July 2021
The Atherton Tablelands were not such a bad spot to be stuck for a few days whilst the car was being repaired. The Coopers were staying up the road and at this point we realised how lucky we are to already have great friends that we have met on the road who were there to help us when we needed it. Sean and Jodie ferried the two families in their car 5kms up the road to enjoy Emerald Falls and we spent the afternoon swimming and sunbaking on the rocks. The next day Craig’s mate Mick offered to have us stay on his property about 50km away, but we could not tow the van as we had a tin can Mitsubishi hire car whilst Yokel was being fixed. The Coopers to the rescue!!! Sean towed our vehicle 45 minutes up the road to Mick’s property and then returned to Mareeba to bring his own van and family up to stay with us. What a legend!
Mick and Sarah’s boys, Billy (8) and Joey (10), showed Mali, Laura and Dylan how to ride the quad bikes down to the end of the driveway to pick up the wheelie bins. They all performed laps with the quad bikes around the newly created ‘RV park’ in the huge backyard. We enjoyed campfires every night with Joey and Billy telling jokes.
The kelpie puppies were a hit with Mali, Laura and Dylan. Mali could not separate herself from them and wherever we looked there was Mali with one of the 3 puppies hanging from her arms. Craig was in charge of feeding the sheep, chickens and cows whilst Sarah and Mick were at work. He was filling up the bucket of molasses from the 1000 litre tank for the next days feed and decided he would clean the caravan whilst it filled. Half an hour later, he noticed he had left the tap on and had spilled about 50 litres of molasses all over the ground. Dylan and Laura were ecstatic that we had another #Craigfail.
The Bradleys and the Coopers decided to go exploring. We went platypus spotting at Peterson Creek in Yungaburra and succeeded in spotting a playful platypus.
We visited an amazing curtain Fig Tree. There are so many massive fig trees in and around the Wet Tropics. We visited the Nerada Tea Plantation Tea House and spotted two resident Lumholtz Tree Kangaroos. Macropods were once all tree dwellers but millions of years ago they descended from the trees to live on the ground. The ancestors of tree kangaroos eventually headed back up into the foliage and, some say, they fill the niche that monkeys do in other nations. Far North QLD is the only place they can be found in Australia. I was super happy to see these guys because in the 4 years that I lived in Cairns I never managed to see one.
I rode my bike along the scenic roads to Lake Eacham in the Crater Lake National Park (7km away) and hit the mountain bike trails in Atherton (my best ride yet). We all spent an afternoon swimming at Lake Eacham – a beautiful clear, blue crater lake surrounded by rainforest. The crater was formed by massive explosions from the superheating of groundwater. The lake is 65m deep and is a popular spot for local scuba divers. I’m curious as to what is down there. The only way we managed to get Mali around the 3km circuit around the lake was my packet of jelly babies. Each jelly baby was awarded when one of the kids made it to the top of a small incline and answered a maths question. I have never seen Mali skip and jog so much on a walking track. We all had a turn on Laura’s paddle board and saw some cool turtles and fish.
Mali and I spent a morning together visiting Millaa Millaa Falls - a magnificent heritage listed waterfall surrounded by rainforest. It was absolutely freezing but we had our traditional swim before a lovely lunch in Malanda at a new, hip vegan café with the most amazing antique furniture and décor. We visited the Information Centre where Mali got to press buttons that created a volcano and light up fluorescent fungi. The button pressing gave me some time to read some of the displays – which has been rather difficult with a 5-year-old who finds it all so ‘boring’. We gorged on avocados ($2 a bag!!!) sweet potatoes and pumpkins – all from roadside stalls. This place is the FNQ food bowl and produces 70% of Australia’s coffee crop, 50% of QLD’s mango production and $164 million worth of avocados.
We visited Granite Gorge Nature Park (back near Mareeba) and hand fed the Rock Wallabies. This population is endangered, and it is the only place where you can feed them in the wild. Mali was captivated with these creatures and so were we. They literally held your hand with their front paws whilst they licked the feed from your palms. We then returned to Yungaburra, a heritage listed town which is simply gorgeous, to have lunch with a couple we met on the Cape York trip. Dean had plenty of fishing success stories to tell (these guys have a boat strapped to the top of their camper trailer) and Craig was ambitiously noting any tips he could to help him hook that elusive Barramundi.
The Wet Tropics region has been spectacular, and it has been wonderful revisiting these areas where I used to explore during my Undergraduate studies back in the 1990s. The region is so widespread we have been in and around it for the last 6 weeks. Everywhere we visited kept mentioning the ‘Wet Tropics’ so I decided to investigate how big this area is. It extends along rugged coastline from Cooktown to Townsville (450km) and inland to the Tablelands and includes 24 National Parks. It is home to ancient remnants of the Gondwanan Forest and is listed as the second most irreplaceable natural World Heritage site on earth by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
After a week on the Atherton Tablelands, we farewelled this amazing place (which has now been added to my highlights) and The Coopers and started heading west on the Savannah Way for the Northern Territory. See you in the wild west!
Corrine, Craig & Mali
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