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Tags: Atherton, Cairns Highlands, free family fun, halloran's hill, picnic, playground, Wildlife
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The Crystal Caves

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

The Crystal Caves in Atherton are an excellent place to take your budding geologists to! Here you’ll find amazing crystals, precious stones and fossils. It’s a man made cave and is actually more like a museum with interesting pieces dating back millions of years.

The largest amethyst crystal in the world can be seen here; the spectacular 3.5metre tall ‘Empress of Uraguay’ (pictured below), as well as a beautiful and rare ancient Chinese carving from the Qing Dynasty carved from solid lapis lazuli. They also boast an excellent collection of dinosaur fossils.

The entrance to the caves is the gift shop, ‘Fascinating Facets’ an interesting place to explore in its own right, where you can find an assortment of items including jewelry, sapphires, aquamarine, amethyst, opal and other crystals and precious stones. You can also ‘crack your own geode’ - these are ordinary looking rocks which when split in half reveal the beautiful crystals hidden inside.

Everyone is kitted out with a miner’s helmet, a map of the caves and a guide sheet with information about each exhibit before you begin your self-guided tour. As it’s an artificial cave there are no unexpected surprises such as bats, snakes or other cave dwelling creatures and the interior lighting ensures no-one will be scared of the dark here either!

The exhibits are mounted into the walls and ceiling and my kids enjoyed using their ‘headlights’ to find the hidden treasures throughout each of the corridors. There is a series of different themed rooms as well where exhibits are presented in glass display cabinets or as freestanding pieces which you are welcome to touch.

I went along not really sure of what to expect and was very impressed by the sheer size and diversity of the collection. There were crystals, stones and fossils from all over the world. We really learnt a lot about the different types of crystals and how they were formed, I’d never realized there were so many types.

My eldest son who is 8 got the most out of the visit, that’s him in the picture above working on the quiz sheet, my younger two who are 4 and 6 really enjoyed wearing the helmet and exploring the caves but were probably a bit too young too really understand or appreciate as much as older children would.

This post is part of a collection of wonderful travel photos featured at Delicious Baby, please click the link to see more great family travel pictures from around the world. A big thank you to Debbie at DeliciousBaby.com for organising this.

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Tags: Atherton, Cairns Highlands, crystal caves, crystals
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Mungalli Creek Dairy

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

The Mungalli Creek Dairy is one of my favourite teahouses in the Cairns Highlands region. They make all their own milk, cheese and yogurt at the dairy and supply their award winning and popular organic and biodynamic products across Australia.

Kids will enjoy watching cheese being made {if you’re there on cheese making day} and you are often given a selection of cheeses and yogurts to taste too. If you’re staying for lunch I would recommend the cheese platter for two, its very good!

A number of local products are also available for sale here including soap by Patti Flynn, artwork by local artists and homemade jams and chutneys.

Mungalli Creek is just east of Millaa Millaa at the top of the Palmerston Highway rainforest section. Only a few minutes away is the Mungalli Creek Falls where you can take a walk through the rainforest trails near the falls.

The Out of the Whey “Cheesery & Teahouse” at Mungalli Creek Dairy is open daily from 10am – 4pm.

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Tags: cafe, Cairns Highlands, mungalli
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The Curtain Fig Tree

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

The Curtain Fig Tree is enormous!

I remember visting often as a child, with it towering above me, in those days it wasn’t fenced off and children would play hide and seek amongst the tendrils.

This beautiful old rainforest tree is thought to be over 500 years old and is actually the result of a strangler fig seed landing high in the canopy and evenutually over hundreds of years overcoming the host tree, the host tree then died and fell landing on a nearby tree. The strangler fig’s powerful roots eventually covered both, creating an unusual curtain-like effect. Over time both original trees rotted away leaving just the freestanding fig tree that we see today.

The Ngadjon-Jii aboriginals are the traditional owners of this region and the park also contains endangered Mabi forest, ‘Mabi’ comes from the Ngadjon word for tree-kangaroo. Lumholtz’s tree-kangaroo is just one of the rare and endangered species found in this park, there is also the Herbert River Ringtail Possum and numerous rainforest birds, bats and frogs. If you look carefully you may just be lucky enough to see a Tree-Kangaroo or a possum as these animals are sometimes spotted by visitors to the Curtain-Fig tree.

The Curtain Fig Tree is in Curtain Fig National Park in the Cairns Highlands region about an hour and a half west of Cairns. A boardwalk surrounding the tree makes wheelchair and pram access very easy and its quite a short walk from the car park.

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Tags: Cairns Highlands, curtain fig tree, rainforest
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The Misty Mountains

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

We visited the beautiful Misty Mountains recently for a picnic and a swim at the South Johnstone Campground. We were so enchanted by the rainforest that we ended up spending the day exploring the area.

About
The Misty Mountains is a beautiful rainforest area which features waterfalls, mountain streams, rivers, more than 500 different species of rainforest trees and a diverse range of wildlife species including tree kangaroos, possums, the tiny musky rat-kangaroo, the rare northern bettong, platypus and rainforest dingoes as well as numerous species of frogs, insects and birds.

History
The indigenous tribes of the Mamu, Jirrbal, Wari and the Dulgubara lived in and near this area and have a special connection to this land. The region was first explored by Europeans in 1882 when explorer Christie Palmerston, along with his Aboriginal guide Pompo, walked for 12 days from Innisfail to Herberton across the deeply forested mountain range which is now the route of the Palmerston Highway. A monument to Pompo and Christie Palmerston is located in the Millaa Millaa township.

Picnics
A number of picnic areas located close to the Highway are easy to find and have facilities such as sheltered tables, barbeques and toilet facilities. Goolagan’s and Henrietta Creek are both great places to stop.

Wildlife
The Misty Mountains is an excellent place for wildlife spotting. Birdwatching is great during the day and you can try spotlighting for possums, owls, glow worms and other nocturnal creatures at night. Freshwater turtles and platypus are often seen in the rainforest creeks too.

Walks
For walkers 130 kilometres of tracks through the Misty Mountains have recently been opened. Five trails of medium and long distance follow existing ex-logging roads which take you through the mysterious, ancient rainforest located between Innisfail, Tully, Ravenshoe and Malanda. As many of these long distance tracks are one way and on unsealed roads it’s a good idea to arrange for a vehicle drop off and pick up if you can.

Camping
Camping is also available at a number of places in this area, the Henrietta camping area and the South Johnstone campground are both located on the Palmerston Highway, although it’s a 12km drive on unsealed road to the South Johnstone Campground. Both have quite good facilities with toilets and sheltered picnic tables. Contact the EPA to arrange camping permits.

Cafes
There are a few nice little cafes and teahouses to try in this area, we like the Mungalli Creek Dairy ‘Out of the Whey’ teahouse for its extra fresh produce all made onsite. The Mungalli Falls Waterfall Cafe is also a good place to visit as you can enjoy a walk around the falls while you’re there too. Make sure you get there early for afternon tea though as they both close at 4pm.

Accommodation:

Tags: Cairns Highlands, cassowary coast, Misty Mountains, rainforest, Walking trails
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By the Lake

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

Beautiful Lake Tinaroo in the Cairns Highlands region is a great place for a family getaway. As its such a large lake, there are plenty of places where you can stay right on the lake, including holiday houses, caravan parks and resorts, if you have your own camping equipment you can also stay in the camping grounds of the Danbulla National Park.

There are lots of activites to enjoy on and around the lake. For bushwalkers there are a number of good tracks in the Danbulla Forest area from easy 10 or 15 minute walks to the Kauri Creek walk which is recommended for more agile and fit walkers and takes around 2.5 hours.

The Lake Tinaroo Day use area has great paths for walking and riding with picnic tables, public art which reflects the history of the region, two playgrounds and a swimming pontoon also.

Fishing, swimming and water sports are popular on the lake. Pegasus Water sports organise full and half day tours which include wakeboarding, waterskiing and tubing. Canoes can be hired from Lake Tinaroo Holiday Park and fishing equipment can be purchased here too.

Keep your eye out for platypus in the creeks and streams, the rare green-eyed tree frog, the well camouflaged Boyd’s forest dragon, the endangered northern bettong, wallabies and a host of birds that call this area home. In the lake itself you’ll also find turtles and lots of fish.

Tinaroo is a great base for exploring the nearby attractions of the Cairns Highlands region as well.

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