Attractions

Birdwatchers Paradise:

Our region is famous for birdwatching.  Of the approximately 760 species of birds in Australia, nearly half can be found on the Tablelands.  For a list of some of the birds you will see and some interesting links, see the section on Birdwatching below.

Animals:

In the rainforest near the Lake Eacham Tourist Park you may see;

Musky Rat Kangaroos

Pademelons

Possums

Sugar Gliders

Tree kangaroos

Platypus – inhabit nearby streams and damns.

The Wet Tropics Web site has some interesting information. 

http://www.wettropics.gov.au/pa/pa_ground_species.html

Nocturnal Animal viewing is available from these operators:

http://www.wildwatch.com.au

www.waitawhile.com.au

Walking Tracks:

As well as the walks mentioned below, there are many other interesting tracks of varying difficulty in our area.  A great list can be found at the Wet Tropics Site, http://www.wettropics.gov.au/ttd/ttd_list.asp?precinct=Tablelands.  Just click on the track name for a more detailed explanation.

Attractions within 5 minutes:

Safe Swimming in nearby Lake Eacham

Lake Eacham is a volcanic crater or maar, of approximately 50ha, filled with rainwater. It is surrounded by several types of upland rainforest and grassed areas.  It offers safe all year swimming in its pristine waters, and an ideal picnic venue.

Walk to World Heritage Rainforest

Take a short walk from the park, this will bring you to the start of the 500m walking track through rainforest to Lake Eacham.  From there you can do the 4km circuit track through the rainforest on the edge of Lake Eacham.  This is a very pleasant and well-maintained walk and will take about one hour.

Waterfalls

About 300m from Lake Eacham, is a short walk that takes in Vision Falls and a few small waterfalls.  It is not signed or maintained, but is very pretty, and takes about 20 mins

Attractions within a 10 minute drive:

Visit Lake Barrine (10minutes away by car).  They have a rainforest cruise, a tea-house, and a well maintained 6km circuit track.

At Malanda Falls (10 minutes away by car) you can take a walk extremely informative one hour walk through the rainforest with an Aboriginal Guide.  Thursday – Sunday, 10.30 am and 2 pm, only $5 per adult.

While at Malanda visit the Wait-a-while Craft Studio and Malanda Antiques Store. 

At nearby Yungaburra, browse though The Chalet Rainforest Gallery, Quincan Gallery, Ludji Peden Studio Gallery and Yungaburra Antiques (a few kms outside the Yungaburra township).  Just outside of the little village of Yungaburra, there is a short walk through the rainforest to the Curtain Fig tree.  This tree has been formed when seeds were deposited high in a host tree by birds.  The fig tree has sent down aerial roots to the ground, and in time the host tree has died, leaving a huge curtain of aerial roots.

Attractions within a 30 minute drive:

The Waterfall Circuit is a nice drive just out of Millaa Millaa.  The first falls you visit is the beautiful Millaa Millaa falls, which has been used a lot in advertising around the world.  You drive on to visit another 2 waterfalls. At Millaa Millaa, visit the small local museum and the Old Milk Factory markets.

Further on towards Mungalli Falls, visit the Mungalli Dairy, which has a teahouse open for morning tea, Lunch or afternoon tea, and view Cheese making on most days. Open 10am to 4pm.

The Mt Hypipamee Crater National Park is very interesting and has a very good 300m rainforest walk to the crater, and to Dinner Falls.  During our last visit there, we had a very good sighting of a platypus sunning itself in a rock pool near the falls.

Accessible from Kairi, near Atherton, Lake Tinaroo is a man made lake, popular for its year round barramundi fishing.  You can drive its length along the Danbulla Forest Drive, with numerous picnic areas and walks along the way.  You can hire a small boat if you want to fish. 

At Atherton you can visit the historical Hou Wang Chinese Temple, or do some shopping at Atherton Antiques. Off the Herberton Road, you will find Hasties Swamp and bird Viewing Hide (best at sunrise & sunset).  At Tolga near Atherton, visit the Tolga Woodworks, for some locally made timber crafts and furniture.

Attractions within a one hour drive:

If you want to venture in a more westerly direction, the country turns drier.  This is the home of the outback mining town of Herberton.  You can also reach Herberton via a steam train journey from Atherton, (Wednesday and Sunday 10.30am – 3.00pm– maintenance permitting).

Heading North is Mareeba.  From there you can visit NQ Gold Coffee Plantation, or Golden Drop Mango Winery, or take an early morning balloon flight.  The Mareeba Wetlands ($8 entry) is a must for bird enthusiasts.  It has an interpretive centre, tours & walks, canoe hire and 2 hour twilight cruises, open April - December, Wednesday - Sunday.

Kuranda is situated on the North Eastern part of the Tablelands.  An alternate lifestyle village boasting a popular market, bird and butterfly sanctuaries, and  the terminus for a hugely successful Skyrail and train journey, that make their way up and down the range from Smithfield south of Cairns.  You can do this journey from Kuranda, you do not have to be based in Cairns.

BIRDWATCHING:

In the Crater Lakes National Park (only a walk away), you may see or hear endemic species such as:

Atherton Scrub Wren

Bower's Shrike-thrush

Bridled Honeyeater

Chowchilla

Grey-headed Robin

Lesser Sooty Owl

Macleay's Honeyeater

Mountain Thornbill

Pied Monarch

Tooth-Billed Bowerbird

Victoria's Riflebird

At the Lake Eacham Tourist Park, many birds have been spotted in the gardens, including King Parrots, Eastern Whipbirds, Yellow-Bellied Sunbird, brown honeyeaters, Rainbow Lorikeets, Fig Parrots, Forest Kingfisher, Laughing Kookaburra ,Lewin's honeyeater, Eastern Spinebill, Pale yellow Robin, crimson rosellas, catbirds and Grey Fantails.

For a complete list of birds in our region visit the Birds Australia/ABC site,  http://www2.abc.net.au/birds/mapviewer.html .  Click on Qld, then click on the square (latitude -17.2000 and longitude 145.6333).  Select a season, and Click "go" for the list.

The Wet tropics site has some interesting bird facts at http://www.wettropics.gov.au/pa/pa_bird_links.html.

Bird Guiding is available from these expert people:

Glenn Holmes, email: dasyornis@ledanet.com.au

John Munroe:  http://www.wildwatch.com.au