Our intention was to explore the Tully Gorge National Park in the southern region of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area and spend the night at Lake Koombooloomba. Having been reassured the road was suitable for a caravan we were confused to see a sign to the contrary. We ignored that until we reached the entrance to the National Park where we found yet another sign warning the road was unsuitable for caravans. We chickened out as the steep narrow winding road was no fun in the wet. Returning to Ravenshoe we made our way through the mist to a wind turbine farm on the top of Windy Hill, an extinct volcano where we planned to eat our lunch of hot chicken. Only for the skies to open and the rain drive us away. The main road to Millaa Millaa was slow going, traffic building up behind us and poor visibility adding to our unease. Scenic routes were declared unsuitable for caravans and we were cold and hungry. Best to find a caravan park as soon as possible and we did.
Later in the afternoon the sun looked as if it was coming out so we jumped into Skiv to do a waterfall circuit around Millaa Millaa. Only, every time we got out of Skiv the rain would come down! For all three waterfalls this happened but we were undeterred.
Millaa Millaa Falls, Atherton Tablelands
It was mind blowing seeing such fine, fat dairy cows feeding in lush pastures on emerald hillsides. The scene was in total contrast to the bonier beef cattle we had been amongst in the arid, overgrazed grasslands of the outback. Shafts of sun on these rich rolling hills reminded us of New Zealand or the Lake District of England. The broken state of trees, Norfolk Pines in particular, began to puzzle us. Then it dawned on us that we were seeing the aftermath of Cyclone Larry (March 2006). Even within pockets of rain forest we’d find the paths down to the waterfalls blocked by fallen trees and barrier tape confirming cyclone damage. We were glad to return to our dry Getaway where hot soup was the order of the night. Wind and rain howled around all night.
To enable us to tour at will in different directions, we moved to a more central caravan park for the rest of the week. Fortunately the worst of the weather was over and best of all our mobile phones finally had signal and lots of texting took place. Our first objective was to find a platypus! We began with a walking trail not far from our campsite at Eacham, a 65m deep crater lake. Surrounded by rainforest we were enveloped by soaring trees with large clusters of stag-horn ferns on their stems (making us think of bananas and George-Ann!), bird calls echoing from deep within while, on the lake shore, saw-shelled turtles sat sun-bathing on semi-submerged trees. Yungaburra’s Peterson Creek Walking Trail had been highly recommended as having good places to sit quietly and see platypus and Lumholtz’s tree kangaroos, an endemic to the wet tropics. It proved to a most attractive walk with well labelled trees and ongoing re-vegetation of disturbed areas. But no sight or sound of either a platypus or a tree kangaroo, although we think we heard the weird cries of a catbird! Yungaburra’s high profile landmark, “possibly the most visited tree in the world”, had to be inspected after all the special trees we have visited in the world…. The tree, a strangler fig, even has a national park named after it with a boardwalk leading up to and around it. Curtain Fig Tree as it is named, is unusual in that the host tree toppled over and the fig continued to grow, developing a great curtain of roots.
The Curtain Fig (Ficus virens) showing toppled host
Wending our way home we stopped near the Johnstone River outside Malanda, walked down to the first pool and lo and behold … there was a platypus! We were beside ourselves with excitement being able to watch it leisurely ducking and diving as it moved upstream.
Wednesday took us to the top of another dormant volcano- Hallorans Hill, the highest point in Atherton. This park gave us a panoramic view over the areas we intended exploring before the week was out. The “Seven Sisters” (volcanic cinder cones) and their lone “Big Brother” were the focal point of the outlook. Sculptures by local artists dotted around the hill-top, along with a clever children’s landscaped sculptural park based on the Seven Sisters, added to the pleasure of a visit here. Lying well south of Atherton is Mt Hypipamee - who could resist a name like this and who would have thought that in this National Park, where we had come to see The Crater and Dinner Falls, we would encounter our first cassowary. We had barely got onto the walking trail than, jackpot, we spotted this incredible bird standing in the undergrowth 25m away. Too far for a decent photograph and partly obscured by vines. We had heard so much about this bird and yet here it was nonchalantly preening itself and showing no inclination to attack us! Still buzzing from these unexpected moments of magic we strolled through the rain forest steadily making our way up to the edge of The Crater - an explosion crater with sheer granite sides and a lake, of unknown depth, 60m below us. A guide with a party of young Japanese tourists arrived and mentioned to us that a South African, on seeing this geological oddity, had felt it would contain diamonds. No such luck. He was probably thinking of Kimberley’s Big Hole!
Continuing with our loop road we passed through Herberton with its jacaranda trees sporting the last of their blossoms. We ate our sandwiches overlooking Hastie’s Swamp teeming with waterfowl.
For our fourth day in the Tablelands we thought we’d go and see the Giant Red Cedar Tree within the Gadgarra State Forest. Considered to possibly be the largest cedar remaining in Australia we felt a sense of dismay to read of its unexpected demise on our arrival. Cyclone Larry had struck it a mortal blow – definitely a case of the Tall Poppy Syndrome! To find the huge buttresses shattered and the colossal trunk lying across the forest floor like a majestic old elephant was sad, yet it added an unusual dimension to the visit. We clambered all over it, nervously avoiding anything that resembled the dreaded “stinging tree” or the lawyer vine – both of which we have been warned about.
Remains of Giant Red Cedar blown over by Cyclone Larry
The rest of the day was spent at Lake Tinarro with its 200km long shoreline created by a multitude of spidery arms, providing us with a beautiful scenic drive through an assortment of woodlands, rain forest and pine plantations. This large dam on the Barron River not only supplies irrigation water to farmlands throughout the region but is also used for recreation. The place is due to go mad with a Barra Bash next week. Fisher folk will all be out to catch a tagged barramundi with a bounty on its head.
We looked at the different campgrounds provided by the Queensland Wildlife Service. Again, the requirement to pre-book is off-putting. We came across a couple of Thick Knees (Stone Curlews) with their chick which reminds us to mention the nightly serenade we enjoy around our caravan. Just as the sun disappears, the chirping of tree frogs began then night cicadas join in for exactly half an hour. The cane toads down in a little water hole add their revs and the concert ends with the eerie and mournful whistling of Thick Knees!
As a result of being eight hours ahead of Cape Town we have been very conscious of Holly throughout Thursday as she wakes and prepares for surgery - the urgent removal of another wretched abdominal tumour. Distance greatly aggravates our concern for her. To distract us we went night spotting through the rain forest catching nothing but a glimpse of a small kangaroo like animal we couldn’t identify.
Having mentioned on occasions the “mystery” of dead bats hanging on barbed wire fences who would have thought that the answers were to be found in the Atherton Tablelands? While in Ravenshoe info centre we had seen the dearest photo of orphan bats in swaddling clothes - advertising a bat hospital in the area. Subsequent enquiries finally led us to the doorstep of Pteropus House and Jenny Maclean - a delightful, most knowledgeable lady who, with great determination and fortitude, goes to incredible lengths to care for sick and/or injured bats. We spent a fascinating morning with her looking over the hospital she has built, visiting some of the patients (tiny little micro-bats included, nestling beneath towels hanging from a heat pad); discussing the problem and treatment of tick paralysis in bats and exchanging views about the incidence of and solutions to barbed wire entanglement – both major factors accounting for mortality in the area.
Tolga Bat Hospital
An enormous time consuming occupation involved in keeping the hospital patients fed by freighting in large quantities of fruit and to prevent dehydration many little feeders have to be refilled with bottled fruit juice, saline and fresh water throughout the day. Regular patrols to bat camps in the forests are undertaken to check for paralysed bats, especially at this time of year. Add the expense of the anti-toxin injections required and access to vets, not to mention all the work involved with maintaining a high standard of cleanliness and hygiene – we were so impressed by Jenny and her little band of volunteers. We met Laura from Aberdeen on a gap year busy lining plastic rescue baskets. She had adopted and nursed Ruben, a little red flying fox, now an “outpatient” hanging outside of the cage for post-paralysis recuperation. He will shortly be released back into the wild. Barbed wire damage is horrific. Many bats suffer cleft palate and / or major wing injuries that prevent them ever returning to the wild. We came away wondering at the enormity of this task and how it can be eased in a world where there is so much competition for funding especially when the general public’s aversion to bats pull them down to the bottom of the scale.
Lea had been looking forward to the most talked about Yungaburra Arts & Crafts market. This month it coincided with their annual week-end Folk Festival. We found vehicles stretched down the side streets in every direction of the little village before coming across the market simply humming with people and products (and dogs). We took our hats off to a couple of young boys reading bush poetry against the general hubbub of passing crowds. Musicians in different quarters played their instruments of choice. All of which added to the lively atmosphere on a most perfect summer’s morning.
The location of our caravan park has been perfect. The close proximity to the Eacham section of the Lake’s National Park has enabled us to have the pleasure of driving through the rain forest every day and on our last afternoon in this area we drove to the adjoining Lake Barrine – both lakes having been created by an explosion of super heated underground water. We took the 5 km walk around the periphery of the lake finding many gaps in the rain forest created by fallen trees and yet we came upon two 45metre high Bull Kauri Pines standing proud and unscathed by the cyclone. Another repercussion that has come to our attention this week is the shortage of food arising from the fruits of the forest having been stripped at the time. Countless animals have been left battling to find food. Cassowary feeding stations had to be set up and birds have even resorted to raiding roadhouse fruit tables! The ecological effects of the cyclone are extraordinarily far-reaching. The impact of Cyclone Larry hasn’t just been confined to BANANAS!
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