A little bit of Queensland

Our home for 7 days!

On the plane ride over from Sydney to Cairns, we had the spontaneous idea (we are such adventurists) of renting a camper van for a few days to have a look around the outback and tropical bits of Queensland. This had the added advantage of not having to spend any time in Cairns (sorry Cairns, we're sure you're lovely, but we couldn't face another city). Our first stop was to "camp" at Innot Hot Springs. We had a very hot dip (the clues in the name) in the pools and a very pleasant night. The next day we were set to go fossicking. Unfortunately, it was 7 kms away to the nearest site to search for topaz, along an unsealed road. Being the conformists we are, we didn't want to chance the camper down an unmarked track, and couldn't be bothered to slog the equipment (water, lots of it, plus shovels and sieves) on our backs, in the heat of the day, so didn't bother. Instead we moved on to the Undarra lava tubes. These are massive underground tunnels which were formed 190,000 years ago, when Undarra volcano errupted. The lava followed the paths of the rivers and gullies. The surface of the lava flow hardened, due to the drop in temperature at the surface. This formed insulated tubes, in which the lava continued to flow in a liquid state until the lava eventually drained out. The tubes were found because over the years, hot gases and earthquakes blew holes in the tube ceilings, which caused a collapse and so created a way into the tubes. We took a half day tour and had an expert guide called Tim to show us around. We were lucky to be joined by only 2 other people (a nice couple from the Sunshine Coast) and so got lots of time to chat to Tim, and also were lucky to explore parts others people don't explore.

Turmite mounds. There is hundreds of them on the way to the lava tubes.

The Bruntons are put on special alert not to run over any amazing wildlife that Australia has to offer.

Undarra lava tubes.

Onward to Yungaburra, where were went in search of the elusive tree kangaroos. We spent 2 days looking for the blighters and the closest we got, was to see a stuffed one in the visitors centre; they had it taxidermied when it got run over (it was dead at the time).

Trying to spot tree kangaroos in this dense rainforest became futile for the Bruntons. Although several of the locals had seen them the day before.

We had more success when we went to spot the crocodiles on the banks of the Daintree river, with the "Bruce Belcher Tours". It must be a quiet time of year, because this time we found ourselves the only ones on the 1:30pm tour and had the big boat to ourselves. We got more of an adventure than we bargained for when Kerry the driver got us "stuck" for a few seconds on a sand bank. First his face was a picture, as he muttered "geez, please not today, not in the water today" and looked in need of a brown bag to breathe into, then Lisab's face was a picture (so say's Andyb) when she realised how panicked the driver was. Lisa had already planned an escape route onto the roof of the boat, and would refuse to come down until rescued by a helicopter. Thankfully, he managed to pull us off the sandbank as quickly as he got us stuck, though we wondered if we would have been so lucky if we had been a boat full of (well fed) tourists. We were quite glad to make it back on to dry land.

We were lucky though to spot Albert sunning himself on the banks of the Daintree river, a local called him a fattie but we think he was obese. The photo's don't do justice to how huge he is; we thought he didn't look capable of moving, though we were assured he could catch his prey VERY quickly - despite being an old man of 70 (sorry David!). We didn't fancy testing him to find out.

A close up of Alberts teeth. We were assured by our guide that the red you see on his teeth was in fact rust and not blood.

We also went in hunt of the amethstine python at Lake Eacham. Walking round the lake, which is surrounded by rain forrest, we saw all sorts of birds, including the (two a penny) brush turkey, and some amazing trees. A pair of English guys then told us that they had spotted a python sunning itself on a fallen tree, about 50 metres away. They were either kidding, or had scared it away, cause we didn't see it, and we would have; it reaches a size of about 6 metres, being the largest snake in Australia - not surprising given that it can down a kangaroo as a light lunch. Then, making our way back to the campsite; tired from a day of spotting everything we weren't looking for and spotting nothing we were, didn't we see an amethystine python?! It was certainly an adult, as it stretched almost to the other side of the road, and was at least 5 metres long (with a large girth). It was crossing a relatively small road, with 20km speed bumps all along it. Andyb was driving, and we stopped to watch and let it pass, putting on the hazard lights to warn others we had stopped. Something terrible then happened, as some stupid or callous person in a car ignored Andrew's warnings (hanging out of the window, flagging car down) and ran over the snake. It appeared dazed for a few seconds, and then sloped off to the bush where it had come from. Although it moved, we think that it probably died later. Unfortunately, road kill is an all too common site in both New Zealand and Australia. We were initally REALLY excited to see a python, but would obviously have far preferred not to see one and for it to still be alive.