School has picked up pace and I am finding it hard to meet the goal I had set for this blog so please forgive me as I back track. Also note this will probably only be one of several posts about the Wet Tropics because they are diverse and very accessible to me.
On the last weekend of Feb I was able to participate, along with other international students, in a trip to the Atherton Tablelands, which are part of the Wet Tropics.
The Wet Tropics were classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for their age, bio-diversity, and cultural importance. The Atherton Tablelands have portions of cloud and vine rain forest and are home to the endangered Cassowary.
Our day trip took us to lakes Barrine and Eacham formed by craters, a murderous curtain fig, a visit to the Kauri Pines, the Hypipamee Volcanic Crater, Babinda Boulder and what is considered to be the most picturesque waterfall of the area, Millaa Millaa falls.
To get to the Tablelands is a bout an 1.5 hour drive up into the mountains on a road with 84 turns. It was a rainy cool all day but that did nothing to detract from the beautiful forest around us or the clear water we could go swimming in.
The Lakes were pretty and the pines ancient. The Hypipamee Crater was so deep that it took ~15 seconds for a stick dropped from the observation platform to hit the water below, before sinking beneath the duck-weed. It is estimated to be 60m deep, which is ~90ft.
The Millaa Millaa falls were the initial highlight of the day being both picturesque and good place for swimming. I think the only water I have ever encountered that was colder than this was the South Fork of the Poudre in Pingree Park! But it was refreshing and there is nothing like swimming under a waterfall! (This might have been the same one the MSTC visited in 2006? If anyone knows please say so!)
This was late in the day now and we were all feeling a bit tired but happy for the awesome day with our tour guide Toe-Knee (no seriously, thats how he told us to call him), and then we had our last stop, Babinda Boulder and Devil’s Pool. The power of the water had carved pot-holes and smooth surfaces into the rough granite, leaving us a bit in awe of the natures power.
The story, supposedly, is that long ago before colonization happened two young people from different Aboriginal tribes fell in love and tried to run away together. They were caught at this section of the river and separated. The girl, rather then go back with her tribe, threw herself into the river and tried to swim across, but was pulled under and drowned. They say her spirit still resides in the pool. Sometimes cocky young men will think they are good enough swimmers and try to swim there, but they get pulled under and drown. They say its the girl’s angry spirit still missing her lover.
It was here we saw the Cassowary, described in an earlier post. It was beautiful and ancient. Seeing this endangered bird so close was the real highlight of the trip. But even in the excitement of it stalking our van and the anxious clicking of cameras, you couldn’t forget that it was first and foremost wild. And that it and all the wonders of the forest should stay that way.
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