Tinaroo Raid 2008

Flynn's - Yungaburra Food Hero

MDR & MB unearthed a rare gem at Yungaburra on Friday night. For their first night at Tinaroo they decided on dinner at Flynn's, a charming little restaurant that serves very good classic dishes with great service.

The duo shared an entree of duck liver & cognac pate which turned out to be quite a large portion with lovely fresh ciabatta, also made on the premises. The pate was sublime and the pair quickly scoffed the lot, MDR was practically licking the bowl he was so enthused with it.

For main course both went for the duck confit and were not disappointed, the duck meat was so flavoursome and tender. The duck was served with some fresh, lightly cooked cabbage and some sliced potato, the duo were pleasantly surprised that a bowl of lightly dressed fresh salad leaves was also included.

To prolong the pleasure even more MDR had a slice of chocolate torte which more or less had pure chocolate oozing out of it's centre. MB opted for the creme caramel, another classic that was very enjoyable.

The service was efficient, unfussed and very affable and the restaurant, while quite compact, has great ambience. Can't wait to return for more.

Tinaroo Raid

The Wooden Boat Club of Cairns organised a gala event for Queen's Birthday weekend at Lake Tinaroo, dubbed the Tinaroo Raid. It's really an excuse for builders, collectors and restorers of traditional wooden boats to compare their prized wooden boats. The club organised an excellent curry night on Saturday in the marquee by the Lake. Sunday was the important day with a tongue-in-cheek competition which centered around a pirate boat throwing coloured ping pong balls into the water which contestants then had to retrieve and throw into a basket suspended between the two masts on the pirate's boat. MDR was in his little dingy acting as safety officer and actually rescued someone from a capsized dinghy.
There was also a peoples choice award for the best boat and a dragon boat demonstration. The dragon boats were actually Crocodile Boats as featured in the accompanying picture. The croc boats scooped the pool, winning both the pirate competition and the peoples choice award. The work and skill that went into these boats was amazing, really spectacular and very deserving of their popularity.

The Dinghy

MDR's dinghy finally gets a workout! Here he is launching it at Lake Tinaroo, ably assisted by John Breen (born in Gordonvale of Dutch parents).

Tinaroo Lakes Resort

MDR & MB really lucked out with accommodation for their weekend jaunt to the Tinaroo Raid, ended up in a huge townhouse on the waterfront. The townhouse was superb with 3 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, fake log fire heater and all the modcons you could ask for, including 3 televisions. The view was a delight, this photo taken from the front deck. The BBQ by the way is a council installation however it looks as if it's part of the resort, it's very nicely designed and very handy to the folks staying at the resort.
The only downside of the stay there was the reptile incident. On Saturday, after a drive to Herberton MDR & MB returned to the townhouse and encountered a baby black snack inside, a few metres from the front door which has a large gap at the base. MDR managed to rustle up the little blighter with a beach towel and relocate it outside. MB was very cautious after that just in case any of the baby snake's siblings were also thinking of visiting!

Welcome Winter

The MB family celebrated the first day of winter with a visit to the Flecker Botanic Gardens.  A nice lunch was had at the cafe then it was a stroll through the gardens to see what was in flower. 

The most spectacular flowering plant at the moment has to be the Jade Vine, it has masses of weeping tendrils with the most unusually coloured flowers, photo below.

Jade Vine

Currently putting on a glorious show at Flecker Botanic Gardens, Cairns.