Blogs from Atherton Tablelands, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 6

We only had one night back in Cairns, which was very interesting with it’s unique hostel entertainment. Our next venture took us inland, until now we had hugged the coast up from Sydney but it was time to see some red and leave the pacific. Sam our tour guide picked us up for the funniest and most entertaining tour to date, we climbed aboard Wally, the bus and off we climbed over the Great Diving Range and onto the Atherton Tablelands. The main road had over 230 corners climbing up over seven hundred metres in only a few Km’s, it was a journey to remember and the views were stunning. The story goes that when the route was first established it was single carriage way with a gate house at each end and three hour ... read more

September 12 - we drove down to the Atherton Tablelands and set up camp at Lake Eacham which is about 6k from Yungaburra, a rather quaint and historic village. We struck a good one here - a small family-run caravan park (only 7 caravan sites and a number of tent sites!), complete with a resident pig and emu, and heaps of free range hens, ducks and assorted birdlife. Peter, a Lake Eacham resident, usually takes Josie the pig for a walk around the camp every day. We settled in for a fortnight (even put up our caravan annexe and made ourselves very comfortable) while we got the car back door fixed from Blu’s encounter with a picnic table in Adelaide! Had to get it done as it had jammed shut while we were up at Cape ... read more

The next stop on my little tour of the Atherton Tablelands was Atherton itself, originally known as Prior's Creek. The road to here is all dry eucalyptus forest, quite a change from the rainforest around Kuranda. I spotted some red-tailed black cockatoos at Mareeba which was the highlight of the bus ride. At Atherton I am staying at the Barron Valley Hotel. I found two pet shops in town, one that had burgundy-coloured freshwater crabs the size of big conkers, for $10, and the other with land hermits, baby pythons, scorpions and "Australian tarantulas". Five kilometres out of town is Hastie's Swamp, the remnants of the formerly more extensive Nyleta Wetlands. The swamp is a National Park, possibly one of the smallest National Parks in the world at just 57 hectares -- you could walk the ... read more

After having said good-bye and farewell to Digby, Alison and Kimmy-chops, I was the only person for most of the itinerary down to Cairns in the same shuttle bus service I came up to Cape Trib. Before moving gradually down to Brisbane, I had planned another 4-5 day's stay with my former house mate Cheong (a little north of Cairns), who just settled here at a catered dormitory a few days ago for doing an additional MBA at university here. He showed me around the campus, and together we strolled around Cairns. Life is very laid-back here, and one can see many Asian faces in this city. The next day we visited the annual fair / exhibition of Cairns... loads of things to see and do and eat there! hahah. Particularly night-life here is great! Fire-dances ... read more

If you are already wondering what the title means...it is two-fold. I visited several wonderous waterfalls, but also had a fall of my own. I had a "fall" on a motorbike, but I'm FINE. Just a little skinned knee and hands; thankful that I had on long jeans and a jacket though. Really! This is hilarious since it is so damn typical for me and vehicles!! I actually feel bad for the poor rental companies who don't even see me comin! I mean every time it is guaranteed that I will do something to the vehicle, although I certainly don't mean to! And if you're wondering if I always have to pay the damages...yes, but really this is built into my (life-long) budget, since those are the dues when you belong to the elite club of ... read more