Leaving On A Jet Plane !

Week off ! - edited longer version

We went up to the Crater Lakes on the Tablelands (Lake Barrine and Lake Eacham) - there's a 5 km walk round Lake Barrine along a path in the rainforest. Quite early so it was a bit cool in there but nice views of the lake and the occasional picnic bench

Lake Eacham has a nice swimming area with a concrete retaining wall about 10 m out and gravel infill with concrete walls and steps. Crystal clear water. As usual our kids braved it and the locals marvelled at their bravery !

Had a good week off with the kids although by the end of the week Jedd was begging for a day at home so that he could play with his mates from down the street. He has 4 or 5 mates which is great as he's always been the one with less than the others.

Also stopped at the Cathedral Fig Tree - a 500 year old fig that originally strangled another tree and now that the original tree has long since died had a huge hole in the middle of it.

The others don't seem to have any in the street but Zak is on the computer speaking to old school mates and new school mates too depending on the time of day or night !

they all have bikes now so they ride them up and down the road and there is the bike ramp in the park round the corner. It's a moto cross style course for push bikes made of local red earth. It's amazing how red the soil is here as soon as you get below the topsoil. good for staining clothes once your kids have fallen in a big muddy puddle of the stuff while attempting the bike ramps course  ! I'll get a pic of the ramps sometime.

We also went to the beach one day  - it's kinda cool to have 8 or 9 beaches all within easy reach ! chose Kewarra as it's a bit more sheltered and there's a creek there that you can fish in. Nice day, I caught a couple of small Mangrove Jacks, Zak got a Moses Perch and another little spikey fish and Jedd caught 15 little puffer fish with the hand net. Easy to forget that there are crocs in the creeks though ! Not that we were in it but really you should stand a couple of metres back from the water.

Also went fishing off Palm Cove Pier as everyone asks if you have fished off it when you mention going fishing. Far too busy though but we did see some Japanese almost catch the biggest green puffer I've ever seen. Must've been the size of a football !

There is also a sea Eagle who swoops down and takes fish from local fisherman's hands ! Cool ! Loads of birds of prey here.

Also went for a drive up to Lake Morris on Saturday. I had seen the the sign for the Copperlode Dam on the way home from town a few times. 16 kms. I thought 16 kms? just nip up there and have a look as my geordie mate from soccer Richie had mentioned that you could walk up to the dam from Crystal Cascades which is at the end of our road (by car). 16 k's of twisty little road on the edge of cliffs up the mountain (great views of the city though)

Lovely lake, cafe, play area and walks up there.

Sunday we went fishing on the sea wall at Yorkey's Knob Marina. There are 2 sea walls making up the harbour/marina made of enormous rocks and we walk to the end of the northern one and fish off it. Jedd and India stayed on the beach and played and Zak Lou and I fished. Caught 11 fish between us (me 6, Lou 5). Zak didn't catch anything (spends more time with his hook out of the water than in it due to tangles etc.) but entertained himself with his and Lou's new sport - "puffer fish popping".

We noticed that as you bring in your hook, if there's still a bit bit of prawn attached then loads of little 1 or 2 inch puffer fish attack it. By luring them to the surface with the bait you can then "pop" them out of the water with a quick jerk upwards, at which point they let go. Great fun !

The Saturday before we went up to Davies creek. It's on the Tablelands, half way from Kuranda to Mareeba and is an unsealed 4x4 dirt road to a pristine creek running down from a waterfall at the head of the valley, over flat rock beds. freezing cold, crystal clear mountain stream, camping facilities near picnic areas and secluded camp pitches further up near a swimming hole - too cold to swim in now but plan on camping there when it's hot.

 Here are the pics from recent days out:

http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y126/cadman342001/Week%20off%20pics/?

The near Tablelands are beautiful countryside, green farmland, rolling hills with mountains in the distance, termite mounds everywhere, long thick lush grass below the vast forests of gum trees. Very nice.

lake eacham

09:13, Thu 5 July 2007 .. Posted by sophjam

Hi has lake eacham been modernised? is the swimming platform where the ramp used to be it looks great now we had some great times swimming there just the wasps got on our nerves a bit daughter was stung there once. There were wild turkeys there aswell. Like the photos and the blog have you moved in yet to you new home? Ive had my ack this week so just sitting it out now any info on your experiences will be happily received. How has your wife settled into her job Im a paediatric nurse. Still havent decided on suburb and school as need high school with good rep. cheers Trudi