Tea, Tree Kangaroo

This is nothing to do with Tea Tree Gully ( a suburb of Adelaide some 3069km SW of the Nerada Tea Estate outside Malanda).

Before getting to the arboreal macropods I will relate a bit of business from yesterday, which while a tad concerning at the time didn't seem worth reporting.  As we neared the Reddings shop in Mareeba we had to stop a couple of times at pedestrian crossings on the highway.  On each occasion people pointed at the front of the car and looked alarmed.  I assumed it was against spitting water (which I was sort of aware of) so just acknowledged them, secure in the thought that we could push the car to the shop if warning lights went off (which they didn't).  I reported the leak to the Reddings person who said they'd look at it.

I will return to this in a few sentences time.

Our first item of business today was getting all the sheets and pillow cases out of the camper as we had peered in there and discovered as a result of packing up wet at Daintree (and not airing it sufficiently back at Yungaburra) a fair amount of mould was happening.  So open up the camper and let 22^oC and a nice dose of trade winds have a go at drying out the camper  while the sheets etc were on the line.  (A pillow was completely buggered but a new one was acquired from Target in Atherton.)

While that was in progress we went for a walk down Peterson's Creek where a Platypus did its thing nicely for us as usual. At 8 o'clock the horde of Landcare guys arrived and started caring.  One of them showed us a small Coppery Brushtailed Possum curled up in an epiphyte

 and explained where to look for tree -kangaroos (which were not evident at the time).  He said that Nerada Tea was THE spot and advised us how to find them there.  (In essence ask the nice ladies at the Visitors Centre.)

We walked back past the pub - which we have done many times - and noticed this platypus logo built into the pavement outside thereof.

So after hanging out the washing we betook ourselves to Malanda and thence followed the signs to the Nerada Tea Estate.  A very picturesque route, which for some reason had several 1 lane bridges.  I can see that it would cost an appendage or two to duplicate them, but as Nerada is a major tourist attraction I'd have thought they could have found the brass somewhere.

So we got to the Estate and asked the ladies who hadn't had any reports today but showed us the likely spots.  As we moved between them we took photos of the tea bushes

  and the processing plant.

 Then a young English couple waved us over as they had found the Lumholz Tree-Kangaroos!

 Not the greatest photo ever taken but it is better than the one at night a few days back.  And most importantly Frances saw these two.

We then headed for Mareeba to regather the Pajero.  En route Frances did some shopping at a fruit stall in Tolga while I photographed the school tennis courts.

I then visited the bakery and scored a Pepper Steak pie: review below.  Frances later visited the bakery and got a pastie which she found very pleasant.

On to Mareeba.  As we approached the dealership there was the Pajero parked outside, which I took to be a good sign.  Indeed it was.  All work done and issues resolved.  Without going into detail about the sump leak it appeared to be a known problem and a long term solution applied.  It was particularly pleasing that the Mareeba lady (but not the Atherton one) told me this was a warranty job, so cost us nothing.  The brakes cost a bit, but brake pads wear out.

However the most astonishing tale was from the mechanic who worked on the car.  When he and his offsider were removing the gearbox they found a huge rat looking at them.   Apparently this caused enough commotion in the workshop that Cassia left her front counter possie to see what was going on.   It was identified as a White-tailed rat, which we have seen mentioned before as a source of mischief.   It disappeared back into the engine bay. and its current whereabouts are unknown - is it somewhere in the guts of the car or enjoying life somewhere in the workshop?  However: my guess is that the rat was poking its head out of the radiator grill as we drove through Mareeba and that is what folk were pointing at!

• Bird of the day: Royal Spoonbill gets the individual nod.  I think the flock award goes to the mass of about 6 species which scrounge food from the cattle we walk past on out way to Peterson's Creek
• Vegetation of the day:   The plantings of rainforest trees at Nerada to provide habitat for native wildlife..
• Memorable moment: Being told the sump repair was a warranty item!
• Comment of the day: "You've got a huge rodent in there."  The mechanic who saw the animal in question.
• Pie of the day:.  The offering from the Tolga Bakery was excellent.  Very tasty with a good ratio of crust to filling and meat to gravy in the filling.  The meat was chunks of steak not mince.  Not as large as the ones from Quincan Cafe but only $4.60 so excellent value.  Holbrook standard: 9/10.
• Troppo moment of the day. When filling up at Atherton some character turned up in a battered ute with the radio going at about 170dB.  He looked like a refugee from a swamp somewhere (or one of the banjo player in Deliverance's  big mates).

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