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Published: January 20th 2008
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Okay, So far Scott has held the reins of our travel blog. I'm thinking I might give it a crack. Especially since he keeps giving me the evil eye 😊
Hmm...Tablelands. The hobbit Haggus and his reluctant companion venture timidly into thier odd carriage...
The journey started out with us renting a car from Cairns. We picked our huge white Ford four door car(it looked like a massive undercover cop car) and with white knuckles and sweaty palms gripped the steering wheel and steered into traffic. Scott was the lucky one to have a go at driving on the wrong side of the road on the wrong side of the car. On the passenger side of the car there was a huge sticker reminding drivers to stay on the left side of the road. I kept thinking they should have put it on the steering wheel instead. Every intersection we went through Scott would mutter under his breath his mantra "stay to the left, stay to the left." He would be saying that to himself for the next few days.
Our destination was the small shire of Yungaburra( yes, it was really called a
Granite Gorge Falls
Drinking hobbits and fast movin waterfalls don't always mix. shire, hows that for coincidance). Yungaburra is a sweet little sleepy town still stuck in the fifties. We were drawn in by tales of fresh water and waterfalls that we could swim in with out fear of stinging killer jellyfish and crocodiles. It was great to finally have a vehicle of our own to get around as we pleased. Even if everytime we crossed an intersection we felt like another car was going to mysteriuosly come out of no where because we always wanted to look the wrong way when crossing.
The hostel we stayed in was called On the Wallaby. It was an old converted house. Most of it was open air and the first story of its floor was lined with rough stone tiles. I ended up always walking barefoot there because the tiles were nice and cool even when the day wasn't. Down the street there was a weathered pub with locals sitting out front sipping there "bubbly." At the end of the day it was an easy place to not feel like you were far away from home. Even though at this time we don't even know where home is. We would sit quietly with
Tea Time.
Nothing like a refreshing cup of tea. our pints not even saying anything. Just sitting back watching time drift by. It would be easy to melt in to a place like Yungaburra and forget the troubles of the world. And for a few days it was our place.
There are so many waterfalls in the area that they are locally called waterfall loops. You travel down the country roads and every waterfall is easily marked from the road. Some are grand, some are small but they are all beautiful. The area is called Tablelands but for the life of me I am not sure why. When I think of a table I think of something flat. Tablelands is anything but flat though. It is rolling verdant greens pastures with isolated rainforest patches dependant on where you go. Most of the rainforest has been logged long ago but little gems surrounding cool water lakes and creeks remain.
Over the next few days we drove all over. One of my favorite places was called Ganite Gorge, which is actually a small distance north of Tablelands. The terrain was more like what you might expect to see in Australia. The forest thinned out and turned into eucaltyptus trees.
Josephine Falls.
You can see four waterfalls at this spot. Everywhere we saw termite mounds. Some taller than us. Some of the house we passed had a yard full of them.
Granite Gorge was pretty much what what it sounds like. Huge granite boulders piled everywhere with a creek passing through the middle. It was baking hot that day so it was really nice to be able to jump in the water and cool off. One of the pools along the creek we swam in had many turtles swimming around. I tried to get a picture of them but they watched me where ever I went and kept their distance. We later learned that the fresh water turtles in the area were termed (cheekishly) bottom breathers. This being because they were able to breath through there bumms. Yes that is right, no fibbing. And there was something about farting through there skin. Trust Australia to have something like this. Weird. I am pretty sure they still eat with their mouths but don't take my word for it. Things get pretty trixi in the land of OZ.
Back down in Tablelands I discovered tea houses. Yum. I started making a habit of going to one everytime we saw one.
Little Buddies.
After some food and brew, the local wallabys point out the path through Granite Gorge. The tea leaves were grown locally. When I would order it I would get a ceramic pot of hot water, strainer, cup and saucer with spoon and cream. maybe it sounds silly but I loved it. Since leaving Tablelands I haven't found a proper pot of tea since. Oh the other yummy thing we discovered was yogurt made fresh by a local dairy farm called Mungalli Farms. It was so good Haggus even had some. I am trying to tempt him off of his beer and meat diet. So far it hasn't been going well. I keep telling him it might be one of the reason he has all that hobbit hair. But he likes his pint along with his "scrummy burgers".
One of our favorite waterfalls was called Josephine Falls. The water was crystal clear and slid over many granite rock slides. The day was sort of rainy and chilly and the water even more chilly so neither of us got in. But is would have been an amazing place to spend a lazy day swimming. Jospehine Falls was our last stop before we had to head back to Cairns.
And that was when it got interesting.
So my pinky toes tingles. I look down and check it out. It looks fine. It doesn't hurt it just tingles. We stopped at a gas station and while there I reached down to remove what I thought was a leaf stuck under the strap of my saddle. It didn't come lose so I took closer look. And what did I see? I saw a leach eating my foot. I first I thought ewww. And swiped at it. After I got my bearings back, I thought I'd better just leave it there and go take a picture of it first before getting rid of it. You know, I was thinking of you guys. I wanted to share. Unfortunately I flicked it off and the leach didn't get its cameo shot. After finding the one leach I thought to check my pinky toe closer and realized the reason my toe was tingling earlier because I had had another leach feasting on the toe. I guess he had gotten his fill cause that one had already hi tailed it and was gone. But my toes were all bloody. Icky. mean while Scott is going on about how I was tainted because I
Attack of the Leaches.
After hiking around for a bit we hoped back in the car and drove off to find we weren't in the car alone. Some leaches slipped into our shoes and decieded to have a bit or two as we drove off. Yuck... had leaches eating my feet. Funny thing is later he found one hiding inside his shoe. Now and again it would stick its little sucker mouth out for a little snack of Haggus. After talking to the locals we found out that when it rains the leaches come out of hiding to find what they can. They found us at Josephine falls. It made me really happy we hadn't gone swimming there.
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Lucky Charms
Dave B
Good Job Clover
Hey do you always hold your left breast while drinking tea? Just wondering? You hobbits are having a great adventure. I love the Falls pic. Keep up the good work. I got duped out of a 1,000,000 dong here in Saigon. I know it is only $60 but a million sounds a lot cooler. Sneaky little critters these folks are. I think they may have hobbit blood in them. Take care and thanks for the great blog entry!