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Published: November 30th 2010
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I had booked on to an 'Uncle Brians' tour and was collected by Cousin Paul to make our way to the Atherton Tablelands.
As we set off, the Sun was shining and it looked to be a beautiful day. It was deceiving, about ten minutes into the journey, the rain showed its face again and was back with a vengeance.
We headed out onto the Bruce Highway through Babinda, the wettest town in Australia and on to the Devil's Pools. Aboriginal legend has it that a beautiful girl, who was lusted after by all the men in the area but made to marry an elder took her life here after running away with her one true love and get caught and torn apart. She was so distressed that she threw herself into the pools but her body was never found. She can still be heard today however calling from the rocks and many a young man has died trying to rescue her. Since 1959, 17 men between the ages of 17-21 have drowned in these pools. Luckily, we only had one 17-21 year old male on the trip and he was staying well clear of the water!
Moving
on a little, we visited three waterfalls which you would usually be able to slide down, one after the other but today the rain had made it too dangerous.
Next stop was a lake, clear to the bottom and boasting rapids that would take you back to where you started once you'd jumped in them. It was also where I tried my first ever Lamington! An Australian delight made with sponge cake, chocolate and coconut.
After our little swim. we visited Mr. Lunch who owned the most awesome little puppy named Bouff (who I tried to steal but was caught out.) Mr Lunch fed us and made fun of my vegetarianism. He asked me why God put animals on Earth and questioned why I had a Mickey Mouse jumper on if I didn't like animals... I like animals, I just prefer them alive!
We left Mr Lunch's place and made our way to the breathtakingly beautiful Millaa Millaa Falls. Not only the most photographed waterfalls in Australia but where Peter Andre filmed the video for 'Mysterious Girl' and the herbal essences adverts are filmed.
I jumped into the water and it was freezing. The noise from the falls was insane! Who knew water could make so much noise?
Somehow, I managed to get behind the falls whilst temporarily blinding myself by getting water behind my contact lenses (no idea how that even works!) I hung out at the back of the waterfall for a while before Cousin Paul told me to close my eyes. I obliged and he pulled me through waterfall! It was an amazing feeling, not something you get to do every day.
At some point during the day, we met Grandma who made me laugh until I cried. But I won't spoil it for you, you'll have to come out here and meet her yourself.
Now, you would be mistaken, like I was, if you think that a volcanic pool is similar to a nice hot hot spring. It's not. We were told that it was 27 degrees but that was clearly a lie! I jumped off of the platform, into the water and...eek! Cold! I was in though so I went for a nice long swim and happily watched on as everyone else jumped in and found themselves shocked by the temperature!
It was soon time to head home (hostel home not home home) and I actually felt a pang of sadness to be ending such a great day!
After getting back to the hostel, I went to meet the group from today for a drink but they weren't there! Luckily I didn't go alone. I didn't stay too long but ended up going for a very, very long, eventful hunt in search of food with another of my favourite people- seeing the delights that night time in Cairns has to offer. Little tip... don't walk anywhere in Cairns at night!
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