Mareeba with John and Marion

Saturday 9 August

We packed and had breakfast then drove down the street to John and Marion's arriving by about 8:30am for a coffee.

Today was designated a domestic day after so long away for John and Marion at such short notice. We all hopped in their car, collected mail in Mareeba, then drove south to the Malanda Dairy Centre. As we had left the house we noticed there was a blackout. We found out it was across a huge area with radio coming from Mt Isa. By the time we got to the Dairy Centre power had been restored so we had an early lunch and a quick look at the diary museum before travelling further south towards Topaz and the Galaji Nature Conservancy of John and Marion's.

Their house is not quite finished but work had progressed significantly in the time they had been away. John and Marion spent some time being shown details by the builder and making decisions about where fittings and fixtures should go.

Back out to Atherton for some grocery shopping then home to cook dinner before rushing back to Atherton for a flamenco guitar recital by Andrew Vievers. His playing was fantastic and so energetic but the hall was freezing. The event gave John and Marion time to chat to friends who were all concerned about their well being.

Home to collapse into bed and warm up by 10:30pm. A very late night for us.

Sunday 10 August

After breakfast, a bit of washing and a long inspiring chat about Artist's Trading Cards, we all headed south again in heavy mist and rain through Atherton and Yungaburra to John Nott's house to deliver old newspaper and have a cuppa with his wife Peta. His house is just as incredible as I remember it from my 2001 visit and their Rose Gums Wilderness Retreat is a thriving eco holiday business with tree houses for the guests.

As the weather was incredibly wet and dismal we only made a quick stop at Lake Eacham then headed to Lake Barine where we had a delicious lunch at the tea room. We took the short walk in the rain to see two majestic Kauri Pines and marvelled at their magnificence.

On then to Yungaburra where we visited the Afghanistan Avenue of Honour, a very peaceful setting on the shores of Lake Tinnaroo commemorating those who had died on military duty in Afghanistan, one of whom was a local lad.

Our next stop was the platypus viewing platform at Yungaburra and we actually saw a platypus even though it was only mid afternoon.

On then into Malanda where Marion did a little more shopping. We then headed quickly onto Gallo's Dairy for our chocolate fix (not Kathy of course) for afternoon tea and to buy some locally made cheeses both for our travels and for our stay in Mareeba.

Home via Halloran's Hill for a view of the very misty countryside and home via Granite Gorge past some huge lumps of granite.

Once home we quickly got in damp washing and then caught up on our charging and documentation while John had a much-needed snooze and Marion caught up on emails.

We even had a possum show his face on the apex of the verandah roof just before dinner.

Monday 11 August

We both had a great solid sleep last night and woke ready for another busy day.

A slow start but we got going by about 9am and drove to the top of the Skyrail with a detour via the lookout half way down because we missed the turn off to Kuranda.

Kathy and I caught the Skyrail while John drove down to do some business at the bottom. Meanwhile Marion went to Atherton for an Art Society meeting.

The Skyrail trip was at times stunning and at others breathtaking. We got off at both stops and spent time doing the short boardwalks with fantastic views through the rainforest to the Barron River. Again the train was in at the station on the opposite side of the gorge.

At the bottom we had a coffee then rang John to collect us. He then took us to Holloway's Beach for a light lunch right at the beachfront.

On the way back up to Mareeba we took a detour to see the Cloheys River figs. After 8 kms and 3 creek corssings we found a 300m boardwalk that led us past an Orange Footed Scrub Fowl mound and a number of magnificently huge figs.

Back to Mareeba where we eventually found Marion and had coffee at the Coffee Works. I also bought a bag of dark chocolate dipped dried mango – it is delicious. I also bought a mozzie coil holder that looks effective.

John pointed out some fantastic looking chocolate “pizzas” that would make wonderful birthday or Christmas cakes. We also bought some Davidson Plum gelato for our dessert.

Back home to settle in for the evening.

Tuesday 12 August

Up earlyish and away by about 8am to drive through the crops of sugar cane, tea tree, failed Milletia, basil, limes and mangoes to the west of Mareeba. Our destination was Chillagoe where we had booked a cave tour.

We called at the Hub to collect our tickets then had an appauling cuppa at the pub before driving around to Trezkinn Cave.

The formations in the cave were quite stunning. There were a lot of stairs and even ladders but they were relatively easy to negotiate. Kathy and I were not even the slow ones in the group.

After our cave tour we met up with John and Marion again and drove further west to Mungana where we found The Archways caves that we could explore ourselves. We found a fabulous small cool cave to have our picnic lunch then went for a wander through the other caves in the complex. The feeling of being in such tall spaces made of rock was quite awesome. The limestone was weathered to quite rigid and extremely sharp knife edges. Apparently it is not the sort of rock you want to fall onto.

We visited the aboriginal art site close by then headed back into town for a visit to the craft shop that sold all sorts of things made of the local marble. I bought two polished marble chips that are wonderful to handle.

Off then for an ice cream before visiting the lookout over the old smelters. Then we had the long drove back to Mareeba (actually only about 1.5 hours).

We enjoyed dinner together but then all collapsed early as we'd had quite a long hot day.