Atherton Tablelands

 Australia, being a vast country, with very little rainforest in it, it was time to go see a part of it that wasn't jungle like. We drove back up the range where we went to go through Kurunda and entered the tablelands.

 This looks so different from what we've seen of Australia so far! Once again, there is a surprising amount of farms everywhere. Perhaps it should have been obvious, but I wasn't expecting that.

 We checked out a small town. Mostly because I wanted to buy some coffee beans, and maybe snag a small gift of chocolate for Melanie as we didn't have anything to give her 'til we were back home. But it was too hot to keep chocolate in the car. So we settled for coffee. Besides, she was tailing me...hard to buy a birthday gift then!

Beautiful scenery. If you ever happen to to be in the vicinity of Cairns, totally, I recommend that you go for a drive up in the tablelands. Stunning!

 Farms, and more farms. Very flat. nice soil too, huh?

 We went off to see the "curtain fig tree". Meaning, a fig tree that's aerial roots have spread out so far and long that it is like a curtain.

 Now, this is one big tree. The above photo is the smallest view you can have of it, as it is taken from the narrowest angle of the roots. The wide angle is really impressive. And the trunk starts so high up there!

 Melanie got bored and ended up spotting some tree kangaroos. They were too far for my camera (just a cell camera) but they were close enough to see. They were climbing up and down vines, and it was neat to see them. Some Aussies in the parking lot told us we were lucky to see them, as they aren't that common.

  So yeah, apparently the fig tree starts by growing up on a regular tree up high somewhere. It sends out it's aerial roots...and it this case, as it gets old enough, it swallows up and kills the original tree by hogging all the light. The host tree fell over and that's why the roots are hanging all down like a curtain.

 The trees on the side of the road looked very unique. I wonder if they are coniferous, and what kinds they are.

 Great place to farm!

 We had been thinking of doing the "waterfall tour" where you drive by lots of waterfalls in a circuitous manner and return in Cairns at the end of the day. We stopped at one waterfall only, concluding that the dry season, and the mood of the travelers, lent for a shorter day. I found a limping brush turkey. It reminded me of the chicken with a dislocated hip that we had culled (along with our rooster and a hen with bumblefoot, and another random hen with a shortage of feathers) before we'd left. Or rather, that we'd help/watched getting culled. Poor turkey. Just like our "little chicken" it was chased off by other more healthy brush turkeys. Birds are mean, just like people!

 This waterfall, the one and only we saw of the tour, had a stepladder going into the pool at the bottom.

 They were nice and refreshing, certainly nice to cool off! We had a good lunch there as well, while we were at it.

 Heading back again, I noted the red dirt. No "Red Dirt" shirts around for sale though. (maybe I should tell them it's a great marketing thing!:p)

 You can catch a glimpse of me snapping shots of the red dirt. To chuckle at with the in-laws some day.

 More farms. And cattle.

 We checked out a lake on the way. Note the boats for lake tours. Which we passed on. It was quiet as no tour bus happened to be stopped over while we were there. It seems like it is on the route...so we move on.

 Reaching the beginning of the tablelands again, the hilltops start showing up again.

 We drive down, curvy and steep once again. Wheeee.

 Down at the bottom we marvel at the steep sides of some of the hills.

 Relaxing again at Treetops. Sure is nice to have a house-like atmosphere, and not a hotel. Love it!

 We treated ourselves out for dinner. We'd been planning on meeting our friends and going to the night market with them. But they got stuck over in Tokyo an extra day and were now planning on landing in Cairns a couple hours before we need to leave for the pricey part of our Cairns stay -- the reef tour!! Dinner was good. We made sure we knew where the wharf was so we'd be in the right place tomorrow, as we have to leave early.

 We checked out the night market. So there are some places open late in Cairns...tourist nick-knack shops mostly, and a few places to get a bite to eat.

We hope that Carol and her daughter make it tomorrow. It is a good thing they had an extra day in the schedule, as we know they were really looking forward to the reef!

Cairns Botanical Gardens, Kurunda and the Lagoon

Having looked up cheap options on touring Cairns and area I saw that the Botanical Gardens were absolutely free!! Since gardens and plants are of interest to me, and the price was right, the gang joined me for a tour. We started outside.Fascinating bark to that tree!

 Such a bright and complicated flower!

 These trees had pretty neat flowers coming down.

 Just imagine what the gardens would look like when it is in peak season!

 We went inside (also free!) and saw some other interesting plants. A lot of the plants came from other countries...I guess not everyone touring is there just to see Australia. But pretty amazing gourd plant, even if it's from the Philippines.

 Orchids looking natural.

 Lotsa cool flowers to see. There were a bunch of butterflies in here as well. Certainly worth checking out!

 So bright!

 We did a stop at our new favourite shopping place. Groceries, odds and ends...it's all in the mall just 10 minutes from our "home".

 We headed up to Kurunda. It's the place to go from Cairns, apparently. I'm glad we were there on an off season, it must be so packed when it's tourist time! It was pretty quiet for us, and a lot of the shops selling stuff you don't need were closed as a result. Not a big deal for us! We opted out on the rainforest walks, as they looked very much like the Daintree Rainforest walks...I doubt the habitat was that different. We did go into the Koala Gardens so we could check out some Aussie mammals. We walked over the hungry crocs. (yes, I know they aren't mammals. but they are noteworthy as we saw them without paying for the Aussie river croc tour that is advertised at almost every river we passed)

 The koalas were sleeping. No surprise there! Apparently they are awake about 3 hours a day, and these ones work for one of those hours (but get a day off every third day, maybe) to be held by tourists for a photo shoot.

 We passed on the $ per picture. Besides, you have to come during the "working hour" of these poor tired koalas. I bet their toes are scratchy though! I do wonder how soft they are...are they really cuddly, or kind of have course hair?

 Spot the croc...somewhere there.

 You could take kangaroo food (looked just like rabbit food pellets) in your hand and feed the kangaroos by hand. BUT the kangaroos were totally not interested and people were dumping pellets all over the Koala Gardens trying to lure the (fat?) kangaroos to come and have a nibble. They looked more interested in napping.

 I guess they had free roaming reptiles to keep us entertained too? We didn't notice them anywhere else in Cairns but here.

 We checked out a waterfall. Now...if it was wet season it would be looking a bit more like Niagara Falls and filling in that area and looking rather more impressive. But for now it's rather dry and looks like a trickle.

 We still stopped to admire it though. After all, we'd walked at least 5 minutes down the boardwalk to get to the view!

 We watched the Kurunda train stop at the waterfall. A crowd of people rushed out and they admired the view (quickly...it's only a ten minute stop now!) and then piled back in. The very best part was when the train got ready to leave. We were on the boardwalk just above the train when it let go the whistle. Boy did Daniel jump!! It was pretty loud!

 To get back down to Cairns we had to take the windy road back down again. It's really very steep and curvy, and Philip, I am sure, had way too much fun driving. He enjoyed going up as well. You can pay to take the train up, or a gondola, or, like us, just drive. I think driving was pretty memorable, just because of the narrowness of the track. We passed by a rig that was rolled over in the ditch, so it's certainly not safe if you aren't careful!

 We checked out a viewpoint on the way down. In the water our there were a bunch of things racing around...looked like seadoos on a man made pool...but we didn't quite figure out what was going on. Good view of Cairns, anyways.

 We headed off to the Lagoon for dinner. There are outdoor bbqs free for the public to use. But they are very weird for a bbq. They are just flat stainless steel on the top. No fire smoke and flames licking your hamburger patty. So we had sausages instead. The pelicans were there by the boardwalk again.

 The sun was going and the background just lovely! To the right the harbour, where we will take off in our grand catamaran in two days time.

 But in the mean time, it is still warm enough to go for a swim after dinner! The lagoon is a man made pool open year round (closed one day a week for regular cleaning) and manned with lifeguards. Not that it's that deep and dangerous, mind you. Swimming with ocean right behind you is kinda weird, but makes for a luxurious Caribbean resort style atmosphere...not that I really know what I'm talking about. :p

 We camped out on the side opposite of the ferris wheel (the Reef Eye, I think it was called...would you actually see the reef from the top in the daytime, I wonder) so that we didn't hear the music blaring. As it is, on the hour there is the Esplanade announcement welcoming you and laying down the rules. Daniel got to do the swimming he'd been asking us to have since we'd walked by on Saturday.

 And some of us just sat and read instead.

I think those metal fish in the background are kinda famous for getting on photos. I shoulda done a selfie, but truth be told I didn't love the Lagoon on account of it being too tourist like, and like a busy beach. Daniel had fun though. Plus it was free. We parked in a different area where it was free this time. :p

One thing that surprised us about Cairns (which, apparently is fairly representative of Australia in general) was how early everything shut down. Finish your groceries by 5pm (4:30 would be safer!) as there won't be any stores open later! Even the airport closes down for the night, to keep the place nice and quiet. No wonder our stopovers in Hong Kong were so long! We had to wait for everyone to wake up!