Atherton Table Lands and Tjapukai

Happy Canada Day!

 A couple of shops in Yungabburra 

 The Curtain Fig Tree

 The platypus viewing blind

Aboriginal art at Tjapukai

The performers

Friday July 1^st

Happy Canada Day!

I had breakfast at the buffet as well and then we for a drive. I decided to stay in this area for one more day and drive around the tourist area of the Atherton Tablelands. There is a loop round so I took that. I drove out of Cairns and turned west and inland. The road quickly became a long steep winding climb to the plateau over the mountains. I always marvel at the engineering that goes into making these roads. It was about 20km long and near the top there was a sign that said 'winding road ends in 3km' .

This is a heritage wetlands area and it's called the Crater Lake District. I visited all three lakes Barrine Eacham and Tinaroo. They are all nice but nothing compared to cottage country back home except that there was a sign at Eacham that warned that there was a freshwater crocodile in residence. They are considered timid and won't attack unless threatened but, nevertheless it made you think twice about swimming. Also living in the lake are Archer fish! I was surprised to see them here. They are the fish that can spit a stream of water at an insect in a branch above the water and knock it in to eat it. Amazing.

At Lake Barrine I went on a five kilometres circuit trail around the lake through the rainforest. It was beautiful and serene. There were two beautiful 45 metre tall trees with a girth of 6 metres on the trail.

The town of Yungabburra had a few really old and interesting buildings in it including a hotel and a couple of shops.

Further along the road I came to Curtain Fig National Park. The park was created to protect a five hundred old fig tree. Fig trees germinate up in the branches of a host tree and then send roots down to the ground. The roots steal the moisture from the host tree and gradually the roots get bigger and fuse together strangling the host tree. Eventually the host tree dies and rots away and the fig tree is able to stand on its own and often has a hollow interior where the host used to be.

Just outside of the town of Atherton there was a creek where they had set up a platypus viewing blind I sat there for a while but only saw ripples on the water and shadows It would be hard to see one as they swim quickly and the water was brown However there was some good information there about them.

From there I drove through Areeba again and back to Kuranda. I had been thinking all day about going to see an Aboriginal presentation tonight and finally decided to book it by phone. It is close to Cairns so I decided to go back and stay at the same hotel so I wouldn't have to look for a place to stay after the show. I spent a couple of hours relaxing at the hotel before driving back for the show.

The presentation was in a beautiful new building with displays of aboriginal art and a

gift shop. We were served some canapes and a drink. There were five actors four men and a woman who came out and painted some of the guests faces. Then they told us about what we were going to see and they led us to the dance theatre where they performed a number of dancing with singing and chanting. They demonstrated a few mimicry dances: of the kangaroo and the cassowary. After that they took us outside in the dark to a campfire where they performed two dances to celebrate the creation of fire. One for the process of starting it by spinning a fire stick in dry grass to get a hot ember and the other faster song as the actors blew on the smoking ember to cause it to burst into flame. They led us back inside for our dinner which was excellent with salads, chicken, fish, pork and kangaroo. There was also a plate of fruit and desserts. The show ended with a goodbye dance and a photo session. It was an enjoyed evening. I arrived back to the hotel at 10 and went to bed.