Stage 2, Cairns to Darwin

Time to start again - Christian has been in a very quite camp outside Mareeba on the banks of the Baron River - there is not a lot of water in the river - Mareeba in on the other side of the mountains and is open grass and eucalypt country - Savannah - it is amazing how quickly it changes from Tropical Wet to Savannah. 30k to the south is Atherton which is in the mountains has rainforest around and has a higher rainfall that Mareeba.  Sunday, Christian's birthday we spent a lovely day climbing up a waterfall at Emerald Creek just to the east of Mareeba. We had a great time climbing all over the rocks at the side and were able to swim in a couple of the pools.
I climbed out along the top of the falls for a great view down the falls.Sounds dangerous but it was not, just physical.
We have been trying to get Noodle wet but because of the dense growth everywhere it is difficult to access rivers. Yesterday we went to Tinaroo dam, a huge water irrigation area for the district, but the wind was (OF COURSE) blowing 20+knots and paddling would not be so pleasant. One day we will get a quite day for a paddle. Why does the wind blow all the year around up here. I wrongly thought the trades were more during the dry..........
Up here they seem to grow lots and lots of food. Lots of vegiis and fruits. Great red papaya at present which we feast on everyday.
As we did not paddle we went into the Crystal Caves in Atherton. Great geodes and fossils on displayed inside a (foam and paint) cave. One is required to wear a miners helmet + light but there are beautiful pieces. Some of the geodes have the most amazing crystals inside.There is lots of advertising for this place, which is really a shop, all over the tablelands so it is hard not to go there.
We will leave Mareeba Friday and head down to Pt Douglas.
According to seabreeze.com.au Sunday is going to be light winds, under 10knots (the only day for the past 10 days) so we will go out to the Low Islands (by commercial cat) for the day.