Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Today has been the lazy day we needed. Even Dylan slept in this morning, and didn't rouse from sleep until after 7am. We had pancakes for breakfast, and slowly got ready for the day ahead, with nobody really in a rush or a hurry to go anywhere.
We drove out of the park at 9, and headed south along the Bruce Highway, until we turned west on the Gillies Highway, which would take us up a twisty, windy route to the Atherton Tablelands, so we could do a bit of exploring up there. Twisty and windy doesn't really go far enough to describe this stretch of road though, it was like trying to drive through your intestines, there wasn't a straight patch on it! Both Jo and Dylan felt sick, and it was a relief when we finally got to the top, and the car didn't smell of puke...
We'd been told of a couple of nice bushwalks, and scenic areas, that were worth a look at, and decided to find them during our drive. The first was called the curtain fig, and was a short 1.5km boardwalk through the rainforest, which took you to and around a strangler fig, which had strangled it's host tree. Before the host tree died however, it had toppled sideways and rested on another tree. The strangler fig had then sent more roots down from it's new position, and the final scenario is a massive fig tree with lots of roots going here, there and everywhere, with the host tree having rotted away and leaving this enormous sculptured tree in the jungle. The photos will give you a fair idea of what we saw, it's very impressive...
Our next location is known as Bromfields Swamp. Doesn't sound real impressive, and in actual fact, it wasn't. It is an extinct volcano crater, they don't know whether it ever erupted or not, but it's filled up over time, with sediment and soil and rocks etc. On one edge of the crater wall, a creek has worked it's way through, and filled the crater with water. All you can see from an elevated position, is the almost perfect circle of the crater wall, and about 10 meters deeper, the bottom of the ground, which now resembles a swamp. The edges of the crater wall are quite steep, and the swamp is apparently a very important habitat for water birds etc... Bit dull...
We then drove to a place known only as 'the crater'. This feature also occured as a result of volcanic action a long time ago, but is much more dramatic and impressive than Bromfields Swamp. Some time ago, (not sure how long, but long), molten lava made it's way through cracks in the granite rock, towards the surface. As it did, it heated the granite rock around it, and the steam created so much pressure, that it caused the mountain side to blow apart along weakened rock fractures. This left an enormous hole in the side of the mountain, almost circular, but very, very deep. The sides of the hole just plunge straight down to the bottom. There's water in the bottom, and the sign says it's 80m deep, which is the tunnel created by the lava... We couldn't fit the entire thing in a photo, so it's hard to give you the full picture, so you'll have to come and have a look one day... Right next to the crater, along another board walk, is Dinner Falls. They're quite pretty, and a nice picnic spot, but not really significant compared to other falls we've seen...
After doing these couple of bushwalks, we headed into Atherton for lunch. Also, the Crystal Caves were there, and Jo thought they might be worth a look. This is a place where those crystal, mineral formations that occur inside rocks are displayed and explained. Amethyst, Quartz, Pyrite, Calcite, Gypsum... They're all there, and all the gemstones too. It's really fascinating stuff, and the cave tour is worth a look too, even though I admit I was sceptical at first. The display in the cave tour is fantastic, and they've backlit alot of the crystals, so the colour can shine through. I thought the boys would get bored fairly quickly, but they were honestly enthralled by it, and found it difficult to comprehend that the shapes and colours were all natural... So did I. We ended up purchasing a geode, which is the hollow rock that grows the crystals inside, and cracking it open in the shop. We bought one bigger one, and they gave us a smaller one for free, so the boys got to 'crack' one each. Jeremy cracked the bigger one, and it turned out to be the purple amethyst colour, with perfectly formed crystals, and flecks of a rusty, orange crystal through it. The guy was very excited when he saw it, and took it out the back to the manager, because he thought they might want to purchase it back from us... Apparently, every so often, they buy the geodes back from customers to put them on display, and when he showed us comparable samples on their shelves, it was clear to see that our crystal formations were much larger and clearer that those on their display shelf. The manager didn't want to though, and to be quite honest, they're a nice souvenier from our trip away, and we're just as happy to keep it. The smaller geode contained standard quartz crystal formations in a milky white, pale blue colour. Also very nice, but not as rich or vibrant as the purple. The boys are going to have one half of each of the geodes, and I was left with the bill...
From Atherton, we drove north to Mareeba, and back down the hill to Cairns. We've enjoyed a very peaceful afternoon, just hanging around the van while the boys swim and ride their scooters, before we decide what we're going to do for dinner. We're all a bit drowsy now, so it might just be crap on toast night tonight, followed by a DVD...
We're still not sick of any part of this trip. Every day we get up, excited to be doing what we're doing, and to be where we are. Every night, we chat and plan what we want to do in the days ahead of us. Yesterday, we ran into a couple of our permanent residents from home, which made us realise the end is getting closer, but there's still enough time and distance between here and the end for us not to be focused on it. It truly has been (and still is), the trip of a lifetime, and we're extremely fortunate to have been able to 'take off' for so long...
I could sit and look at these gardens for hours...
- comments