Atherton Tablelands

Ryan's 2 week extravaganza started as soon as he arrived in the country. That first morning we rented a car and he got to try out driving on the other side of the road! And not just the other side, but a road with 180° turns on the edge of a mountain. I felt like a racecar driver; zoom noises definitely included.

Check out that look of confidence. Pro driver right here.

When you feel like you're going fast because the speedometer is at 100...but then you remember it's in kilometers.

We drove out to the Atherton Tablelands and unlike TLC, went chasing waterfalls. There is a waterfall circuit that all the tours follow, so instead of paying for an expensive tour, we got to explore the circuit and more on our own time for way less. I recommend everyone rent a car- you're in the middle of Queensland rainforest country and it is absolutely beautiful. You'll constantly find yourself stopping on the side of the road for stunning views like this:

On the way to the waterfalls, we stopped at the Cathedral Fig Tree which is a gigantic tree that has been fully overtaken by a strangler fig and is an estimated 500 years old. It was impossible to get a photo of the whole tree because it is so freakin huge.

Ryan and I next to a giant- the Cathedral Fig Tree

Our first waterfall stop was Malanda Falls. Around Malanda, there are bushwalking trails that apparently have tree kangaroos. We didn't spot the tree roos, but the only other people we saw on the trail happened to be two friends I made in Brisbane. Such a small world.

Next was Millaa Millaa Falls. We jumped right into the freezing water, swam underneath the incredibly strong falls, and played behind it on the rocks. The water was coming down with such force that it felt like there was a strong wind coming from it.

Millaa Millaa also gets a lot of...hair flip shots, Herbal Essence style. So obviously we had to join in on the most basic of photos. I have to say, Ryan's form is much better. Weirdly we're still waiting for the calls from the model scouts.

The next stop, we walked through a muddy rainforest trail to find Zillie Falls. Unlike the others, this trail went both by the top and bottom of the falls so we could see just how big it was.

We drove a little further and got to the gorgeous Ellinjaa Falls. We had the area completely to ourselves so played around on the slippery rocks for ages.