Atherton Tableland

First stop was Kuranda, at the top of the mountain overlooking Cairns. This was obviously another town that has a heavy reliance on the tourist trade, but beautiful nonetheless.

From there we moved onto Atherton via Mareeba, aiming to visit the Crystal Caves in Atherton. When we arrived however we decided that Li, and Harry in particular, were too tired to really appreciate them and kept going on to Ravenshoe for the night. The campsite we stayed in was free (a donation was requested), with toilets and showers available. It was also located in the centre of the town so they certainly got value out of the people they attracted through the local businesses.

When we set up we found it quite funny to have a family from Busselton camped on one side of us and a couple form Denmark on the other. The sense of starting out for home was certainly enhanced through this.

Next morning we packed up but left the van where it was and headed back up towards Atherton. First stop was the Hypipamee Crater. This was an amazing geological formation where the crater had effectively been blasted out by pressurised volcanic gases. The walk to and from also included some beautiful waterfalls in amongst the Atherton rainforest.

We then went back through the Crystal Caves (somewhat delayed as Liz finally also managed to get Cold Chisel tickets, an effort that had cost her many hours over several days, but all’s well that ends well!)

The caves are probably better explained via there website http://www.crystalcaves.com.au/ than through anything I can do here. Needless to say the tour kept us occupied for some time (as did the shop itself), with max in particular being intrigued and delighted.

Finally from there we headed back out to the Curtain Fig Tree, one of the many strangler figs we had seen in our tours. The difference with this one was simply the size and growth pattern. Liz has already posted photo’s on http://ayersinacaravan.blogspot.com.

Last stop was to pick up the van and head on another 100km’s from Ravenshoe, overnight stop being on the edge of the 40 Mile Scrub, which is a dry rain forest – something we didn’t realise actually existed.