The starting point

The starting point

Monday 15 June 2015

We're at the Top of Queensland

 Pack up day , we’re a moving !! Awake and up at 7am , breakfast done & dusted , we set about packing up . The weather wasn’t looking good , with overcast skies and threatening rain , we’d had some rain overnight so things were damp - privacy screen was a little damp as was the awning , but we rolled them up and put them away . We emptied the tanks and wandered back down to say goodbye to all the nice people we had met , that took about half an hour , then Tom & Eddy came up and took some photos to send to one of their friends who is buying an Adventura RV like ours .
 We drove out of town toward Atherton - that was our first stop - to do some shopping - the only problem being where to park , its a bit hard to squeeze into the normal carpark when you are 16m long !! There is a park near the rail trail about 200m from Woolworths , and there was enough room for us , so that was it .
 As we walked up , it started to rain , so we got a bit damp - not so good when you are going into Woolies to shop - the freezer aisles lived up to their name . The shopping trolley got a bit of a going over as we wheeled it down the road , across the roundabout , through the gravel and grass , finally at the RV . We unpacked it , then I wheeled it back again - over the grass & gravel , through the roundabout and up the hill . 
 Back on the road to Ravenshoe , the scene of a recent accident where a ute hit some gas bottles & exploded them - unfortunately two people have died as a result . 
 We climbed and descended lots of hills on our way up to Ravenshoe in the rain and wind and cloud . Ravenshoe is the highest town in Queensland at 920m ASL , hence we have reached the top of Queensland !!! 
 As we came into town we found the Ravenshoe Heritage Steam Railway caravan park and wheeled straight in , for the princely sum of $10 a night for an unpowered site - there were no powered sites left for large vehicles like ours , so an unpowered site it was !! 
 Set up in our usual manor , we then got chatting to our neighbours ( from Devonport Tas. ) before having lunch at 1:40 pm .
 So as not to waste the rest of the day , we headed off toward Tully Falls lookout - problem number one - the road was blocked by a tilt tray truck and a backhoe , removing trees and or cars ? from the side of the one & a half lane road . They were going to be an hour before the road would be clear . Problem number two - we had to reverse back on a windy road with our hazard lights on till we could do a 3 or 4 point turn to turn around . Hoping like hell no-one would come along , I reversed back on the wrong half of the road , until there was a wide enough section to turn in . We found one about 500m up the road , it was on a corner with limited vision , but we used it anyway .
 Back to the main road , we headed out to Millstream Falls . Next problem - road works & traffic lights , wet dirt road for about a kilometre before we reached the turn off . The ute wasn’t meant to stay clean !!
 We reached the turnoff and drove in , only about one & a half klms in . It is a very civilised area , with bitumen track all the way down to the viewing deck - good disabled access . 
 Millstream Falls is fed from the Millstream Creek , which is a dark emerald green colour , and flows over ancient basalt rock beds that were formerly lava flows . There a several layers of lava , quite easily seen - the oldest is about half way up the falls , with another layer on top of that , then another layer that cooled quickly and left vertical shafts of rock , another layer on top of that is the layer of rich red soil found in this district .
 On the way down the track something scooted across the path in front of me , turned out to be this little fella .







 Back to town to check out the main street - 2 supermarkets , 2 pubs , a bakery , newsagent and lots of other small shops , not a bad looking small town . 
 Thats it for today , more to come tomorrow , Cheers .

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