as we said goodbye to pinnarendi (best station stay ever) we were mostly concerned about the home-made lasagna made from home-made pasta we missed out on.
we’ve seen a few black cockatoos on the way but never had a chance to take a decent picture. the one below isn’t too good either but probably the best we managed. btw the black cockies with red tail feathers are male, the females have white tail feathers.
the lava tubes (the biggest and best ever) were the first signs of a different kind of landscape: volcanic and lot less dry, which is very likely why they call this place the wet tropics. maybe, just maybe it has something to do with the fact that this part of the country is also more densely covered by forests; it appears scientists have found a link between tree cover and precipitation. i don’t think anyone has told the national party about that: it looks like they believe in coal fired power stations and deforestation; i believe the key objective is to ‘make a buck’ – but for how much longer?
this lake is actually the caldera of a dormant volcano and there are quite a few of these in the atherton tablelands. this one was particularly interesting due to the tea house strategically positioned on its shores, which served scones with home-made jam. that combination is hard to beat.
the second major attraction here are fig trees. these murderous plants kill their hosts rather than be thankful for the support and nutrients it provided over a long period of time. if you look closer you can actually see little vines climbing up the big trees; maybe nature is just and they’ll be food for the next generation. this one is believed to be around 500 years old. clearly justice is not quick.
and imagine this: we saw a platypus! pretty much right where kris took this photo, except it only shows a water dragon. that is because when nat & i shouted that we saw a platypus kris through we were making fun of her and didn’t have the camera ready. thanks mum!
it was also refreshingly cool and a bit rainy in the tablelands. after the 40 degree heat in the top end this is a welcome change. next up is cairns and at least a little bit of the cape york peninsula. we’ll see how far we feel like venturing up north.