Two different worlds in one day!

It was a bizarre feeling to leave the remote, flat, dry coastal town of Karumba in the QLD Gulf  to arrive in Malanda later that afternoon amongst rolling green hills and lush rainforests of the cairns hinterland. We really did feel like we'd been in two different worlds in the one day even though we were still in the same state of Queensland.

Given that we only had around three weeks of our five month trip left we had decided to push on to the East Coast to spend our remaining time there.  We would have loved to make a little detour off the Savannah Way to a spot called  Cobbold Gorge, about 80km south of Georgetown, but we'll have to save that for another time.  We stayed at the  Malanda Falls Caravan park www.malandafalls.com.au/    which was very spacious and green, and situated on the edge of the rain forest with access tracks down to the falls. 

 

There were two highlights of our stay here for the kids.  Firstly feeding the thirsty calves a two litre bottle of milk twice a day, and secondly watching the nocturnal animals venture out of the rain forest to join us at our campfire each night.

The highlight for Scott and I was the abundance of great fresh produce from the area.  After being starved of what you normally take for granted at home we probably went a bit overboard on the fresh fruit, salads, cheese, yogurts and wine!

Ben thoroughly enjoyed the locally made chocolates and ice cream at dairy farms, and luckily for Hannah being allergic to dairy in the dairy capital of Queensland wasn't all that bad due to those fantastic mango sorbets.

While exploring the area we suddenly felt close to home.  Living on the Sunshine Coast we often take the half hour drive up to the hinterland towns of Maleny, Montville and Mapelton which are a lot like this area.  We stopped for lunch at a town called Yungaburra, and afterwards walked down to the creek to do the advertised platypus trail.  The kids were determined to spot this infamous creature.  I was on the skeptical side but enjoyed playing along with the kids, creeping along the creek, sitting patiently for one to appear.  We saw lots of freshwater turtles but after Hannah got frustrated with Ben's lack of quiet, her and I dropped back and to my surprise Hannah actually spotted a platypus!  She was so excited as we crouched watching it swimming along before diving down out of site.  I'm still not sure if the boys actually believed us.
We also visited Crater Lakes National Park which is part of the wet tropics world heritage area.  These two huge lakes are 700m above sea level and were formed millions of years ago by superheated groundwater, and are surrounded by ancient rain forests. The photo below on the right is of the Twin Sister 55m tall Queensland Kauri Pines, apparently estimated at more than 1100 years old!

We did the 3km Millaa Millaa waterfall driving circuit, which takes you to about 5 waterfalls.  Unfortunately we were a little underwhelmed by these.
I guess we've been spoilt with the natural beauty and adventure that comes with the more remote and isolated area's we've been.  Yes sometimes its an effort to take the 2-5km hike into a gorge and then often an extra climb to reach the top to access more rockpools and swimming holes.  But these journeys were often an adventure in themselves. Criss Crossing Creeks, amazing scenery and lookouts, and challenges, like climbing over boulders and through narrow crevices.  We shared the journey with wildlife, stopped frozen while a brown snake crossed our track, Ben chasing lizards, and catching frogs. I nearly stepped on a water dragon sun baking on my stepping stone.  Hannah and I spotted lots of birds and beautiful butterfly's. As we neared the end there was always a sense of suspense as to what we were going to arrive at. Usually pretty hot and tired by this stage, but the final reward was not only seeing the amazing destination but being able to dive into the crystal clear cool waters and let the waterfalls massage our sore muscles.  There were many times where we had these fantastic places all to ourselves.
So as we pulled up to each waterfall along the Milaa Milaa circuit, driving into a crowded car park to hear the immediate sound of the falls, and a sign posted short walk along concrete paths to fenced lookouts with no entry signs attached, it just didn't feel right.

Hannah had read about a place called The Crystal Caves in Atherton which wasn't too far from Malanda where we were staying.  This was definitely worth going to.  Its one of Australia's most spectacular private mineralogical collections, with over 600 crystals, gemstones and fossils on display.  We loved putting on the torch helmets and venturing into the caves with our map in hand.  The great thing is the you can touch and feel everything on display.  The picture above is of the kids and Scott sitting at the Crystal Fountain of Love.  Apparently the owners wondered what would happen if they put over four tonnes of Rose Quartz (the stone of Love) together in the one place. They made a water feature out of it.

Here is Hannah and Ben (believe me I've tried everything to get blogspot to turn these portrait photos around) beside the worlds biggest Amethyst Geode - the 'Empress of Uruguay' It weighs two and a half tonnes, and stands over 3 meters tall. And its the real deal!  It was discovered in Brazil, bought by the Crystal Caves owner and shipped over to Australia. Pretty amazing!

So after nearly 5 months of travel we will once again hit the East Coast.  Next destination Cairns.

PS as you know we are already home and I've been a bit slack on the posting front, getting caught up in the busy routines of 'home life' and the end of year festivities.  Thanks to all those who have pushed me along spurring me to get back on track with your continued requests for the next post!

Happy New Year to all our friends and family suscribers, and to all our other readers from around the world!
Lisa, Scott, Hannah and Ben xx