Today we had a lazy day “at home”. Between us, spent time on computers, reading, writing, embroidery.
I cooked a roast chook dinner with the usual vegies and gravy.
The day was, like yesterday, stormy. It does not get cold, but the humidity does build up before the storms.
This is our 300th day as nomads!
We did a food shop in the morning, and bought paper.
Went to bowls in the afternoon, where we played in separate teams. I thought I played quite adequately, for once. As second-best scorers, my team won some sweep tickets for the Melbourne Cup.
There was much thunder, lightning and heavy rain through the afternoon. The Bowls Club has the roof, of course, so play continued regardless.
Tea was vegetarian sang choy bau.
We had to get up really early for our trip to Cairns, and left at 6.45am. Got Truck to Trinity Motors by 8.15am. Then we had the whole day to fill in – and without wheels.
We walked to the GPO, by which time it was open. Posted John’s big letters – cost $10.
More walking, to pick up my photos. Then we just wandered about for a while. Sat and had a coffee – a fairly rare treat for us. Eventually had lunch at the Cairns Central food hall, buying Chinese style food. In the very humid heat of the day in Cairns, the air conditioned shopping centre was an appealing place.
John takes any chance he can to go to the cinema, so we occupied the afternoon seeing “Armageddon”. I found it too far-fetched, and a bit ho-hum.
Truck was ready when we went back to the service centre at 5.30pm. They have replaced the shock absorbers and also done quite a bit of work on the suspension and wheel areas. It did not surprise us that this work needed doing, after the Cape trip! But it was very nice to have it done for free!
We purchased an Extended Warranty on Truck. This cost us nearly $700, but will cover us for another 50,000kms. Given our plans, this seems a prudent investment.
We have a few popped spot welds on the roof of Truck – from the stresses and strains of the Cape, we suspect. Maybe aluminum panels allow this to happen? These must be inspected by a man from Brisbane before Landrover will cover the repairs. We will organize that when we are closer to Brisbane, whenever that may be.
Trinity Motors do a good job, but they can’t seem to find the phantom leak we’ve always had – that sometimes drips onto my feet when it rains.
We got back to Atherton about 7.30pm. It is a very attractive drive back up from Cairns, through the forest of the Range, and then the farmlands of the Tablelands.
Fish and chips for tea.
THURSDAY 29 OCTOBER ATHERTON
A really pleasant day today – not too hot and humid.
The caravan park is really emptying out now. When we arrived, there were half a dozen vans in this part of the park. Today, there is only one other, apart from us.
I cycled to the shops for bread rolls and a paper, while John worked on finalizing big letters he has written for various people. This involved getting the printer out from under the bed, setting it up and printing off copies of his letter. It tends to become rather a major production, occupying most of the flat surfaces in the van!
When I got back from the shops, occupied myself by starting to clean the inside of Truck – fairly superficially, because I didn’t unpack the back seat contents. But swept and dusted surfaces and cleaned out the parcel shelf across the front. We have, as usual, picked up a fair quantity of red dust from our recent travels. Whatever the virtues of Defenders, being dust proof is not one of them!
After lunch, John went to bowls. He had an average sort of game.
I cycled back to the shops, posted some letters I’d written, and bought a Powerball entry. That took my kms cycled today up to 9.5.
When John got back from bowls, I finished off my Truck cleaning by putting Armorall on the vinyl surfaces inside.
Tea was sausages and vegetables.
Set out after breakfast to go for a drive.
Refuelled in Atherton. Diesel is down to 68 cpl now that we are closer to the coast.
Went to Tolga, which is only about 8kms north of here. In the tourist information, we’d seen that there was a woodwork gallery there that looked worth visiting. It contained some superb items, ranging from furniture down to smaller bowls and carvings. They featured Australian timbers – mostly local – of course. We browsed for ages and John got lots of ideas for future woodwork.
From Tolga took the road up to Bones Knob Lookout, just to the west. Bones Knob is a shield volcanic cones, which means it is not all that high above the surrounding country, but enough to show us the farming country to the north and east, that demonstrates how fertile this area is.
The fertile Tablelands from Bones Knob Lookout
From there, went back through Atherton and south west to Herberton, with a view to continuing from there in a big loop. But Truck started making a strange noise and the temperature gauge was a little higher than usual, so we just did a quick drive through the township then retraced our way.
There was a big storm building through the past couple of hours, and some lightning must have hit fairly close to us, as we drove back. There was a huge bang. We both jumped in fright.
By the time we got back to the van there was a great storm happening, with good rain for a few hours. It really cooled things down again.
We drove 62kms today.
Tea was beef and black bean stir fry, and rice.
Today was the hottest since we have been here.
We had a lazy day – computing, sewing, reading, but did venture out to the shops for a paper and to buy a few groceries.
In the later afternoon, I had a swim. The pool is as lovely as it looks, and I had it all to myself.
Given that Truck goes to Cairns on Friday, and there is still a lot of sightseeing to do around this area, we have extended our stay here for another week.
I made vicchysoisse – fancied a chilled soup – to be followed by fried rice, for tea.
We did not get up particularly early, but had planned to drive to Cairns today, as there were a whole lot of odds and ends to do.
We drove via Mareeba and Kuranda. It took us 75 minutes – one of the things we had wanted to do was time this trip, without the van on, for when we have to take Truck down there in an early morning, for its service. John had phoned Trinity Motors on Friday, after we got here; they cannot fit Truck in until Friday.
At Tandy and Dick Smith, we bought a weather station, printer ink refills and paper. I had a lovely long browse in my favourite craft shop, and bought a book on hardanger. Went to the book exchange and spent $15 stocking up, after I’d returned my surplus.
We hadn’t planned to buy the weather station, but after recent experiences, and wondering how hot some days did get, it seemed as if it would be an interesting addition to the gear in the van.
I put my films from the trip west in for processing – will collect them on Friday.
Checked at the Cairns PO – there was a letter from RH, our computing friend.
Went to the Outdoor Centre to look for foam to go under the cushions on the van seats, to make them feel less hard on our rear ends. We will have to measure for what we need – why didn’t we think of that first?
Bought some lunch and ate it whilst walking around the Pier area where it was a bit cooler. Cairns felt like being in a sauna! It is amazing how much more oppressive it has become in just a couple of weeks.
It was good to drive back up the range – could feel it getting cooler as we went.
Collected our mail from the Atherton PO. There were letters from both K and V – lovely. There was also the mobile phone bill, which was not so lovely. We must cut down its use – drastically!
Tea was cold roast lamb and salads.
Having experienced the differences in temperature today, we are very happy that we chose to stay up on the Tableland and not return to Cairns.
After dark, there was a little bandicoot, foraging around outside the van. We have a light on a pole not far from the van and it was under that. Do bandicoots eat dead insects? I thought they dug up plant roots. Maybe it just wanted to see what it was doing?
Our little bandicoot visitor
After breakfast, John and I walked into town, for exercise, and bought a Sunday paper.
We mostly just had a lazy day – computing, reading, sewing. I wrote some postcards and we drove to the PO to put them in a mailbox.
I cooked a roast for dinner – it seems more appropriate now that it is cooler. Lamb, with vegies.
Phoned K to update him.
I got up fairly early, after the long and solid sleep last night. I walked into town to get the paper – about 2.5kms each way, so it was a decent exercise to start the day. Pleasant walking too, mostly on footpaths. I also bought rolls for lunch.
John had a good sleep in.
After lunch, it was off to bowls. They have a synthetic green, under a large roof. This seems a smart idea, in an area prone to heavy rain. Certainly makes it more pleasant, bowling out of the direct sun.
The roofed bowling greens at Atherton
I was reasonably happy with the game I played, as was John with his. The club people seem very friendly. The after game beers are cheap, as are the raffle tickets one is expected to buy. So it was an enjoyable enough afternoon. I am appreciating being away from the extreme heat we’d started to get, at Forsayth.
Tea was sausages, bread and salad.
Got ourselves up at 6.30am. Managed a quick and efficient pack up and were on our way at 7.40. The heat is an efficient motivator! We wanted to get the bulk of today’s travel completed before the worst of the day’s heat. We were retracing the way we’d come from Cairns, just over two weeks ago, so knew what the trip would be like.
After the experience on the way here, I took extra care in packing the inside of the van.
We stopped in Georgetown at 8.10, to put the weight distribution bars on. Reached Mt Surprise at 9.40, so we were not dawdling! Bought fuel there – still 76cpl. Also bought a cold can of soft drink each.
John seemed quite relaxed with the van towing, and was doing 100kmh in parts between Forty Mile Scrub and Ravenshoe. Even the steep, hilly, winding sections between Ravenshoe and Atherton did not seem to have him at all concerned. So I find that I am not getting so tense on towing days. It is all good practice, and we really are getting better at this travel with the van. Though I find 100kmh seems a bit too fast, with the van on!
Noticed a definite greening of the grass and trees, after Mt Surprise, from the recent rains.
The roads are still fine for travel, though there were some sloppy patches in the red dirt of the shoulders, in places.
Went into the Woodlands Caravan Park in Atherton. This looks very pleasant and we envisage staying for at least a week. It is costing $15 a night, but with the seventh night free, so we are still under the accommodation amount budgeted for.
There is a lot of lush, tropical vegetation around, so the park has quite a “bushy” atmosphere. There is a lovely looking pool, too. The park has a few permanently roofed shelters for vans – I guess for those who are here in the wet season. Our site has a cement annexe slab, which will be good if it rains, as is likely.
Set up, then had a very late lunch at 3pm.
Drove to the shopping centre to stock up on fresh foods. Atherton has quite an adequate range of shops. We bought $66 worth of groceries, some beer and wine, a $12 hat for John as he’s mislaid his everyday one. Collected a new supply of his Cartia aspirin from a chemist. To newsagent for a card for John’s niece’s wedding; I bought a caravan magazine that had a photo of the latest Trakmaster on the front cover – and a big feature coverage inside. It has air bag suspension. Seems like the brand is rapidly gaining a substantial reputation – which pleases us as it is always flattering to have one’s choices validated!
John was very anxious to check out what games were on offer at the Bowls Club – of course! He arranged for us to play on Saturday. I have really enjoyed my break from bowls obligations, but here we go again! I must study up on walks around Atherton……
The green all round the place is a refreshing change after the dry browns and bare ground where we have been.
Our Atherton camp site – back in green country
Bought fish and chips for tea, being Friday. They were very nice.
The TV reception here is excellent, which pleases John no end, after his frustration with the services inland.
I got really tired part way through watching “Morse” on TV and went to bed.
It is very pleasant to feel cool again! We needed a sheet to sleep under…….
This Adventurous Age 