Atherton Tablelands
Trip Start
Jun 18, 2008
1
56
72
Trip End
Ongoing
Atherton,
Queensland,
Australia
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Atherton and its surrounds are the fertile agricultural heartlands of northern Queensland, helped no doubt by the high elevation, and the mountains and rainforest just to their east. Coming up from the coast, we drove through various little farming towns, normally with Sugarcane and Dairy Cows farms; past numerous waterfalls, pockets of rainforest and lots and lots of twisty roads.
I wasn't heading for anywhere in particular, I just didn't want to get to Cairns too quickly. Helen, on the other hand, made the most of the area. First, she went off to a working Dairy Farm. I assure you, there were a lot of Cows there, and their shit certainly smells. She wanted to know how it all worked, and wouldn't believe me that Cheese came from trees
Curtin Fig Tree
. So I dropped her off at the farm, and went off for a drive. I ended up in Curtain Fig National Park, in the middle of nowhere. As far as I could asertain, it seemed to really only protect one tree. The Curtain Fig in question is a Strangler Fig, that took over another tree, the tree died and fell, but landed at a 45 degree angle onto another tree. As time went by, the Strangler Fig roots eventually touched the ground, the old dead tree rotted away, and now it looks like a curtain of roots. Hence, the Curtain Fig tree. I don't think I've described it very well, but there isn't too much to it. It's nice to look at though.
I wasted as much time there as possible, before picking farmer Helen up. Naturally, she came out of the farm with a ton of cheese, and weirdly, Chocolate. In Atherton itself, we stopped off at a park because it was home to a family of Platypus. Low and behold, after thirty minutes of patient waiting (the only time I have patience is with wildlife!), up one popped and swam about. Weirdly, it was just us two and the Platypus. I thought the place would be popular, but I guess tourist season is dying out - the wet season is fast approaching.
After camping overnight in Atherton, we went north, towards Daintree and Cape Tribulation, but not before Helen had another little adventure. This time was to a Coffee Museum. The area grows a lot of Coffee, so it made sense to have some sort of attraction dealing with it.
I sat in the carpark (no joke) with my book, in the glorious sunshine.
Four, yes four, hours later, she finally came out, with more chocolate and some coffee, whilst all I got out of it was sunburnt knees. She also gave me lots of interesting facts about Coffee. I put the radio on after the 74th fact.
We headed north, taking a scenic backroad to Daintree, avoiding Cairns, as we will soon be there (minus the Van).
