A Grand Day: The Atherton Tablelands

June 11, 2011
Today was a grand day! We headed up to the sub-tropical rainforests of the Atherton Tablelands. This is part of the World Heritage listed Wet Tropics of Queensland. Of course it rained, but just sporadically. Our first stop was at a strangler fig called The Cathedral Fig Tree. It took our breath away. We put a picture on the blog, but pictures cannot capture the magnificence of this tree. According to the sign it was is as tall as a five story building, the crown was as big as 2 olympic sized swimming pools and the mass of its leaves were equal to a small car.
A strangler fig begins when a bird deposits a seed in the top of a rainforest tree. It sprouts and lives on the tree, but when it needs more nourishment it sends roots down to the ground. Eventually the roots strangle the host tree and it dies.
We then headed to Malanda Falls Environmental Park where we hoped to take a tour with Ernie, an aboriginal guide. But Ernie had gone home because it was a slow day, so we hiked through the rainforest on our own. I took several pictures of these amazing buttress roots. Remember, many rainforest trees have large buttress roots to help stabilize large trees in shallow soil.
After Malanda we took a drive called the waterfall circuit.


Peter enjoyed the waterfalls too. Milla Milla Falls, Zillie Falls and Ellinajaa Falls are their names. The falls you see is Millaa Millaa.
After securing a place to stay for the evening, we headed out to the Platypus Viewing Station, but were not lucky enough to see one. Peter was disappointed, and so were we. We can always try again at dawn. Well, maybe we will?

And now, a small moment from Mrs. Morris.
Today Mr. Harding got a lot of practice driving. Doesn’t he already know how to drive, you say?! For those of you that don’t know, in Australia they drive on the wrong side of the road! Well, it’s the right side but the wrong side. For instance, the driver sits on the right side of the car in Australia and in the U.S. they sit on the left side. That brings up the first problem—always going to the wrong side of the car to get in. Once you are in the car it presents a new set of “wrongs”, moving the gear shift to drive, reverse, or park using your left, wrong, hand. Then there is the turn signal issue! Every time Mr. Harding wants to signal that he is turning he turns on the windshield wipers! Now when it rains and he turns on the windshield wipers he thinks he has to turn! He has come up with some good strategies to keep us on the “right” side of the road. He’s found the signs that say Keep Left, in the U.S. we Keep Right and he knows that if it is raining he doesn’t have to turn. If that is not enough to drive you crazy there are the round abouts! What exactly is the purpose of putting circular roadways in the middle of an intersection? You can drive completely around this circle and head back the way you came, or you can veer to the right or the left depending on the direction you are driving OR you can go straight!! This presents a problem of not knowing who gets to do what when! I do not see the need for round abouts. Don’t even get me started on the speed limit! 100kph! That’s a little fast!
All in all, Mr. Harding is doing a fine job driving us around. The windshield wipers go on less when he wants to signal a turn, he goes to the right, correct, side of the car to drive and he Keeps Left at all times. Mrs. Harding, however, still tries to get in on the right, wrong, side as a passenger! I’m in the back so it doesn’t matter for me, that’s the same as at home. Stay tuned because Mr. Harding will be leaving us soon and then the driving will be left to Mrs. Harding and I!!!

It turns out our Internet here does not work so this will hopefully get posted on the twelfth, along with another great day of adventures. We have many fun activities on the agenda for tomorrow. Cheers!