We ate, we drank, we shared stories with Fay. A cheerful, chatty, convivial lady of sixty-seven, she was trying to downsize. Her adjacent home had become too much for her and she was trying to sell this glorious house in a beautiful location. She and her dog had retreated to living inside the B&B, hence her establishment has shrunk to one bedroom available for sleepovers. Having said that, as I wrote in my TripAdvisor review, the guest sector is almost as big as our previous home in Beverley. When in Herberton, stay with Fay.
After an almost orgasmic shower - hot, plentiful water, loads of space - we took our leave and returned to the Herberton Historic Village. After another two hours wandering about, we had to reluctantly drag ourselves away to begin our descent towards Cairns.
Atherton for lunch and then Yungaburra. Both deserved more time than we could manage. More ticks for us to add to our burgeoning list of return destinations. At the Atherton visitors centre - the ladies on reception were an absolute hoot - I bought a bar of crocodile oil soap. When I get around to using the soap, I wonder if it will smell like a chicken.
And so we headed down the Gillies Highway towards Gordonvale and Cairns. I chose to drive. In its infancy, the highway was a one-way, one-lane gravel road with manned gates at each end. Traffic was allowed ninety minutes to ascend or descend before the direction of traffic was changed. Apparently, if one arrived too quickly, the gate man would give the driver the rounds of the kitchen for careless driving. I am still unsure what would have happened if a car took longer than ninety minutes to complete the journey...
I have never driven such a road. Twists and turns and more twists and turns. Every now and then, an overtaking lane would be added and fools would hurtle past me, often travelling at a death defying speeds of sixty kilometres an hour. Me? When an approaching turn recommended forty or even thirty kilometres an hour, I followed the speed limit to the letter. Surprising, we only encountered one ute on totally the wrong side of the road - our side - and a few lunatics trying to drive a little too close to the central lines in order to climb the mountain a bit quicker.
My usual fear of heights was overruled by the intense concentration required to drive. And the Gillies Highway views were astonishing. I actually managed to snatch the odd peak at the tableland we were descending. Wow, just wow.
Finally, Lily was being driven on more or less level ground. But the mountains were with us all the way to Cairns as a majestic backdrop.
We have been with Birthday Boy Leigh Doust in his unit for two nights. He lives on a fairly busy road, close to the airport, so we have had to adjust to traffic and aviation noise again. This has not been too difficult as the view from his front terrace is of Edge Hill and beyond. We have braved Cairns Central Shopping Centre - now that was an assault on the senses - and loved the Night Markets. A young lad from Hokkaido massaged my feet and calves with oil Bliss.
Last night, we met with Leigh's delightful daughter Natalie and husband James for dinner. The food at the Cock and Bull was cheap and cheerful pub food, but the place was packed and the company excellent.
The guest bed @ Leigh's Place was actually two king singles pushed together. After nights of sleeping in shortish beds in various cabins, Michael has slept like a baby. And he and Leigh have caught up on years of memories. Two blokes who have known each other since they were fifteen have just revelled in each other's company. And I have been along for the ride with them.
Tomorrow, we are off again to the Deep North for three days. Our holiday is drawing to its inevitable conclusion. So, we have scheduled evening drinkies on Leigh's boat today with not much else in between. This is living.
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