Trip from Cooktown to Atherton

Monday 8 July

After packing up the camper trailer we made our way towards Atherton, probably the furthest inland we will venture. Atherton is the most central major town in the tableland region of the Great Dividing Range. On our way there we called in to Golden Drop, a mango winery in Biboohra, which is north of Atherton. I was expecting some really sweet wines but after tasting their dry wine we decided that the medium style was more to our liking. We couldn't go past the Mango liqueur either - should be great with ice-cream.

While at Golden Drop we were told to go to Coffee Works in Mareeba, not far up the road. Mareeba has many different coffee plantations and Coffee Works uses the local coffee beans to make different coffee blends. They also make some very nice chocolates which we purchased with some delicious chocolate liqueur. 

Another recommendation just out of Mareeba was one the boys were really interested in going to - Emerald Creek Ice-creamery. We all chose different flavours and they all tasted delicious. I had Macadamia, Linda had Vanilla Bean, Tom had Caramel Choc Chip and Declan had Strawberry. Beautiful!

Gardens outside Mt Uncle Distillery

Mt Uncle Distillery is also in Mareeba and to complete the trifecta we headed there and bought some of their award winning marshmallow liqueur. The tastings were in a beautiful cafe next door to the distillery on the same premises. It has been very well built with plenty of natural stone, timber and corrugated iron. The gardens were very nice as well with banana plantations on the driveway in and landscaped around the buildings. 

We arrived in Atherton just after 4:00pm and the boys were pleased to find we had free WiFi in the caravan park we are staying at. Apparently this is now how you judge how good a caravan park is.
After dinner Linda, Declan and I headed out to the Atherton Show. It was a good country show but the rain did spoil it. Declan went on a bungee trampoline and bought a show bag and we watched an extreme moto cross and bicycle show. While looking at the cake and vegetable competitions the fireworks started and we ooh-ed and aah-ed before heading back to camp.