A weekend with friends

As everyone that reads my blog knows, we love walking at Mt. Lewis National Park and we head up there whenever we get the chance.  The last time that we got together with our friends we talked about heading up there for a hike and then coming back to our place for dinner.  It was my PNG friend's birthday and our Kuranda friend's wedding anniversary so perfect for a celebration dinner.
Everyone arrived at our place by 8.30 on Saturday morning and after packing a picnic lunch we were on our way by 9.00.  It's fortunate that since we have owned the camper we now have things like folding tables and chairs so they were also packed for the picnic.  Our plan was to drive straight to the top of Mt. Lewis, which we did,  and walk the short distance out to the escarpment.  As we are at almost 900 metres the views here are spectacular.

Our wonderful friends.

When we arrived back at our vehicles we had a very welcome cup of tea and biscuit.  The boys preferred a beer!

Smoko at the "hut"

After smoko we headed back down the mountain to Mary Creek where we waded a short distance through the beautifully cool waters of the shallow creek bed.  This is a "no shoes" walk and I'm afraid my friends found the barefoot experience fairly difficult.

These feet are not meant for "barefooting" it

They are rarely without shoes in their respective jobs so their feet are super soft.  Philip and I are bogans and walk around without shoes most of the day so our feet are very tough!
After our creek walk we made our way to Ferny Creek for our picnic lunch.  It is a beautiful spot right beside the tree-fern lined creek and the spot we lunch in is completely shaded. We lunched on chicken, coleslaw and bread rolls that went down a treat.

Philip's photo - love this macro shot of one of the many flowering shrubs at Mt. Lewis

Everyone was keen for a longer walk after lunch so it was back to the Ho Chi Min trail.  This trail can be as long or as short as you want.  If you walk the whole track through to Mt. Carbine it is about 40km.  We walked a few kilometres along the track and then made the return journey.  It was after 3.00 pm by this time so we decided to make our way home where I had a three course dinner waiting.

First course preparation......smoked salmon pate 

Cheesecake cups for dessert

We enjoyed a balmy night with plenty of flowing wine and food.  The conversation around the dinner table was stimulating, as it always is with friends and the night passed quickly.  However we were all very sensible (tired!!) and were in bed well before midnight.
The next morning we all woke early and enjoyed breakfast together before everyone headed their separate ways.  It was a lovely weekend with friends and one I hope we repeat soon.