The Atherton Tablelands

Another Big Object.  This time the Big Mango in Bowen which is were mangoes were first grown in Australia.

Bowen Lighthouse - this one's for you Bendy!

The Atherton Tablelands lie on the plateau just south west of Cairns and form the southern end of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.  The Palmerston Highway takes you up and away from the coast and through beautiful wet tropical forest with big trees covered in epiphytes (plants that live on other plants using them as a platform to gain height).  These include the big basket ferns, stag horn ferns, orchids, etc.  The excitement in the car rose with every minute!  We love big forests.  We stopped to stretch our legs for a walk down to Ellinjaa Falls and a little further down the road to the Millaa Millaa Falls.  The latter is one of the most photographed waterfalls in Australia and features in the Qantas advert.  It was a lovely tranquil place with big tree ferns and a quiet stream. 

Ellinjaa Falls

The famous Millaa Millaa Falls. It was already dusk so we couldn't stop of a swim in this exceptionally photogenic spot.

We were back in Tree Fern country :)

The light was fading so we headed on to a small town called Yungabarra and booked into a great backpackers called On the Wallaby.  It was refreshing to stay at this friendly establishment where there are no keys for the rooms and the door to the street stays open all night!

Early the next morning (at 5:30 to be precise), we were packed up and headed out in the misty rain to the creek that ran through town to look for platypus which we'd heard live there.  As it became lighter, we heard a splash in the pool we were sitting at and saw a tiny creature paddling quickly along.  What a strange critter it was!  Almost like the cross between a turtle and a beaver but only about 30cm long.  It was fun to watch him doing his rounds of his pool - flat bill twitching, front webbed feet paddling, back feet tucked in and its wide tail trailing behind!  In a couple more of the pools in the river we saw others looking for their breakfast too.

The rain had stopped and we headed off to find a 500 year-old strangler fig tree in the forest just outside town.  This fig started life either climbing up a big tree, or as a seed being deposited in a big tree. It would have dropped roots, and once established would have used the host tree as its support to climb rapidly to reach the canopy.  Eventually the support tree died and toppled over until it was resting at an angle on another tree.  The fig then sent down more roots from its now diagonal trunk forming a curtain.  The second support tree has now died too, leaving this impressive old fig tree with its curtain of roots making a living wall in the forest.

The magnificent 500-year old Strangler Fig forming a dense curtain only hinting at the previous hosts.

Our last stop before Cairns was Lake Eacham - a deep volcano crater that has filled with water and is surrounded by beautiful lush forest, the water is a deep sapphire blue.  The pretty, winding Gillies Highway took us down off the tablelands and to Cairns an hours drive away for Geoff's dive refresher course at 8:30am! PHEW!

We would have loved to have had more time up in the Atherton Tablelands and it was the highlight of the Queensland coast for us this far.  We would recommend it highly to anyone visiting northern Queensland and is best compared to the Natal midlands with rainforest.