The Road To Mareeba And Ringer's Rest At Mareeba

Thursday the 17th June, we left Undara. Again I had put the Landcruiser on charge as we were on power, so it started again, now worries. So on we went. We came to the Kennedy Highway and started heading more northerly for the Atherton Tablelands. We got to Innot Hot Springs and stopped to check it out. You will see in the photos and videos where the hot thermal spring water bubbles up. All the water coming up was hot but it depended on how much water was in the pond and how much was coming up as to whether the general water was hot or just warm. The pools ranged from very hot to warm. You can also see the steam coming off some pools.

It was interesting to see. I have seen a similar thing at Douglas Hot Springs in the NT. We pushed on to Ravenshoe where we stopped for morning tea. But after that then I was keen to get going again as I had arranged for new batteries to be put aside for me by Cal at Repco in Atherton. I arrived there about 11.30am and went to Repco. I could not get a very close parking spot with the van so I had to push a trolley up the street with my batteries on. So I changed the batteries over and returned Cal’s trolley with my old batteries. Job done. So that was one of the two major jobs I needed to get sorted. With that done I drove on to Mareeba to Ringer’s Rest RV Park where Jan & Ross had already arrived and set up. This property is owned by a terrific character, Dave Berry. He is a real bushy and been a drover most of his life. He is a great story teller and loves to sing a song.

It is $10 a night with toilets but no showers. But it is a great place to see Mareeba and visit Cairns which I had to do the next day. This is our setting.

There is a communal fire set up and Dave came and joined us that evening. As you can see there were many people around the camp fire. People attend the fire in the hope that Dave will join in as they hear from the reviews on Wikicamps how funny and entertaining he is. Fortunately that night was just that. He went around the whole group and tried to get people involved. I sang a Slim Dusty song, ‘The Pub With No Beer’, with Dave and I reckon we did a pretty good job of it. Other people thought so as well. It was a lot of fun.

So Friday the 18th June, the day I had been wanting to see arrive finally did. I had come 900 km with no spare, apart from being able to travel with Jan & Ross who had a spare. If you recall I had a flat tyre coming into Normanton as the rim had failed. That afternoon that it happened was spent ringing around Australia and tracking down three genuine Toyota rims and getting them sent to Cairns. I was always going to Undara but due to that situation I had to go on further to Cairns. I am not unhappy about that as I got to get my batteries for a good price and I got to meet Dave Berry and have a great time at Mareeba. I went down to Cairns to the Toyota dealer and picked up my three genuine rims. Then went to Tuff Tyres and had all the rims fitted. Whilst there I had lunch and did some blogging with good internet and also some shopping. Then headed back to camp. I stopped at the lookout on the way back to Karumba and got a couple of photos. Praise God for His creation and His blessing me with being able to get my batteries and rims. Two major problems sorted out in two days. Had these problems occurred well on the other side of Normanton I would have been put to great expense and loss of time and probably cancellation of the trip.

I did not arrive back till about 4.30pm so I was ready for happy hour. That night we had another great fire. I found out Dave loves to play with fire like I do. He set up a hollow log erect and tied it to the crossbar so it would act like a chimney.

The next day, Saturday, we went into Mareeba and filled our gas tanks and got a few things. Then went to a coffee plantation where we sampled their coffee which was great. Then back to camp for lunch. After lunch we got organized and drove up to Emerald Creek Falls. It was 12km out along the road we had to take for Ringer’s Rest. We arrived and found the walk was only a couple of kilometres return to the lookout to the Falls and to the bottom of the Falls. Both were worthwhile. These Falls are pretty spectacular. These are views on the way up and from the lookout.

I walked down to the bottom of the Falls. How good it was. I took a couple of photos and videos.

But could not wait to get in the water myself and get up to that waterfall. I swam to the edge of the waterfall. You can’t go up to it directly as the force of the water pushing you away is so strong. I found you could get a hand hold to work your way behind the falls. It was a bit of fun. Then you let go and the falls pummel you and just push you so quickly away. There was an Asian couple that were interested in trying to go under the Falls so I tried to encourage them to go in and tried to show them the way. The young bloke was struggling to get a hand hold and started to go into the falls. I grabbed his wrist to help him hang on but I realized he might have been getting pummled and I was holding him there, effectively drowning him. So I though I better let him go. Shortly after I swam out of the falls. I was glad to see that he was still alive.

Then we walked back to the carpark. On the way there was this little lizard, tiny actually, which had a worm or something in its mouth. I zoomed in with my camera and I was amazed when I saw the result of the photo. I could not even see the lizard through the lens. Maybe if I had my glasses on I might have been able to see the lizard but it was all a blur so I was glad to see a good photo.

Down at the carpark the creek is still so beautiful. Jan had another cool off down there after the walk.

Sunday the 20th June, I took the opportunity to go to church as I was in a good sized town. I really enjoyed the worship there. I got to do some shopping and went back to camp for lunch. After lunch we went for a walk down to the creek on Dave’s property. We went through the gate opposite our camp and walked to the creek.

Once we got back to the campsite we continued on to Dave’s event and wedding reception area. He has created an event area which is just an open shed really but appointed with all that is needed. He has photos there of the event area but this photo on the wall took my interest straight away. It is a photo of Dave when he was about 20 whilst he was droving.

Here is a photo of the event area.

We got back to camp and Dave had been getting ready of his Sunday night damper cook.

The crowd gathered and again Dave delivered with two big beautiful dampers. It is also great to see families taking their children on the road to experience great parts of Australia.

Monday morning the 21st June, I started getting organized to leave Ringers Rest. I was hearing this noise of a pump or similar and went outside to see this hot air balloon floating around. For the previous two mornings there had also been balloons being filled with air and I had heard them roaring in their filling of the balloon. That was before dawn and I wasn’t interested in staying up to see it take off. So I went back to sleep. I would hate to have been in campsites close to where they were blowing up. Dave had built a huge shed for $200,000 which caters for the hot air balloon people. He must make a good dollar out of it. But on this particular morning there could not have been any wind at all up top as the balloon hardly moved so the pilot had to then put down in the paddock where the vans were camped and close behind us. I heard they can fit about 25 people in those baskets. It looks about right from the photos.

I finished packing up and said goodbye to Jan and Ross. I have had such a wonderful time travelling with them on our five week trip. It was really terrific. I will miss their company as I now head off on my own.