Awake earlier today , another slow breakfast deciding on our next move - tomorrow we are moving , Mareeba has been great , but its time to change the view out the windows .
Finally organised , we headed to Atherton for the day - we haven’t really looked at Atherton much , so today was the day . The drive from Mareeba is mainly flat untill you climb the hill to Tolga , once there you go through town and into a pocket of rainforest about one kilometre long , the temperature drops , it would be a little oasis on a hot day but wouldn’t last long enough . You then drive onward to Atherton which is a bit higher than Tolga , and has a lookout that is at 870m asl -so its about 200m higher than Moss Vale .
The sculpture is a volcanic ash cloud caught in two different wind directions !!
The main street is divided by a grass median strip & retaining walls , with most of the buildings having awnings covering the footpath . Old style pubs are located on street corners , and have a style all their own .
While there , we ventured into the Crystal Cave , a shop that has a lot of fossils , crystals , and amethyst geodes - the largest one is over 4m tall .
The temperature up at Tolga and Atherton is 4 - 5 degrees cooler than Mareeba - today it was 20 degrees in Atherton and intermittent showers .
We drove out to Herberton for lunch , there is an old recreated village , similar , but not as large as Sovereign Hill in Ballarat . It is an old mining village , with a timber police station , some shops , pubs , a large Catholic School and lots of old Queenslander houses .
Lunch done , it was back to the RV , to get a few things organised before heading off again . We stopped at Tolga to look at Tolga Woodworks - there were some beautiful timber tables , and many other carved , turned crafted pieces - all with a wonderful price tag ( tables ranged from $400 to $5000 ) - they are all still there , we haven’t got the room and the weight is a bit much for the RV - unfortunately !!!!
We went past the pub for a photo and got back to The RV .
Kayak loaded , table & BBQ away , its off to the neighbours for happy hour .
As the sun set , we noticed a large orange glow in the distance , it grew larger as we talked , then Harry said it was probably a cane fire - they still burn the cane up here when its sugar content is low and keep it growing for another year , the fire is to remove all the built up husk.
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