More Roadtrippin... Lake Placid and Baron River

George and I decided to have a little look at Lake Placid and continue up the road to the Baron Powerstation and then around to check out the Baron Falls from Kuranda.

We headed out after our Sunday morning walk along the esplanade, expecting to do a little trek from the powerstation along a track beside the river.

The sun was shining and it was a lovely day for a drive,

So off we went to Lake Placid, it was so much cooler down there in all the trees, there was an old run down restaurant/function centre that looks over the lake...looks like it would have been great when it was operating and there we old changerooms and picnic areas, and the reminents of what looked like a diving board into the lake...now all that is left is a few open BBQ pits, chairs and a WARNING CROCODILES INHABIT THIS AREA sign... Bugger!

George bet me that he could find a path of dry rocks to the other side, over to the island...first rock he stood on was loose and he nearly fell, second one tipped over but he remained dry...did he make it??

Yep! But did he make it back?? Only JUST! It has been quite dry here and I think this would usually be underwater at this time of year

View of the lake from the BBQ Area

Whats he pointing at? all the way up there?

This sign!

There were heaps of ducks and animals around, so Im sure that crocs would have eaten them and we could have gone for a swim! George and I think that these poles strung across the river in this section are early flood/water level guages?

We started off down a track that said it went along the river to the powerstation, which was not where we were expecting it to start, we headed along the track which was getting pretty overgrown and tight until we werent sure which direction to take and thought we would go back and head to the powerstation.

 

 

On our way back we had some mountain bikers ride past us, so the track must go somewhere to something...maybe its just for bikes??

 

So we got back into the car and headed towards the powerstation, we drove up a steep winding road, along past all the houses with lovely views and then the road stated following the river which we followed for a while and finally we got to a roadworks sign...NO FURTHER ACCESS TO THE POWERSTATION - ROAD UNDER REPAIR...

We had seen a little track that went off towards the river a little way back so we headed back for that and parked the car on the side of the road.

 

Down we went...down, down, down...the steps were so small you couldnt fit a whole foot on them

then we found a swing! or a seat? George wanted me to try the one above my head too...I dont think so!

 The track then opened out into the river bed which as the water level was so low was just a big boulder field with little rock pools, the forest litterally comes right down to the waters edge!

Just little trickles here and there of the river making its way down

We found a lovely little pool, perfect for a swim, clear enough to see there were no crocs but then it started to rain a little and I had visions of being that girl on the signs as we walked in.. 1min of rain low river, 3mins later flash flood and the stick figure girl gets washed away... I took lots of photos of this watering hole to show the school of large fish that was living in there but none of them worked out...next time

As we made our way back to the track, I found several rock pools FILLED with tadpoles...

When I got home I googled the tadpoles to see what they were...Unfortuneatly they were all CANE TOADS! Gross and to think I spent ages catching one so I could have a good look at it! And there were so so many!

 

Back into the car we went and back tracked down the mountain and back around to Kuranda to check out the Baron Falls, we werent expecting too much water as there hasnt been much rain but its still an impressive gouge in the landscape. Last time we were here we were on the scenic train from Kuranda so it was nice to take our time and take the crisscrossed boardwalks down to the viewing platform.

 

nom nom nom

view back towards some of the boardwalk bridges

not much water, just a trickle

A tree being slowly wrapped up and stangled by a fig

We headed to a lookout further down the road which had a great view back towards Cairns and over the river/lake we had just been walking along.

 

Well thats it for our adventure for the day. We are hoping to do some geocaching soon, hopefully it will be a good way to find some fun spots around the area.

 



The Big Blue...Great Barrier Reef (off Cairns)

As some of you know, I have my SCUBA ticket and have been waiting to get back into the water since Airlie Beach...we have been dragging all my gear around with us so far, much to Georges moanings (as he couldnt bring his golf clubs)
I was kindly given a day on the reef for my birthday, from my brothers, which was great pressie...
Unfortunatly George doesnt have his diving licence and if he came with me on the day wouldnt be diving with me as he would be doing an introductory dive, so I headed off by myself for the day.
Its a 90min ride out to the reef (we headed to Norman Reef)
It was a pretty average day and the wind and rain didnt help the above water conditions...but underwater was a different story, who would have known that it was choppy and rubbish up there and that everyone left on the boat was seasick.....
It was warm, so clear and lots of sealife...few sharks, rays, turtles and of course lots of fish and coral!
I had a great time and had a really nice lunch then back into the water...and over to Turtle Bay- a nice little sheltered dive site...with of course...turtles!
I went with one of the guides from Deep Sea Divers Den (which also has a live aboard boat you could have stayed at too which does night dives with the local sharks!)
I was on the go most of the time but when I stopped, met some lovely couples (who all seemed to be on their honeymoons) I also didnt take our camera as I wasnt sure how deep we would be going, turns out I probably could have taken it down...but you never know...so no photos for me. They do have an onboard photographer though, but I was being stingy and didnt get any photos.
I got home and raved about it to George who I think has caught a bit of the diving bug and was keen to head out...
So when his brother came for a visit it was the perfect opportunity for them to both do an intro dive... alas I had to work and missed out :-(

They had a picture perfect day....(and cameras to prove it)

Waiting at the Marina

 

 

The boys did some snorkelling first then an introductory dive afterwards

The pictures say more than any words I can put together...

 The next lot of photos are from the in house photographer that the company has....AMAZING!

George and one of the local maouri wrasse that loves a pat!

George seems to have grown another head!

NEMO!

George making water angels??

So after a few intro dives George is pretty keen to get his licence so hopefully soon we will be able to go on some dives together... Im hoping we can get to the 'cod hole'

Oh yeah check out the reef with Deep Sea Divers Den if your in Cairns
www.diversden.com.au