Before we left for the Tablelands south of Cairns, we went to a local souvenir shop, one that Sheila Taylor (Jason's mother) had recommended, to look for Didgeridoos and other Aboriginal artifacts. The boomerangs and paintings weren't that interesting but there was a very good selection of good Didgeridoos. After about an hour of testing the different instruments Linda, Dirk, and Klaus had bought one each. Of course we couldn't bring them on the plane, so they got shipped (together with some other stuff) to Darwin from where Lene would take them back to Denmark.

The area south of Cairns is called the Tablelands and is known for its rain forest and picturesque water falls. Mungalli was the first one we visited and where we had lunch. From there we went to Ellinjaa, Zillie and the best known and famous Millaa Millaa Falls. Swimming in the latter was a very cold experience - even for Vikings.

Strangler figs are some smart plants. Once a bird drops a fig seed high up in a tree, it starts growing. Easy, as it is close to the canopy where there is light in abundance (compared to the approx. 2% of light the other plants at the bottom of the rainforest get). The fig roots immediately reach down for the ground. Once the ground has been reached the fig begins to embrace the host tree and strangles it slowly until it dies and finally rots away. The Curtain Fig tree, which we saw on the way back to Cairns, was an impressive example of a strangler fig.

Michael, an American we had met on Anaconda III, had arrived in Cairns and called us to ask whether we wanted to go out for a beer and a bite to eat that night. We also invited Jason and went for Indian food after a few jugs of local brew.