Cairns at Last

Thursday, 21 June 2018

Morning mist

Kauri pine at Lake Barrine

Millaa Millaa Falls

Tea planation (part thereof)

Cuppa anyone?

Granulator

Drying machine

Woohoo

It was a very chilly start to Wednesday at Yungaburra, with the lake covered in mist and frost on exposed areas of ground.  Although very clear and sunny all day, the wind remained very cold.  We had been looking forward to a Devonshire tea at the Lake Barrine Teahouse and today was it!  The lake looked it usual beautiful self and although the verandah was in shade, it was sheltered from the wind and warm enough to sit outside (with our jackets on, of course!).  Unfortunately, the scones no longer lived up to their reputation were extremely crumbly and held together by the delicious plum jam and lashings of whipped cream.  More crumbs (and dark jam) made their way to my white trousers than actually into my mouth, which was rather annoying and extremely disappointing.  After a quick walk to check out the twin kauri pines, we decided on a drive to Millaa Millaa Falls, had a quick look at all the young bodies turning bright red in the sunshine and then stopped at the Nerada Tea Plantation.  We had a late lunch/early afternoon tea here, inspected the displays and viewed the drying room before returning to Yungaburra.

Thursday morning was time to hitch up again for the final leg into Cairns, only one and a half hours away.  Although a little warmer than the previous day, there was still a strong southerly wind.  The benefits of a good tail wind and flat countryside were soon apparent before we reached Mareeba – for the first time ever we were down to 13.5 litres per 100 kilometres while towing!  Traffic was quite heavy on the Kuranda Range and we were at the Big4 Crystal Cascades Caravan Park by 10.30am.

This caravan park was completely devastated by a flash flood in late March and only re-opened the caravan sites on the 1^st June, with the cabins still awaiting the approval of the insurance company.  Although it is possible to still see some of the damage, the park has recovered well and just waiting for some more tourists to arrive.

Setting up did take longer than normal, with a very friendly chap coming to visit and talk many times.  As we will be here for ten weeks, there is a little more to setting up than when on the road – the side and rear screens are now in place, the floor mat is down, the cupboard is up, the lighting works and what hasn’t been done today will happen tomorrow.