Wednesday 15th - to Atherton
Wild Carol does Australia
John and Fiona Fraser
Wed 15 Aug 2018 16:00
144 28.108E
Although Undara is labelled on the maps as a ‘National Park’ it is actually a privately owned resort. The attraction are huge volcanic ‘tubes’ to which they run guided tours. Unfortunately (or fortunately!) the only tour we got get on was the 1 pm and as we are on a mission to get to Cooktown, too late for us. We decided to do one of the trail walks instead as we needed the exercise. It started off well as we saw two (live) kangaroos looking at us from the bush just as we left the lodge area. One of them was quite large. But as soon as they spotted us looking at them they were off, too quick for a photo. The walk out to the viewpoint was interesting enough, saw a few birds and got a view of the various volcanic ‘bumps’ but the walk back along the same path was tedious and we were glad to get back to dismantle the camp and get on the road again . Our destination for today - the town of Atherton in the Tableland region.
We are coming close to the end of our time with our Toyota truck, which we’ve become quite fond of. We hand it back to Britz in Cairns in Monday. We’ve done 9686 km since leaving Perth on 4th July. Before then, we want to get to Cooktown and return to Cairns via the dirt road connecting Cooktown with Cape Tribulation.
As we got closer to Atherton the landscape changed dramatically, became very green and lush, we could have been in Yorkshire! ‘Proper’ cows in the grassy fields - this is where the fresh milk comes from! We took the sign saying ‘scenic tourist route’ and found ourselves on a twisty narrow road with fantastic views at every turn. We almost followed the sign to the ‘Misty Mountains ‘ but that would have been too much of a detour.
We arrived in Atherton mid-afternoon, checked in at the Big4 campsite where we get a Britz discount, then went to Woolies to do a bit of shopping. Got some lamb burgers which we cooked in the camp kitchen with the TV blaring on the wall beside us!
Green fields at last...
