Lake Tinaroo & The Tablelands.

We had some friends Simon & Julie from SA, arrive. We had a day in Cairns with them mainly drinking & eating.
On the second day we took them up to the tablelands, we stopped of at the Old Fig tree which is over 500 years old & amazing. (The picture doesn't do it justice).
We then took an unsealed track  through Danbulla state forest, where we kept getting glimpse's of Lake Tinaroo.  This was a very pretty track, we stopped of at Motto Crater walk, a short circuit with a shallow water crossing, a very pretty walk.
when we were at the Lake Tinaroo lookout, which is a massive boulder and very impressive, however unfortunately you cannot see anything from the look out except trees!!! Simon notice his foot was bleeding and "yes " he had a Leech on him from the water crossing, I then noticed my foot was bleeding and I had 2 leeches between my toes & yes Julie had 1 large leech attacking the sole of her foot!!! Steve was the lucky one - with no leeches!!
We continued on with our drive and saw lots of tiny finches hopping from the long grass. Next we saw a large Red bellied Black Snake sunning himself on the road, however he soon disappeared before we could get the cameras out.

Over 500 years old. The Cathedral Fig Tree not Julie & Simon!!

(It was great to see some SA friends up here).

 

The Cathedral Fig Tree.

 

An amazing tree. 

                                         

Motto Creek Crater Circuit Walk. 

 

Steve, Julie & Simon at Motto Creek, catching Leeches!!! 

This was very unusual on a knobbly tree.

 

This two tier basket - just pretty.

Lake Euromoo. 

Do you see the black Leech that's one that got me!!!

A couple of Curlew's.

 

 

Lake Tinaroo is a man made reservoir, constructed 1953 to 1958. The water is used for irrigation, power generation & urban water supply.  415 square kilometres of farmland are irrigated by the lake, which supplies 205,000 megalitres of water each year. 176klm of channels using gravity fed systems or pumps.  Tinaroo Hydro power operation started in May 2004 and generates 1.6 megawatts, stopping 8,450 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year.  Lake Tinaroo supply's the towns of Tinaroo, Walkomin, Mareeba, Kuranda, Mutchilba, Dimbulah & Yungaburra. 

Lake Tinaroo is a massive recreational area, used mainly for water skiing, sailing, fishing & camping.     

Lake Tinaroo.

The Dam Wall.

 

The back or front of the dam wall. 45.1 Metres high.

 

We also had a lovely pub lunch in Atherton.  Followed by a quick visit to Coffee works (which actually does, coffee, chocolate & tea). However I will save Coffee works for another time, as we feel we need to re visit this!!