Today was fantastic!!!! For one it was the most wonderful b'day l have had for a long time (usually hate b'days these days) and two, Marty and l had s kid free day thanks to our mate Angie....
Woke up a bit cranky due to b'day issues but after a half hour or so all was better. The girls woke and showered me with b'day kisses and wishes. Marty and Angie cooked mr an amazing big breaky: sausages, bacon, eggs, onion and tomato on toast....DELICIOUS!!!!!
After breaky Marty and l got organized as Angie had ordered Marty and l to have a day free from the girls while she looked after them. We were so excited, and so were the girls!!!! Don't know whether l felt happy or not that the girls were sp excited to have a day off from us too (lol)...
Anyway Marty and l set off with Angie stating that we couldn't come home before 5pm! We left at 10am so we couldn't believe we were to amuse ourselves for 7 hours, but we did easily!!
We headed off past Millaa Millaa towards Innisfail as half way along there was Ma Mu Canopy Walkway. It's a place where you walk thru some of Wooroonooran National Parks rainforest with elevated walkways, etc. I was a bit excited but then became disappointed. Not very stunning to look at and the views were interrupted with haziness. Also alot of the forest was still recovering from cyclone Larry with alot of bigger trees fallen down. Not worth the $40 admission fee, better free walks up at Mossman, Daintree and Cape Trib, even around Atherton Tablelands!!! Anyway we did have a few funny moments. We got to the top of the elevated platform and l find Marty lying on the bench, thinking about a 'cup of tea' and l nearly got to thinking it too when we looked up to see a surveillance camera!!! The thought to chuck a shirt over it did pass our minds but we thought better not! Then l tried for the whole hour or so that we were there to get a photo of a butterfly, well Marty reckons they were on drugs cause they just didn't stop (lol)!!!!
After this disappointing walk we made our way back towards Millaa Millaa and called in to Mungalli Falls. Well this village has tried to reep everything from having these falls here. Everywhere you looked there was someone trying to make money of it! Anyway we headed to the cheese tasting farm for a bite to eat to find that there were only overpriced tasting plates and organic meals and drinks. Not really Marty and my thing so we just had a waffle icecream each, beautiful. After this we headed to the Mungalli falls, utterly crap!!! You couldn't even really see them, waste of time. Lucky it was an easy going day and we didn't care so much about time, plus the landscape is beautiful to view along the way anyway.
After a disappointing morning of overstated sights we decided to make our way to Herberton, dropping on to see The Crater and Dinner Falls along the way. Dobt know what got into us, whether it was being alone togetherfor once with no kids or just the holiday mode of life we have now, but we were so randy and wanting a 'cup of tea' that we could stand no more!! So Marty veered off on a side road and we had an amazing, spontaneous 'cup of tea' while a few cars went by without even knowing what was happening. With that out of our system we arrived at Mt Hypipamee National Park and set off to find The Crater and Dinner Falls. So glad the girls weren't with us cause the walk was a little steep in places and long. Also l had time to fiddle with the Nixon and get sone creative shots if the rainforest landscape. We arrived at The Crater lookout to view this amazing cliffside that at the bottom, around 50m down, there was this whole filled woth water that had a bright green covering called duck weed. Apparently the water is 80m deep and then after this it veers off down another tunnel. It looked amazing!!! (blog pic) We then went down the walkway to Dinner Falls and had a look, it was so relaxing just sitting enjoying each others company instead of having to watch out for the girls. We saw some amazing bright blue dragonflies but were unable to get close enough for a good pic. Marty did try but the rocks were a tad slippery.
We arrived in Herberton around 4pm and called in to the shops to fill up on chips and lollies. The town in beautiful with all the flowering purple Jacaranda trees throughout and old historic buildings. If we had more time we would have stayed abc checked it out a bit more but we had to get to Atherton before the shops shut to pick up Rod's b'day pressie for tomorrow.
We arrived back at camp by 5:20pm yo find the girls happily swimming with some younger kids. Angie had some more mates out visiting her and Rod. The girls were very excited to see us which was good and they presented me with a homemade card each they had made during the day with Angie. They were awesome abc they had put so much work into them.
Angie cooked us all tea and we then had a joint b'day cake fir Rod and l that Angie and the girls had made earlier, an upside down peach cake. It was fabulous!!!
To end the day l had a chat to Boof and Nikki and also Dusk, which was great to catch up and here there voices.
This birthday was so fantastic for so many reasons.. I couldn't thank Marty enough for making it so wonderful (also by having two cups of tea lol!!), to Angie for looking after the girls and giving them and us a wonderful day, to the girls for their awesome cards and also Rod for altering their itinerary so that we could have a kid free day. I got to see some amazing places today and also got to spend it and talk to amazing people.....
Thanks million everyone, maybe l will learn to enjoy my b'day alot more from now on :)
Bell Xxx