. Feel free to insert your own jokes. The idea was to get breakfast, but the restaurant was shut with no indication when it might reopen, so we carried on to Kuranda where we had a crepe. Correct spelling! Still filled with egg and bacon though. I also managed to get a last present.

Then on to Mareeba for it’s excellent deli, before a longer stop at Mt Uncle Distillery for a look around and a tasting session. They make a range of gin and rum, an excellent whisky and a blue agave spirit that they’re not allowed to call tequila. Once again I can recommend a visit if you’re ever in Walkamin, and if you want to stay longer they have a camp site and also live music the first Saturday of every month. Even better than a p*ss-up in a brewery!

We stopped another couple of times at Tinaroo Dam, a man made reservoir which supplies a number of townships and a hydro electric generating station, and Mabi Forest where we saw the massive curtain fig tree. There’s pictures below which will tell you more than I can.

From there it was on to Yungaburra, where we visited the platypus viewing platform. We didn’t see any so went to the Yungaburra Hotel for a beer instead.  It was built in 1910 and has photographs around the walls charting its history from its early saw milling days. It was previously known as the Lake Meacham hotel, and the nearby lake was our next stop. The water’s crystal clear, and you’re welcome to swim in it, although we just had a walk round. A freshwater crocodile lives in the lake but we didn’t see it.

Then it was homeward bound, calling at Dan Murphy’s on the way for essential supplies, which included a bottle of Monkey Shoulder so Kerry and Conor could test their new whisky tumblers.

A delicious tea of home-made parmies - chicken parmigiana – followed by a couple of whiskies and some ‘Long Way Round’ and I was ready for my bed after another full and great day.

On Wednesday I was up early to get my washing in and tidy my beard up before we took the bikes down to Hartleys Crocodile Adventures, which  is a 10-hectare wildlife sanctuary and ecotourism park located between Cairns and Port Douglas at Wangetti. The admission price included a croc-spotting boat ride on their lagoon and a number of presentations such as crocodile feeding (saltwater and freshwater), a snake show (including the world’s most venomous snake the inland taipan) and a crocodile attack show. In between the presentations there’s plenty to see as you walk round the sanctuary, including kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, emus and various other exotic birds.

There’s also a very good restaurant, where we got a selection of crocodile-meat dishes to share which we ate on the deck overlooking the lagoon. It was only after we’d finished that I saw a crocodile directly underneath us in the water.  I think it’s fair to say it’s the first time I’ve eaten a meal four feet from a saltwater croc!

There’s plenty of pictures below to give some idea of the day.

We’d been invited over for a barbie at Robyn and Andrew’s house, along with James and Emma. It was a really good evening, with plenty of food, drink and good company. I saw a picture of Andrew’s new bike, which arrives next week, and I look forward to being able to ride with him next time I’m here.

A couple of whiskies back at home, and I slept well before my last full day in Australia.

Pictures show my new hat, peaccock and old vehicles at the distillery, Tinaroo Dam sign, Curtain Fig Tree, Us on the bikes on the way to Hartleys, various crocodile-themed pictures from our day.