We finished up at Undara after a lovely sojourn there and had a last walk up to a view point that was rather lovely overlooking the various volcanos in the area and the camp. Into the car and onwards and oh my goodness, what a contrast! We have for the last 55 days been in dry, arid areas and yesterday we arrived on the Atherton Tablelands – a wet, tropical, watery wonderland. It is a bit of a shock to the system actually – we are under 20 degrees and it is constantly overcast and misty!! Yesterday on our way here we stopped off at a few different sights – a hot springs (that was too hot to even put your toe into) and a waterfall that was rather spectacular – although the more exciting experience was feeding the kookaburras (which of course you are not supposed to do, but it was rather fun! See the photos.) It was fascinating watching the vegetation change from arid to wet in such a short space of time. There was also quite a climb from the flat low lands to the top of the Atherton Tableland. We ensconced ourselves in a nice little park (our site is surrounded by Gardenia bushes!) and headed into Atherton for a stock up on groceries and a long awaited coffee!
We were up early this morning for a day of exploring that various sites of interest. We saw a giant strangler fig, some giant pines, three crater lakes, a waterfall or six, we visited a chocolate/cheese factory and ..... Cassie and my favourite visit of the day ... a bat hospital!
I think our family has a bit of a soft spot for orphaned critters so it was with great fascination that we stopped by this place – a wildlife warriorette lady has taken on saving these beautiful creatures and she has an amazing operation at her home. The big threats are barbed wire fences and a paralysing tick for the flying foxes (the bigger bats) and ceiling fans and cats for the micro bats (those that weigh less than 10 grams.) She has a whole colony of flying foxes (four different varieties) most of whom have been rescued off barbed wire fences but whose injuries are so grievous that they will never return to the wild. Then every year during breeding season, she and her helpers go to the bat colonies nearby where they pick up mother bats who have a paralysing disease obtained from ticks – the mothers fall from the trees paralysed, and therefore no longer can care for their babies – so sometimes as many as 500 orphans are rescued and then raised. A huge job! We learned today that bats milk is very similar to cow’s milk, so they can be fed on cow’s milk – which is very fortuitous given that this is a dairy area. The babies are fed by volunteers every four hours for the first few weeks, and are then moved onto fruit and placed in a very large cage altogether where they stay for a few weeks. When they are about five months old, they are taken to another massive cage, near the bat colony – they can come and go out of this cage although they continue to be supplied with fruit on a daily basis as they make the change from fruit to nectar and gum flowers. Some cannot make the transition and are eventually taken back to the hospital where they continue to come and go as they are ready. So it is almost an eight month long process and then not always successful. They do have an anti-toxin agent for the paralysing tick, and are able to save some of the mothers which are then released back into the wild. And that is just the big bats – then there are all the little ones – some so tiny they weigh only eight grams!
Tomorrow we will leave this watery wonderland (3 days in the mist without seeing the sun is enough) and descend back down to the coast – where hopefully it will be a bit warmer and sunnier – and head to our most northern stop the Daintree. More tropical wonders I am sure, but at least it will be at sea level so hopefully a bit warmer.
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