Atherton Tablelands

This morning the children were awake and climbing all over me at five o'clock.  I sent them back to their own beds, but couldn't get back to sleep myself- so I took out a pictorial map of the Atherton region we'd picked up somewhere and tried to discover what we could do here on a rainy day.  I saw that there were a few coffee plantations near a town called Mareeba.  Thinking that we could at least have a nice cup of coffee when we got there, we decided to go for a drive and see what else there was to see.
We stopped in at the tourist information centre at Ravenshoe first, as we'd left the map in the caravan.  Our intention was to pick up a brochure or two and drive on, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that there was far more to this visitors centre than any we'd yet seen.  It was, in effect, a small museum with a number of displays about the history, geography and biology of the area.  The children given torches and told to look in the "night forest" to see if they could find any of the (models of) nocturnal animals hiding there!  They were also intrigued by the rows of specimen jars containing such delights as bird-eating spiders and giant cane toads.

Philip explaining what a butter churn is and how it works!

From Ravenshoe we headed north, but before we'd gone very far we saw a turnoff to a Wind Farm viewing area.  While Philip was interested in the information about how the wind turbines work, I was more fascinated by the way they kept disappearing and reappearing!  Several times I tried to take a photo, only to find there was nothing but mist where a number of huge windmills had stood only seconds earlier.  Clearly this area is not named the "Misty Mountains" for nothing! 

A little further along the road to Atherton we saw a turnoff to the Mt Hypipamee National Park and decided to have a closer look.  A short drive brought us to a picnic ground where signs told us that a 350 metre walk would take us to the Mt Hypipamee Crater and the Dinner Falls.  The children were excited to be exploring the jungle.  Stopping frequently to point out interesting ferns, creepers, staghorns and fig trees we arrived at the crater- the result of volcanic gasses exploding and now filled with water. Apparently it goes down about 80 metres below the surface of the water before turning and forming a submerged passage. On the return trip the path took us by the Dinner Falls. 

Mt Hypipamee Crater- covered with duckweed.

Dinner Falls

A bush turkey who took a liking to Arthur. It seemed to think he might have some food and, to his amusement, followed him all around the picnic area! Funny it chose Arthur over the rest of us- it must have recognised a bird lover!

Esther would have liked to stay and play by the water a bit longer, but  we were ready for that cup of coffee by now!  A lovely drive through tropical farming land interspersed with stretches of rainforest brought us to Jacques coffee plantation north of Mareeba.  Here we watched a film about the history of the Jaques' family business and the process of growing and raosting coffee beans.  Then we were taken on a short tour of the property before tasting some of the coffee liqueurs made from Jaques coffee and sitting down to a nice latte.

Coffee in bud

On the way back to Ravenshoe we stopped to buy some locally grown peanuts and to have lunch at the Tolga Wood Works gallery.  Just driving through the beautiful country here makes me feel how good God is; his love is reflected in his creation all around us.
The forecast is for rain over the next few days, but the lady at the Visitor's Centre assures us that the morning will be relatively dry, even if storms are predicted.  We thought we might try the Mamu Canopy Walk tomorrow, so I hope she's right!