Adventures in Australia and South East Asia

February 17, 2012
Today the tour is of the Waterfalls, Paronella Park and the Tropical South Atherton Tablelands. Using Tropical Horizons Tours and although there is only three of us they have not cancelled our tour but instead we have our own driver and a Toyota Land cruiser to travel in. We leave at 7: 45 AM and head to Volcanic Crater Lake Barrine and a cruise on the lake. Very tranquil and enjoyable. Then Devonshire tea and a short walk to see the 1000 year old twin Kauri Pine trees. This was followed by a short drive to the Giant Curtain Fig tree and the possibility to see the shy Lumholtz,s Tree Kangaroos, which we did not see. Then a journey through the quaint townships of Yungubarra and Malanda and to the Allumbah Pocket for a chance spotting of a platypus, still on luck.
The waterfall circuit, Millaa Millaa Falls, Mungalli Falls and Mena Creek Fall. Stopping for lunch at Mungalli Falls. Lunch was a three course meal and was excellent.
The stop at the Mungalli Creek Dairy was cancelled for February so did not get a chance to taste the local make cheese or Yogurt.

Most of the area that was traveled is class as world heritage rain forest areas. Some due to the fact that some plants are endangered and only grow in these areas. The tropical south Atherton tablelands supports dairy farms, banana plantations, tropical fruit farms. At one time was part of the rain forest but over the years has been cleared for agriculture.
We went past a tea plantation and stopped to get some tea, also on the way home stopped to buy fresh bananas, sure do taste a lot better than the ones in the store at home.
the rest of the afternoon spent at Paronella Park, built by one man and what floods and cyclones could not destroy fire did. Must have been a marvel back in its time. All build by hand , has it own hydroelectric plant and has fountains that are gravity feed. One can only imagine what it looked like when it was completed in 1935.