What's on the Table

We spent two glorious weeks on the Atherton Tablelands and it remains one of our favourite places on the planet. The mountains, lakes, rain forests, and everything so green, green, green!  Lots of photos on this post as these capture the beauty of the highlands better than my words.

Lava tube explorers

First night was spent at the Undara Resort http://undara.com.au/ which is the stepping off point for the world famous Undara Lava Tubes. Although a little on the pricey side ($38 for powered site, and $57 each for the Lava Tube Tours) it’s well worth the time and money to see these marvels of nature. The photos don’t properly show the scale of these formations and you have to see it first hand to appreciate the attractions of the tubes. One more off the bucket list!

The Britton Camp

Apart from 2 nights in Atherton at a caravan park (to stock up on supplies, water, and alcohol) we spent the remaining time camped on the water at Fong-On Bay at Tinaroo Dam.

My secret red-claw spot

Tinaroo Dam is one of those magic places that has it all, a massive lake nestled in the mountains filled with 

Crocodile Kerry and Red-claw

Red Claw and Barra (apparently??), thousands of water birds, and curlews and bandicoots walking (hopping?) around the camp-fire every night. 

The daily routine of getting out on the mist covered water at daylight to check the red claw pots, troll for Barra for an hour or so, home for breakfast, and then heading out 2 hours before dark to set the red-claw pots and troll for Barra was pretty hard to take.

Jabiru at Tinaroo

Caught no Barra (water too cold) but it was nice to be out in the tinny which hadn't seen the water since Venus Bay in SA some months ago.

We were also very lucky to catch up friends and family from Cairns who took the time to come up and see us at Tinaroo. 

While at Tinaroo we took a few day trips:

Looking up at us looking down inside the Cathederal Fig

Accompanied by Tony and Trudi who had travelled up from Cairns to spend some time with us we did a day trip to Lake Mobo  (crater lake),  Cathedral Fig, Lake Bareen and then lunch and a red or two at the  villa over-looking Tinaroo. A great day out and so good to catch up with Tony and Trudi.

Mt Edith Rainforest Stream

When we were talking to Tony he recommended a 4WD trail in the National Park where we were staying. It’s a 450M climb up Mt Edith Road to 1050 meters and then down  450 meters on Karri Creek Road back to the lake.  43km round trip but a nice drive. You start out in tropical rainforest, head up into highland eucalypt forest, come down through pine forests and back into rainforest. It’s a steep climb up Mt Edith Drive (Linda was hanging on in sections!) but 4WD drive is not really needed other than to user the gearbox for engine braking on the descent (would be a different story if it had been raining!).

Young treckers at Milla Milla Falls

Our next day out was the waterfall circuit at Milla Milla which encompasses three waterfalls - Milla Milla, Zillie and Ellingaa Falls. http://www.millaamillaa.com/waterfalls.htm   Each of the falls has reasonably good access although Zillie requires a walk down a bit of a goat track if you want to photograph the falls from the bottom. 

Ellingaa Falls

From Milla Milla we drove out to Herberton for a counter lunch and the plan was to then to get back to our camp via Atherton.  That was until Linda gort a text message from a tour guide operator asking if she had lost her Tablet!. On the way from Milla Milla to Herberton we stopped at the McHugh Look-out and Linda had left her Tablet sitting on top of a post there! Turned out the tour bus was stopping at a Lake Eacham – a crater Lake not far from the eastern entrance to the Park. So we detoured back to Lake Eacham and then headed home. So lucky to have met an honest person who had the IT smarts to look up Linda’s contact details on her Facebook profile!

Cumberland Mine Site

Hungry cows in the Gulf!

As we traveled east across the Savanah Way towards the east coast of FNQ (far north Queensland) we decided to spend a couple of  nights at the old Cumberland mine site/town which is about 256km west of Georgetown.

The old chimney

In its heyday a thriving town with school, pubs, police office and a bank there is little left to see other than the original chimney stack and the billabong created by the dam that was built for the town and mine.

After carefully planning to arrive around 10:00AM we were able to secure the last level waterfront site on the billabong – talk about bloody busy at these premium free sites. 

Once in a blue moon - we are here

I sit here writing these words to a background of the constant honking of magpie geese and water-birds too numerous to describe.

I installed a new vent over the stove - serious exhaust!

The site these days is rightly promoted as a bird-watchers paradise – and rightly so. The Etheridge Shire Council deserves a mention as there are lots of signs erected providing information on the bird life and almost as many bins as trees (well almost).

Late in the day there are up to 20 vans camped around the area but by 8:30AM most are gone and so the daily cycle of vans in vans out continues.

Looking at camp from dam wall

We spent many hours watching the birds, taking short walks and having a quiet sundowner with a great couple of fellow grey nomads we had met at Gregory Downs and again at Normanton.

That's us on the right

What a life – scenery, birds, beer, friends and the footy on TV.

Normanton - in the Gulf

After 16 days free camping (the last 3 at Flinders River in 37C heat) I promised the Bride a bit of luxury – long showers, swimming pool, hot spa, 24/7 power, and some female company.  So we booked into the Normanton Caravan Park for three nights.

Man eating croc

Normanton is a small town of around 600 folks in the wet but well over 1500 when the grey nomands invade in the dry. I am not sure that all the locals appreciate their town being over-run as some of them vacated the town in the busy season. For example – I was looking for a guy who could do a small welding job on my caravan.  No luck – one guy I rang wasn’t interested and the local engineering company closed down in the dry as the owner didn’t like being in town with all the visitors (true story).

Three old pubs

Normanton has a few deli/grocery stores, three pubs, and a bakery that doubles as a butcher ( I was looking for the candle-stick maker J). We had crumbed barra one evening at the Central Hotel. Good meal served on white linen on the verandah. The publican gave us the “Rolls Royce” service as we came back for dinner despite being abused by one of the “locals” earlier in the evening.

We took drive out to Karumba which is on the mouth of the Normanton River 75km from Normanton. Its easy to understand why the grey nomad tinny brigade head there every year – lots of fishing spots from river to sea accessible by small tinny (if you keep away from the crocs). The day we visited every caravan park had no vacancy signs out and the place was packed. There is a barra farm in Karumba which stocks barra in the Gulf and nearby dams and rivers. The hour and a half guided tour was good value and culminated in hand feeding a tank of barra all over a meter in length. There is no way that you can see a barra take the bait out of your hand – you see them eyeing off the squid and microseconds later there is a splash of water and the bait is gone!

Lunch before some serious prospecting (aka pokies)

Sad to say the highlight of our trip to Karumba was lunch at the pub (more barra) and winning over $300 on the pokies. The kilo of fresh cooked prawns purchased on our way home for dinner that  night was a good consolation prize.

On the last day doing nothing more strenuous than sipping a hot cappuccino I turned my head to look at the traffic passing by and compressed a nerve in my neck. Talk about severe pain (in the neck)- my lovely wife had to pack-up, hook-up and chauffeur me to the next caravan park at Croyden.

Flinders River Free Camp

View from our camp at sunrise

Flinders River is a free camp about 60km north of Normanton.  The free camping area is either side of the river accessed by the old disused crossing across the river. The crossing acts as a dam across the river and therefore there is a nice waterhole running for some kilometers upstream from the camp areas.

Eucalyptus Cardoorus

The river level was very low when we stayed but it must be a frightening place when the river is in full flood.  There is a car door stuck up one of the trees were we camped that recorded one of the flood levels.  We were 30 mtrs above the water level and the car door was another 12 mtrs above  us - so a lot of water here at times.

I know there is a croc out there!

As usual whenever we are anywhere near water up this way Linda is on the constant look-out for crocs. 

One of the eight freshwater crocs - look out Linda!

She didn’t believe her eyes when she spotted the first croc sunning itself on the far bank. The most we saw at one time is eight crocs – all freshwater variety so not dangerous - but a good reminder that one of their saltwater man-eating brothers might be around and good reason to not go swimming!

Whistling kite in flight

We stayed for 3 nights at the free camp and for two of the days it exceeded 35C – not much fun if you can’t swim.  Lucky for us that there was no-one camped anywhere near us and thus the generator got a flogging running our AC.

cherabin - good tucka

On the first night I set three cherabin nets and was rewarded with three cherabin. Next night five nets set and another half-dozen cherbin caught. Linda cooked up cheribin in a creamy garlic sauce with fluffy white rice – yummy – I am lucky to be travelling with a master chef!

While we were camped at the river we had the privilege of meeting old Jim. I’ll tell you a bit of a story about Jim – I don’t think he would mind. He was camped by himself in an old van about 100m from us. He had been coming to this river for 25 Years with his wife and family to catch Barra. His wife had passed away 2 years earlier after a five year fight with cancer. Jim would have been in his late 70’s and he suffers from an incurable degenerative nerve condition that causes his hands to shake that much that he cant drink coffee/tea and the simplest of tasks are a huge and lengthy effort for him. For example he knew his car was running a little low in engine oil, but despite having a large drum, funnel and container he asked me to top it up as he would have spilt three litres to get one litre in his motor! At another time he asked me to open a can of Irish stew and put the contents into two bowls with rice – this would give him two days dinner (he couldn't easily use a can opener). 

The Bridge over the River Flinders

Also once a week he gets the girls at the pub in Normanton to cut him a week’s supply of sandwiches so he could have a week’s supply of lunch in his fridge. The thing I will remember most about Jim is how he laughed a lot and how one night he weaved his way down to our caravan for a chat - I don’t think the torch light touched the ground in front of him for more than a second due to the tremors. He must have told me a dozen jokes and we laughed at all of them. I recall I said to him that it must be so frustrating that the simplest of things took forever to do. As was his way he responded with a story. He told me about a guy who was really sad that he couldn't afford a new pair of shoes, but then he met a man who had no feet. An old story but it got the point across!

I will remember old Jim and his laughter, good humour, and zest for life in spite of being dealt some pretty poor cards.