Atherton to Mount Carbine

Hello all,
Atherton, which is a pretty town in the mountains just east of Cairns, was cool with misty rain each morning we were there. All the towns in this area are very pretty, with lots of lakes & waterfalls, and great eating places. After 5 days in Atherton, we moved 30Ks to Mareeba, where the temperature was 4 degrees warmer, & sunny from dawn till dusk. We spent a week there, & during that time, we drove to Cairns for a day. It was only an hours drive, & was beautiful all the way.We also went to Herberton, which has a privately owned "Museum Town", which was one of th best that we have seen. Where we stayed in Mareeba, there was a river that bordered the caravan park, & Hans, a chap we met in Wycliffe Well, & I swam in it. It was as good as it looked. We left Mareeba & headed toward Cooktown. On the way, we stopped at a little pub at Mount Carbine for coffee, (that is often the only place to stop in the country), & the publican told us about the caravan park. It sounded so good that we went in for a look, & booked in for 2 nights. The next day, we walked about a half kilometer to the pub for lunch, & enjoyed a very nice, cheap meal, & the company of the entertaining publican. When we walked back to the park, we had to cross a cattle grid as we entered the park. I said to Avril, "Be careful on the grid", & she replied,"O.K.", & promptly fell into the grid with both legs. She fell over sideways, & back, & was in a lot of pain. WE both thought that she had broken at least 1 leg, but luckily she didn't. She was in so much pain that she couldn't walk, let alone get up. Luckily the owner of the park came along in her car & helped me to get Avril out of the cattle grid & into her car, & drove her to our car where we transferred her into the ute, & then drove back to the Mareeba Hospital. When we left the hospital, Avril was on crutches, in pain, & had a script for pain killers. She had damaged ligaments & tendons in her left knee, & muscle tissue in her calf & foot. As you can imagine, she wasn't much fun for the next month. We stayed put in Mount Carbine for 4 weeks, during which time we drove to Mareeba (70K) each week for shopping & hospital, & due to no radio reception, I had to drive 30Ks to use my phone. We didn't make Cooktown this time because by the time we could leave Mount Carbine, Nick & Renee, (our youngest), had arrived in Palm Cove, (Cairns), so we too went to Cairns, where we stayed for 8 days.
I'll post some photos now, & continue the story soon.
Love to you all,
Avril & Doug.
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