Natural beauty and delicious freak shakes!!! What a wonderful part of Australia.
It's so handy when your family live in a major tourist area. Not only do you get to spend time with those that you love you also get to experience amazing things for a fraction of the price. My wonderful sister and brother-in-law took us on a day exploring the Atherton Tablelands which surround Cairns to the west. This area is made up of many natural wonders as well as some man made ones like the freak shake above.
We started our day exploring the lovely Lake Barine which has a quaint tea house and magnificent garden surrounding it. There is a boat that takes you out onto the lake for tours as well although due to how much we were packing into this day we decided not to go out on it. The picture of us below is from the lake but unfortunately we didn't get a good shot of the tea house. We did how ever get some pictures of some of the plants. These flowers are my sisters favourite colour and I had to include them in this post just for her.
After we had finished admiring the lake and garden we hopped back into our car and drove to Lake Eacham. This lake is great for swimming in but is super deep in the middle. They have had free-diving competitions in the middle of the lake previously. It is also home to a crocodile which we found out last time we visited and though my sister and her husband swear they have never seen it, I am still a little more apprehensive to swim in it again. That being said there are always plenty of people swimming each time we have visited and we have swum in the lake each time. A picture of the lake is included below.
Next we stopped for some refreshments at Petals and Pinecones which is a café in Atherton town. It is famous for its crazy milkshakes affectionately referred to as "freak shakes". We were more then happy to try one of these out. The picture at the top of the post shows off all the added extras you get with your shake including sherbet ice-cream cones and sticky sweet syrup over every inch of the jug.
After ingesting what is likely several days worth of calories we hopped back into the car to our final destination. The tree below is enormous and is actual two trees fused together over time. The rainfall effect is caused by roots from one tree trying to get to the ground and is honestly spectacular. What is even better is that there is a board walk set up so you can walk around and not have to cut through the undergrowth thereby protecting the rest of the natural rainforest. With a windy and hour long drive back to Cairns we ended our day trip to the Atherton Tablelands and are so glad we were able to visit so many amazing things.
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