As I start this, the sun is low in the sky, shining through the rain splattered windows. The few showers of the afternoon have freshened everything up, but not so much as to announce the beginning of the Wet here in Far North Queensland.
Our camp for the night is a large open area set aside as a memorial to the hospital bases for the Australian troops during World War II. At least 60,000 soldiers were treated here or close by in the numerous field hospitals and military bases located on the Atherton Tablelands. In fact troops numbering between 200,000 and 300,000 were stationed here at some time during the time of the Pacific war theatre. I have yet to learn for sure, but would suspect that this whole fertile area of the country was enormously important for providing fresh fruit and vegetables to the invalids and their support personnel.
We are delighted to be back here in Australia, the land of adventure and opportunity (probably no more than New Zealand) but also the land of warmth and less rain. We spent a month in New Zealand attending to business matters and catching up with our family. A month however is only long enough to touch base with those few in the short spaces of time they have available, because unlike us, they are still so busy working and bringing up children with all the demands and restrictions that entails.
I have moaned to myself about the cold wet weather in New Zealand and blamed the unwellness that hampered my enjoyment on the inclement days. This is actually quite unfair, because it was after all September and we enjoyed warm sunny days in the first week of our trip. And in those first sunny days we were fortunate to have the opportunity to participate in the grand opening for the Rugby World Cup which is still in progress. The afternoon of that ceremony we found a park for our motorhome within walking distance of the Auckland waterfront and wandered along through the growing crowds, the incredibly festive air and delighted with the bright decoration of the many flags announcing the competing teams. I had thought Australia enormously festive and patriotic around Australia Day and the months thereafter, however New Zealand, while not normally so, is giving Australia a run for the money this month. We have since enjoyed watching several of the qualifying games on television and are hopeful that the quarter finals and those through to the final will be televised free to air here in Australia, this land that prefers League and Aussie Rules.
We spent much of that month discovering little treasures we had stored away and relearning living in our motorhome. On returning here, we have had to do the same and in the process had a few surprises. Those come of having aging memories, in many ways a bonus.
One of our first tasks was to call at the supermarket and re-provision our perishable food stocks. Chris helpfully suggested that the list should include all those stocks we kept normally in the fridge; an obvious starting point. However when we arrived back to the caravan with a lighter pocket and heavier shopping bags and started to store everything away, I found that I had carefully wrapped bottles and jars of condiments in plastic food wrap, then stood them in a bed of talcum powder in a square bucket to deter ants and the like. This was all carefully tucked away out of sight, hence had slipped my examination and memory. We now have barbeque sauce, sweet chilli sauce and the like to do us through until at least the end of next year!
Apart from recovering from the horrors of our Jetstar direct flight, we had to attend to a few maintenance matters before considering venturing on. The air conditioner in the caravan had given up the ghost before we left so before we returned we had identified the agent for the correct make and contacted them with a view to having them look at the problem. Chris was sure that the fault lay in the control panel and told the technician when we arrived. They had other ideas and so dismantled the whole mechanism on the roof without success and finally came to the conclusion that the fault lay in the control panel. This was duly replaced and we were out of the workshop within two hours, the work and parts all covered under warranty.
The second problem related to the UHF radio that had not functioned since the aerial nearly fell off when we hit the corrugations heading north toward Cape York. Chris had tightened nuts and taped up the connections so that the further torture did not do any more damage. The young chap at Austek Communications in Cairns took off the tape, fiddled a bit, tried the radio and found that there was nothing wrong. Very odd! No charge he said, but we were flabbergasted that a different day had produced such a miracle. This same young chap suggested that the aerial whip end we had was not the best for the harsh treatment it was likely to be subjected to and we decided to have a hardier variety installed, keeping the first as a backup. Chris and I believe however that there is a break and that the fiddling has temporarily corrected the situation until it detaches. This would offer a logical solution or explanation for the miracle, but does then put us in the position of wondering when that break will occur. Oh well…..
As an aside and in defence of Jetstar; they provide a budget service, direct as we required, and while they were two hours late on the Cairns – Auckland leg, they were otherwise efficient and professional, even handing out the bottles of water at $3.50 each for those who chose not to imbibe of more exciting beverages. We chose to book and fly back with them, despite the bare bones nature of the first flight, and after all, you get what you pay for. We will however in future seek an alternative service if such exists to suit our purposes.
And so with all in order, fuel and water tanks full, fridge and pantry replenished, and feeling fit once more, we set off from Cairns this morning, after three nights in the excellent Sunland Leisure Park, and waking to the gloriously noisy chorus of birdsong, heading south as far as Gordonvale and then west up the Mulgrave River valley, then across the picturesque Gillies Range, winding our way round and round, higher and higher up to the tableland, through the open gum clad hills to the dense rain forest. We stopped off to visit the Crater Lakes National Park, firstly a coffee stop at Lake Barrine and a short work to see two very large Bull Kauri trees (similar but different to those kauri in New Zealand, existing only in this particular part of the country, and that between 600 and 1000 metres above sea level) and to admire the little cruise launch setting off across this very picturesque “maar” (a special kind of volcanic crater lake that works with the heating of water rather than magma – I am no geologist). A few kilometres on, we drove in to Lake Eacham, a smaller but more accessible “maar” offering swimming access and a delightful three kilometre walk around the perimeter, the latter we took advantage of after lunch.
We decided to push on through to Atherton rather than explore the supposedly charming village of Yungaburra; we called at the Visitor Centre to find out where the very low cost camp advertised in the CMCA bible was. Atherton is a RV Friendly Town and the man in the Centre endorsed that. We were disappointed to learn that the “free long term park” was in fact ten kilometres north of Atherton and is not a lot more secure than many of the excellent roadside spots Queensland offers for travellers such as ourselves. I am sorry if that sounds ungracious because it does after all have excellent toilets, picnic shelters, barbeques, shade and water (even if non-potable) but we had supposed it might be more convenient to leave the caravan for the allowable 72 hours while we explored this area further. We may have to review our options. However for now we are comfortable, safe and glad for the spot, all for the cost of a gold coin donation.
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