Well, I was going to pick up my little GETZ hire car from East Coast Car Rentals at 146 Sheridan Street in Cairns but when I got there, the advertised $24 turned out to be $24 PLUS $20 insurance waiver PLUS 9% administration charges PLUS ... so I went next door to Mini Car Rentals who turned out to be just another bunch of gougers. Had to pay top-money for a clapped-out and very second-hand GETZ with a chipped windscreen, an air-conditioning that existed in name only, a static radio and no CD-player! My advice if you want to hire a car: stick with the BIG BOYS, the likes of HERTZ, AVIS, or BUDGET!
Drove up to Kuranda Kuranda with the idea of staying for a night or two at the Kuranda Resort but the place looked so seedy and down-at-heel that I went straight to Atherton.
Atherton has grown enormously since my last visit. Went to look up the old shop where Bruce Dowling Real Estate was on my last visit.
I met Bruce Dowling on a trip in 2003. It was a remarkable meeting in that he was related to John Dowling, the "Uncrowned King" of Rabaul. The Chartered Firm of Accountants in Rabaul I worked for in 1970 had done all of John Dowling's accounting work. And the meeting was also remarkable in that Bruce had just marketed the disused mining camp - see picture above - of a tungsten mine at Mt Carbine which I had very nearly joined in 1976.
Bruce had shown me around Atherton and Lake Tinaroo and we had talked about all sorts of things and topped it off with a drink at the local. I wanted to meet up with him again this time but it seems Bruce Dowling Real Estate is no more nor is Bruce Dowling. Real estate agents seem to be a dying breed: first Ray Mullins at Kuranda and now Bruce Dowling at Atherton. 
Atherton had grown far too big and busy for my liking so I went the extra 18 km to Herberton where I booked into the Royal Hotel and already met some of the locals. Hi there, Frank, Peter and Kim, if you happen to read this!
Nice room upstairs with a big verandah overlooking the "main street". Across the road is the Spy & Camera Museum where I will donate my tiny YASHICA Atoron camera which I had bought in the early 70s for big money. Only used it a few times as the negatives were so tiny that enlargements from them did not turn out too well. It comes with several separate gadgets and attachments and should make a wonderful addition to their collection.
P.S. Found a facebook group commemorating the Mt Carbine Mine here.
