Atherton Tablelands

One of the delights of my recent road trip with my sister was re-visiting places I'd been to a long time ago with my ex husband.  (I wonder, let's see if I can say it aloud - 47 years ago, a couple of lifetimes for some people!)  Anyway, back then it was a trip done his way, at breakneck speed, barely time to jump in and out of the car to look at anything.  No stopping to soak in the beauty of a place.  This time it was done my way, we were in no hurry, it was ridiculously relaxed.    

Back in the day I'd insisted on stopping for the kids and me to have a swim in Lake Barrine.  It had been in October, very hot and that was before aircon made travel a lot more comfortable.  It was a quick dip and we were on our way again.  This time round we sat on the deck of the little cafe overlooking the lake and indulged in the speciality of the house, tea and scones.   Ahh, the good life!

 

The garden around the little Cafe at Lake Barrine

 Moss covered stone wall in the carpark at Lake Barrine

We'd already done a little detour off the Gillies Highway that morning, just outside Yungaburra to see the Curtain Fig Tree which is one of the largest in North Queensland. It is called the Cathedral Fig Tree, and it is truly cathedral like in its proportions.

 

It's girth is 72 metres. If 40 people linked hand around the tree they wouldn't quite meet together.  The crown of the tree extends over 2,000 square metres, about the same size as 2 olympic size swimming pools.  Magnificent!

As you can imagine it is home to lots of different species of animals- and also lots of little biting insects.  So, for the sake of my bare lower legs we did not linger for long.

A little later in the day we did, however, spend a little time wandering around the lovely Malanda Falls. 

 

 Tricia creeping forward for a close up shot.

The picnic area at the falls, showing the height of flood water in 1967.  In the photos above we had walked down quite a few steps.  It sure can rain in this part of the world.