Australia ~ Day 8

This morning we woke up, took out the map, read a few city names and decided that Millaa Millaa was a fun enough name, so that is where we headed to next!  It was inland quite a way, on the other side of the mountains (which was on the bucket list) and the Atherton Table Lands were in that area so we decided to go check it out. 

We still hadn't seen a Cassowary so we decided to drive the loop one last time and hit a couple beaches early that morning in hopes of seeing one.

      

After stopping for ice cream (of course) we headed out towards Millaa Millaa.  While we were still on Cassowary road we finally spotted a Cassowary!  This one had 4 babies with it.....and come to find out, it was the male that stayed with the young.  They were just roaming through someones yard.  How neat would it be to see an endangered animal almost daily!

On our way through the side roads and finding our way we stopped at an antique store (which there are NOT very many around in Australia) and we also spotted some old cars.  They were so cool and some were still pulling up and parking so Mom got out of the car and went to talk to them.  I stayed in the car because I was stopped on the side of the road with my flashers on......

Along our way over the mountains I saw signs for a canopy walk.  I knew we were in rain forest territory and really wanted to check this out.  So we stopped and walked the canopy of the rain forest!  The Mamu Canopy Walk was really amazing and cool to see.  The platforms we walked and the tower.....holy cow!  Such an amazing part of the whole day!

     

     

     

     

     

     

After the amazing rain forest walk we got back in the car and headed towards Millaa Millaa.  We found this sweet little town, and drove around it a little while. When we saw this statue I had to stop and take a picture.  It had me laughing.  I couldn't believe the guy has his arm up the cows but that far......but guess what, it really wasn't.  It's just on the other side of the cow.  But it was SO FUNNY to me so here you go, in case you need a little laugh too.....



A stone fence!  I could totally have something like this in my yard.



We didn't end up staying in Milla Milla.  There wasn't a hotel available so we continued on to Yungaburra where we found a room at the Yungaburra Hotel.  Our room only had one bed but we made it work.  We ended up staying at this hotel for a couple days.  It was in the Atherton Table Lands area and so much to see and do in a days drive that we enjoyed staying here.

Our first night we ate at an Italian restaurant called Nick's Restaurant.  Let me start by saying yet again, this is NOT American food......and I'm starting to miss that a lot by this time in our vacation.  To start we got some bread......

Yup, that's it.  And a house salad.  Do you think this salad looks good???

Let me tell you about this salad.....the hard boiled eggs really did look like that.  And I was so ready for a fresh salad that I took a HUGE bite and instantly regretted it.  It was NOT what I was expecting and full of arugula I believe and I'm NOT a big fan of that taste.  Guess I should have inspected it a bit closer before I took such a big bite. We ate all the stuff that came with it, tomato, peppers, etc. but that's it.

For actual dinner I got the ravioli which wasn't too bad.  The sauce was nothing like I've ever tasted either but the bacon on it was good.  The cost of this plate was $29.



Mom on the other hand decided to try the Linguine "Lemone" with Morton Bay Bugs/Scallop.  This plate cost $34.50.  The look of the Morton Bay Bugs was a bit disturbing to me but I'm not a big seafood fan.  She only got one scallop on the top.  But she ate it like a champ.



All in all, today was nice and relaxing.  The Mamu rainforest walk was my favorite part and one I will remember forever.  What am I saying, this whole trip I will remember forever!

Stay tuned, tomorrow we go to the MANGO WINERY!!!!!

~Till Next Time~

Australia ~ Day 7

Have you ever been on vacation and had no plans at all?  No hotels booked, no cities on the radar, no appointments or schedules to follow?  So far the trip to me had been amazing!  Not having a care in the world and just doing whatever we wanted to do.  However, that being said.....I'm not a big fan of not knowing where I'm going to sleep that night.  Going into hotels and being told they are full, sucks, especially when you are tired and just want to stop for the day.  With that being said though, this vacation is exactly what my Mom and I needed!

And we're off.......We got in the car and headed to, well, North.  We didn't really have a place in mind but we wanted to stay next to the shore line so that is what we did.  We stopped at the grocery store to stock up on snacks and grab breakfast.  Their stores were quite nice, huge and clean. 

And of course I had to take a picture of their wall of heros!

This.....this doughnut right here was breakfast......it was TERRIBLE!  Well, by that I of course mean not American.  The frosting was the bad part, it was so super sweet and nothing like I was expecting.  You know how you have a taste in your mind and then you eat or drink that thing and it's all wrong....yeah that is totally what happened to me here.

After the breakfast and the store stop we kept driving North.  This tall green stuff was all over the place.  I'd never seen it before so I didn't know what it was but Mom knew.  It is sugar cane!  And boy was it TALL!

Driving up the coast we stopped often.  Each of the beaches we stopped at were different in their own way.  My favorite beach was the one that had tiny rock pebbles instead of sand.  And the seashells were everywhere!  We didn't see many people in the water though.  There were signs everywhere saying beware of the salt water crocodiles that lived in the area.  We didn't get to see any crocs though.

      

 

         

At one of our stops, Cardwell, there was this nice little pop up place to eat and of course they had the Australian favorite, Meat Pies!  We knew we were going to try one of these things and decided that now was as good of time as any.  It tasted....well.....different.  Mom and I both had beef ones (without smushed peas) and well, Mom was NOT impressed at all!  It didn't "taste" bad to me, it did however have the worst texture.  It was like chucks of steak put through a blender but not blended all the way so there were still chunks with the blended stuff.....yeah.  I'll be ok not having one of those again.  Poor Mother can't even think about them without gagging! 

Gas Prices......Gotta love being in another Country!

We stopped at a visitor center and I found a paper on this gummy boot thing that was in a town close by.  The town was called Tully.  It was a cute little town with a huge rainfall history.  That's what this huge boot was for.  To show how high the waters got (which is insanely high)!

   

   

After our little tour inland a little we went back out towards the coast to try and find one of these Cassowary birds that were near Mission Beach.  A Cassowary is a bird that is only found in this part of Australia and when best to see one then on a vacation that you had no plans on.  So off to Mission Beach area we went.

Banana Trees

After checking a hotel and it being full and getting online to find that most the other hotels in the area were booked too we found this one, Eco Village.  The room we stayed in this night was quite nice.  It only had one bed so we shared the bed but it wasn't too bad.  It had it's own little pond thing in front of each room and we used it to cool our feet off.  It was nice to just sit and relax there for a while.

There were some of the coolest fruit trees surrounding our little cabin room.....

    

After checking into our room and enjoying the moment and unpacking a few things we took a walk downtown.  The town was cute.  It had a shop where Mom was able to get some iced tea (2nd place only) and then we mailed some of our post cards we had left to mail.

Up to this point we still had not seen a Cassowary.  We went to many different beaches in this area too, where we were told they are all the time.  Guess they were trying to stay hidden from us because we didn't see a single one this day!  However, the views and sights we did see were so beautiful it didn't really hurt my feelings.  There was tomorrow on our way out after all.

Dinner was a tres meat pizza and garlic bread......or a three meat pizza and toasted soft shell taco shells with garlic butter inside.....

So there you have it, a day of nothing and so much all in one.  Not knowing what was going to happen or where we were headed next is what made this vacation so stress free.  No schedules to follow....How could it get any better?

~Till Next Time~