Advertisement
Published: October 26th 2008
Edit Blog Post
September 12 - we drove down to the Atherton Tablelands and set up camp at Lake Eacham which is about 6k from Yungaburra, a rather quaint and historic village. We struck a good one here - a small family-run caravan park (only 7 caravan sites and a number of tent sites!), complete with a resident pig and emu, and heaps of free range hens, ducks and assorted birdlife. Peter, a Lake Eacham resident, usually takes Josie the pig for a walk around the camp every day. We settled in for a fortnight (even put up our caravan annexe and made ourselves very comfortable) while we got the car back door fixed from Blu’s encounter with a picnic table in Adelaide! Had to get it done as it had jammed shut while we were up at Cape York. A bit of a delay in our plans to make it to Darwin before the wet season, but we loved our stay on the Tablelands. It has a completely different climate to most of Queensland as it is high above sea level, up to 900m. The landscape is very different too, with rolling green hills, lakes, waterfalls, picturesque country towns and rainforests. The climate
is ideal, with cool evening temperatures - good for sleeping at nights! We can see why it is a favourite retreat for Queenslanders in the summer!
In the interests of catching up on the blogs, will just do a quick summary of some of the highlights of the Tablelands:
• Driving up from the coast on the Gillies Highway, Blu counted 166 curves in the road, which climbs up the Great Dividing Range;
• Walking around Lake Eacham, a crater lake set in beautiful rainforest, and seeing a black snake just off the track, and a python curled up in a fallen log;
• The Yungaburra pub! Watching the final of the Tri-Nations NZ v Australia and the Warrior’s last three games of the season at our “local” along with the friendly locals;
• A great day’s drive around the Millaa Millaa Waterfall Circuit - we saw six waterfalls and they were all different - and contrary to what many people think - they did have lots of water!!
• Bird-watching - the feathered variety - so many different varieties of native birds around this area and Blu was in his element - and
hundreds of sarus cranes coming in to the crater wetland at sunset;
• Great butcher’s shop at Yungaburra - yum sausages and smoked ham were his trademarks! In fact this whole area was a foodie’s delight - the strawberry farm down the road had the biggest juiciest ones we have tasted;
• Spent a day in Atherton with the Clive and Christine (the 2CDs), visited an orchid show, had a Chinese lunch and “did” the local shops!
• Visiting local markets - every Saturday and Sunday one of the small towns on the Tablelands has a market - the Yungaburra one is the biggest and best - bought local produce, including local coffee!
• Checking out historic Herberton and Irvinebank - once bustling mining towns, now sleepy little villages with lots of character;
• Eating fresh laid eggs laid by hens at our caravan park, and mulberries from the tree near our caravan;
• Soaking in the hot pools at Innot Hot Springs, and the Big and Little Millstream Falls near Ravenshoe;
• The Atherton Races - it was THE big one - the Atherton Cup and Fashion in the Field - country
racing at its best - so many people dressed up, ladies with wonderful outfits and matching colour-coordinated hats, young boys with their white shirts and Aussie hats, and bookies! Blu had moderate success on a couple of races - and I discovered that the local hairdresser Janel (who had given me a good cut the previous day) also trains horses, and she did very well - a close 2nd in the cup!
All in all, a great place to relax, and we met some lovely people at the caravan park during our two weeks there, but once our car was ready to go, so were we - off to the Gulf Savannah! And once you leave the tablelands, the contrast is amazing - from rainforest and green hills to the dry landscape of the savannah……
Advertisement
Tot: 0.079s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0408s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb
Alison dyer
non-member comment
Hi
Thank you for your regular updates! You have covered so much of oz,that life may become a little mundane when you make your way back home! My family found it so hard to keep a diary while we were away-so they didn't!!! I would jot a few things down for them and they still didnt do the school progect!!!! So good one you! Keep well and out of trouble hey! take care and best of .....Luck! or health!! See you soon Ali Nick and girls XXx