Wednesday 23rd October - Malanda Falls - Innot Hot Springs
Better weather today with partially blue skies, but at least there is no rain. Down to 15.6 last night and upto 28.2 during the day. We drove to Innot Hot springs along the Kennedy Highway. When you get to this town, don't blink or you will miss it, as we nearly did. Funny little place The drive was very hilly, up hill and down dale. On several occasions Clive dropped it back into second gear and we climbed the steep hills, keeping an eye on the temperature gauge all the time. We just took it slow and easy. Thankfully, not a lot of traffic on the road, so we were not holding anyone up. The terrain travelling to Innot Hot Springs changes dramatically. We've gone from rich tropical rain forest to dry hills and dry natural timberland. So, so different in such a small distance. We passed through Ravenshow, which is Queensland's highest town. We also passed a wind farm and we have never seen blades turning so quickly. It was a windy day. Quite a large park, but once again we get parked next to other people. We can hear their radio, even though it is not very loud. I really can't work out the reasoning why they do this. There is so much room here, but we can hear the people near our bedroom having a conservation. They are only in a tent so no buffering at all. Plus the springs are open 24/7, so we have screaming children too. There are six hot mineral pools here that range in temperature from 23 degrees in the coolest pool to 45 degrees in the hottest one. In this one they suggest that you only spend a maximum of 10 minutes for safety reasons. The three very hot ones are in a separate building and children are not allowed in them, even with adult supervision. Backing the park is a billabong, with plenty of bird life in it and on one side is a creek where you can see hot water bubbling to the surface. Well worth a google search to read all about the town and the mineral springs. No TV reception, but we do have internet. No phone reception, but we can get SMS's. Very strange. Clive set up the satellite dish with no problems. A big day of Home and Away tomorrow. Two loads of washing done, dried and put away.Tuesday 22nd October - Malanda Falls
A freezing cold day today as it rained most of the night and also on and off today. The temperature got down to 16.7 last night and only reached 19.1 during the day. It feels like winter is back. We were due to leave today and travel to Innot Hot springs, but seeing as the weather is so bad we will stay the extra day here, as they are forecasting the rain to clear over night. We both had our crochet blankets on over our knees all day. So a day spent mostly reading. Clive is getting the blog upto date, not that he can do a lot with it. There is no internet reception here. The only way we can get a signal is to drive into town. We'll just had to enjoy being off the grid.