Cairns: Day Twenty-Nine (17 November)

We spent the morning in Cairns (and found Robb Street :-)) before heading out to meet Miss Berry’s parents. They live an hour’s drive inland at a place called Mareeba on the Atherton Tablelands, which is farming country. Miss Berry’s father keeps cattle.

On the way we visited de Breuy’s Winery. They make wine from lots of fruits other than grapes including mangoes, passionfruit and lychees. They also make tropical fruit port.

After a cup of tea at the homestead with Miss Berry’s Mum, we drove over the property. As well as keeping cows, the Berry’s run a restaurant called Ringer’s Rest, where people who have been on a balloon ride can stop and have breakfast. A Ringer is the Australian name for someone who rounds up cattle, like an American cowboy.

We headed back to Kuranda for dinner and to see a popular Australian singer, Missy Higgins, in concert. The show was so good we bought her CD.

Barnaby

Cairns: Day Twenty-Seven - Morning (15 November)

Out on a trip today! We took the steam train to Kuranda, a village in the mountains above Cairns. The line was built by a Mr Robb and takes one and a half hours. On the way the train slows down so people can take photos of Stoney Creek Falls and Barron Falls.

After lunch, we visited Koala Gardens, which is a small wildlife park with wombats and wallabies as well as koalas (and freshwater crocodiles, lizards and a turtle though I wasn’t so keen on seeing those). When we got there the koalas and wombats were asleep (they do that a lot) so we had an ice cream before going back. They were very cute, especially the 10 month old baby who was climbing everywhere just like a human toddler.

Barnaby