In the Queensland outback now...

Hello again!
Firstly, a few piccies from the past week:

(a photo taken to prove what a hip and happening 33 year old I am: avidly birdwatching at wetlands near Atherton. The birds on the water are part of a huge flock of plumed whistling ducks)

(a rare tree kangaroo- full story below!)

(Out to a lovely dinner at Coconut Beach Resort at Cape Tribulation for Adam's birthday!)

Now...our latest travel news:

Well, amazingly in one fairly short drive we have gone from the lush green tablelands to the outback. We are now at tiny Mt Surprise, and much of the road here was basically a single lane paved road- we had to pull off onto the dirt to let road trains pass...or even other cars. It's dry and today was again blue and sunny. It's now about 6.30 pm and a chill has quickly set in. Our country is just so full of diversity and it's such fun exploring it!

This morning I went for an early walk on the rainforest path behind our caravan park ...and I was thrilled and surprised to spot another elusive and rare tree kangaroo...in a fairly exposed spot right near the path! Adam and I have been doing that walk during our whole stay on the tablelands, getting aching necks from staring up at the trees so much in the hope of seeing one of the creatures in daylight hours, and to hopefully get a photo. So careful to try and not disturb the tree kangaroo (they are pretty timid), I backed away and then ran very fast back to the caravan park to get Adam- I was out of breath when I got there and yelled at him to get the camera and hurry up! He has been so hopeful of seeing a tree kangaroo- he dropped what he was doing and ran after me, hoping I might have spotted one. We did get some photos too (one is pictured above), before it (we think maybe a female) climbed down the tree and hopped away.... so, that was our excitement for the day!
In a creek next to the path we also spotted a platypus!

Oh and last night's possum spotting expedition was a success! We saw ten, many of the very cute looking green ringtails, plus some coppery brushtails and also the unusual Herbert's Ringtail ,which lives in rainforest areas.

On our way here to Mt Surprise we stopped in at Innot Hot Springs, just west of the tablelands and had a soak in the mineral fed pools...very hot and very nice on our muscles...so relaxing. We had a quick picnic lunch there before heading onwards.

Tomorrow afternoon we are taking a trip on the Savannahlander...an outback train, which heads to a town about 2 hours south of here, where there is also a lovely gorge and old pub etc. The day after we are doing a full day tour of the Undarra Lava Tubes...formed by volcanic activity many many years ago- they look amazing. Then I think we'll continue west.

We are tired...and looking forward to a sleep in, because we've been doing so much lately, but it's all fun!

I have no mobile reception here whatsoever, but Adam has some on his phone which is on another network.

Dont forget to please leave some comments on here for us sometimes too if you get the chance! :-)

Love and hugs and thinking of our friends and family... Mum and Dad I miss you xx