Winter Camping - Aug. 13-14

Winter camping (Aussie style)
Brody had his playoff field hockey game this morning, so Scott & Brody meet up with us after his game, on the motorbike.  Once again we went up the range and decided to check out Emerald Creek Falls.  Janet, Bob, Hailey, Darby & I hiked to the top of the falls and back, which took about an hour.  We had lunch and cooled off by the river after our hike.  Hailey made a new friend with the local wildlife, a lizard.
Our next stop was Mt Uncle Distillery where we met up with Scott & Brody.  We sat at the long counter and sampled three different liqueurs.  My favorite was marshmallow.  Brody decided on a sweet square and the girls choose milkshakes.
After exploring Emerald Creek Falls and Mt Uncle Distillery we made our way to Mareeba.  One stop at Coles to pick up groceries and refreshments for our camping adventure, and we were on our way to Granite Gorge.

"It's okay, we don't see any termites!"

Our hot hike to Emerald Creek Falls

Emerald Creek Falls

"Can I keep him?!"

Mt Uncle Distillery

Shake is more Hailey's style

Granite Gorge, 15 km west of Mareeba, was our destination for the evening.  There were 3 cabins, one canvas tent and lots of room for caravans to set up.  We had one cabin and the canvas tent booked.  After unpacking, setting up and collecting wood for the night we went to 'Wallaby Rock' to feed the wallabies.  There were so many rock wallabies around, even mum's with joeys. 
Had a great steak supper followed by roasted marshmallows and smores for dessert!!  It's been a long time since we've done that.  The wallabies even joined us around the fire!

our quaint cabin

Janet & Bob's accommodations

collecting firewood

very friendly wallabies

Winter camp home for the kids

Winter camping & smores!!!

Sunday morning came early with a great variety of birds chirping us awake.  Sat on our deck, reading and having a cup of tea.  After breakfast we set out on a hike of the gorge.  We climbed over huge boulders and then across smaller ones following a map and the white dots on the rocks.  It was a great hike, lots of work as it was a very hot day.

morning

Breakfast for our friends

A very excited jumper!!

Darby exploring

Gales at Granite Gorge

Brody checking out the retaining wall

"Granite for our cottage counter tops!"

"I'm the King of the castle!"

Which way now?

Hugging the cliff edge

A whale out of water?!

Peak!  What a great climb.

Back at the cabin we had lunch, packed up and set off to Coffee Works in Mareeba.  We all had gelato, except Bob & Janet, they had coffee and chocolates.

Mini kitchen works great for clean up.

Got the tent back in, now I'm ready to fly!

"They better have a double, half & half, beaten, sprinkled latte!"

A Chocolate Library!! My kind of library!!

Janet shopping at Coffee Works!!

We stopped at Mareeba information center and museum.  A very interesting place with so much to learn.

learning about termite mounds

always learning

Another great adventure in the Tablelands.

Hiking Fun