Lake Eacham to Henrietta creek

Down the road from Lake Eacham, we came to Millaa Millaa, where they were holding a 100th anniversary celebration in the park in town. We met up with Sonia again, and she introduced us to her brother and sisters.

We got to try "billy and damper", which turns out to be tea brewed in a pot (billy) over a fire, and bread cooked in something like a dutch oven. Very yummy, especially with the cane sugar syrup!








They had some old logs in the park which were carbon dated to 1136 or something (when it started growing, the tree fell just a few years ago). Huge old growth - too bad there's not much of it left. It would be impressive to see a stand of trees this size.

Then we got ourselves out to Millaa Millaa falls, where we had a swim under the falls before the ceremonies began...

The Ma:mu people were having a "welcome to country" event with several bits about "sharing culture". We got to see some aboriginal dancing accompanied by didgeridoo (I had to look up how to spell that, so if it's wrong, don't blame me, blame google). It's really amazing how little animosity there is between the aboriginal peoples and the European settlers, considering some of the history (including settlers shooting "troublesome blacks")!

Then on the rest of the waterfall circuit, we saw Zillie falls...











and Elinjaa falls. Then we had to hustle down the road to get to Henrietta Creek before dark. Several people told us it was all downhill from Millaa Millaa, so we were a bit disheartened to see the sign saying 8% grade for 2.5km - it was up, not down! Luckily, there was about 5km of down after that to get to Henrietta creek.

We got the tent set up just as night fell, and cooked our spaghetti in the dark. Ciel went for a dip at the swimming hole in the creek and came back telling me "it's warm! you have to go in!", but she must have re-calibrated her thermometer, as it was a bit of a shock for me getting in the water!

-mark.