The rain was still
at a drizzle on waking today. There is
an upside though, we were able to wash the caravan down front and rear, and
remove most of the remaining red dust and bugs.
Our morning routine went very smoothly, and we found ourselves driving
by 0845. We're almost nomads, but not
quite. Trekking North out of Atherton
with just a bit of regret that there was a lot more to do here that we just
didn't get time for. As we have been
told many times though, we can't do everything so we need to pick the best of
what we have time for. Atherton could
easily consume another week or so.
We took a detour out
to the Golden Drop Winery (Mango Winery) because we have a serious booze
shortage going on. I think there is only
10 or 12 bottles left in storage. :)
Golden Drop wines
were delicious as was their port and liqueur.
They also had a sparkling mango wine which I'm sad to say one of our
bottles is already gone along with some of the stresses of the day. It was well enjoyed though. The highlight of the stop for all of us
except Ashley was Ashley locking himself in the toilet. For my family I'm sure you don't know anyone
who's done that before on say an aeroplane between Port Hedland and Perth, but
that's another story. We were tempted to
run for only a few seconds, and eventually coached him out of there. Rowan is still giggling about it.
From Golden Drop
(Mareeba) we struck North towards Mt Molloy, and headed for the Mt Molloy -
Mossman Road. This road rose out of the
flat pastoral land into wooded mountains, and then to dense rainforest. On the East side of the range, the road wound
its way down through a series of switchback hairpins, and I couldn't help but
feel that Prado and Caravan was the wrong vehicle for this trip. Something around 750CC with two wheels would
have been much more fun. The descent
into Mossman led us into Sugar Cane country, and the landscape was
criss-crossed with small gauge railway around the fields of cane that must be
close to maturation. Much of it standing
at 2.5m tall and higher. 
Our lunch stop today
was in the queue waiting for the ferry to cross to the Daintree National
Park. Lisa was still in the caravan when
the queue began moving, so had to ride out the crawl before returning to the
car just before we boarded the ferry.
The drive to Cape Tribulation is also spectacular and wound endlessly
through ancient rainforest. We went up
and down mountains, along the beaches and over a hundred speed bumps before
finding the camp ground. When I got out
of the car, the smell of brakes was very noticeable. I hope they hold out until Melbourne when the
car is booked in for service.
The camp ground is
awesome and set just back from the beach.
Although it's overcast today, the weather is still warm, as is the
gentle rain, and we were able to sit outside the van for the first time since
we left Darwin. I got time to play some
didge, kick a footy with the kids and even do some detailing inside the Prado
whilst I listened to the footy. Carn the
Mighty EAGLES.
We are jungle
surfing tomorrow, and will spend the rest of the day relaxing with booty from
Atherton.
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