Tuesday 6th July

Last night we decided to eat out at the Coffee Club in Atherton but then we thought we could eat at a coffee club in Redcliffe so we tried one of the old Atherton hotels in the main street.These old hotels all seem to have been built around the same time in what we would nowcall a kit form so they all look the same .with a wrap around first floor balcony and lots of outer doors leading to the lounge or the bar etc.This one looked the same outside but inside it had been refurbished in the 1930s and had kept that 30s art deco style, very stylish and the food was good, plentiful and reasonably priced.Joe got really excited today because he thought the Malanda show was on and he would have loved to have seen a real Aussie country show but he had got it wrong and it doesn't start until Friday when we will be far away so big sigh of disappointment from Joe and a big sigh of relieve from me.We started today's tour at Yungaburra a pleasant town with very upmarket accommodation with spa in every room and prices at a special rate of $105 per person per night just for the roomJust outside the town is a stunning curtain fig tree well worth a visit and very accessible for anyone.We moved on to Malanda where there is a large dairy which does tours but unfortunately they are only on in the mornings so we missed that.Ten ks out of town is the Nerada tea plantation where they do an interesting tour of the plantation and factory.It is Australia's largest tea plantation and is the only one in the world which harvests the leaves mechanically .They only process there and send the tea in ton sacks to be packed in Brisbane.They don't use pesticides or fertilisers' because it is grown on volcanic soil and they never replant, the plant drops its seeds which grow and the old plant dies leaving the new plant in its place.They have 10% of the Australian market and you can buy it at Coles or Woolworths. I think it has a different taste and I would have to get used to it. Tomorrow we leave Atherton and follow the waterfall trail to Millaa Millaanot a long drive but with lots of waterfalls to see and a cheese and chocolate factory to visit on the way.