2022 - (Almost) Lap of QLD

Day 66: Thu 30 Jun - Mareeba to Mount Surprise Towed  265km  19-27 °,    It was an overcast morning, and it remained cloudy throughout the day, with some light drizzle at times. The wind picked up around mid morning, and helped us along the way heading west to Mount Surprise from Ravenshoe via Herberton. We were packed and on the road early, a little before 8:00am, and after a short detour, reached our first destination at Herberton by 9:00am. Herberton, also known as the ‘village in the hills' is a historic mining town nestled in the hills of the Atherton Tablelands. Historically it was a tin town with both a mine and a smelter nearby. We only had an hour wandering around town, but I would certainly like to return for a couple of days to have more time to visit the Historic Village and Mining Museum. We then continued on to Ravenshoe - the highest town in QLD. Historically, Ravenshoe was a  timber town. In the 1980s the town was the site of  battles betwee...

Day 65: Wed 29 Jun - Mareeba 19-25 °,   A mostly cloudy day, with a forecast 40% chance of showers which thankfully didn't eventuate. The wind was also much kinder today, but when the breeze did get up, it felt quite cool. We had a slow start to the day, enjoying the much slower pace. At 10:00am we all piled into our car and I drove about 18km out of Mareeba to Jaques Coffee Plantation. The owners are friends of Wendy's parents from Africa. Nat and Linda Jaques have a long and very interesting history in the coffee industry.  Let's say they have amazing resilience and determination, and have a story which I couldn't possibly do justice by putting into a few words here. I recommend reading about it here: https://jaquescoffee.com.au/pages/history After watching a very interesting video covering everything from the worldwide coffee industry and its history to their own story and business, Linda took us for a personal tour through their gardens to the plantation, explain...