Day 2: Lake Tinaroo to Mareeba

From Lake Tinaroo, we headed back up the road to Kauri creek road which goes over the range and down into Mareeba. The first part of the ride was a bit of a test: 500m of elevation gain in 10km. It's a good thing we left early in the morning, it's pretty sweaty riding uphill in the rainforest!

Over the top of the hill, it got a lot drier on the north-facing slope (that's the sunny side down here in upside-down land). We started seeing the iconic termite mounds in the more open, grassy area we were now riding through.

Once we got to Mareeba, it was time for a milkhake and some internet access. We stayed in a caravan park (that's aussie for car campground) in Mareeba, and went swimming at the Brewery swimming hole on the Barron river. I don't know why it's called that, maybe there used to be a brewery there once - there isn't now. There were three guys sitting on the river bank having a drink of wine; one of them was a very friendly aboriginal guy from the Northern Territory. He thought we were nuts to go swimming in the "cold" water. It must have been as warm as Shuswap lake in summer, though!

-mark.