Australia - Mareeba Gorge

Mareeba Granite Gorge, also on the Atherton Tableland is a hot dry rocky spot where you can follow the river, rockjumping

It's best feature though, has to be the Mareeba Rock Wallabies, which are very tame

And soooo cute...

This type are only found here..

For a dollar, you can buy some special feed for them and they all gather round.

This one had a baby in its pouch

The river was croc free, so swimming was possible to cool off

One of my favourite places

We only stayed a night as not much else around but outback scrub, but wellworth the visit

We went on a hike.

Paul will do anything to prove me wrong...

Smug, or what!

Footprints in the granite, from hundreds of thousands of years ago

There was no shortage of rocks to sit down on

Or gulleys to stand over

Australia - Barron Falls & Kuranda

This is Barron Falls, a mere trickle compared to what it's like when it's wet season and you can hardly see it due to the mist, but still awe inspiring

You can travel up there by cablecar, road, or scenic railway

It's size is difficult to ascertain in photos, but it's a few kms from one side of the gorge to the other

The railway to the left helps show its size

It was once used for hydroelectricity and the remnants of the dams can be seen at the top

We stayed in Kuranda, also in the Atherton Tablelands, above Cairns in the mountains.  It's only a small village and the best way from the campsite to the village was down this railway...'Stand by me' echoed in my head as we did

This bird is round a lot of campsites and howls for it's young when they get separated.  It's fine in the afternoon, but at 4am....

These are bandicoots

With extremeley delicate noses can sniff out crumbs from miles away.  They are very cute

I was regarded suspiciously as they guarded their chick

Looking down into Cairns from the Atherton Tableland

Paul didn't miss the rare opportunity of me cooking

Australia - Cairns

There are lots of good views coming down the coast to Cairns, from the north

Was nice not to have to look out for crocs..

There is Mount Whitfield, which overlooks Cairns Airport so you can see the planes take off and land

The estuary can be seen too

The climb up was tiring in the midday heat

There are some lakes with turtles, or tortoises..

And crocs, so we didn't bother swimming..

Was pretty though, with loads of birdlife

And it wasn't busy at all

It had picnic areas and bbq's to cook on

This is a Kookuburra, which sounds like it's laughing, freaky..

And these Brush Turkeys are everywhere in Queensland, along the coast

Another viewpoint overlooking Cairns from the otherside of Mt Whitfield

Australia - Mossman & Port Douglas

Mossman Gorge is croc free, and so popular with the locals

With ready made sunloungers..

The flow is very low now, but wet season makes it too dangerous to swim in

This is the bridge that takes you over the gorge to the rainforest where you can go on a small trek

And discover other creeks

There are loads of these large butress root trees in the rainforest - wierd

You can cool off in your own quiet spot, should you wish..

Though it's Australia, so there's always something deadly to look out for...

This is Port Douglas' old courthouse.  The most interesting thing that they still talk about here, is the lady accused of murdering her husband.  She was tried here and then sentanced to death, one of the few women ever to be executed in Australia.  Needless to say, not much goes on here....

This is 4 mile beach, for obvious reasons.  It has sections that have nets so are jellyfish and croc free, so they tell you

Port Douglas is quiite a trendy place for holidaying, though was hit bad by this year's earlier cyclone

Tis quite a quaint town to walk around, with some good views