Our last action packed activity in Mossman was with Backcountry Bliss Adventures, you may remember I mentioned them earlier. We had seen their finish point whilst checking out waterholes. Basically they take a group up the Mossman River, provide snorkels, masks, wetsuits and rafts and combine all four with freshwater snorkeling, rainforest walks and gentle and not so gentle floating down the river.
We had a blast, along with eight others in our group, checking out the plentiful fish and turtles, wandering through pristine rainforest and then tackling the ‘rapids’ on our rafts before a peaceful float under the rainforest canopy to end our day.
I highly recommend this activity if you ever have the opportunity!
Tired but exhilarated, we drove back to our farm stay for a shower and some down time but the excitement wasn’t over yet. The local cane farmer turned up in his tractor with his flame thrower and proceeded to ignite the ‘trash’ (that’s a technical cane grower’s term😜 ) directly behind us. We joined the other campers, mostly with drink in hand and watched what turned out to be a real spectacle. Not as dramatic as the burn of the mature cane field that we had hoped to see down in Ayr but pretty spectacular all the same.
Fortunately one of the other guys had his drone in the air (amongst the smoke) and offered to share his shots with us so I can’t claim credit for these…
At no time did we feel any threat (quite a bit of heat though), these guys knew exactly what they were doing…. we did find bits of ash in the shower for a couple of days but a small price to pay for witnessing this very foreign event for us southerners.
Having already extended our stay at Harvest Moon by a couple of days, the next day was time to wind our way up Mt Molloy, over the range and on to the Atherton Tablelands, often known as Queensland’s food bowl.
The Mount Molloy road gets straight down to business, nine kilometres of steep and winding road that is punctuated by a couple of stunning lookouts and fortunately a couple of slow vehicle lanes as well! The Fiat performed admirably though and I breathed a small sigh of relief when the terrain flattened out a bit as we neared Julatten en route to Mareeba. We drove straight through Mareeba as we planned to come back from our base and visit it in the Jimny later (this never eventuated so Mareeba and the Mt Uncle Distillery are on the hit list for next trip.)
We did however pull in to the highly rated free camp at Rocky Creek Memorial Campground for a look around and were glad that we did.
“A few kilometres along the Kennedy Highway north of Tolga, the Rocky Creek Memorial Park is situated on the 2/2 Australian General Hospital laundry and medical stores site.
During World War II, the Tablelands area became the largest military base in Australia …. Rocky Creek was the site of the largest military hospital in the Southern Hemisphere — a 3000 bed hospital which treated over 60,000 patients from 1943 to 1945.”
It was a really interesting and poignant spot with memorials to all branches of the armed services, even the animals that have served.
We checked out the spacious adjacent RV camping area and put that on the list for a future visit before driving on to Atherton, our next ‘home.’
Having been told that this area has numerous spots to explore, we had booked for a week and that turned out to still be too short but it certainly whetted our appetite for next time.
The Atherton Holiday Park is a couple of kilometres outside of Atherton, a little dated but with spacious sites divided by tropical vegetation hedges and delightful owners who have been there nearly two years and are making lots of improvements. We were very happy there, it was quite central and quiet despite being next door to the small Atherton Aerodrome.
Our first day of adventuring saw us exploring the well publicised ‘Waterfall Circuit’ which encompasses three of the better known waterfalls being Millaa Milla, Zillie and Ellinjaa. Millaa Millaa was the site for the somewhat scandalous Clairol Herbal Essence ad many years ago and it is Insta perfect.
Having done our research though, we intended to see some of the lesser known falls and traipsed through many kilometres of rainforest fitting in as many as we could.
This lovely spot, Gooligan’s Picnic Area, was deserted except for two platypus that kept us entertained whilst we had our picnic lunch.
The next day we checked out Lakes Eacham and Barrine. The former has beautiful aquamarine waters, a resident freshwater crocodile (is there no getting away from crocs in Queensland???) and is a popular free diving spot. Lake Barrine is better known for its quaint tea rooms and we arrived right on lunch time so availed ourselves of a verandah spot and genuine hospitality.
Mount Hypipamee was our destination the next day, it sounded very interesting. The park is centred around a ‘diatreme’ or volcanic pipe, thought to have been created by a massive gas explosion which has left behind a crater almost 70 m wide. A pleasant walk to the crater yielded great views and the alternative route back showcased Dinner Falls.
The weather took a bit of a turn for the worst as we drove along Queensland’s highest road with strong winds and at times quite heavy fog. When we reached the aptly named Windy Hill Wind Farm, (Queensland’s first wind farm) it was working at full capacity with an impressive ‘whoosh’ when you were standing right under one.
A little further along the road I spotted two huge birds and a nest in a paddock and after we turned around and went back Russell managed to capture an impressive Wedge tail guarding the nest as we watched the spouse fly off.
We drove on to Ravenshoe (“Ravens Ho”), Queensland’s highest town and were five minutes too late for lunch at Queensland highest pub, but the local cafe was still serving up a pretty mean burger.
After lunch we found Little Millstream Falls and then, down a long dirt road littered with mean looking rogue Brahmans, Tully Gorge. Tully Falls are a thunderous flow during the wet season but are a little more subdued now, the Gorge itself was worth the drive though.
The following day with the weather looking a bit dodgy, we headed off to the very highly recommended (by literally everyone who had mentioned it) Herberton Historic Village.Â
The Historic Village owes its existence firstly to Herberton’s pioneers and then to a long list of dedicated residents who followed them. It exists today because of two couples – collector Harry Skennar and his wife Ellen and owners Craig and Connie Kimberley who continue the tradition of preservation and restoration with the support of the local Herberton community. Â
Sitting on 16 acres, it currently comprises 60 buildings which each house an exhibit relevant to the building’s purpose. They range from miner’s shops, to the apothecary (pharmacy), general store, school, toy shop, forge and many more. There is a huge outdoor area with steam engines, vintage cars, fire engines and all manner of farming and mining equipment. The village is encompassed in a beautifully landscaped environment which includes the Wild River with its own suspension bridge and carefully cultured fruit trees, lawns and garden. We spent over three hours there and thought the $29 (seniors😉) entry fee well worth it, there was literally something for everyone. Click here for more info.
Without even knowing where the week had gone, all of a sudden it was our last day in Atherton. The sun was shining again after a couple of misty days and we wanted to check out nearby Lake Tinaroo.
Tinaroo Dam was completed in 1958 and is now a very popular spot for all things water related including sports fishing for barramundi. We were particularly interested in checking out the adjacent Danbulla National Park which has several camping spots along the shores of the lake as we thought they might go on our ‘next trip’ itinerary.
After passing through the little village of Tinaroo itself we saw a sign stating Dam Walk and pulled in to investigate. What an impressive sight! I have been unable to find out how much water was being released or why but it was a spectacular view.
Continuing further around the perimeter we found lots of great little spots to enjoy, got the drone up for a fly, disturbed a very big snake and unfortunately saw too much evidence of feral humans leaving their rubbish at campsites.😒
I think my favourite spot was Platypus Campground and we had our picnic lunch here entertained by a mother duck and her six babies. There were clearly marked camping sites here suitable for our sized rig and with toilets and a BBQ what else would you need. A couple were swimming in the lake and reported it as ‘cool but refreshing!’
Â
The road became dirt as we drove further around but very picturesque with many photo opportunities and more Jimny ‘promo’ video opportunities 😜
We also had our first sighting of a feral pig although we had seen evidence of their damage earlier at Gooligan Picnic spot. I didn’t get the camera out soon enough on that occasion but later in the day we saw a sow and three piglets and I got this quick shot after two of the piglets had disappeared.
Feral pigs cause significant ecological damage in the Wet Tropics and have established widespread populations. Wetland areas of the Wet Tropics are particularly at risk from feral pig damage when the pigs root for food or wallow in wet areas or, when they eat and trample native plants. They also carry diseases and transport weeds.
As the shadows grew longer we squeezed in one more stop, the spectacular Cathedral Fig Tree.
This strangler fig is estimated to be over 500 years old and its crown towering 50 m overhead is the size of two Olympic swimming pools!
Â
We arrived home in time to grab the washing off of the line and fit in a quick scrabble game before dinner.Â
Tomorrow, we go back down the range to Babinda for a quick Moho repair job and then begin the trek west to NT.
2 thoughts on “Rafting the rapids and the amazing Atherton Tablelands”