Day 247 / 2015 - Tinaroo, Malanda and Atherton Crystal Cave

Atherton Tablelands also known as the Cairns highlands is located above the coastal plain and various in height from about 500 metres at the northern end to about 1200 metres at its highest point near the town of Ravenshoe and covers a area of 620 square kilometres. It is accessable from the Coast Via the Palmerston Hwy from Innisfail, The Gillies Hwy from Gordonvale, The Kuranda Hwy from Smithfield or the Rex Range Rd from Port Douglas. You can also reach the tablelands from Inland via the Savanah way or the Gregory Development Rd from Charters Towers.

Near our base at Walkamin is Tinaroo Dam constructed in the 1950's. It was originally constructed to service the flourshing tobaco industry but now supplys water to many of the various food growers via a number of open channels and pipelines. Around Tinaroo dam are a number of campgrounds. To camp there you need to make a booking online before you arrive there. We looked at Penguin Campground and although nice did not really have sites suitable for our size or bigger caravans.

From Tinaroo we headed towards Malanda approx 30 Km further to the South. Before you reach the town there is Gello Dairy which sell Cheese and Chocolates what a combination. At the dairy there are viewing platforms to watch how they make the cheese. You can also go out the back and watch how they milk the cows. Each cow walks onto a revolving carousel then hooked up to the milking machine by an operator. By the time one revolution is completed the milking is finished. The cows are disconnected by another operator then walk themselves out backwards making room for the next cow. Some cows are not finished after 1 revolution so a chain is put on behind them to stop them backing out. Returning to the shop we then tasted a number of cheeses on offer before finally choosing a Brie and a tasty cheddar for the nights happy hour.

From the Dairy we drove on into Malanda and stopped at the Falls next to the Information centre. Walking down to the falls and pool area everything was pretty much as I remembered some 30 years prior. From there we walked through part of the rainforest following a loop back to the information centre. The centre had only been there for the past 2 years as the original one opened in 1996 burned down in 2010. There was quite a lot of information and displays about the Flora and Fauna of the area including the secretive Tree Kangaroo. We have yet to spy one but they are out there somewhere.

Travelling back towards home we turned off the Hwy towards the Curtain Fig Tree. Located next to the carpark is the boardwalk entry built to and around the tree The Curtain fig is known as a strangler fig. The seed of a strangler fig is dropped near the top of a host tree by a bird. The seed then sprouts an aerial root which eventually grows to the ground. Once it reaches the ground it is able to suck nutrients from the soil and start growing dropping more roots to the ground. This process eventually strangles the tree and it dies and rots away leaving the fig tree still standing. Somtimes the host tree falls over draging the fig tree with it. The host tree can be caught by another trees branches preventing it from falling all the way to the ground. The fig tree will continue to send roots down to the ground creating a curtain effect.

Atherton is a town of around 7,200 people and is currently our choice of shopping area. While in town we visted the Crystal Cave which was setup by René Boissevain in the main stree to Atherton. Out front is a shop which sells all kinds of things made from Crystals. Out back he has created a tourist attraction in the form of a cave to house his 600 item collection. You can walk through the many rooms of the cave and admire all the crystal pieces. Some peices you are able to touch while the more fragile crystals are kept behind protective glass. The centre piece of the collection is The ‘Empress of Uruguay’ standing over 3 metres in height and is the Worlds biggest Amethyst Geode. It is a truly remakable collection and is worth the $22 each to go in.