I've had an e-mail exchange with the YHA who tell me that they are hamstrung by the provider of their internet access - Global Gossip - although they are hoping for an improvement. One day. So in the meantime, I'm short of photos to show you on here due to the tortuous route I have to take. I encourage you to go to twitter until such time as hell freezes over (or it stops raining in Cairns), you don't have to be a twit member, just look for @runningwomble .
So, caves on Monday. That was a good day. In my head it was a long trip, hopefully to see some unique rock formations. It turned out to include a breakfast stop at the Mareeba Wetlands which were only even conceived of in the 1990s. We'd driven up from Cairns, along twisty roads through tropical rainforest, generally making our way inland. Mareeba was a welcome break with scrumptious home-made biscuits and a cup of coffe which we were encouraged to take out onto the boat. Outside was a large lake, calm, beautiful....amazing. The boat made its way quietly with the five of us and the driver on board. He explained that there weren't many birds around yet due to the recent cyclone and that it still keeps raining a lot. This means the birds haven't yet been pushed to Mareeba by disappearing water elsewhere. There were little fish, lily pads (flowers ruined by recent rain), huge barramundi (but we didn't see those), wondrous scenery with hills around us, a few birds including darters and an intermediate egret. However, the overwhelming feeling was a sense of peace and serenity. It was verging on meditation. All so beautiful. We generally agreed that every day should start like that.
Back on land there were notices about the formation of the reserve and some Gouldian finches, in an aviary. These are really pretty and endangered. I think they're breeding them for re-introduction into the wetlands. I also spotted a small-ish carpet python in a corner near the birds. We mentioned it to the chappy and he asked if it was inside the cage and was pleased when we said no, outside! That way it wouldn't be after the birds. Outside there were wild emu eating grass in the car park. Aren't there always?
We drove on through the Queensland fruit bowl (I think that's what he said). The state is famous for growing sugar cane but it grows a huge number of other food plants. We saw: sugar cane, mangoes, lychees, bananas, coffee bean, papaya (aka paw paw), pineapple, tea tree (as in tea tree oil), avocado and, longan which is related to the lychee. There was a fair bit of roadkill too, usually wallabies. This meant birds circling to help clear up, mostly black kites but we actually saw a wedge-tailed eagle too. Incredible. The particular wallaby was fresh and in the middle of the road and the eagle wanted it but, as the body was still there on our return journey, we suspect that he worked out that it was too difficult to get to. There was also a peregrine falcon around for the same reason.
We weren't bored even though the day was going to include 300+ km of driving. We got nearer to Chillagoe, the location of the caves. The town of Chillagoe has seen better times. From a peak of over 10,000 the population is now around 300. There was a lot of mining activity and investment by the state to keep a smelting works open but once the mines closed there were no jobs. We visited the information centre, went to look at the old smelting works, some rocks, some marble quarrying (owned and jealously guarded by an unpopular italian) and had lunch at the pub. It seemed good to be putting some money into the place. Although they had just had their busiest weekend of the year as we'd missed the Great Wheelbarrow Race by two days. A typically Australian, make up your own entertainment, madcap sort of thing. Push a wheelbarrow 140km in teams over three days between Mareeba and Chillagoe. Bonkers!
Then to the caves. Famous internationally and unique in how the limestone caves were formed, we visited the Royal Arch Cave complex. Our two guides equipped us with individual lights and told us what to expect, including three types of wildlife living in the caves: bats (my heart leapt), cockroaches (it sank) and Huntsmen spiders (oh whooppee I keep hearing about how big those are). The bats poo, the cockroaches process the droppings and the spiders eat the cockroaches. Perfect. We were taken inside and, oh my, the caves and formations were spectacular. Huge caverns with massive stalactites and stalagmites, beautiful colours and shapes. And most of all, hundreds of bats flying around. You could have left me there all afternoon. There are eight species in the caves and we definitely saw two - the bent-wing and the horse-shoe. There are tales of them landing on people and I'm pretty sure one brushed my hair! Yes, I did see the other two creatures mentioned. The caves really were marvellous, even without the added bat excitement.
It was a long journey back to Cairns but broken quite nicely by a stop for afternoon tea at the Mt Uncle Distillery. Holidaying doesn't get tougher than this.........
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