Sunday morning we enjoyed a slow morning. Greg and Lily went on a rainy adventure while I took a bath in the tub on the porch amid sounds of the downpour. Our place had a basket of breakfast foods in the fridge, so we enjoyed some juice, cereal, eggs, and toast before hitting the road.
We met the owner at reception and got on the internet while we waited for him to feed the birds. While waiting a cassowary wondered by the window and around the building. We enjoyed watching the huge bird as it wandered.
It is the second heaviest bird in the world and third tallest, but it is considered the most dangerous. We learned a lot over the next few days and the “dangerous” designation is definitely under discussion.
After watching the cassowary we walked over to a blind where they feed musky kangaroo rats and sure enough two kind of cute little guys came out to eat.
By then the beautiful rainbow lorikeets were out eating there food – such incredible color. 
We hopped in the car and started the suggested Kangaroo Trail with the hope of seeing 5 kangaroo species. Our first stop was looking for tree kangaroo – strike. Luckily, we did find the red-legged pademelons (not realizing we had already seen one – let’s just say we aren’t very good at marsupial identification). I kept getting the name mixed up and calling it a pandamelon, Emily kept correcting me so after a while I would just do it on purpose to get her to roll her eyes.
We stopped at Malanda Falls Nature Park and tried two trails looking for tree kangaroos in the rain with no luck. But we did spot a turtle and so we all joined the Australia turtle club. We had hoped to catch church but by this point we would only get the last 15 mins of second hours so we just kept trekking. 
In the car, after our rainy walk, Kate’ panicked voice said, “There is a leech on my shoe.” Skeptically, I assured her that it was probably a worm or caterpillar. She was insistent and when I looked back, I told Greg to pull over right away. Kate did indeed have a leech on her shoe, in fact before we even got out of the car, we realized she had several.
A frantic searching ensued with everyone checking shoes, socks, ankles, finding leeches and trying to remove them. Emily, wearing crocs, had blood dripping down her foot. The leech was gone but its bite had done its work. Kate also had a bite on her ankle. We all found some on us but no one else had a bite. Later that night in the shower Greg found two leeches on his ankles; even after searching some had snuck passed him.
While heading to lunch we stopped to see the curtain fig tree and learn a little about how this amazing tree grows up and over taller trees and lives off of them – eventually killing them. It was beautiful. Afterwards Lily did find one little squirmy leech on her finger.
But there were more leeches found in the car later. Including one Greg located on his finger and flicked across the car landing who knows where. We quickly learned that no matter how much you squish them in Kleenex or grind them with your shoe, they don’t die. When we located one in the car we would grab them with tissue, squish as much as possible then put them in our trash bag fondly called our “bag of leeches”. Every time I added another, I had to be careful not to let out any of the previous finds. So gross.
We made a quick stop at Reynolds creek bridge in Yungaburra to look for platypus, no luck but we would try again later in the day when they were more likely to be out.
We stopped at a little café for lunch where Kate enjoyed her enormous hamburger and Lily and Emily loved having pancakes.
Our next destination was Granite Gorge Nature Park to see rock wallabies. Before we arrived, we spotted a larger wallaby or kangaroo and were again reminded of our ineptitude.
. Even though it was raining the rock wallabies didn’t disappoint. They came right up to us ready to eat the feed Greg had purchased. They didn’t even mind the girls petting them. They were surprisingly soft and by Lily’s standard – adorable. We were able to get close looks at their pouches with babies inside, absolutely incredible. There was one cute young one hopping around but it didn’t come anywhere near us, but there were enough other hungry friends to keep the girls happy. 
In hindsight we should have just stayed there, enjoyed the cute wallabies and happy kids but the lady at the gate had mentioned a hike and you know Greg…we had to see the hike.
What a hike! The views were unique with large granite rocks during sand and trees. The first part was fun, enjoying the views, and trying not to slip on the wet rock. But the rain grew stronger, the rocks more hazardous, the path leading further and further from the cute wallabies.
The girls started getting more uncomfortable, except for Emily. We had to cross streams, go up and down slippery inclines with sandy shoes decreasing our grip, and watch out for algae covered rocks. The handrails and sandbags were insufficient, and Greg often had to pull or jump us along the path. The loop was meant to take 30 minutes but, in these conditions, it was taking far longer. Intense and challenging, we had to be nearing the end when Lily slipped, hit her bum, and lost it. Keeping her moving became Greg’s fulltime job, our pace slowed, and the frustration grew as the crying continued.
We came to another river crossing only to find that the path had been washed out by all the recent rain. It was uncrossable. We had to turn around when we were nearly to the end of the trail. I’ll spare you from describing the outrage, but we turned around and carefully maneuvered our way back arriving just as the rain grew even heavier.
On our return the memory of the cute wallabies to feed was the best motivation for Lily. Her devastation was complete when we watched all the cute little animals hop for cover when the rain turned to a downpour. She just wanted to touch one more! She tried so hard to touch one that felt cornered under a rock and retreated from her. She and I being absolutely soaked through was all she got for her trouble.
Before we got into the car, she and I had a little chat amidst her tearful sobs – how grateful we were to be able to pet the wallabies before the hike, all by ourselves. There were guests just arriving that might not get to touch even one if the rain kept up. She was still disappointed but able to count her blessings a little as we got in the car.
In other to distract her in the car I gave the girls my phone and asked them to vlog about the hike. Emily talked about how it was challenging and fun while the other two dubbed it Gibraltar.2 (refer to post about Spain in summer 2023). In no time they were taking selfies and laughing at each other, disastrous hike forgotten.
Our final stop of the kangaroo trail was the Mareeba Golf Club where the Eastern Gray Kangaroos outnumber the golfers by hundreds. $30 to rent a golf cart let us get up close to these amazing animals. Only 3 could fit on the cart at a time so Greg took Emily and Lily on the first trip while Kate and I ate raspberry Frog’s Alive and sang Taylor Swift songs.
Then it was our turn. The kangaroos seemed accustomed to human presence and weren’t bothered by us as we watched them laze around. We loved spotting the joeys in their mother’s pouches some headfirst with their tail and a foot or two poking out. Some joeys were nursing by just poking their head in the pouch, feet on the ground. Our favorites were the ones with their heads poking out making the creature look two headed. They were pretty cool – it felt a bit unnatural being viewed from a golf cart (it’s too easy)– but we enjoyed every moment. Watching them hop in the fairway was another distinctive experience. We all agreed it was money well spent. 4/5 on the kangaroo trail wasn’t feeling all bad.
Since we missed church, I shared some thoughts in the car, and everyone took a moment to share some thoughts and gratitudes.
We headed further north to the Mareeba Wetlands in hopes of finding Emily an Emu. Fortunately, we hadn’t told her of that possibility as we eventually turned back when we reached a flooded concrete bridge. When the small boulder Greg tossed to the middle was quickly swept over the edge, we decided it wasn’t worth the risk of crossing.
Strike three tree kangaroo came on a trail at Wongabel state park complete with friendly leeches. Leaving leeches behind we went back to Yungaburra to look for the elusive platypus who remained elusive in spite of our quiet watching as the sun set and into the darkness.
Strike three tree kangaroo came on a trail at Wongabel state park complete with friendly leeches. Leaving leeches behind we went back to Yungaburra to look for the elusive platypus who remained elusive in spite of our quite watching as the sun set and into the darkness.
We caught Italian to go then headed back to our house to repack, we could only take one small bag each onto the boat the next morning. While we packed Greg went to complete check out her might had wandered for a while and spotted a few bandicoots.
Lily was a bit of a wreck, too tired, her bum hurt, and she didn’t enjoy the sound of the rain…so we crushed a Tylenol pm and made her drink it. She was out for 10 hours, a much-needed sleep for the poor girl.
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