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? 

Keith gets a bit Country on the way to Cardwell

Friday, April 13:  After filling Keith up just outside Bowen, we happily headed up the Bruce Highway....leaving the ill wind behind us.  And just as Danny had predicted,  ahead was a wonderful free camp site - RV FRIENDLY (that Sammy had heard about from other Nomads):  Bluewater Park just north of Townsville.  Lots of green grass, right next to the creek with toilets & taps.

And yes, the water is very blue!  Parked next to us, was Dirk (originally from Holland) who lives in his station wagon.  He was a very interesting chap who had lived for 10 years in Coober Pedy and various other places.  Then across the paddock, we saw a sign that said "Country Music" and wandered over to the community hall to see what was happening.
Danny spoke to any old guy setting up music equipment:
"Hi Mate.  We've just come from Bowen and - "  
"You're welcome.  Do you have a guitar?"
So after an hour or so we wandered over again, guitar and ukulele in hand, and sat down for $5 hamburgers & cheap drinks.
We were about 6th on the blackboard line-up which featured a variety of performers from the Thuringowa & Townsville club.   Dirk turned up in his black stovepipe jeans and cuban heels, and we did our 3 numbers and were asked for a 4th.  We stayed for most of the singers, then crossed the paddock for a peaceful night's sleep.


 


April 14:  In the morning we had a closer look at the creek, said Happy 50th Birthday to Dirk for the next day and then motored off to Cardwell.
The ocean front didn't look the same as remembered from 8 years before, but cyclones will do that to you. 
We  weren't planning on staying at a caravan park, but we needed to charge our phones and do some washing, so we picked a small one for $17 a night.  B grade is probably generous, but it had nice grass and was across the road from an IGA. 
Indigo enjoyed meeting "Junior"  a Mastif X (below) who was definately pleased to see her.
We liked the toilet signs:  Man & Lady written in electrical tape.
And I rang Bruce, from the Buoys B & B to see if we could start our HelpX stint earlier than we had anticiapted.  He said that was cool and we organised to go there on Monday.   

 April 15:  We managed to do three walks:
1.  Along the beach front to the mangroves and Danny found this cemented plague which states that it is an offence to remove it!  
2.  To the beach just a couple of streets from the van park to do some hula hooping.
3.  To the bottleshop at the beginning of town.  I've always liked seeing a man carry a whole carton of beer cradled in his arms.
We had our dinner, took our beers / wine and went and chatted to the English and Italian banana working backpackers.  We had already met one of the Italians who had been smoking a rather large 'cigarette'...
So although Cardwell didn't look like the lush, tropical town right on the highway that we remembered, we still had a fun couple days just hanging about in our C grade caravan park. 
The tree sculpture below  really brought home the impact that Yasi had on North Queensland over a year ago. 

Now we were heading for a place that copped it right in the guts by Larry then a couple of years later by Yasi.