Today began with clouds that began to disperse in the mid-morning. We took advantage of the clearing skies with an afternoon drive to the Atherton Tablelands (http://www.athertontablelands.com.au/) – a plateau region about 8000 m (approximately 2640 ft) higher than our sea level resort. The drive up was on a winding sealed road (the Gillies Highway; http://thebilgebucket.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/the-gillies-highway/ – by the way, the GOF at this website means Grumpy Old Fart) with about a half dozen road repair sites that took us down to a single lane. All were managed by signal lights as there were no men working on Sunday. Our longest wait was about 5 minutes – we were kind of astonished with the amount of traffic along the road. We did have some great views as we made the rapid ascent (800 m in about 19 km) up the side of a hill.
Once on top, the Tablelands were mostly rolling meadows with cultivated fields. We saw very few farm animals – a few cattle and horses, but no sheep (maybe they don't like the tropical environment around Cairns). Just out from Mareeba, we found a local ice cream stand (Emerald Creek Ice Creamery, http://www.tasteparadise.com.au/mobile/products/emerald-ice-cream.php) and enjoyed some delicious treats (including takeaway butterscotch fudge for Kent!). We drove past the turnoff to Kuranda, not stopping as we were scheduled to see that town on our gondola/rail tour on Wednesday. All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon!
