Hello Roadtrains on the long awaited Savannah Way

June 25 & 26: 
We took 2 days to travel from Malanda to Karumba on the Savannah Way.
Had a picnic lunch at Mt Surprise, then stopped for the night at the Midway Caravan Park in Georgetown, where Inidgo made friends with Pauline pictured left. 
We walked down the road to the local pub for dinner:  Danny had the snags and I had crumbed fish that tasted like fish fingers.  Who cares when you are tired and hungry but eh?


The next day we stopped off at a historical chimney left over from...who knows what. Then we passed through Croydon, with another nice old pub.
We tried to camp at at Wal's Camp near the Norman River, but it was booked out, so we just stopped on the bumpy access road for lunch.
Looked like croc territory to Danny, so we got the hell out soon after.
We fueled up at Normanton, but it didn't look like the sort of place we wanted to stay at. 

We came across a few road trains and Danny did the right thing and slowed down and got off the road to let them pass.  Sometimes the road was only 1 vehicle wide, with red dirt on either side.
We arrived at Karumba in the afternoon and booked into the Gulf Country Caravan Park.
But Sammy was not happy.

Was coming to Karumba a big mistake?

Keith's 1st Swap Meet & WWOOF at Malanda

 Saturday June 16-Monday 25:  After a free camp o/night in Malanda opp the Lion's Park and dinner at the RSL, we went to Atherton for a Car Show & Swap Meet. 
Got a good park and sold some stuff we had brought and stuff we had bought along the way.

In the arvo, as arranged, we went back to Malanda for our first W.W.O.O.F.I.N.G (Willing Workers on Organic Farms)  with the Watkin Family. 
Well, right from the start, we felt at home and despite the fact that I know they will read this, I must say they were the most laid back, friendly hosts with 2 very agreeable children!  During the week, we  learnt many knew things:  Aaron showed Danny how to drive the tractor, bob cat and slasher and Austin gave me some pointers on the 4-wheeler which I took up to the corn mulch with trailer on.  Sue and I spent some quality time weeding the Irises and I gave Cloe some pointers on the hula hoop.  

 The farm consisted of chickens, 2 geese, quails, parrots & a pidgen, 2 dogs, a geriatric cat & horse and some cattle.
Did I mention the food?  Very good and lots of it AND dessert!
Indigo also had a rippin' time, playing with their large Labrador, Fudge (Minnie the Cattle x wasn't so interested...)

We finished the week with a trip to the Yungaburra Markets (thanks Sue's mum, Glen for the best orange cake ever) and a celebratory dinner at the 101 yr old Malanda Pub. 
Monday, Danny received a part from Melbourne to fix Keith's speedometer which hasn't worked since 
Hull Heads a couple of months ago.  Then we said our goodbyes and once again, hit the (back) road...



Thanks again Watkin Family for a wonderful WWOOFING experience.  
We will be back!

Here Comes The Sun

June 2 - 13:  Saturday we ventured to Herberton and checked out the Crater and Dinner Falls & town surrounds.  The weather was still overcast, but on Sunday...the sun came out.  And stayed out!  We went to Tolga markets (just past Atherton) and then Malanda Falls.

Monday it was back to Malanda to shoot some footage and interview the mechanic, Vince Seres for a short docomentary film.   He's 95 and still goes in everyday to potter around.  His eyesight is no good, but he  knows where everything is.
Tuesday we went down towards Innisfail, through Sth Johnson to "Paronella Park" at Mena.  It's not cheap, but an amazing property built "for the people" by a Spanish man with castle-like buildings (originnally restaurant, balllroom, displays), steep staircases and rainforest grounds.
Afterwards, we had lunch at the Mena pub, parking outside a cute old church.

 The rest of the week we got some practical stuff done: new tracky dacks and flanno for me and a big dongle so I can do me bloggin when I choose!
Also popped into the Eacham Historical Society to pick up some photos for our doco and get a bit more history on Seres Motors, Vince's business.

This week, we've been hanging out in Millaa and on the property:  haircut for me and staring to clean up Keith, the yard and pack for our departure Friday arvo.
Oh, and Danny got a good look at one of the platypus in the dam next door.



Thanks to Gil for the opportunity (and car!) and farewell to all the furry & feathered friends, especially Fuggles, Budge & Bonnie.  It's been an interesting house sit (4 weeks all up) and we have fallen in love with the area.

So...next week:  we have decided to stick around and do some W.O.O.F.I.N.G. 20mins away, near Malanda.

 

Misty Mountains: Rain & Mud

 
Friday 18:  We hung at in Atherton for a few hours - checking out the op shops and exploring the back streets...



3pm and it was time to meet up with Gil, the owner of our house sitting property at Millaa Millaa.
Fantastic views through the mist and lots of animals to take care of:  3 dogs, 3 cats, 13 chickens and 5 ducks.

 May 19 - 27:  Due to the bad weather, we spent most of the week indoors: watching dvd's, playing a bit of music and watching the critters play in the mud.  We did a couple of day trips to Millaa Millaa which has a good little museum and Malanda which is only 20mins down the road.

We met an old mechanic, Vince Seres who showed us round his shed.
We also popped into Millaa Millaa Falls which is only 5mins from where we are staying.
Wednesday one of the b/w chickens went missing after Indigo mauled it and Friday when we got back from a trip, the other b/w chicken was laying plucked and nearly dead.  Danny had to put it out of it's misery.  We were angry and shocked - we didn't think Indigo would do that.

On Saturday, my sister Lissie and her husband Buzzy came up from Cairns for a 21st.  They made us feel a lot better about the whole chicken episode, she's a dog after all. (and the first missing chicken actually came back!)
So that night, we all went off to Butcher's Creek Hall and had a few for the young friend of my nephew.

Sunday, we said goodbye to my family and went off through the mist to Ravenshoe, the highest town in Qld!  The markets were on and the train was at the station.

 May 28 - June 1:   The sun came out on Monday, but that was it for most of the week.  Danny and I explored the rainforest at the bottom of next door's paddock and the old cattle yard at the bottom of the road. 

Thursday, Keith went to Atherton to get a much needed wheel alighnment.
The weather was still not great on Friday, so we just went to the Library at Millaa - very friendly staff and made me a cup of coffee while I did my internet stuff.
It had been an interesting and a bit depressing couple of weeks with the mist and rain keeping us mostly indoors. 

The locals say that Millaa Millaa has it's own weather...so were we going to see some sunshine in the next two weeks? 

Big Boulders

May 16:  So we decided to move on from windy Cooktown and drove back down the highway. 
We stopped for the night at Rocky Creek, a free camp site just south of Mareeba. 

May 17:  We finally got Keith's 12 volt issues fixed properly and now the cigarette lighter sockets all work and we don't have to disconnect the battery terminal to stop the battery from running flat. 
Mareeba was not a very salubrious town and we decided to camp at Granite Gorge Nature Park about 20km away.   

We had a little explore of the boulders that arvo, before cooking our dinner on the fire pigs provided. 
 
May 18:  Danny and Indigo got up early to watch the sunrise.



Then we did the big walk - climbing and jumping to the next boulder.   Indigo stayed at camp as there was lots of wallabies along the way who didn't want to play with her.

 The wallabies were fat and friendly from all the tourist tit-bits they regularly get fed. 

We packed up our camp and it was time to head off to Atherton.