The next chapter of our story begins back in Cairns where we spent the whole day after our drive back from Port Douglas. We took some time to gather ourselves as the last few days were really draining, coping with the hot sun and warm seas! We had been in contact with friends from back home - Kara and Jason - who just so happened to arrive at the same time so we met up for drinks. They have been travelling for a bit longer then us and had hired a campervan to travel down the coast. Their plan was very similar to ours so we decided to spend the next few days travelling together to Townsville.

The next morning we began the drive towards Innisfail, which was meant to be a direct road with not a lot going on but that soon changed. After looking at the map, we decided to take a large detour inland around Lake Tinaroo and then down through Millaa Millaa. This turned out to be a great decision.

The roads were thin with winding climbs and steep hills before it turned into a bit of a dirt track. The drive had loads of viewpoints, too many to stop at although each one just got better the higher we went. The first stop we had was to see a cathedral fig tree, which was massive. The trees get so big because animals take figs up, which are left to seed and gradually, grow. Eventually the roots will reach the soil and begin to grow expanding the girth of the tree.

We moved onwards to visit numerous creeks and stopped at a really nice section of the lake. We bought food with us and stopped at of one of the areas provided to BBQ on. We bought kangaroo steak with us to try and we were well impressed, it tasted great and is really lean.

For the evening we headed to a small town called Malanda but arrived pretty late and decided to spend a romantic night in Rio - the car! It was not exactly comfortable as you can imagine but saved a bit of money! The next day we carried on to Millaa Millaa for the waterfall circuit and due to the accommodation not being exactly 5 star we headed off early. When we arrived to the first falls, it was empty with no one around. There was a great swimming hole but it was freezing, as the sun had not yet warmed the water. We thought we had seen the best of the bunch but the best was yet to come.

On the way towards Innisfail we stopped off at a random creek for more of a break than anything else. The creek wasn't that great and we were about to head off when a local passed and advised us on a route to an incredible waterfall that was a 30 min walk away. We decided to go and we cannot explain how incredible the waterfall was. Once we got there, no one really spoke, as it was so breathtakingly overwhelming. We spent the best part of an hour trying to swim as close to the waterfall as possible and relaxed in the shallow pools. It really was an absolute paradise and we could only wish we were there with Amy and Deana. The journey back was a little less enjoyable as we managed to take a different route that turned out to be about 7 kilometers. We also had a run in with loads of huge spiders, broke a camera and had leeches feast on our feet!

We arrived in time to not have to sleep in our car again and checked into a hostel for a nice night on a mattress! The next drive to get us to Townsville took us about three hours and returning to a nice city on the coast was handy considering the hardware we needed to have fixed!

Adam & Adam