"She's a waterfall"

Friday.  I think we used up all our share of animal spotting luck yesterday and so today we decided to stick to searching for waterfalls.  We had planned a driving route that allowed us to visit five and save another three for the next day.  It is funny because when you drive around the area it is mostly agricultural but it still has spots of forest which is where the waterfalls take cover.  (Strangely "Waterfall" by the Stone Roses came on the radio in the hostel that morning...)

The first one we visited was Dinner Falls and was probably our favourite.  It was created as part of a volcanic crater and was lovely and we had a perfect swimming pool.  Best of all no-one was there.  Today was less sunny but it came out at the right moments to warm us up enough to brave the chilly waters.  It was really serene and not something I expected to be doing in Aus for some reason, I had clearly underestimated the variety of environments in this vast country.

After that we visited another three that were located in close proximity to each other; Millaa Millaa Falls, Zillie Falls and Ellinjaa Falls (photos in order). Ellinjaa Falls took over as our favourite as it was even more spectacular and again we got a private swim and a shower under the falling water.

The trouble with all of this serenity and relaxation is that I become so sleepy and so next we went on our (now becoming daily) hunt for an afternoon coffee to make it through til evening without a sleep.  We headed to the Mungalli dairy farm where we had planned to some cheese tasting to see if they could help, and they did not disappoint.  We also thought it would be impolite not to sample their other creations and so shared some cheese cake with our coffee and got some yogurt to have with the rest of our chickpea curry for dinner (oh the luxury of dairy products in our now fridgeless life).

After our little pick me up we saw one more waterfall on the way to Lake Eacham.  At the lake we had a proper swim and a little read before heading back.  As we came back into Yungaburra through I expressed an interest in visiting the local winery and distillery and Rob caved in (although slightly doubtful as it was housed in what seemed to be a metal shed).  It turned out to be quite an experience and it is lucky we only had to cross the road home afterwards as he fed us 5 fruit wines, two fortified wines and four liquors.  They were made from locally grown fruits and were very good enough not quite yummy enough to invest in a bottle despite really wanting to since he'd been so kind.

Back at the hostel we wobbled along with others to view some more platypus spotting before eating up the rest of yesterday's dinner (plus yummy bio-dynamic homemade yogurt) and settling down to a peaceful evening we are knackered after the last few days excitement.  The last three days have been some of our favourite in Australia.  It has been brilliant to get out an explore by ourselves, to see the beautiful countryside and nature and to see sights that we knew nothing about before we came.