Atherton Tableland, Qld

You really can’t visit the Cairns region without spending some time up on the Atherton Tableland. The Great Dividing Range, of which the Tableland is a part, rises high above Cairns at an altitude of 765 metres. It is a steep drive through rainforest to reach the tableland where the landscape changes to long grass and spindly bush dotted with large ant hills about a metre tall.  

The towns of Mareeba, Atherton, Tolga and Yungaburra support a rich and diverse agricultural region. Mareeba is known for its coffee beans.

Atherton has the fabulous art deco Barron Valley Hotel. Of course, when we visited to have a cold beer, the young barmaid was complaining about the freezing cold weather. As it was only 22 degrees! The Barron Valley Hotel was built in the 1890’s but it was completely refurbished in the 1930’s and remains little changed. It was used as the officer’s mess during World War Two and was headquarters for the Australian Commander of the Pacific, General Sir Thomas Blamey.

Not far from Tolga is the Rocky Creek campground. The campground is a memorial to the 3000 bed military hospital that was located here during WW2. Servicing the Papua New Guinea and Pacific area during the war, it was the largest military hospital in the southern hemisphere. Scattered through the gum trees are hundreds of granite rocks each honouring the service of a group involved in the WW2 war effort, not only the soldiers and medics but the police, the community groups and food producers. As you drive through this region towards Herberton you will see constant reminders of the military presence that was based here.

Lake Eacham is an almost perfectly circular crater lake surrounded by dense rainforest. The larger is Lake Barrine overlooked by a pretty wooden tearoom that once housed recuperating troops during the war.

Then there are the wow things. Not far from Yungaburra is a giant Curtain Fig tree. It is far too large to photograph in its entirety, but when we visited, we did try. One Japanese tourist was lying on the boardwalk trying his best to get the whole tree in frame. What he didn’t see and to our surprise way up near the top of the tree, was a tree kangaroo. Dozens of tourists were craning their necks, while he (the tree kangaroo not the Japanese tourist) clambered about clumsily. They don’t seem to have the agility of a possum or a monkey, and I expected that he would use his tail to hold on. Anyway, that was better than seeing a python.

Rocky Creek War Memorial Park – TRC – Tablelands Regional Council