We had a spot of bother just before leaving Eungella. The EC was parked in the sun and the power was really flowing. Joe noticed that the battery voltage was 16V! This is not good for the batteries! So we contacted Mark at Earth Cruiser. With his guidance we discovered that the regulator was programmed for a different battery setup. So with Mark's instructions Joe reset the program and the voltage settled down to a max of 14.2 which is correct. It seems this was a mistaken factory setting by the battery supplier, not a mistake made by Mark.
We are now concerned that the batteries may have been damaged, but Mark's technical advisers say it is unlikely. So far the batteries seem to be fine, but time will tell.
This phase of our trip is down memory lane. We are to meet up with our old friends Maggie Mackay and Kim Daniel, my cousin Ron Turner and his wife Carolyn, Joe's childhood friend Yan Ditzbalis and his wife Heather in Innesfail, and my second cousin Graeme Turner and his wife Elspeth in Atherton. We will also pass through Malamda where I lived as a child.
We got away from Eungella on Friday morning as planned, and reached Ayr and Alva Beach before sunset. Here we met up with my first cousin Ron Turner and Caroline in the caraven park where they are spending the long weekend. We spent a convivial evening with them catching up on family happenings well into the night! Very nice!
Ron is a printer and has a wicked sense of humour! He has made some stick on scratch marks for "pride and joy" motor homes. He has caused a a good deal of domestic friction as couples try to sort out who has scratched the vehicle! luckily for us ours is already scratched and we might not have noticed another one -so he didn't waste one on us!
And then on to Townsville where we stayed two nights with Maggie and Kim who have recently moved to a high rise. We can certainly see the benefits of this way of life. Magnificent views in all directions, great breezes, walk to shops and restaurants! Hmmmm -maybe if we sold the Earthcruiser once we are too old for it we could afford a place like this.
Which brings us to Castle Hill - has it become "Castle Mountain" yet? I understand that the locals have been carrying rocks up this hill for many years in the hope of reaching the requisite height to be defined as a mountain.
Then on to Innesfail and Yan and Heather. They have a great spot with lovelly green views. They grow and sell palm hearts to avant garde resturaunts. We were treated to a palm heart salad garnished with pink ginger flowers!
The Innisfail area is so green, and has so many waterfalls. We camped at the Boulders, and swam to cool off -and cool off we did indeed -the water was freezing!
The rainforest is quite different from our Eungella Forrest -with some species we like and some we wouldn't want.
At Malanda we stayed in the council caravan park. This used to be managed by our old friends the Searls. We lived close by and Jim Searle used to take me riding with him on his pound run- wouldn't happen today -mature man with young girl -but it was a highlight of my childhood.
Another highlight was swimming in Malanda Falls, morning and night in the summertime. My brothers got up to night time nudie dips which they thought I didn't know about...... And it was here that I was the high school open swimming champion at age 12 years. The Olympics was discussed (haha) but I (luckily) wasn't interested. But my moment of glory still shines for me today! So I had a swim up to the falls for old time sake, and we went for a walk in the forrest. The new visitors centre there is well worth a look too. What a great day!
We reached Atherton in time to spend the evening with Graeme and Elspeth Turner, discussing genealogy and the Cape. They own Hann River road House, with Graeme's brother Greg. It is leased out to the current Managers. Both Graeme and Elspeth have a long association with the Cape so it made for great discussion.
Atherton is unexpectedly bustling and well serviced. We found an ARB (and got our diff breather extensions fitted), a Supercheap Auto where got a few small tools, a Bunnings, a Woolworths. So who needs to go to Cairns! We are ready to go!
However we didn't get far! Mareeba has a country music festival on this weekend. So we pulled in to camp there for the night. The music standard left a lot to be desired though and we are off again this morning (Saturday).
I'm having trouble uploading photos at the moment. Maybe I will have to reduce the size. So this blog is a bit short on pics, but if I don't upload it now I won't get it away for some time. We will be on the Cape maybe as far as Daintree tonight. Woo Hooo! See you all later!
PS the reason I couldn't upload was that my prepaid credit had run out. Oh dear -soar like a pidgeon!
So today we are in Cape tribulation. It's started!
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