This afternoon we arrived in Cairns after 5 days travelling from Townsville via the inland way, we though we would get away from the rain! We drove the Gregory development road, one of those (in part) one lane of bitumen with dirt on either side - one gets off the road for the oncoming vehicles.... which are usually the road trains. We pulled over and stopped for the road trains and the drivers were very nice and came back over the radio with a "thanks mate"! or "there is another truck behine me".... it was very long and tiring - bumpy and a sameness about the country, small eucalyptus trees with open grasslands - we will have many other long drives to do. One night we camped at a road house and were told that it had been dry but last year they were flooded in for more than 3 months by the Burdekin River flooding, we had crossed the Burdekin about 30 minutes before we arrived at the Roadhouse. Another night we stayed at Undarra Lava Park - the whole area is one large lava plain with the extinct volcanos sticking up out of the plain. Cattle wander through the trees - seem to be very large stations and National Parks. But the best was the last two nights the first was at Innot Hot Springs where we swam in the 6 different temperature hot pools - one was a hot spar, that was fantastic. The pools are beside the spring and pump the water directly through.
After the pools I wandered down to the spring creek and saw 3 little aboriginal children playing in the creek with their mother. I decided to go for a swim and ended up playing with the three children in the creek. The flow was quite fast and we were floating down the creek and struggling up again. It really was a lovely thing to do, the children were 4,5 and 6 years old.
Reminded me of my grandchildren and our new one will be here soon...............
Yesterday we went to Lake Eachem, the crater of an extinct volcano with a blue lake so I went for a swim there. Very clean, fresh, warm water. The lake has a turtle which is only found there that is able to breath through its bum, it still has lungs but is also able to absorb the oxygen from the water.........interesting............ they are called saw shelled turtles and if one stays quite they come to the surface.
Today we drove down from the tablelands after wandering into the Wet Tropical Rainforest to see a couple of strangler figs that are so huge one is called The Curtin Fig and the other Cathedral Fig. The rainforests are so dense and the variety of plants incredible. The ferns, staghorns etc. all growing all over the trees. We saw two huge Kauri trees and old Red Cedars. Incredible, the plants are amazing but the birds are more so. Every bird seems to sport a different vivid colour - bought a bird book and it is getting dogeared from all the use - and then there are the butterflies........ probably because of the wet season they are everywhere and so colourfull. Everything is dripping.
Off course we have had showers everyday..... people tell us that it has been dry but we arrive and down comes the rain.......but up on the tablelands it is a lot cooler at night, this morning I had everything on to stay warm, must have been around 12-15c (I really don't know) but by 9am it is in the high twenties. Now it must be 25c and quite humid. Though no bugs........ a cane toad just hopped by. There was one in the toilet this morning! just went next door.........
Just booked a flight back tomorrow to be there for the birth.......
No comments:
Post a Comment