25 - 28 July Atherton Tablelands

So we had left the coast and started by climbing up the road to Mt Molloy and the Atherton Tablelands.  These tablelands are a tapestry of small towns, rich farming country, remnant pockets of rainforest and a myriad of waterfalls, all of which have been formed and built by many ancient volcanos.  Accordingly the Atherton tablelands are like a smorgasboard of diverse things to see and do.  We stayed in Atherton for 5 nights, but you could stay a lot longer as we really only visited a small fraction of what the region has to offer.  On the tablelands the days were a bit cooler, but so were the nights making it a comfortable temperature range even in winter.  However, we did, as usual it seems, have a good couple of days of rain, one of those providing our thickest fogs yet as we drove over the gentle hills to visit volcanic craters and waterfalls.

Remnant rainforests with giant trees

Once this area was carpeted in rainforest, now it is reduced to small pockets, sadly many of these can no longer support species such as cassowaries and musky rats.  The pockets are often built around amazingly large and old trees.  We had seen so many strangler figs on our journey – the boys love them.  It was therefore fitting that we saved the best and biggest for last.

Curtain Fig

Cathedral Fig

A northern leaf tail gecko spotted by Mr C in the Cathedral Fig – 

no mean feat considering the density of the vines

Crystal caves on the mainstreet

A crystal cave on the mainstreet of Atherton – you must be mad.  But no. One of the shops in the main street opens into an amazing labour of love or madness – an artificial set of caves, home of a serious crystal, mineral and fossil collection gathered from all around the world.  This one man has built over 250 metres of false caves and grottos to show off his amazing collection.  If you are looking for natural caves – this is not the place to see them.  But our kids had a great time exploring all the nooks and crannies, reading about the different rocks and crystals and trying to complete a tricky questionnaire.  We had a great time!

A gallery roof of backlit agate slices

Riding ducks and throwing boomerangs

We also had the opportunity now to complete the last leg of our 4 park pass bought so long ago when we were in Cairns earlier and visit the Rainforestation in Kuranda.  The boys had really been looking forward to this visit because they are massive ‘Bushwacked’ fans and when we arrived in the area they had rewatched the Cassowary episode.  The Bushwacked boys had taken a ride on an army duck as part of their hunt for the cassowary and Rainforestation was where the army ducks were.  I will say this place is aimed strongly at the overseas tourist market.  The station is a large property and the price of your ticket gives you access to a number of activities including a guided tour of their animals (which include kangaroos, crocodiles and two feisty, fighting Tasmanian devils), the Pamagirri Aboriginal experience which includes a dance performance and a tour with local indigenous guides and of course a ride on their army ducks (the former army ducks were built between 1942 and 1944 and brought to Australia by the Rainforestion).  The boys had a really good time, they loved the duck ride but equally they enjoyed really learning about boomerangs and didgeridoos.

Craters and waterfalls

The Atherton tablelands have been formed by volcanic activity now obviously extinct.  But there the land was shaped by repeated volcanic eruptions over time, leaving a legacy of hills, crater lakes and fantastically rich soil which supports a wide range of agriculture.  We visited three waterfalls and the smallest crater on a couple of walks.  I would like to add we spent some time getting out of the rain at the Malanda Falls information centre, we popped in to pick up a brochure or two and stayed well over an hour after we discovered it had a wonderful kid and adult friendly interactive centre of information about the region.  This included a volcano the boys could make erupt but taking it through all its stages and a fantastic game about the local tree kangaroos.

Millaa Millaa Falls

Dinner Falls

Malanda Falls

Mt Hypipamee Crater

We drove off from Millaa Millaa falls through rain and dense fog – little did we know that this was the last rain we would see for a very long time.  We were now heading for the outback.