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!