Australia Day 2 : Tablelands

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.

 

Australia Day 1: Sydney Layover

The weekend before our departure for Australia as everyone was packing and cleaning the house Greg got a worried look.  “I just realized we need visas to go to Australia.”  As he started panicking, we both started googling and thankfully learned that you could apply for the visas online and they usually came through within 72 hours, plenty of time for our flight Thursday.

 

Greg began the process, unpacked the passports, and began entering info.  “We have an even bigger problem.  Your passport expires in 11 days.”  Let more research begin.  I could emergency renew my passport by visiting a passport office, closest office in Seattle or Denver.  So, I filled out passport files and got all my documents together while Greg scheduled me an appointment and flight for Monday morning in Denver.  I was still fighting week three of my cold, but I got in the car and got a terrible passport photo to take with me to Denver.

 

5:30am Monday morning I left for the airport, flew to Denver and Ubered straight to the passport office.  I waited my turn, submitted my forms, and was told to come back by 2:00pm to pick up my passport.  That was easy (ha-ha).  It was 10:30am.  My sister, Mel, dropped everything and came to pick me up.  We enjoyed a fabulous lunch, 4 hours of chatting, I got my passport, and she gave me a free ride to the airport.  All things considered it was a wonderful day with my sister and I was still going to Australia!

 

All drama behind us, mostly packed, kitten baby sitting in place we were ready to go…or so we thought. Wednesday afternoon as I pulled into the temple parking lot Greg called, “We have a problem.  Our flight to San Francisco from Boise was canceled because of severe weather tomorrow.”  My temple session was nearing and there was nothing I could do so I told him I’d pray, and I hung up.  After the session I called and learned that miraculously he had been able to purchase 5 tickets to Sydney for the next day on a different airline.  Somehow, we were still going to Australia!  The journey was a bit less convenient, and we had to leave the house earlier Thursday.  The original plan left after school, now we would be leaving around noon. Wednesday night bedtime hit, and Lily still wasn’t showered, and Emily wasn’t packed, so everyone decided to just skip the whole day of school.  They had a sad goodbye to Mack (home for Spring Break) and the kittens, and we headed on our adventure.

Boise airport with all our bags.

Lily at the Seattle airport pretending to be really sad that she was too tall to play in the kids play area.

Boise to Seattle was rather uneventful except that in route we learned that our Seattle flight to LA was delayed…we landed, and it was delayed further…got dinner…flight still hadn’t taken off.  By the time we got in the air we knew our connection would be tight.  We were getting worried when our arrival time was scheduled for 20 minutes before our flight would take off.  Thankfully the other passengers let the Sydney passengers off the plane first.  We had 15 minutes before the flight was scheduled to take off and luckily, we were only a couple gates away from the Sydney flight. Tender mercies- they held the airplane for our flight!!!  What a blessing.  We got on and go settled for the painful 15 ½ hour flight.

 

I won’t go into the annoyance of having the girls sit behind us, complaining if we tipped our seats back, one of their TVs not working, the whining - all that matters is that we got to Sydney!  

 

We got our bags stored, brushed some teeth and changed into cooler clothes then headed to the train station to go find Whitney and her boyfriend, Ryan.  They met us as the station with a bag full of Australian goodies; a bag that would be a fabulous distraction and fuel for the next few days.  On to the speedy tour of Sydney!

First pics in Sydney at the train station.

First, we checked out views of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and walked around the famous Opera House.  Whitney pointed out that the iconic white room was made from smallish tiles rather than one large sheet of material as it appears from pictures.

From there we wondered the Botanical Gardens enjoying the bin chickens, cockatoos, amazing and unique plants, and what must have been an Australian coot.  While we looked around, we hounded Whitney and Ryan with questions about Australia and their life updates.  We learned important things like: chicken parmigiana is served with chips (fries), they make fun of American portions but their portions are enormous, and if a menu says pumpkin it means squash – either butternut, acorn or occasionally sweet potato.

The weather was pleasant, not too hot or humid yet, but we could feel it getting warmer by the minute.  We wondered toward a museum only to realize we were running short on time if we wanted to get lunch and visit the famed candy store.  So, we made a quick walk through to find a bathroom and get a drink from the drinking fountain.  As we headed to the train station Emily wasn’t doing well.  Upon questioning I learned that she had only had one cup of water on the long flight – yikes.  I bought her a bottle in the train station and she downed in.

 

We took a picture in front of Sticky’s before the girls started watching the candy being made.  We had watched so many YouTube videos from this store being there in person revealed how small the shop actually was.  As Kate and Lily got sucked in Emily looked miserable and said she felt like she could throw up.  Whitney jumped in and offered to help her get some air.  I had just started looking at the candy selection when Whitney ran back, “She threw up!”

I think the poor thing was just dehydrated from the flight and the heat.  Whitney and I helped her get cleaned up (thank you Whitney for being prepared with a package of Kleenex) and got someone to call a ranger (i.e. janitor).  I helped Emily walk over to a restraint selling salads and sandwiches.  I got her a piece of bread and a salad for me while the others went to find burgers.  Once she got her strength back, we joined the others, said bye to Whitney and headed back to the airport.  

 

I had changed into my Chacos at the airport which had proved to be a terrible mistake.  My feet were a bit swollen from the flight and the heat made them even worse so my sandals were rubbing like crazy.  By the time we got off the train at the airport we had done nearly 10,000 steps and I had blisters.  I was so ready to put my sock and shoes back on. 

Whitney also gave the girls clips to do French twists.  Lily and Kate struggled to make it stay but Emmy got hers to work fabulously.

Our stash from Sticky's.

Some of the snacks from Whitney and Ryan.  The KitKats were incredible- way better than regular.

We picked up our bags and got onto our Cairns flight – very sleepy.  The humidity and rain hit us as we landed, grabbed our rental car, and stopped at a grocery store for dinner.  Kate pulled out her researched list of foods to try so we bought a box of TimTam’s for dessert with our salami, cracker, and cheese dinner.  The TimTams were a hit; we consumed a few packs before we got home.

 

Greg drove the 90 minutes to Rose Gum, our place for the night in the Atherton Tablelands, in the rain, on almost no sleep, through some pretty windy passes, but we made it safely.   The last 10 miles were exciting as we watched for critters and were rewarded with our first marsupial, a red legged pademelon.  That woke everyone up a bit as we got ourselves settled into our fabulous place.  With the breeze and sound of the rain we were all sound asleep in no time.