Around Mareeba

Up and about after a very restful and somewhat cooler night. After my breakfast, I went for a walk around the Granite Gorge. I was not alone but shared the early part of the day with a father and daughter from Japan. We chatted while the little daughter fed the rock wallabies some pellets. They are very quiet and not concerned by people around.

On return from the walk I had a shower and prepared to leave for some exploration around the area. My first stop was Coffee Works. I spent several hours there not only sampling the vast range of coffees but also checking out the decadent chocolates. As another sampler said to me, "How good would it be if we could have this range of coffees to choose from at home!"

I had a nice muggacino of their coffee before I joned the "Coffee Experience". There is a magnificent display of items relating to the production of coffee, from roasting equipment to the vast number of espresso items. These have been collected by an engineer in Sydney and he apparently has many more items to display. He has collected items form all over the world. It was rally fascinating to see them all.

I spoke for some time with the fellow responsible for the roasting of the beans and he explained to me the various procedures they have to follow to ensure consistency of the blend they are working on at the time.

The Coffee Works creates a divine selection of luxury Chocolate.I really had a chocolate fix along with a coffee fix here. 

After being at Coffee Works for so long I went for a drive to Skybury Coffee Plantation which is about 10 kms west of Mareeba. I had a really nice lunch there on recommendation from Ian and Kay. The view to the north is really stunning and watching the clouds form and change is wonderful. I did not participate in the tour as it was not due for a while and  I thought I had a pretty good idea as to how coffee is grown and handled.

Then back into Mareeba and I went to Leading Edge to get another UHF antenna for the Bravo as the existing one was not functioning correctly. I fitted the new one back in the campground late in the afternoon.

My final visit for the day was to the Mt. Uncle Distillery. I sampled their liquers and a spirit. The liquers very very pleasant but Iwas not very fussed about the Vodka. From there it was only a short drive back to the campground through farm land seemingly producing a variety of crops and livestock. A lot of the farm land was capable of being irrigated mostly by linear move booms.

The late afternoon became quite sociable. Five of us Australians sat in the shade and chatted. The we encouraged a German family from Bavaria to join us. We ended in having a wonderful evening with many of returning to the group to eat our dinner.

So ends a day where I have learned a lot more about coffee and chocolate!