Winter 2013
Part 06
Cairns to Cumberland Mine

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Day one in Cairns is always spent with some OLD friends (even older than me)!  Lunch at Cazaly's AFL club was interesting. They got the orders wrong, then charged extra for the meal we ordered but didn't get, and they didn't refund the extra charge.

The Cairns folk must hate the rest of Australia - their foreshore is a big green mud pond with a tiny patch of artificial beach. So tell me why there are thousands of backpackers here!

Cairns seems to have little interest in the grey nomads in caravans and motor homes, and yet the caravan parks appear to be fairly well booked out.

The backpackers are obviously scared of guns - this [left] is what happened when I shouted "Look Out, he's got a gun".

The pool must be the big attraction for backpackers.

The guys are apparently not very sexy or attractive and the girls dont get to see a REAL HUNK very often.

I took my shirt off and this woman took one look at me and fainted right there on the boardwalk.

This backpacker hostel could be pulling in a bundle of money. It is right on the foreshore overlooking the muddy bay.

When we left Cairns we travelled through Innisfail and then  Ravenshoe before stopping overnight at Archer Creek rest area.

The trip back over the Tablelands was frequently a "little foggy" [to put it mildly] and I could hardly wait to get away from the east coast and back to some sunshine in the outback.

Archer Creek rest area was a surprise. The tree line hides a large fast running creek with nice walks along the banks. This would have been given a 7 out of 10 if the weather had been better. Because of the weather over the tablelands and in Cairns, we decided to use our generator for the first time on this trip.

"The billabong" ... (20k west of Georgetown) ... is actually a tiny lake created by a small dam and was another great spot where we spent two nights. It's just a freebie with no facilities but a billabong in this great dust bowl was a nice change.

The resident goanna kept an eye out for any food that may have been left unattended and repeatedly reminded us that he had a family to support.

Right beside the billabong was this tall chimney and below it were some old collapsed brick kilns (at least thats what it looked like to me). I'm trying to imagine what it was doing HERE!  ... hundreds of kilometers from any brick buildings!

I dismissed my neighbors idea that it might have been an old iron ore smelter, instead I suggested that it may have been used to heat the water in the billabong for travellers to swim in ...  ;-))

A little trivia for you - what is the name of the town railway station with the  l o n g e s t   name (not just Australia).

answer:   Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch  in Wales.

Next ... Part seven