We’d managed to pull over for a break in a couple of locations, but there’s not much chance of a decent rest on the front seat of a Corolla when people who arrived in the rest area before you have snaffled the shady spots.
On that basis we’d figured we’d take a break somewhere handy like Mission Beach, stay overnight, and do the final leg in the morning, having had a decent chance to rest and refresh.
So we’d booked ourselves into Licuala Lodge at Mission Beach, advised them we were likely to be early, been told to call when we arrived in the vicinity, and decided eight or nine in the morning was just a little too early to do that.
Which explains the repeated use of the phrase it was still in the foregoing narrative.
There wasn’t a great deal of traffic about, but we were still inclined to head out through Portsmith rather than Mulgrave Road, and that decision produced some results as far as time killing was concerned when we passed Rusty’s Markets.
Since it was Friday morning they were open and since Madam has a penchant for fruit we stopped.
I’d have preferred to stop somewhere I could sit down, but you can’t have everything, and we managed to kill around half an hour.
We’d also identified a likely spot to stop in the form of a rest area on the banks of the Mulgrave River just south of Gordonvale, and it wasn’t that long after seven-thirty when we arrived there, and not much before nine when we decided to hit the road again.
Put a tick beside shade, but a cross beside comfortable place to rest in the front seat of a Corolla.
That meant there was still a good three hour time span before we could reasonably expect Licuala Lodge to be available and as we hit the highway we ran into another little issue. The skyline of the range that Yarrabah is nestled behind had a veil of grey drawn over it, and the veil was headed our way.
As we pulled out of the rest area the game plan had been to turn off at Babinda and take another break there. It’s a right hand turn that would involve issues with oncoming traffic and Madam didn’t fancy it in the conditions that prevailed as we passed through Fishery Falls and Deeral.
It started to lift around Bellenden Ker, so there were no visibility issues, and we negotiated the right hand turn and pulled upon the middle of the street outside the Babinda Bakery.
If I’d had my druthers we’d have been breakfasting at the bakery in Mourilyan, where the pies are excellent, but I’ve got to say the Babinda versions are just about as good, and we still have to get to the bakery in Wangan, which according to Mad Mick produces the best pies in the North.