10-19 deg C, fine and sunny
After a rather chilly and hilly walk we had breakfast and then set off for the day. First stop was at Dave and Noy’s for mornos. Noy made a very good coffee from freshly ground beans and we had little fresh fruit tartlets with cream and passionfruit. We stayed for a while to chat and eventually left about 11am.
Next up was the Afghanistan Avenue of Honour at Yungaburra. This living memorial commemorates the courage and commitment of those who served and is dedicated to the memory of the young men who made the ultimate sacrifice in the fight against terror in Afghanistan. The sculptured set of wings in full flight depicts the contributions made by all Services and symbolises the undaunted spirit of the Australian Digger. The Rosemary sprig featured predominantly throughout the Avenue is our national symbol of Remembrance and Commemoration. The reason this Avenue is at Yungaburra is because one of the local lads – Private Benjamin Chuck – was killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan and his parents pushed for the Avenue to be built.
It was then onto the curtain Fig tree just on the outskirts of Yungaburra. This is a very old tree and is quite spectacular to see and is considered the “Tableland’s most famous tree”.
The Nerada Tea plantation and visitor centre was our next stop. We were able to view the entire tea leaf making process from the moment the leaves have been deposited into the withering bins to when it is ready for packaging; it is sent to the packing factory in Brisbane. The factory processes an average of 6 million kg of tea leaves which produces 1.5 million kg of black tea, every year. We availed ourselves of some of this Nerada Tea when we had lunch at the visitor centre – a really delicious chicken and vegetable soup with a damper bun. The bowls of soup were really big. Three of us made pigs of ourselves and ate the lot.
We stopped in at the Malanda Dairy factory, but being a Tuesday, it was closed. So, we drove into Malanda, parked and had a slow wander. After exhausting all the sights in Malanda, we continued onto Malanda Falls. A rather small falls but one can imagine it would be really thumping in the rainy season. Our last tourist stop for the day was at Gallo Dairy Land where they make cheese and chocolates. We thought we could get some yummy cheese and chocolates however none took our fancy. The daily cheese making process had finished as it was almost 2:30pm but they were making some pistachio chocolates. Well, the round chocolate balls were already made and they were just coating them with the crushed pistachios.
Our final stop before heading home was at Atherton for more supplies. Dinner was at Dave and Noy’s and we had a very authentic Thai duck, rice and vegetables. Before dinner we had a few glasses of wine on the top deck overlooking the lake. A great way to finish a great day.
