Our days in Mareeba and the surrounds were a lot drier and dustier than I imagined the Atherton Tablelands to be but almost as soon as we left and headed south the landscape turned into a deep rich green and the fields were full of a variety of crops. There were rolling hills and quaint little villages as we drove along and it was difficult not to smile and enjoy ourselves. We were now beginning to see the attraction.
Our destination was a campsite with mixed reviews. It seemed as though all the bad reviews were from people in caravans who had been refused entry even though it was stated pretty clearly “no caravans”. Anyway I was pretty sure that I had checked when booking but nevertheless was a little nervous as we drove the last 10km towards the shores of Lake Tinaroo and our campground.
Luckily our camper trailer passed its inspection and we were given a site on a hillside sloping down towards the shore of the lake. It was a beautiful site. The only downside was the slope which was one of the more extreme we have had to manoeuvre our set up around but after a bit of inch perfect positioning we were set up. And flat.
The view we got to sit back and enjoy was absolutely stunning. We had uninterrupted views of the lake and could see the multi million dollar houses stretched along the opposite shoreline. One of the best $20 a night spots to be found I reckon.
It was deserted too. There were just 3 other groups for the first day and night and we lapped up the serenity and the surrounds.
Day 2 was the start of the school holidays however and things were about to change!! All the others who had enjoyed the quiet with us on the first day left and we spent the day sitting back watching everyone setting up camp. It is definitely a fantastically interesting pastime especially considering everyone had the slope to contend with. We were lucky as most of the people were lovely to chat to and we had a great time. Even though it was pretty busy the slope meant we could all enjoy the view and by the time 9:30 came about everyone went to bed!!
I have to admit that I have been feeling a little run down recently and probably have been doing a bit too much so this was a great place to sit and watch the world go by. But of course we couldn’t sit still and managed a little day out!!
It was to visit the quaint little town of Yungaburra which was described in the guidebooks as the most picturesque. Well indeed it was lovely and the streets had well maintained old buildings on them but it was a bit twee for us. I think the most beautiful aspect of the area is the rolling hills around the towns and quite frankly our spot on the side of the lake was pretty good too!! T
