Don't Go Chasin Waterfalls

Day 132- We woke up in the morning undisturbed and started the day off with another session at McDonalds.

Next we found a cheap parking lot in the center of town to act as our base camp for the day. With the van parked we took the skateboards for a roll in search of a company to take us to the Great Barrier Reef. Diving the great barrier reef has been a long time bucket list item of mine so I was excited to make it a reality. We found a travel booking center that offered us a deal we couldn't refuse. We booked with a company called Pro Dives for a 3 day, 2 night scuba trip for $700 each. It's pricey but its experiences like these that we worked so hard for when saving for the trip. Wooohooo. 

We grabbed some essential items like water and a loaf of bread before heading back to base camp. Our trip didn't leave for a few days, which was perfect because we wanted to explore more of the inland areas east of Cairns. We spent the night in Babinda, a small town south of Cairns, at one of our favorite FREE campsites.

            

The camp ground had first class shower facilities that we got to indulge in after a workout around the campsite. We made pasta for dinner AGAIN... I'm packing on pounds almost as fast as we're collecting kms, which is why the rest area workouts have become so important.

A couple who parked beside us were kind enough to invite us over to their rig for a glass of wine. After drinking our premium boxed wine for a few weeks, their bottled pinot was a delicious treat. We fell asleep to a cool breeze brought on by the rain... and then the couple woke us up and asked us to leave their camper... we obliged and went back to JP. hehe Juuuuust jokes.

Day 133- Our first stop before heading inland was "The Boulders" in the town of Babinda. Beautiful big boulders, sit like giants, in a fresh water river. The rocks looked smooth and soft, inviting visitors in to hop from rock to rock or dip a sandle in. One could only begin to imagine how much water must have run over the rocks shaping them into this lovely scene below. 

The area was croc free so we had permission to go for a dip.  

Initially we hesitated going for a swim because we were clean from our shower and you never quite know when another opportunity to shower will arise. But we were feeling groggy and lacking energy so we decided to jump in. What a great decision that was. It was refreshing and revived us, it was just what we needed before hitting the road for the next destination.

We saw some young men jumping from a tree into the water below so Mike and I decided to give it a try. We weren't as graceful as them but they guided us through it.

We saw this cool leaf bug hanging out by the change rooms.

The drive was beautiful and the scenery was constantly changing. This time we were surround by lush trees and giant mountains. It was kind of nice to be driving with no real destination in mind. It offers a sense of freedom that is so pure some choose to avoid it all together, opting for plans and schedules. 

Uh-oh watch out for tree kangaroos crossings the road. 

Oh no, we were so preoccupied looking for tree kangaroos that we didn't notice the speed limit. We were pulled over by a less than kind police officer who gave us a $157 dollar ticket for going 12 over the speed limit.

We arrived in the Atherton Tablelands in the early afternoon. The Atherton Tableland is a highland region in nothern Australia. Diverse landscapes such as wetlands, savanna and rainforests attract many visitors every year. 

After a quick rainfall we went to the information center in the small town to grab a map of the area. The lovely gals at the center told me of some great activities. One such activity was to go down to the river where there were some known platypus residents. YES, platypuses! Not to sound completely stupid but Mike thought they were extinct and I agreed. Who knew?! 

Unfortunately the picture you see above was as close as we got to seeing a platypus at the river. They are shy creatures and very hard to find so we decided to come back to try again later.  

Next up was a fig tree... Apparently a GIANT fig tree. "Can't miss the giant fig tree" I was told, so we didn't.

That is definitely the biggest fig tree I've ever seen and can you imagine our luck, we got to see a tree kangaroo hanging out on one of the branches. He is hard to see but if you look right in the center of the below photo, you might be able to see his long tail hanging down. 

We had lots more to see and very little time to do it so, we made tracks to one of the two crater lakes in the area, Barrier Lake. 

Visitors can do a 5km hike around the lake and we had heard it was a nice walk, so off we went. The hike was nice... and we saw a lot of wildlife but no one told us we were walking in the middle of the rain forest!!! We had wild bush turkeys run right at us, little kangaroos hopping past our ankles that I was sure were rats and things moving through the water, right beside us! After asking around the "rats" we saw were actually the smallest of all the kangaroo family. But my favourite member of the kangaroo family will always be the wallaby. Say it with an Ausralian accent, it sounds better. 

Look I caught one on camera!

Also, almost immediately, we learnt a lesson about trekking in the rainforest. Wear closed toed shoes. 

You can't see them from here but our feet were covered with leeches. I was quick enough to pull mine off having experience with leeches from the old lake we used to camp at as kids but this was a new experience for Mike...and they liked him the most. Mmmm yummy. They broke the skin in a few places and we almost had to burn them off. Our walk turned into a brisk jaunt soon after. 

When a tree falls in a forest and no one is around, does it make a sound?

Man I love nature. Especially when I'm feeling blue. 😉

We went back to the river with hopes of seeing the platypus but we were unsuccessful once again. We may not have seen a platypus but we were rewarded with the most stunning full rainbow I've ever seen. 

Whoa, when I said eat all the colors of the rainbow I was talking about skittles, not the real rainbow. Mike claims he was preforming a care-bear count down and he was not actually eating the rainbow at all. What do I know right? 

We found a campsite for the night that was in a less than charming little town. To be honest, it was a little creepy but it always calms our nerves to see other campers around. 

Day 134- We were determined to see the platypuses so we went back to the river first thing in the morning. We sat and waited and watched, and waited and watched. I saw a ripple in the water and some bubbles followed the ripple. I knew what it was, it was a platypus!

I had major difficulty trying to save the video from my camera onto youtube so unfortunately I had to take a video of the video. In doing so the quality was lost but the footage is still worth it. 

                          

We were beyond excited that our determination paid off. After taking way too many photos, we were back on the road. 

It seemed as if the Atherton Tablelands had a waterfall at every turn so we made water our activity for the day. We would hit three waterfalls and if we were lucky, we'd get to some hot springs to finish it off. We wanted to have time for the springs so we decided to hot step it. 

The first waterfall we went to was in the town of Millaa Millaa and the falls were appropriately called Millaa Millaa falls. We could have jumped in for a swim but the water didn't seem that inviting and it looked like a great creek for crocs, so we decided against it. 

The next falls were up the road and they were called Zillie falls. We could have hiked down to swim in this waterfall as well but we would have had to disregard the warning signs to do it so we passed again. At this point the sun was getting uber hot and our energy was getting sucked right out of us.

Lastly we went to the Ellinjaa falls. The waterfall was a short walk into the rainforest and as we reached it, the mist from the water hit our faces. It was all the encouragement we needed to jump in. It was wonderful and completely healed me of my sluggishness. Not to mention we could swim behind the waterfall, which is always super cool. 

Notice how there are no people in the photos other than us? That is the beauty of Australia. The country has so many small beautiful sights that not everyone goes to the same place, leaving the visitors with more privacy and the feeling of being somewhere secret. 

The waterfalls were much closer together than we expected, which was great because we didn't want to run out of time and get ourselves into hot water... Or should I say, not get ourselves into hot water... wait I'm confused... Oh well. We set off to see the Innot Hot Springs. As you might expect, the drive there was captivating once again. Something about windmills that I love.

We tend to notice the small things when we spend so much time on the road, so when the highway changed color, we took notice.

We didn't know what to expect from the natural hot springs except that they would be hot and natural. We were excited to see they created more of a spa experience with the hot mineral water, utilizing three different temperature pools. One cold, one medium and one hot, each necessary to detoxify the body. We left feeling relaxed and refreshed, once again. 

Our dive trip was starting the next morning so we headed back into Cairns. Of course we settled in at a McDonalds first to use the wifi. We also witnessed a a fight between a young kid and the staff that almost reached the next level before Mike and two other men jumped in to pull the kid away, before things got really serious. We took this as our queue to leave. We parked our van at the harbour and slept for the night. 

So much excitement for the day left us tired but the anticipation for the dive trip had my mind doing underwater summersaults.