Today Hendrik’s parents booked a tour to some of the places around Cairns. All the tours including the ones to Cape Tribulation were booked and this one was the only one available. Hendrik and I were less then thrilled to know we would be going back to Paronella Park and thought it would have been much wiser to just rent a car.

We went with Tropical Horizons Tours and the first stop was Lake Barrine where we had tea and scones, yes I felt like I had aged 50 years in a matter of 2 hours. Then we went on a cruise around the lake which was relatively small. The guide pointed out as many snakes and birds as he could but there just weren’t that many. We didn’t see any cassowaries or a platypus.

Giant curtain fig tree

The next stop was also my favourite which was the Giant Curtain Fig tree. I thought it was pretty spectacular the way the tree grew but it was also impossible to take a descent picture of since we couldn’t back up far enough. Then we were off to the Millaa Millaa waterfall, which was pretty and had lunch by the Mungalli waterfall. There was a 30 minute hike to the waterfall but we didn’t have time to do the hike so that was disappointing. So we didn’t get a good view of that waterfall.

How the tree formed

After lunch we did the Ma Mu Rainforest Canopy Walkway which was nice and our guide was well informed. The last stop was Paronella Park which Hendrik and I skipped and relaxed outside in the café. I wouldn’t recommend this tour to people who have a limited time in Cairns. Go to Port Douglas and Cape Tribulation but as a tour it was well organized and the tour guide was very nice and passionate about nature and Australia.

Ma Mu Rainforest

This concluded the trip with Hendrik’s parents and the next day we all had morning flights, and Hendrik and I went back to Melbourne.