The northern Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland, Australia

Photos from the Real AUSTRALIA

The northern Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland

The Atherton Tablelands may be a welcome relief from the heat of the coast and offer great views, cool waterfalls and typical pubs among other things. The area , around the town of Atherton, is named after a pastoralist, prospector and pioneer. Settlement here dates from the late 19th century. The large forests growing here were almost all cut down and it is now mainly a farming district, maize, peanuts and potatoes. However, there is still a lot of natural beauty here. A great trip is the train ride from Cairns to the rainforest village of Kuranda, the traditional homeland of the Djabugay people at the top of the coastal escarpment. It has many cafes, curio shops, a butterfly farm, a famous market and a historic railway station, built in 1915 and a riot of ferns and orchids. It can also be reached by the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway with fantastic views and boardwalks on the way. Both trips offer views of Barron Falls, in the wet season an awesome sight.

South east of Kuranda, about 45 km along the Kennedy Highway, is Mareeba, the largest town on the northern Tablelands. Around 20 km to the south east of Mareeba is the small privately owned Granite Gorge National Park, a pleasant place of immense granite boulders with a river flowing through, swimming holes and a colony of rock wallabies who are well used to human visitors and come up in the hope of a feed. It is possible to camp here.

Further south, near the town of Atherton, started in the early 1880s and a service town of the rural district around it, is Lake Tinaroo, an artificial lake behind a dam on the Barron River. It is a great place for a holiday, with plenty of opportunities for water sports or just enjoying the scenery. The village of Yungaburra on the southern point of the lake is also a very picturesque place, a centre of arts and crafts. Its Lake Eacham Hotel is a good example of Queensland wood architecture as is its Village Chapel. Nearby is the massive Curtain Fig Tree, with its aerial roots dropping 15 metres to the ground like a curtain. There are more historic pubs, like the Peeramon Hotel, a great example of this kind of architecture, but sadly damaged during Cyclone Larry in March 2006.

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