Wednesday 28th July
Finally we have put some kilometres under the belt and now can relax and enjoy very little driving for the next few weeks as we make our way through the Atherton Table lands, Cairns and the Daintree!
We left the hot weather behind us two days ago in Karumba, missing it already but there is only so much to day in that quiet little town, and the ocean really isn’t too friendly in the gulf. Not many waves to surf and too many crocodiles anyway!
From Karumba we headed back to Normanton and yet another big day driving to get to the Undara Lava Tubes for out tour this morning at 8am. Last night we scored a sweet little camping spot, down a little track behind a roadside rest area, where all the other “plebs” were parked (you can tell when Brett is narrating the story), we camped right in the middle of a dry rainforest.
Rise and shined at 6 this morning which is much easier in the warm weather! Its still warm but not that beautiful heat all day and all night like we were experiencing a few days ago.
We were booked on to the ‘Undara Experience’ at 8o’clock, a half hour drive away. Lez our guide was great, cracked a few jokes and managed to knock up scones jam and cream for morning tea which wasn’t too bad. We did have a bit of a knob jockey on tour, one of those people who think they and only they have seen the whole world, and therefore nowhere you have been, nothing you have ever done is anywhere near as important as what they have managed to fit into the years of their life. So much of the four hours was spent with the voice of this unpleasant character in the background harping on about his supposed higher wisdom of the world; it could have nearly ruined the whole tour. Luckily the tubes were pretty awesome; pictures can’t describe the shear size of them, to think how much lava was once pumping through this landscape is basically incomprehensible.
Tonight we are camped in a yet another beautiful little spot just outside of Ravenshoe, the highlight of the day would have to be Ingot Hot Springs about 15km back down the road. After sweating the morning away climbing in and out of Lava Tubes and hiking our way up and around volcano’s we defiantly needed some form of cleansing! The hot springs on the way to our camp spot seemed to be the answer. We rocked up at about 3pm expecting a lush Garden of Eden, steaming springs, birds chirping all that sort of thing, that wasn’t quite what was waiting for us.
Instead you either had to dig yourself a hole in the creek bed right in the middle of town, on the highway or pay to use the cravan parks pools, seeing that the pools were basically just like a normal spas, we opted for the roadside option. They were not the most picturesque springs, and there wasn’t much water, there were birds, they were not chirping but trying to steal our lunch. At least we were the only ones using them and they were very, very hot!
We are still feeling incredibly refreshed and we hopped out over 4 hours ago! We might even manage to get down there tomorrow morning for a quick dip before exploring the rainforest and waterfalls awaiting us in the tablelands.
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