Red Claws Galore & Goodbye Tinaroo, Qld

Yesterday morning Tuesday the 2nd of October the boys, Jack and Harry, set their alarms early and went with their mate Tristan to pull their crab nets. 
Harry was confident that they had the diet of a red claw just right, with their secret bait consisting of a combination of different fruit, vegetables and dog food. 
They wouldnt even tell me their secret recipe.

So off they went, returning an hour and a half later very excited after pulling in 107 red claw.

We then went into Atherton for brekky, before stopping to look at the Curtain FigTree, one of the region's tourist attractions and one of the largest trees in Tropical North Queensland. It was quite spectacular and well worth the visit...

The Curtain Fig Tree

The tree is a picture of a century of natural history. The curtain effect results from one of the trees leaning against another  with a strangler vine growing along the angle of the leaning tree.

We then continued on into Cairns winding our way down a mountain....

The GPS shows what lies ahead 

as well as watching the GPS,  we watched the temperature rise the lower we got. It had reached 40 deegrees by the time we arrived in Cairns. 

I had landed at Cairns airport many times and headed straight to Port Duglas but had never actually seen the city itself.

We called in to say hello to Chris King, who owns several Car yards in Cairns and  continued on through the town, spotting a few big things along the way...

The big black marlin, Cairns

A big Captain Cook, Cairns

Cairns was a big city and we continued on in search of a creek which Richard had been told was full of mud crabs.
We found the creek which came with a croc warning. No wonder its full of mud crabs...

Croc territory, Cairns

It made me realize that from here on we really are in croc territory and have  to be extra vigilant...

The warning didn't seem to worry the boys much, nature was calling.

We returned back to the caravan park late afternoon. Richard and been planning to take a couple of his friends Todd and Carson out mud crabbing the next day but changed his mind after seeing the weather report.
Rain was Forecast for the next few days. It was at that point that we decided we would leave the following day.

Wednesday morning the 3rd of October and again, the boys set their alarm and were up early to pull their nets, they arrived back with their mate Tristan and 127 more red claw. Something tells me we'll never want to eat another red claw again after this OD.

Jack, Harry & Tristan (thanks for sharing some great adventures with the boys Tristan)

Red Claw over here are considered a pest because they are prolific breeders, so if you catch them you are not allowed to throw them back.
Speaking to a local a few days ago - story has it that divers in Lake Tinaroo came across a section of red claw almost two metres deep.. why can't we find Marron like that at home??
The kids consider they have been good Eco warriors in this region trying to help diminish the red claw population. 

They said goodbye to their good buddy Tristan and we swapped our details with half the park including Todd and Pria from next door (would you believe Todd used to live in Kalamunda) also Carson and Kerry, Veronica who lives and works in the park and the managers Katherine and Mark. 
We have all rated this park a 10/10, it's a first for us. It was so well done and we could have stayed a month, we were all made to feel so welcome.

We drove out all much richer for having been there and once again meeting more beautiful people. The kids were all sad to be leaving their mates.

Goodbye Lake Tinaroo

The Lake

We drove into Atherton where Richard had a quick haircut and we had some brekky before heading towards the Savannah Way and more adventures ahead.

The rainforest was lush and beautiful and roads very windy as we continued west and up through the Atherton tablelands reaching 1100 metres above sea level. 
It was no wonder it is called the Misty Mountains. Ravenshoe, the highest town in the tablelands at 920 metres above sea level, was very pretty...

"Queensland's Highest Pub"

Ravenshoe is also home to Windy Hill wind farm which generates enough electricity to power 3500 homes. 

The wind farm, set among paddocks in Ravenshoe

We continued on and before long we were in Innot - home of the thermal springs and a only half an hour away but what seemed like a world away from the lush green rainforests behind us...

Hot Springs sign

We couldn't resist hopping into the hot springs creek bed, some parts were cold, other parts were boiling hot....

The kids enjoying the springs, Innot

All of us in one of the springs, Innot

Richard and I both drove out of Innot thinking the same thing.. "this town could do so much more with their natural resource." There was very little in the town other than a run down caravan park and pub.

We continued on until we reached Undara, home to the worlds longest lava tubes... We set up camp in the caravan park and built a campfire....

Setting up camp in Undara

It will be an early night before an early rise tomorrow when we explore the lava tubes before continuing along the Savannah Way.