Atherton Tablelands - 19th September 2008

Atherton Car Kilometers: 179,113

Distance Travelled: 579km

Total Distance Travelled: 10,862km

We found the Atherton Tablelands, slightly inland between Cairns and Innisfail, by accident. We had both read the section of the book and decided to leave it until we were on our way back down from Cooktown. Fortunately for us, Ken (our trusty sat nav) decided that the fastest route to Cooktown from Townsville was via this area. Even when we programmed the route into Ken we didn't realise he was taking us this way until we got closer to Cairns and he told us to turn off the Bruce Highway (great name for an Australian main road).

We actually ignored him the first time but at the next junction we decided to follow his direction (don't question Ken), and found ourselves on a very steep windy road heading up into the mountains. We now know that this was the Tolga Road heading up into the Great Dividing Range, but at this point we had no idea. I was enjoying the drive and we stopped at a few lookout points on the way but by 2pm we realised that the 350km left before we got to Cooktown was going to be a push. It was around then when we saw a sign to Lake Eacham which we recognised as in the Tablelands area and decided to explore.Lake Eacham was a clear water lake in the middle of thick rain forest and had us from the minute we saw it. After watching the people swimming and generally relaxing for a while we decided to abandon the drive to Cooktown and drove off looking for a campsite. To our surprise we found a really nice site about 5 kms further on. The scenery and friendliness of the man on reception prompted us to a quick decision to stay for a couple of nights.

The campsite was half rain forest and half farm land and was very green. There was even a pet Pig and Ostrich. After the standard set up and a bit of time relaxing from the drive we drove off in search of Malanda Falls where we found the small but pretty falls and encountered the Brush Turkey (small wild turkey, black with a red head and yellow neck). Within a few minutes of more driving, we found ourselves in green hillside farming land, very reminiscent of the Peak district or Yorkshire and we immediately felt at home. The land had all been rainforest before the Europeans had arrived but since then they had cleared big areas leaving a strange combination of green hills and spots of rain forest.It was like a combination of English hills with cows and sheep interspersed with patches of the Amazon rainforest with Parrots and Cassowary (like an emu but more colourful).

For the next two days we followed the 'local sights' leaflet given to us back at the campsite and managed to see most of the main items in the area including the Waterfall Circuit, a 16km drive that took in three waterfalls called Milla Milla Falls (and lookout), Zillie Falls, and the Elinja Falls with each one getting more impressive as we went along. This was concluded by the Mt Hypipamee Crater which was a narrow 138m deep crater caused by volcanic activity. It is full of water at the bottom and the signs explained that as it is so inaccessible no one actually knows how deep it is. Both me and Jemma were (and still are) trying to figure out how something like this developed an aquatic life of fish and crustaceanswhen there were no rivers or any other way of getting there?

One common theme of all the waterfalls and the crater is the rocks that they were formed by. It is a bit difficult to describe but it looked as through all the rocks were in cubes that gradually wore away at the bottom and fell in leaving rubble of smaller rock cubes at the bottom and either side of the falls. The edges looked like they were made of really big square lego!

We did try and see a platypus but despite the early start and quite walking they decided not to show. I think that we missed the sunrise by about half an hour and by the time we got there there was enough noise around for them to have shied off for the day. Still the bonus being I did manage to get Jemma out of bed in a morning without a fuss.

We saw the Curtain Fig Tree, which was reputed to be the most visited tree in the world, both of us deciding that there must be many more visited tees in the world but not being able to name any. The closest we got was the Major Oak near Nottingham. I still have no idea of the number of tourists going to either but I will investigate that onelater in life when I am working again and have a boring afternoon and free internet. That said it was a striking tree. The tree was a strangler Fig Tree which starts life as a seed (obviously). The seed gets eaten and 'deposited' by a bird and caught in the canopy of a tall rainforest tree, which were quite prevalent around here. From there it germinates and grows roots all the way down the side of the tree and grows from its lofty position. Eventually it covers the host tree entirely so that the host tree dies leaving a large tube like tree and lattice work in its place. The difference with this one was that as the Strangler Fig was growing the host tree fell over but instead of falling to the floor it lodged at an angle on a neighbouring tree. Over time the Fig did what it did best and continued to send roots to the floor but instead of directly down around one tree it send vertical roots all the way along the fallen angled tree and formed a 'curtain' of roots leading from the floor to the canopy of the neighbouring tree. I hope I have explained that ok but if you look at the pictures at the same time as reading this it should make sense. We actually came here twice but the first time it was going dark and I wasn't happy with blurry photos. The next day the photos were fine but I am still not sure it did it justice.

After one day of driving (and avoiding the Brush Turkeys), we got back to the campsite and decided to have a drink and sit outside in the small seating area next to the reception. We didn't realise it at first but over the next few minutes we noticed all the activity going on around us. Thebird lifewas incredible, and consisted of Parrots (red and green), Lorikeets, Chickens (& Chicks), Brush Turkeys and three different types of finch type birds feeding who flew off the feeder like water dripping over the edge of a bath, every time something startled them. We had got used to seeing the parrots (or 28's as they are known in Perth) and Cockatoos but all the birds here had the most vivid colours and there were so many around that we sat there watching for at least an hour. Even though we have been in Australia for over 7 months now I don't think either of us will get used to seeing parrots and other birds flying around like they do here. I guess that's the bonus of living on the edge of a rain forest. The downside being the obvious rain (the clue is in the title).

After the last day of driving around the countryside and stopping for a cheese tasting at the diary, we were feeling quite at home and were tempted to stay another night. In the end we decided that we seen the sights and much as we wanted to stay there were still a lot of sights left on the journey. We watched the sun go down over Lake Eacham and went back to the campsite ending our few days of an English location with a typically English dinner. Beans on Toast.