Making our way south

Kuranda Scenic Railway

After the Cape York trip we returned to Cairns for 5 days to do urgent maintenance on the bus, collect our Moke & trailer and spending some more time with friends including a day trip to Kuranda on the scenic railway. This is a “must do” trip for any visit to Cairns area as the train winds up the steep hills to a tropical village with an exotic butterfly house and bird aviary among the attractions.

Our plan was to spend a couple of days at Mareeba on the tablelands above Cairns but on the first morning there Allen got bitten by a redback spider which led to 4 days in the local hospital and several courses of strong antibiotics. It was 19 days before the swelling in his leg went down enough to be comfortable to drive. This gave me time to wash most of the red dust off the bus and we visited some of the local attractions like the historic village and Becks Military Museum – privately owned and one of the best collections we’ve seen, lots of interesting planes and tanks plus many engines from wrecks and other miscellaneous parts.

Sausage tree at Greenvale

 From Mareeba we travelled fairly short distances for a few days as the spider bite was still causing pain and gradually we made our way south with stops at Ravenshoe, then through Mt Garnet and down the Gregory Development Road to Greenvale which is a former mining town established in the early ‘70s. The mine closed but there is still a small community of 170 residents and excellent facilities – Olympic size pool, basketball courts, hotel, caravan park, police station etc.

On through Charters Towers and Belyando Crossing where the lorikeets shared our chocolate milkshakes, and climbed all over us with hot little bird feet.
Through Emerald and down to Banana (named after a big yellow bullock) to stop at Theodore for a couple of nights for a river festival before a stop at Gil Weir outside Miles where we once again got a flat tyre fixed.  All the flats were due to grit getting through the split rims on the rough Cape York road and rubbing between the tube and the tyre. We were getting very sick of changing wheels!

Monty's Garage - Glenmorgan

 At The Gums crossroads between Miles and Goondiwindi we got side tracked by a sign to a Motor Museum and this took us 55km west to Glenmorgan, a tiny town created by the railway for produce shipment, and then within 50 years reduced to a few residents after trucks took over the bulk haulage from farms. The Motor Museum is a private collection, mostly old Fords. Monty’s garage is set up like an old service station and garage with cars “For Sale” out the front. It is run on the honesty system with a donation box on the counter and you can just walk right in. Free camp in the town with showers.

We crossed into NSW at Goondiwindi and turned east on the Bruxner Hwy along the state border, spending a night on the side of the road above Tenterfield. Although it was a highway, only 2 vehicles went past all night.

Jacarandas at Grafton

We had a few nights at Casino again to catch up with friends then drove down through Grafton where the old jacaranda trees were in full bloom down the streets lunching at the Village Green Hotel ($8) before we headed through the hills towards Armidale. The road was very windy and quite narrow, climbing up into the dividing range again, some corners 25kph. However there wasn’t much traffic. This road called The Waterfall Way but as it had been very dry the falls were not flowing strongly.
We by-passed Tamworth to stop at Quirindi and visited Bob’s Shed, a private collection of old goods from the ‘40s & ‘50s – old grocery shop goods like treacle tins, flour packets, weetbix, aspros etc. Another section had workshop goods like oil bottles, plus model cars, trains etc all carefully displayed. He also had a car collection – all Holdens ‘70s & ‘80s and lots of Peter Brock memorabilia. The shed was part way up to the town lookout called Who’d a thought it, which gives a 360^o view of the surrounding district.

BANG!

With major bush fire threatening in the east we took lesser highways to move south-west through Gulgong and catching an Open Garden Day at Wellington which gave us the opportunity to visit several country properties and see what beauty can be created in very dry conditions. Next morning we hadn’t got far from the town when we got a vibration through the steering. We stopped and checked tyres which seemed OK but the vibration was still there and a little further down the road the driver’s side front tyre blew! Luckily it was on a straight section of road with room to pull over and put out safety triangles so we could change a wheel – again.

If you’re passing through Molong there is a great Collectables/Junk shop/junk yard on the northern side of town. It is a wonderful stopping place with something  for everyone – from novelty salt and pepper sets to car bits and scrap metal art – you can’t miss it because of the giant frog on a bike out the front.

A few more days and small towns saw us home in Melbourne by the beginning of November where we will pass the summer on vehicle and home maintenance before the next adventure.