Saturday
July 2nd
Today
is election day and as I drove through the towns I saw several voting
stations. In Australia it is against the law not to vote. I asked a
gas station attendant what the fine was and he said he has no idea as
he doesn't want to find out, so he always votes.
Today
was a driving and poking about day. I am headed south to Airlie Beach
for my Whitsundays cruise but I have three days to get there so I am
taking my time. After driving through Edmonton I stopped in
Gordonvale for a look around. I found a large flea market in their
park and behind that was a huge old factory belching steam and found
out it was a sugar cane processing plant.
Driving
further I saw a sign for the Babinda Boulders, so I drove 7 km west
to them. I took the Devil's Pool Walk. Here the Babinda River cuts
through the forest and through the gorge exposing and eroding large
granite boulders. It was a very pretty spot that is used by the
locals as a swimming hole.
Next
I stopped at Wooroonooran National Park at the base of Mount Bartle
Frere to see Josephine's Falls. This too is a swimming hole, but
there is a sign that warns that people have died here because of
rapidly changing water levels as the area gets lots of rain which
rushes down off the mountain.
There
are heaps of sugar cane and banana plantations in this region. I have
been seeing them for days. Today I stopped at a stand where you could
buy 4 bananas for a dollar and papaya and pawpaw on the honour
system. I drove down to the habour figuring I'd see a fishing
community but stumbled on a processing and shipping port for the
sugar cane.
I
was tired by late afternoon when I arrived at mission beach so I
found a small motel just off the beach. I wandered around the town
and down to the beach. It is a huge, beautiful, wide beach with
packed sand. There were signs warning about 'stingers' or jellyfish.
I read the sign on the lifeguards stand about the 8 varieties that
can be found here and the results of contact and treatment. Yikes! a
couple are life threatening. It was windy and there were good sized
waves crashing on the beach.
I
wandered around looking at the local restaurants and found one that I
thought would be good. It was crowded and I don't really like going
to restaurants by myself but I felt like a beer and I saw a pasta
marinara that appealed. So I waited for a table. I drank my beer and
waited 30 minutes for it to be prepared but it was worth it. After
that I went down to see the beach and found that the tide had come in
and most of the beach was gone! So much for walking the beach. Back
to the room where I watched North by Northwest.
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