I was so sorry to leave Granite Gorge before sunrise.
I wanted to take a hundred photos of the cuddly wallabies!
In the middle of the night I’d even thought of the perfect caption for a picture of me with a group of the little’uns… “Wallabe my lover? Gotta get with my friends!”
But it wasn’t meant to be.
“Adventure is out there!” as they say in Up, and we were going up, up and away to get some!
You’re going to have to forgive me for the surplus of photos, but I found the combination of canvas balloons, fire and star light utterly mesmerising.
We watched in awe as the hot air balloons came to life.
Once they were fully erect (Oh, nurse!) we jumped into the basket.
And one by one, we floated up into the sky.
We drifted across the landscape.
Spotting kangaroos, boar, livestock and critters along the way.
We felt pretty cosy under the flames, in our leather clad wicker basket, way up above the ground.
Well, not as high as we’d hoped as we ploughed into a crop of trees!
Flames burst into the balloon, and we climbed higher.
Once the sun had risen (behind a blanket of grey cloud), we came to a gentle stop.
In a field, with a very surprised horse.
Grinning from ear to ear, and light as air we said our thank you’s and headed to breakfast.
It was still pretty early. Almost everything was closed and Trip Advisor insisted that the best breakfast in the area could be found at McDonalds.
Refusing to be beaten, we crawled through the streets hoping to find something open.
Well.
We struck gold, my friend!
A tiny little Italian deli, with a few tables in the back welcomed us in.
The place positively bursts with fresh, local produce and homemade specials.
We took a seat for brekkie, confident that we were in good hands.
And the chef (who can’t have been much more than a teenager) didn’t disappoint.
Poached eggs with asparagus, ham, dill, avocado and homemade sourdough.
And one helluvan eggs benni.
If you’re planning a Queensland adventure of your own, Cairns Hot Airballoons are pretty spectacular.
And Dino’s Deli is an absolute must visit. They don’t have a website, but find them here in Mareeba.
Sorry McDonalds, but with those eggs and this sort of advice…
You didn’t stand a chance.
