Barefoot Tours: Atherton Tablelands

I flew back to Cairns with the sole reason of visiting the Atherton Tablelands, and booked myself a tour with Barefoot. I was the first to be picked up in the morning, by a driver named Roh. I grabbed the front seat so I could have an awesome view as we drove along. As we were running early, we had the chance to jump off and "grab a coffee". Obviously I don't like coffee, but had an amazing hot chocolate with "stay amazing" written on the lid. So sweet. Soon the bus was full. Joke. We only had six people on the tour altogether and it was a right international affair. We had Taylor (NYC), Guoda (Lithuania), Anna (N.Ireland), Jeremy (France), and Lindsey (UK) who was actually from Rushden!

Our first stop was at a servo by the Pyramid Mountain. This was mainly a toilet stop, but some of the guys did grab breakfast from McDonald's too. We then began to wind through the mountains, up to the tableland. There was a lookout at the too where we could see how far we had already travelled. Cairns looked so far away, and the sea was just a blue line on the horizon. All around us was lush green grass and the haze of mountains. What a perfect day for chasing waterfalls.

Crater Lakes National Park is quite literally a crater with many lakes, we headed for one of them, Lake Eacham. Climbing out of the bus, Roh first took us for a walk along the edge of the lake. It was much bigger than I had expected, and so much bluer. It was beautiful. He led us to a boardwalk and we spotted a few fresh water turtles swimming in the shallows. He also told us that a freshie lived in the lake, but mainly kept himself to himself so we probably wouldn't see him. It was a sign of how used to crocs I had become that I didn't even blink at this news.

We had some free time to explore and so the six of us walked down to a ramped entry into the water. I didn't fancy jumping in, it was still quite early and I wasn't too sure on the temperature of the water. We all stripped down and made a pile of our belongings. I grabbed my camera and hobbled across the gravel and pebbles to get to the water. I walked in as far as I could, but it dropped off so quick I had no choice but to dive in. It was nowhere near as cold as I'd been expecting, thank god! We took loads of pictures and had fun swimming around. I learned just how hard it is to take a selfie when you're trying to tread water and stay afloat.

Whilst we'd been splashing around in the water, Roh had been preparing morning tea. We dried off in the sun while we helped ourselves to hot drinks. We had "proper" coffee (out of one of those plunger things), good tea bags and even better hot chocolate. I had several cuppas and a hot chocolate, all with anazac biscuits to dunk. While we had the picnic area all to ourselves, we were to make up our lunch. I made two sandwiches, using ham, cheese and salady bits. We cleared up and were off to our next national park.

The park in question was Curtain Fig National Park. It was the smallest one in Australia, maybe even the world, dedicated to one tree. A fig tree, funnily enough. I'd seen strangler figs before but this one was epic. It had taken over three trees, and was humongous. It must have taken over hundreds of years, most of the roots had reached the soil. It was so bizarre to be able to see right through the tree in parts, where the host tree had rotted away. We took a few group photos, looking tiny against this monster of a tree.

We had another quick photo stop at a lookout deep in the mountain rages, and were off again. Our next two waterfalls were very different. We saw Ellinjaa Falls from below, climbing down onto the rocks to get a good photo. This was a slow trickling waterfall, whereas Zillie Falls was more like a curtain of water. This one we saw from above, looking down on the fast flowing water. Both were very impressive, but it was getting warm and I was ready for another swim.

Millaa Millaa Falls, made famous by Peter Andre and Herbal Essences, was the perfect spot for a paddle. This was the busiest place we'd been to so far, with lots of cars in the carpark and people lounging about on the grass and standing in the water. I didn't see too many swimmers, once we'd slid in we found out why. It was bloody freezing! I tried to swim around to keep warm, it didn't help that a cheeky cloud was now blocking the sun. Lindsey was laughing at my funny noises as I swam over to the waterfall itself.

We all sat behind the water, watching it crash into the plunge pool. It was so noisy, we had to shout to hear each other. I decided to attempt a shower, and slowly edged towards the water. The pressure was insane, it was like standing out in a hailstorm. Surprisingly, it was more relaxing than painful, like a good deep tissue massage I guess. Roh gave us his camera to take a few photos for Facebook, we did not disappoint. We must have taken at least ten different group selfies. At least, we attempted them. I just found the whole process hilarious, trying to find a rock to sit or stand on or struggle with treading water again.

We finally left the plunge pool to warm up on dry land. I was quite hungry, and was glad I'd thought ahead and grabbed one of my sandwiches from the bus earlier. It seemed to be quiet while we were in the water, but it was busier again now. Maybe everyone was just giving us a wide berth, we probably looked crazy. We watched a few girls do the famous hair flick, they were pretty good. They must have practised a lot as their actions were pretty much synchronised. Lindsey and Anna gave it a go next, I was too dry to be getting cold and wet again. They weren't as polished as the girls before, but still did very well.

Back on the bus we now made our way to Josephine Falls. This was the part of the trip that came with a warning and safety briefing. Mainly because of crazy Aussies that think they're invincible, there had been several casualties at this site. Luckily, we hadn't had rain for days and there was absolutely no flooding. This reduced our risk of injury greatly. That and Roh promising to show us the best technique. The cause of the extra precautions was the natural rock slide into the lower pool.

When we first arrived, we left our stuff in a pile and followed Roh across the rocks. From here, we could jump, slide, or dive into the water. I jumped. We then all followed one another over to the rocks. There was a particular way to walk up them that we really tried to copy. Taylor got up fine and ended up helping the rest of us. I got the crawling onto the stomach bit, it was after that I got confused and giggly, tying my legs in knots. The rock was slippery today, so I can't imagine what it would be like on a rainy day, or why anyone would risk it.

We all edged along the rock, following the white or orange parts. These were less slippy, especially compared to the black bits. Roh went down first, sitting down on his bum and sliding right to the bottom, into the water. I went third, sitting down on the rock just as I'd been shown. It didn't look like the water was moving that fast, but it certainly carried me down in a matter of seconds. It was great fun, I couldn't wait for another go!

The hardest part was climbing back to the top. I nearly managed it on my own the second time round, still got Taylor to offer a little bit of support and then I was up and standing. I tried to control my direction a little bit more on the second turn, but still found myself going sideways, almost bum first. I'd have to have another go. We tried to convince the others to keep sliding, Lindsey was being a mermaid and Guoda was relaxing in the shallows. Luckily Taylor kept on going, we needed him to help us all up. Me and Anna tried to do it without him and just ended up in hysterics.

For last turn, the four of us sat along the rock together, linking arms. Me and Anna were in the middle, with Taylor on her side and Jeremy on mine. Hopefully they would absorb any impact. Despite our best efforts to stay straight, we still all ended up sliding sideways. It was fun! Sliding over with, I tried a quick hair flick, it wasn't so busy here and I was used to the water temperature. I failed miserably, I just couldn't get enough of my hair wet, or bend low enough to get a good flick.

We walked along the path to the lookout so we could see the other plunge pool and part of the waterfall itself. It was very pretty, with the surrounding forests and multicolour rocks. All too soon we had to dry off and get changed for the drive back to Cairns. I was so glad I had saved my other sandwich, all that rock sliding was hard work! I needn't have worried though as Roh treated us with Pringles and Tim Tams. We got to watch the amazing sunset through the ranges, the mountains creating shadows and silhouettes around us. Awesome.

What a day, obviously it couldn't end there. We agreed to meet at the Salthouse by the Esplanade for a few drinks later that night. I was the last to be dropped off, so had a quick shower. I knew I had the longest walk, so left quite early. Naturally, this meant I was the first there and was hanging around waiting. Guoda was the next to appear and so we grabbed a table as the others gradually arrived. We had a sit, a chat, and a good ole giggle with all but Taylor. We found out later he'd been distracted by an old travel buddy.

I was pretty tired, it had been a long day, so when the others wanted to move on, I walked with them as far as my shuttle. It arrived just after midnight, driven by someone who had never driven manual, or a bus. I made it to the hostel safe and sound and collapsed into bed.