2020 Far North Queensland
 

To Atherton - Fri 17/07/2020

2020 Far North Queensland
We leave Castle Hill at Townsville and drive 260 kms north on the Pacific Coast Way (PCW) to Innisfail. We do not continue on to Cairns but branch off on Hwy 25 to take us into Atherton. This tea plantation is at East Palmerston on Hwy 25 after turning off the PCW and is obviously machine harvested compared with hand-harvested plantations that we saw in Malaysia. In 1958 the first commercial tea plantings were started in the Nerada valley, south of Cairns. In 1973 Tea Estates Australia ceased selling bulk tea and marketed the tea under their own Nerada brand. Here's a funny story: on the climb up to here through the rainforest, we stop to take a movie of a waterfall. Just as we are about to get back in the car, a large semi-trailer drives up the hill past us. My first thoughts are that it will be too slow and it will hold us back, but modern trucks are not like this. He is faster than us and by the time we reach the top, he has gone. We never see that truck again. We climb through tropical rain forests to Millaa Millaa at the top of the Atherton tablelands. On the way we see road signs advising us to be watchful of tree kangaroos and cassowaries. We're definitely not in Kansas any more.
This land was once covered by type of forest unique to the Atherton Tablelands wet tropics called a Mabi forest. Over 95% was cleared last century, primarily for agriculture. I find it a bit sad that all of this gone now and replaced with dairy cattle. It's still beautiful but somehow it could have been so much more. Millaa Milla is at an elevation of 830 metres and it has a population of 540. It is a balmy 20° right now. How Queensland was born - The Atherton Tablelands. Information from the Wet Tropics Management Authority
The car runs well but can't outclimb a loaded truck. On the way to Atherton, we get an email telling us the procedure for getting into our room. "Use this code, retrieve your key, enter through door 5, your room is room 3." That is our total communication the whole time we are there. We never see an owner nor a manager, nor anyone else to welcome us or to say goodbye. Breakfast is laid out on the table: bottles of corn flakes and rice bubbles with long life milk in the fridge. This is our third crap internet booking in a row. There is quite a steep climb to the Atherton Tablelands. We stop the car so that Jenni can take a movie of a waterfall beside the road. That evening, Judy picks us up from the B&B and takes us to their place to surprise Jordan. He is genuinely surprised and delighted to see us. He knows something is up (Judy has prepared a lamb roast dinner) but she keeps changing the story about who is coming, "My sister, a friend, a nurse from the hospital" and so on. Judy and Niel are great people and Jordan is very lucky to have them as his careers and to lead him through this critical stage in his life.
Atherton WeekendNext: Atherton Weekend Townsville - Thu 16/07/2020Previous: Townsville - Thu 16/07/2020
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