Lake Eacham Caravan Park

 

Attractions

Birdwatchers Paradise: The Lake Eacham Van Park is a great place to base yourself if you are interested in bird-watching. Australia has over 860 bird species, of which more than 430 are found in this region, making it one of the richest bird watching sites in Australia.

In the Crater Lakes National Park (only a walk away), you may see or hear endemic species such as those listed below. Click here for a complete list of birds found in this area.

  • 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 (see image below)
  • Victoria's Riflebird

Tooth-billed-Bower-BirdAt 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.

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. 

Nocturnal Animal viewing and bird guiding is available from these operators:


Walking Tracks: As well as the walks mentioned to the left, there are many other interesting tracks of varying difficulty in our area. 

A great list can be found at the Wet Tropics Site, Just click on the track name for a more detailed explanation.

 

 

Lake Eacham

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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 3.5km circuit track through the rainforest on the edge of Lake Eacham. 
Waterfalls. About 300m from Lake Eacham is a short walk that takes in Lake Eacham Falls and a few small waterfalls.

Attractions within a 10 minute drive:

Visit Lake Barrine. They have a rainforest cruise, a tea-house, and a well maintained 6km circuit track.
Malanda Falls. Visit the information and interpretive centre and take a walk through the rainforest with an Aboriginal Guide.
Yungaburra Heritage Village. Browse through the craft shops and take a walk along the Peterson Creek Botanical Walk.
Curtain Fig Tree. Just outside of Yungaburra, a short walk through the rainforest takes you to this tree that was 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. Visit the beautiful Millaa Millaa falls and drive on to visit another 2 waterfalls.
Mungalli Dairy outside of Millaa Millaa, has a teahouse and you can view Cheese making on most days.
The Mt Hypipamee Crater National Park is very interesting and has a very good 300m rainforest walk to the crater, and to Dinner Falls. 
Lake Tinaroo accessible from Kairi, near Atherton, 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. 
Atherton. Here you can visit the historical Hou Wang Chinese Temple. 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:

Herberton. 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 which has a large museum of old buildings. Mareeba. 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 (approx $8 entry) is a must for bird enthusiasts. It has an interpretive centre, tours & walks, canoe hire and 2 hour twilight cruises, open during the dry season.
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.