Atherton Tablelands South and East

Heaps to see and do it Atherton so we (I) made a plan, a circular route today being back in time to watch the footy. We thought it was a public holiday today but it seems it is only in Victoria which is why my team as playing this afternoon.

We also did a couple of geo caches down the street, found one but not the other, interesting to do as they tell about the place more in depth and get around more. For instance we needed to walk up the street to do one and as we didnt need anything at the any of the shops we would not have gone otherwise, it was an interesting walk.

We then headed out to the Gallo Dairy, they did have a viewing area to see cheese made but we were either too early or too late but not too late to have scones, jam and cream for morning tea.

The cows were coming across the road when we came out, there were several hundred of them and as they had been in a paddock across the main road, they crossed through a tunnel then came up the rise. Most of them didnt like walking on the bitumen and like the one in the front would avoid the concrete preferring to walk on the dirt/grass.

Next to the Curtain Fig Tree, we had seen it when we had been here last but that was many years ago.

Now there is a board walk around it and it was pleasant walking in the rain forest.

On to Nerada tea plantation, even though we are not tea drinkers, they offered free factory viewing so we thought it would be interesting. The first thing we noticed as we drove in past the tea bushes, they all have a flat top unlike the ones in China. The other thing was the absence of people manually picking.

The machinery or some of it.

They pick 4000 tonnes in an hour  6 million kilos of tea leaves are processed each year resulting in 1.5 million kilos of black tea, which then is transported to Brisbane for packaging.

We did buy some tea, surprise surprise! and I am now enjoying a ginger and lemon tea.

Yungaburra, pizza and gems were next on the agenda. Neither of us were ready for lunch but I thought we could buy one to take back as apparently it was The place for pizza. We parked and walked to the Gem Gallery, where they had a jeweller on site. It is a family run business with both father and son practicing jewellers. They had lots of pearls, they go to buy in China and they also had Argylle diamonds from the West Coast. On display was a chocolate diamond which I had not seen or heard of before, we didn't buy anything there. Pizza place is closed on Monday's so will have to make lunch.

Shaylee strawberries was next port of call, it was a cafe advertising ice creams and yogurts but as it is for sale, I think they may be down sizing. There was no menu and no ice cream except to buy to take away. We bought some sorbet, fresh strawberries and Warren couldn't resist a couple of jams. We dont eat much jam but we have five jars now now all from here.  

 

A Change in Terrain

We left Mt Surprise this morning heading East to Atherton, It was a nice morning and we were dressed in shorts and T shirts as usual. The first eighty ks were pretty flat with low bushes and trees with lots of large rocks.

Then we started to have some hills, the foliage changed, much more and ferns, suddenly it seemed that we were going from hot dry rocky red ground to tropical with lots of green gras large trees and big ferns.

Still climbing and then we saw a wind farm haven't seen one of those since we were in southern Western Australian, then we realised that while we could see some of them, there were others that we could only see the shaft, the arms were in the cloud or fog.

The road was becoming very windy as well as narrower. I was glad that I wasnt driving.

Arrived and cooked lunch, as it was feeling a little cool. had to find a jumper and then just after lunch it started raining, haven't seen rain since late January. Big changes in terrain and temperatures and we only traveled two hundred kms.

Mt Surprise

What a great little place. We stayed at the Bedrock Village caravan park on wikicamps recommendation, thanks wikicamp people.

The population of Mt Surprise is 162 residents. There is a school, a police station, medical clinic, no staff but do have a visiting service. two m, two servos three caravan parks, a gem den plus a post office. The gem place is reasonably big and is for sale and the PO is tucked into one corner of that.

Bedrock Village was a small property that a couple bought and they intended to grow pumpkins, they were both working in the area at the time. They noticed all the caravans going past and had a brainwave to build a park.  They opened the following year with eight sites that was almost twenty years ago and they have progressed since then.

Now they have sites for about forty caravans, there are 36 cabins, a pool, a cafe, a bar that opens at night and they also run tours to the lava tubes, half and full day tours.There is a staff of eighteen during the holiday season from March to October. Three or four couples came back each year to work and they also employ backpackers and WWOOFers. (Willing Workers on Organic Farms)

Each site is drive through and has screening by trees and plants from other sites. I n keeping with the Bedrock theme and there are lots and lots of rocks around and big ones, the toilets are named Fred and Wilma and one unisex is Wilfred.

As people book in they are given a booklet with a map of the park, their starting story, emploees photo and a short profile of each and the tours that they offer, a nice touch. Cost was $28 a night

Fossicking

We bought a license yesterday so we could go and fossick. The area was about 45 kms from here with most of it on country (read gravel) roads.

The creek bed was dry with some patches of water, we selected a spot and walked down to it and then we heard voices. There was a young family just up the bed and he was about a metre down, they had obviously started much earlier than us. We went to say hello and of course find out if they had had any luck. He said that they had found a couple of small ones so they were there. "They" being topaz.

We wandered back to our first spot which was about one hundred metres from them. It was so quiet and still except for the birds.

Warren looking in hope.

Hum, that looks interesting.

We dug and sieved (read Warren dug)and ended up with a bucketful of stones that we will put into our tumbler when we get home.

I decided to drive home to give me more practice in the ute, not that I am intending to drive with the caravan in tow but it was quiet so I took the opportunity. Oops, there were two water crossings that I had forgotten about, this was one but it was solid underneath so no dramas at all.

The other issue were the cattle, big or fully grown no problems but the calves are more skittish and really they dont even know what direction they will take.

I put the GPS on to come back, dont know why but it said that it would take until 15.29 to get back to caravan park. We started at 11.29 am so four hours to do 45 kms, must have thought I was going to crawl along at 10 to 15 kpm. We had some photo stops and on to check out a spot in the paddock and we arrived back at 12.20 pm, silly GPS.

Undara Lava Tubes.

Warren has always wanted to see these and the caravan park where we are are very close and they run tours from here. I looked at the info and decided that it wasnt for me.

The volcano erupted about 20,000 years ago and made these tubes in the earth. It has been left in a fairly natural state and while people can walk in and through them, there are no steps only a rope to hold while going down into the chambers.

Thankfully Warren didnt try to persuade me and he did go without me. I had a nice morning at home, relaxing although I did do the washing and the housework, that takes such a looong time in a caravan.

The Gulflander

We took a train ride on the Gulflander. This is a short stretch of line between Normanton and Croydon, it is 97 miles and 27 yards long. It was built with the sole purpose to transport gold from the goldfields at Croydon to the port in Normanton. All the markers are done in miles, there is the nineteen mile camp and several others along the track there had been three other townships which have now gone.

The train has been running continuously for almost a hundred and twenty five years, they will celebrate the 125th birthday next month.We have thought that it was privately owned but no, it is part of Queensland Rail. We had the driver who also did the commentary and a guard on board, they are also the maintenance crew and it is rare that drivers and guards do the routine maintenance but that is a requirement of the job that they need to be skilled in both areas.

The web site says that it runs once a week but due to demand, they also run shorter trips on other days.

It was a five hour trip to Croydon with a stop to deliver mail at a property station on the way out of town.

Unfortunately I missed the letter box which was a 44 gallon drum was remodeled to look like a train.

This was the inside of our carriage, we were in the last one of three, that day there were 77 on board and it can hold 100. The seats on the left were bigger and suitable for three and the right hand side for two. There was a toilet in each carriage as well as water and cups.

Morning tea was taken at Black Bull Siding, when we paid for the ticket we were given an enamel mug with a picture of the train, these were to be used for tea or coffee and every one also got a muffin.

It was a slow rolling ride top speed was about 35kpm and most times didnt do that. The options were ride one day, stay overnight and go back on the train the following day, catch the Cairns bus back to Normanton. There was even a shared arrangement which one couple took up and that was one ticket, one ride and the other drive to the morning tea spot and then they could swap over. We ride the train and caught the bus, the bus took an hour and a half.

Cost of the trip was $34.50 on the train and $33 each on the bus, half price for OF's (old farts as Warren likes to refer to ourselves). It was interesting to learn that the train line hasn't made a profit since 1907, but they keep it going as a tourist attraction.As far as we could work out, there are nine people employed in and around the station, driver and guard, station master, gardener and a ganger and four fettlers (The last keep the line in good repair.

Normanton township

Sign coming into town says "Our population is small but we love them all, please drive carefully" I think the population was 300.

There are three pubs in

town which seems a bit of overkill, a big purple one where we had to turn to go to our caravan park, there are two. So the story goes Neville Shute came here and stayed at the Purple pub (National Pub)when he was gathering information when he was writing his famous "A Town Like Alice" (if you havent read it, its a good read).

There was street parade tonight getting ready for the rodeo which starts tomorrow.

Down the street is a huge croc that had been shot by a croc hunter, it was eight and half metres long.