Reef to Rainforest

The best aspect of traveling to visit friends is that they are a free wealth of knowledge of all sorts of local haunts and off-the-beaten track gems the average traveler wouldn’t be aware of. Ash and I found out about the North Tropical Queensland Tablelands area from a friend of hers at work and he said that anyone who gets that far north in Queensland shouldn’t miss out on the waterfalls in the area. Ash and I decided that we should pursue a well-rounded exploration of Queensland, which meant venturing off the coastland and into the wild unknown, aka “the bush.”

Before my arrival to Australia, I didn’t know that there was any difference between “the bush” and “the outback,” but oh, is there ever! You can think of these definitions like concentric circles: inner ring is metro area, next ring is the bush and waaaaaaaaaaay far away is this expansive ring that is the outback. In the bush, one might encounter another human being, and lots of cows. And the occasional small town. In the outback, however, is apparently desolate. Full of tumbleweed and a few exuberant kangaroos. And maybe 1 of Australia’s 10 poisonous animals that will do you in.

Ash and I made it to the bush – the NTQ area is quite lush and diverse foliage-wise. After an overnight bus ride from Airlie Bay to Cairns, which dumped us out on a city street a hair too early in the morning – 6am. After breakfast and the dozenth “mukkah,” we set off to find a car rental agency to being our trek into the hinterlands. (Another synonym for the bush. I think. We kept seeing that word everywhere – signs, road maps, postcards. It must be legit.) By 8am, we were rolling out of Cairns, following the Reef to Rainforest route. In a short, 2 hour drive, we moved from tropical coastland, through dense rainforest, into a mix of rain & deciduous forest, and finally into the rolling Tablelands. The vastness of the views is hard to describe – the rows of hills stretching out as far as the eye could see, yet at the same time seemingly close enough to trip on. Which I did…

Now, I am a girl who enjoys saving money and generally have to think for a couple of hours about buying anything over 5 bucks. Therefore, I thoroughly enjoyed how cheap our hostel accommodations were and how inexpensive our bus tickets were for the distances we traveled. Ash and I even became quite fond of our 80 cent Ramen noodle dinners that we could whip up in about 5 minutes. Thrifty & delicious! However, Ash and I can also do luxury really well. And after enduring 3 separate overnight Greyhound trips, one rather scary 12 hour daylight Greyhound trip, walking in the rain through a pretty dead little coastal town, camping on a very damp & windy island, staying in all manner of interestingly scented hostels and gone unshowered on a sailboat for three day… Let’s just say that we were quite ripe and ready for an unshared bathroom and something other than raison toast for breakfast. As much as we had embraced backpacker culture for over 10 days now, living out of our very poorly packed suitcases, by the time we got to Yungaburra, we were ready for some luxury…

Anyone who ever decides to visit the Queensland Tablelands NEEDS to stay in one of the renowned bed & breakfasts. Everywhere we drove, we passed dozens of B&B’s, spas, retreat centers, etc. Our B&B was actually a spa center as well, and the whole complex exuded peacefulness and rejuvenation. We had a little villa of our own, complete with outdoor seating area, HUGE bathroom, gas stove, kitchenette, table & chairs, couch and the world’s softest mattress ever. Ugh, it pained me to the core to leave that mattress. And get this – there wasn’t any glass on some of the windows, just wooden plantation shutters. We are in the tropics now, baby! And we had these absolutely deliciously soft robes to wear at our leisure. And included in the price was a hot breakfast that was so good…And why did I leave this place again???

Within the Tablelands area, the towns are quaint (= small, rustic, sparse, stereotypically small Australia) and as an American used to measuring distances with miles, really close together. We covered lots of territory in just 1.5 days of driving. And we saw a TON. The Crater Lakes, the Milla Milla waterfall district, the platypus nesting area (sadly, no we platypus swimming around, available for photos…), full exploration of the towns of Yungaburra, Atherton, Milanda, Milla Milla, tasting of mango wine, etc. etc.