I was out there undoing and retightening wheel nuts - remember there are 10 wheels to check - that's 54 wheel nuts to play with !! , whilst Lyn cleaned inside .
That job done , it was time for a wash - the RV that is !!! So for the next hour or so , we washed & scrubbed and hosed , leaving us with a shiny new RV and awning , and two happy owners !!
Next was lunch before heading into town to pick up some bits & pieces .
Okay , now for some fun , we headed just east of town and turned off the Kuranda Rd , heading toward Emerald Creek Falls - about 12 kms out . There is 8 kms of dirt road to get to the picnic/parking area . We arrived to have the whole place to ourselves . The picnic area is nicely grassed , with tables & bench seats , and best of all - its beside a beautiful running creek !! With the amount of water flowing down , the anticipation was building - this should be good .
The walk up to the falls is 1.9klm return , so won't be too stressful . The track is made of decomposed granite - mainly because its readily available - the mountain is pretty much made of it . The granite boulders are black , and there's plenty of them .
With the boulders being black , we were a little surprised to see rocks in the creek were white ??? We wandered higher up the valley , up steps , over granite rock platforms and finally reached the viewing area . The falls are different , without having big vertical drops , just water cascading down over many rocks .
Like most lookouts , trees were obscuring the view , so I wandered up the hill a bit to get a better view and photo of course !!
The other part of the story is the weather - it has been showers on & off all day , but we were prepared for rain - we had our all terrain sandals on , our quick dry shorts and a t-shirt , a backpack that has a rain cover , the camera and an umbrella !!!
Our time at the lookout was getting cut short by the pending rain , so we decided to head back down before it gets too wet & slippery . We made it about 50m before the first light shower , then another 200m before the next . Stopping & waiting for the rain to ease , under one umbrella , in the middle of the bush must have been a sight !! It eased again so we went for it , not before passing a couple of English youngsters on their way up to the falls . We made it back down without getting very wet at all.
The drive out was a little interesting , as the road had been graded recently and looked a bit wet & sticky as we drove in , especially on the steep uphill & downhill sections . We reached the first gully and the road looked wet & slippery , so I accelerated to get some momentum to carry us up the hill - made it up easily , although one of the joys of 4wd tyres is the amount of mud they pick up and throw everywhere , and today was no different , we had a nice orange colouring . The next gully arrived and we did the same , this time the tyres were throwing up a lot of nice red mud . All this was mixing with the yellowy orange dust from yesterdays drive - glad we didn't wash the ute today !!
Back to the RV and time for a beer or two with a few neighbours - Tom & Eddy ; Bill & Julie : Nicola & Harry .
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