Around the Kurrimine Beach area

During last night, I woke and heard light rain on and off. I did wake very early but then finally went off to sleep again and actually slept in for the first time for many years. It would be nice to do it more often. Possibly, due to be very overcast and even at 7 am it was still quite dull.

There was not a great hurry to do anything due to the light rain. So I read for a while. A little later, I had a long chat to a fellow, John, next door. He and his wife Amanda are from Port Lonsdale in Victoria and he is an architect there. They regularly travel up this way to avoid some of the southern winter. They have two lovely and very quiet Old English Sheepdogs. 

Later in the morning, I decided to go for a drive and my first stop off was the Murdering Point Winery, which is on the road into Kurrimine Beach.  It has an interesting story about the name. Their wines are delicious and are made from tropical fruits. Among the well known fruits used are mango, lychee and passionfruit. While the lesser known ingredients include the largely unknown bush tucker fruit, Lemon Aspen, Davidson Plum and Jaboticaba. 

I purchased a bottle of Murdering Point Winery’s “Supherb” which is a formula of jaboticaba, ginger and ginseng. It must be medicinal! Also, I purchased a bottle of “White Devil Port” which reminds me of Baileys and as is described, is heavenly. 

After leaving the winery, I drove through Silkwood and took the Innisfail Road, which used to be the old Bruce Highway. I am pleased the road is in a new location as it is very windy and narrow. It passed through a variety of farm land bounded by very steep hill on both sides. It is obviously very fertile country by the types of produce grown in there like mangos, bananas and sugar cane along with cattle. It is all closely settled and I imagine the farms are not very big. However, there are a lot of very nice and new homes along the road.

On the way, I passed the Paronella Park complex which looks amazing but as there were so many people there I decided I did not wish to put up with the crowd. 

Eventually, I entered the village of South Johnstone where there is a very large sugar mill. This was also where I managed to get back onto the Bruce Highway to return to Kurrimine Beach. Before I did return, I went back into the village of Silkwood to get a photo of the smallest NAB Bank building in the country. It is not an operating bank now but is a museum.

Returning to Kurrimine Beach, I found the King Reef Cafe and it has really good coffee and a great hamburger. In fact, I had two cappuccinos made by a young fellow that grew up near Belfast in Northern Ireland and is now a local resident.

The latter part of the afternoon was taken up with preparing the Karavan for departure in the morning. I filled the water tanks as I will be away from power and water for the long weekend which also happens to be the holiday show weekend in Cairns. This caravan Park has been inundated by Cairns people getting away for a long weekend.

The rest of the time has been chatting to people in the park. So, my few days in this nice quiet location are coming to an end. It is a place to return to mainly due to its quaint simplicity.