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Day 35 - Mon 7th May
Left Campsite and made a bee-line for the Atherton Tablelands, a beautiful area of rainforest mixed with pastureland.
Picked a site next to Lake Eacham, which was pretty much deserted, where the owners gave us loads of useful information on local sights.
Headed for the lake for a walk, and were almost immediately greeted by a 2m long Amethystine Python (harmless) sunning himself on the steps by the Jetty. He didn't stick around.
Also found a massive (and I mean massive) spider sat in his web next to the path. She was about 15cm across. Again harmless though, but I didn't get close enough to test the theory.
We did a circuit of the lake, although there wasn't much to see, apart from a few frogs and some crayfish.
Day 36 - Tues 8th May
Did a proper day of sightseeing today!
First stop the "Cathedral Fig". A truly spectacular, enormous strangler fig whose host tree has long gone. The remaining fig is now some 45m in girth and supports ten different sorts of ferns and epiphytes.
Next we went to see the "Curtain Fig". Similar to the previous one, except that the host tree fell at a 45 degree angle so the fig grew in a massive curtain, sending its roots to the canopy floor.
From here we drove to "The crater" - although we nearly didn't bother. Glad we did though. After walking for 5 minutes or so through the raiforest you come to a huge hole in the rock, formed by a volcanic water explosion millenia ago. The crater is actually the end of a U-bend shaped hole that disappears below you.
Nearby were "Dinner Falls" which although pretty were tiny compared to some of the others we have seen.
Later in the day we strolled along the creek in Yungaburra, where we chanced upon a couple of platypuses!
By now it was nearly dark, so we took ourselves off on a self-guided night walk, back at "Curtain Fig". Within a few minutes we had seen a Pademelon, a Tree Kangaroo and a couple of Possums. Seeing your torchlight reflected back at you from a pair of possums eyes blinking at you from the canopy is pretty special.
The day was rounded off with some stargazing. Next to no light pollution here and the sky was magical.
Day 37 - Weds 9th May
Got up and said goodbye to the ducks on the pond at the site. The duckling count had gone from 4 to 2 overnight! Then we hit the road north into the real tropics.
Arrived at Cape Tribulation at about 12:30 after about a 2.5 hour drive. After parking up on our pitch we did the twenty metre walk to the beach (hard life eh?). Absolutely beautiful. Long sweeping cove lined with mangrove and coconut palms. No swimming here though, due to the local salt-water crocodiles, which grow to 6m. Not taking any chances thanks.
Had our first encounter with the local Soldier Crabs, who are hilarious to watch. They scuttle around in groups of 50 or more, and as soon as they sense danger nearby spiral into the sand, disappearing in about 2 seconds.
Also saw lots of Ghost Crabs, who are incredibly shy and move at lightning speed across the sand to the safety of their holes as you approach.
Day 38 - Thurs 10th May
Nice lazy day today. Swam at a local swimming hole in a nearby creek, which was full of fish. They seemed strangely attracted to my feet.
Rest of the day spent lounging around. Great to be in one spot for a couple of nights.
Another great night for stargazing. Some small clouds around, but absolutely zero light pollution.
Day 39 - Fri 11th May
Woke to a glorious sunny day. Walked from the campground to the far end of the beach, about 40 mins away, getting too much sun on the way.
In the evening we did a guided night safari, which was really interesting. Saw lots of frogs and insects but nothing of much size. The second half of the walk was supposed to be to spot crocodiles, but sadly we didn't find any.
The most notable thing was finding a scrub hen's nest. Small bird, gigantic nest. About 7 metres across and 2 high. Basically a huge compost heap that they use to incubate their eggs.
Day 40 - Sat 12th May
Goodbye Cape Trib.
Hit the road and headed for Cairns, ready for our dive trip.
Andy bought a new underwater video camera (of course he did!). Then we went to a talk about the marine ecology of the Great Barrier Reef, in readiness for the dive trip tomorrow.
Day 41 - Sun 13th May
5am start for 6am pickup. Went via dive shop straight to the pier, where we boarded our boat, alnog with the other 30 passengers (eek). Very choppy crossing, made worse by being in a shallow-hulled boat.
Dive 1 - 11am. Tons of fish - bird wrasse, parrotfish, butterfly fish. Lots of christmas tree worms (personal favourite). Loads of giant clams. One about 5 feet across.
Dive 2 - nice long relaxed dive. Watched some large colonies of smaller fish in the coral heads.
Dive 3 - Massive shoal of unicorn fish. Also saw some barracuda and a lot of glassfish.
Dive 4 - night dive. Saw a reef shark, coral trout, red bars. Also some big jacks out hunting.
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