Back in Sydney

After taking Neil and Irene to the Cairns airport on Wednesday, Rose and I dropped off the motorhome and rented a car.  We then went back to Ellis Beach and spend the next three days at the cabin on the beach.  The sound of the ocean and the views were impressive.  The breeze off the ocean made it feel a little cooler even though it was 34 - 36C during the day.

Ellis Beach and Bon Voyage

After finding our RV campsite by the cabin at Ellis Beach we headed into Palm Cove about 5 km away and found a nice restaurant for our Valentine meal.  This was our last dining out together.  The next morning we were up early had a picture on the beach and headed for the airport in Cairns where Irene and Neil took the plane back Sydney.

Saying goodbye to Irene and Neil was hard as we have been living together in very close quarters for the last 5 weeks.  Everything worked out so well for us and now Rose and I will it find it very different on our own.

Irene and Neil flew from Cairns to Sydney and had one last night in Australia.  They made good use of the time by going back to Darling Harbour and found out Rod Stewart was having a concert there and at the last minute they managed to get tickets. We spoke to them by phone later that night and it sounded like they had a great tinme - what a way to end therre Australia trip.  Today they left at noon on the plane to Vancouver - another 15 hour flight.

Bananas, Mamgos, Coffee

On Tuesday Feb 14 we left the Atherton tablelands travelling though very good agriculutural land for bananas, mangos and coffee among many other crops.  This area is  extensiely irrigated from Lake Tinaroo - a man made lake created in the late 1950 very similar to Lake Diefenbaker in Saskatchewan.  Our impression is that this lake is used much more for irrigation than is done in Saskatchewan. Note the plastic bags or bunch covers as they are called. These cover the banana bunches to protect them from insects and disease. It takes 9 months to grow a banana. 

There are many mango trees and you can see the trees are loaded.  So we are surprised at the prices as the cheaspest we have seen mangos in the store is about $1.98 per mango which is not that much less than at home.

Of course we had to stop at a coffee plantattion so Irene could get her coffee fis.  The Jaques plantation we visited was started by the Jacques family who came from Tanzania in Africa. The plantation is near Mareeba which is known as the coffee capital of Australia as in this area is where 70% of the coffee in Australia is grown.  They now have 90 acres with about 90 000 coffee trees.  They were one of the first plantations to introduce a mechanical harvestor which they invented themselves.  See the picture and you will note the machine is very high as it must go over the plants which are 6 feet tall and rubber arms knock the ripe beans off the vines which then drop on the side conveyers. Something like a grain cart goes alongside the harvestor and coffee is then processed ending up in large 1000 lb bags.

The coffee beans grown in clusters as you can see from the green beans in the picture.  The beans turn red when they ripen.

While at the coffee plantation we came across a new boad game which is from Africa called Mankala.  Rose is learning the game.  Guess where you might see one of these games in the future??

In this area there are many large volcanic rocks and red soil.  The soil is very rich so that explains all the different plants that are grown here.  These large rocks are quite porous.

After leaving the coffee plantation we headed back for the coast which means going down the mountains to the costal plain.  The curves and switchbacks made for an interesting drive but the views were spectaculor.  

Once down on the coast we looked for our last RV park and this time we picked one at Ellis Beach which also has beach front bungalows so Don and Rose could spend a few more days here after Neil and Irene leave.  See the RV parked by the cabin.

Atherton Tablelands, Dairy Farms, Crater lakes

Left the ocean coastal regions and drove up the mountains onto what is called the tablelands.  It is only about 50 km from the coast but the climate is very different.  Not quite as hot and not nearly as humid.  Really a perfect climate for camping as hope you can see from our campsite.

Plants are still very tropical and lush as you can see.

Took a drive around the area on Sunday and you can see the beautiful countryside with vegetable crops

Many  dairy farms in the area and we stopped to visit one which happened to be during milking time - note cows on the rotating platform - can milk 42 at a time and notice another 150 lined up to be milked.  They were being sprayed down with water to both to keep them cool and keep the flies away. At this dairy farm - Gallo Dairy and Cheese they made cheese and chocoloate.

In this area there are two crater lakes caused by volcanic activity - these are small round lakes but very deep - 215 feet.  Many kids swimming in it but once you are 4 feet from shore you are over your head.

These lakes are in a tropical rainforest area so the flowers are something else.

In the area this is huge curtain fig tree.  A fig plant is really a parasite tree that grow on other trees and then shoot their roots down like a curtain.

We decided it was so nice in the Atherton area and the weather is just perfect that we were just going to laze around for a day at the campsite.  Spent time in the pool and generally did nothing all day.

This evening we went to a nearby pond where playtypus can be found.  We saw turtles but no playtypus - Neil and Irene did see one but jut for a minute. You can only see them at dusk as they are nocturnal animals.. Can you see one in the creek?

\Tommorrow - Tuesday Feb 14 - we are heading back to the coast and plan to spend our last night together at Ellis Beach near Palm cove.  We are planning a night out for Valentine's day. Wed am we are taking Neil and Irene to the airport in Cairns and they leave on a noon flight to back to Sydney.  They will spend one more night in Sydney and leave for home on Thursday.  Rose and I will stay at Ellis beach until Saturday when we will go back to Sydney.  My study tour role stars on Sunday and will go for two weeks.

Coral Reef, Sugar Cane and Rainforest

Spent the last three days looking around Port Douglas are.  From Cairns to Port Douglas we stopped a Palm Cove - known as Post cared picture area as you can see with the four people sitting onthe beach.

 Irene and Neil boarded a large boat to head for the Coral Reef. As you can see this is huge boat - 45 metres long -over double the length of Neil's farm shop - could seat 495 passengers.  They went out to the reef and spent the day - Neil snorkeling and helicopter ride over the reef. Irene took the submersible boat to see the coral and fish.  Rose and I decided not go as we had  to the reef before but after we heard about their day we wondered if we should have went again.

We stayed for 3 nights at a very nice campground. It was almost like having an entire resort to yourself as this was the off season.  You can see the pool and camp kitchen. Had to get share the space with  the geckos that run very fast.

Close to our campground there were sugar can farms and the campground manager had  farmer come over so we could learn about sugar cane farming in case Neil and Darren want to start growing cane in Harptree.  The farmer brought over cane and explained the whole process to us including how they plant and harvest, transport on farmer owned cane railway which goes to a farmer owned sugar mill.  You can see Neil tasting the raw can but after it goes through the process at the mill it comes out as brown sugar.

Spent Saturday at the Mossman Gorge in the Daintree National Park walking through the rainforest and swimming in the Mossman gorge river pool.  The pool was very refreshing after the walk.

Saw wild turkeys in the rainforest.

Enjoying but sweating in Cairns

Spent Sunday hoofing around Cairns Started with going to Church at the Cathedral which is supposed to be the church with the most stained glass windows in the world.  They have many of the same themes in their windows as in other churches but they have gone further to make them relevant to Australia Can you see the Kangaroo in the window.

Very tropical in Cairns as you can see from the palm trees along the sidewalk. In front of our hotel is a large shallow pool, called the lagoon, that borders the ocean beach front.

We then spent time in  the pool at the hotel - was a beautiful day and we pretty well had the whole pool to ourselves.

Then decided go out on the town for a good meal so we thought up a good reason.  Feb 5 was the date Don and Rose got engaged 43 years ago. We had a great seafood dinner at the Fish restarant. 

Was hard to leave our hotel - the Mantra on the Esplanade - was a perfect location since we did not have any wheels and could walk most places.

Monday morning we were off to pick up our RVand Irene and Rose wanted an afternoon at the Factory Outlet stores before we headed to the campground.  So Neil  and I loaded the RV with groceries.  Once the stores closed we headed for a campround about 15 kms  away and found a very beautiful tropical place.  Since this is the hotest time of the year, most Australiasn stay away from here so the campground is not very crowded as you can see.

Cooked up a meal of Prawns at the outside kitchens - Neil is the Prawn specialist. These kitchens are very complete with sinks, barbeques, fridges, all under a roof but you still outside.  These kitchens are very clean which we find hard to believe.  We can't understand the camping scene in Australia - so quiet, clean and beautiful fully equipped camp kitchens.

Spent Tuesday  taking a tour where we took an old train up a Mountain through a series of passes with 15 tunnels in the mountain range.  Ended up at a Town up in the Mountains where we found the Fitzpatrick Tavern.  The tropical plants even high up in the mountains - see the flower.

Then take the cable car down the mountains with some spectacular views.

Thee scenery is fantastic but the one thing we have not mentioned yet is that is is very hot and very humid.  So when we got back this afternoon we headed for our campground pool  and what a great pool it is.