Atherton

Hypipamee Crater

Dinner Falls

The weather still continues to be miserable.  It is putting everyone in a bad mood.  No sun, no smiles.  Had to get ourselves out of the doldrums so we took a drive around the countryside.  Surprisingly it  only to a short time to turn our frowns upside down.  We started at Hypipamee Crater.  An amazing but unusual crater between Herberton, Millaa Millaa and Atherton.  Dinner Falls was also there and they were quiet a picturesque waterfall.  We continued our drive towards Millaa Millaa where we stopped at the lookout that overlooks the picturesque valley leading into Millaa Millaa.  Our drive then took us along the waterfall circuit.  The first falls was Millaa Millaa which were beautiful and flowing really well.  We found out that the falls were only a 5^th of the size the week before.  See the rain was important.  Next was Zillie Falls and the Ellinjaa Fall.  Both very beautiful also.  I particularly like Ellinjaa Falls.  We continued our drive then back up the road to see the final of our waterfalls. Malanda Falls.  Nestled at the base of these falls was the local swimming pool.  Pretty spectacular place really.  We did one final stop that afternoon at that was at Gallo Dairyland – Working milk farm and coffee, cheese and chocolate shop.  We had a taste of some lovely chocolate and had a nice coffee also.  The kids had some ice cream and we selected a few chocolates also.  Yum Yum! The day ended quite nicely.

Millaa Millaa Lookout



Millaa Millaa Falls                                                       Zillie Falls                                                             Ellinjaa Falls

Malanda Falls

The next day, yes it was still a little dreary but this did not stop us again.  We ventured to The Crystal Caves were we saw displays of different pyrites and geodes.  The larges know Amethyst Geode know is called The Empress of Uruguay.  Obviously that was where it was found.  It was tall than Nigel and weights a staggering 2 ½ tonnes.  Her crystals are naturally created and are of jewellery quality.  Very amazing and very pretty.  We really like the cubed pyrites which are formed without any human contact.  They were just amazing.  After visiting the caves...(yes they were fake caves inside a shop front...lol) we headed for lunch at the Barron Valley Hotel.  What a great meal.  The kids and I had the lamb cutlets and how we enjoyed them.  The kids got 2 large ones each and I got 4 large ones.  What a feast!  No food for me tonight.  Nigel had a delicious steak that was nearly as big as his plate.

Following lunch we took a drive out to Yungaburra, hoping to finally see the elusive platypus in their own environment.  We sat at the view platform for 5 minutes or so with no luck so decide to walk down the path and along the river.   It was a little muddy at time but well worth it.  We saw our first little platypus around 100 metres down the stream.  He frolicked and played in the water for ages and we were just mesmerised by the cute little thing.  We continued our walk along the banks and found another 2 platypus and watched them play.  The older ones were very shy and once they noticed us they hid very quickly.  We walked back to the car then and drove the 5 minutes around the corner to a most amazing curtain fig tree.  It was an incredible site.