Jun 9 to 11 Next stop Atherton which is the main town on the Atherton Tablelands, inland from Cairns, famous for its fertile soils, dairy farming and wonderful scenery. On the way we stop at Millstream Falls which claims to be the widest single drop waterfall in Australia. Then we pass a wind farm just off the main highway.
After a pleasant round of golf at the local Atherton Golf Club, we head up to Lake Tinaroo, which has a bit of a story as to how it was named : James Mulligan was the first European explorer and prospector to visit the Atherton Tablelands in 1875. The area is named after another explorer, John Atherton who, it is reported, upon discovering alluvial tin deposits in the area, shouted ‘Tin, Harroo’ to his prospecting buddy, hence the name.
On the way we stop at 2 truly amazing and famous fig trees, the Curtain Fig and the Cathedral Fig. The Curtain Fig is one of the largest trees in Tropical North Queensland, located just out of Yungaburra. It is of the strangler fig species. Normally these figs germinate on top of another tree and try to grow roots into the ground. Once this important step is accomplished, the fig will grow vigorously, finally kill the hosting tree and then grow on independently. In this case, the hosting tree tilted towards the next one; the fig also grows around that one. Its curtain of aerial roots drops 15 metres (49 feet) to the ground. Although these figs kill their hosts, they basically feeds from the ground, unlike a parasitic plant which feeds from the sap of the host plant/tree.
BOB AND SIOBHÁN'S CARAVAN ADVENTURES 