MONDAY 2 NOVEMBER     ATHERTON

The day was quite pleasant. The storms of the last two days seem to have cleared away, for the time being. It is still rather humid, though.

Mailed some cards and letters.

We went for a drive, and to do some “tourist things”. There is no shortage of these up here. It really is a most interesting area to explore.

Started with the Curtain Fig Tree, near Yungaburra. This is really a strangler fig, that grew from a seed dropped in the canopy of a host tree; strangler figs entwine their host with roots that reach towards the ground, eventually killing it. In this case, the host tree fell over onto another one, so the fig roots formed a curtain like formation, hanging down to the ground.  It was very unusual, and I was glad to have the explanation of how the tree came to be this way.

We continued on through Malanda to look at the Malanda Falls. That was rather a non-event. They are quite low – more like water coming over a low dam wall than anything more spectacular. I did not even take a photo of them. But we did the walk in the rainforest there, which was very pleasant.

Bromfield Swamp was next – a shallow lake/swamp in an old volcanic crater. We went there to look for birds, but at that time of day there was not much activity.

There was more bird activity at Hasties Swamp, towards Herberton – the usual water bird suspects like ducks, grebes cormorants.

Overall the green and damp scenery was enjoyable, as we completed the circuit back to Atherton, doing 79kms for the day.

Tea was cold chicken and coleslaw.