Day 207 We back tracked the 25 km to Innisfail because we wanted to take Palmerston Highway cutoff to the Ma:Mu Canopy walk over looking Wooroonooran National Park. They opened at nine thirty and we were the second people there. We had two for one coupon which was a definite bonus. There is a short forest trail that leads out to the tower, but first there is a cantilever that exteds 40 meters out from the mountain side for some great views. A little bit later we reached the 350 meter canopy walk way, made of hot dipped galvanized steel and recycled plastic bottle planks. Needless to say how much different it is to see the trees from up here and the sounds of birds chirpring away filling the air just adds to the experience. Next up was the look out tower. Breathtaking mountain scenery, looking at the Atherton Tablelands, Mt. Pooka and Upper Johnston Creek and Queensland's highest point Mt. Bartle Frere (1622 meters above sea level) in the distance. Thirty-seven meters above the mountain floor and it was just us, the view and trees that were still taller. The first time we seen anyone was on the way back as we passed what appeared to be a (very noisy) class trip.
I gotta say here that when people told us that north Queensland was tropical we didn't expect anything like this. Really started noticing a few days back that after a yellowish themed south east, this region is amazingly green. Not sure if I could of imagined that there were this many natural shades of one colour. Back at the van out of the cool forest the sun was beaming down and it was nice and hot. Atherton Tablelands were next on the agenda as it was recommended by every Australian we spoke to,and we were on the edge of it already. We heard of the waterfall circuit in Millaa Millaa and had to check it out. The drive was so beautiful with multi-colour green, rolling hills, different sized paddocks of farm land and mountains in the back. It's hard to describe. We reached Ellinjaa Falls the first one on the circuit. About 30 meters high, very secluded. Parking is at the top with a trail down to the bottom and nothing else just gorge and trees on both sides. Very pretty falls sheer drop with a numerous jagged rocks sticking out near the top, glistening in the sunlight. So much in fact that it was hard to take a picture. The circuit was broken as the road was closed to Zillie Falls and could only be accessed from the other end. We backtracked to Palmerston Highway and drove 2 kms to the other end of the circuit. Milla Milla Falls was before Zillie from this end so we stopped there first. Another wonderful water feature. Same approximate height as Ellinjaa, but much more open with a sweet rock pool for swimming at the bottom. We had a picnic lunch and then against all conventional wisdom didn't wait the hour but were in the water in minutes. Oh yeah! Just as cold as Josephine but so nice on a hot day. We took pics as we were able to swim right under the falling water. It was amazing, pure bliss! Again we got lucky as there was relatively no one there at the beginning so we could get some uncluttered pics before what seemed like everyone showed up. Zillie Falls was hard to see. There was no track to get to the bottom and the viewing area off to the side wasn't the best or maybe we were just spoiled by Millaa Millaa.
We were so close to Cairns that we made the decision to make it there for the night, we also wanted to catch the Cowboys play again after seeing the game last week. As we are driving I see a sign for The Cathedral Fig, spur of the moment decision and we were on a five minute detour into Danbulla National Park. What a massive tree! Just 100 meters into the forest It towered over us like we were ants. It's girth is 44 meters which means 24 people linking hands wouldn't quite reach around. It is estimated that it is about 500 years old, has about a thousand kilos of leaves (about a small car) on its 2000 square meter crown, about 48 meters above. After this not so little detour we were back on Gillis Highway and the next seventeen kilometers were windy as they come. Don't think there was one stretch of that 17 km that ran straight for more than a 100 meters as we meandered down the mountain side. Once at the bottom Gordonvale was next followed by Edmonton, where we stopped to see if Sugarworld a local water park was kids only or suitable for us older kids. It was closed for the day and also geared towards little kids, but we did feed a nice peacock in the parking lot.
Cairns was now a stones throw away, and the Bruce Highway that starts down in Melbourne and comes all the way up the coast ends here in Cairns CBD (central business district). Earlier in the week we found two for one dinner coupons for a Mexican restaurant, so we found and parked near it. The Jack a bar-club / hostel was right beside where we parked and I notice a flyer on the wall for a hip hop concert. The show was for an upcoming OZ emcee that we hear on the radio, going by the name Illy. We went in to ask for show details, and were pleased to see we caught the tail end of 2 for 1 drinks happy hour. We had a quick beer while getting the show info. Our Mexican restaurant was less than a block away. We went over and enjoyed a pitcher of Sangria with our nachos and mix platter of chicken tacos, enchiladas and rice. We also caught the first half of the NRL Cowboys game. It was a one sided affair early only to have the Cowboys come back and tie it up by halftime at 12 points. For the second half we went back to the Jack as there was no sound at the restaurant. The Cowboys lost in the end but not without controversy. The video judges totally messed up what looked like two easy calls. There is already and will be much debate over this here for a while. The calls were that bad.