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Welcome to Tablelands Historic Towns, Rainforest Crater Lakes & Waterfalls
Lake Tinaroo Terraces
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Lake Tinaroo Terraces offering absolute lakefront accommodation on the shores of Lake Tinaroo, just one and a half ... more
Valid to the: 31 Mar 2009
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Cairns Tourisim News
Evergreen Trio
The Quintet at Cazalys your Club Cairns Night of Jazz
Posted: Friday, 12 Sep 2008
Saturday 3rd January 2009, all welcome, Bookings Recommended
Evergreen Trio
Innisfail 2008 Karnivile,
Posted: Monday, 18 Aug 2008
Join the fun and festivities all welcome Sunday 11th October 6.45 PM
Evergreen Trio
The 2008 Cardiac Challenge Cairns to Cooktown A Great Success
Posted: Thursday, 7 Aug 2008
the after bike ride wind down party and dinner withh music by The Evergreen Trio was enjoyed by all.
Featured Listings
Evergreen are a local Cairns Jazz band who are available for functions and entertainment venues. Evergreen offer a tasty repertoire from the twenty's thirty's forty's and fifty's including some recent contemporary favourites!
The Tablelands is a scenic one hour drive west from Cairns and offers some excellent rainforest activities and a variety of accommodation options.
About Tablelands
The Atherton Tablelands (also known as the Cairns Highlands) is 90kms south-west of Cairns ranges from 500m to 1280m above sea level and covers 620km². Cairns Highlands total population is approximately 12,000 people.
Cairns Highlands is renowned for its mild tropical climate and is spared the climatic extremes of floods, droughts and destructive cyclonic winds. Its pleasant temperatures range between 17°C and 25°C from September to June and between 5°C and 14°C from July to August. Cairns Highlands enjoys cool summer nights and mild, sunny winter days and does not suffer from the high humidity experienced in coastal areas.
The World Heritage listed crater lakes - Barrine and Eacham - are the blue icons of the green Tablelands. Popular with visitors and locals alike. There is a huge range of visitor opportunities in this part of the world.
Scenic drives, rainforest walks, giant trees, boat cruises and plenty of wildlife. Both Lake Eacham and Lake Barrine have circuit walks around the lakes edge. 4.5 km for Lake Eacham and 6.5 km for Lake Barrine. The walks provide an opportunity to experience remnant Tablelands rainforest and see some wildlife such as the musky rat-kangaroo and more than 100 bird species.
There is a short walk at Lake Barrine to the 1,100 year old Twin Kauri Pines and at Lake Eacham there is a short 700m self guided walk from the picnic area. Lake Eacham is ideal for a picnic or barbecue and a swim in the deep clear water. Lake Barrine is the place to go for a Devonshire tea or a light meal at the historic teahouse. The teahouse also offers regular guided boat tours of the lake. A great opportunity to see turtles, eels and water birds.
Close to Lake Eacham is the magnificent Gadgarra Red Cedar, a grand survivor of the logging era in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. This forest giant is typical of the type of trees that were once common on the Tablelands.
At the other end of town is the picturesque Malanda Falls tumbling over a basalt lava flow, filling the historic Malanda swimming pool. Here at this recreation area you can enjoy a swim, a picnic and a walk in the rainforest. The Falls also has an environmental information centre that features the volcanic history of the area and a cafe.
Malanda is part of the traditional lands of the Ngadgon-Ji where they continue to play an active role in the local community. The Malanda Falls Environmental Centre features a Ngadgon-Ji display.
While in Cairns Highlands be sure to visit the Mungalli Falls, 13km from Millaa Millaa along the Palmerston Highway. Mungalli Falls is the highest waterfall on the Tablelands, approximately 90M high. It is a 15 minute walk from the top of the falls to the bottom, and there are swimming holes above and below the falls. At the Tea House beside Mungalli Falls you can buy country style lunches, Devonshire teas, snacks and drinks.
Visitors and locals can take time out and enjoy a barbecue lunch at the popular "Platypus Park" which has been built on the surrounds of a local freshwater stream. This park can be found on Herberton Road heading towards Herberton and is only 5 minutes out of Atherton. Barbecues are supplied for your convenience and the park has a fenced playground area. And of course don’t forget to see the main attraction at this park – the local platypus.
Visit Mt Hypipamee National Park and see the Crater formed as a result of escaping gases blasting a vent hole clean through solid granite. The Crater is some 120 metres deep with a 70 metre pool of still water. Situated approximately 25 kilometres from Atherton on the Kennedy Highway. Whilst here take the walking track which will lead you to Dinner Falls and see the various mountain falls and enjoy a swim in the various swimming holes along the way. These Falls become the Barron River which flows into the ocean at Cairns.
The Millaa Millaa Falls in the Cairns Highlands is the first of the three waterfalls on the Millaa Millaa Waterfall Circuit, 3km off the main road. Frequented by locals and tour groups alike as it is a popular swimming spot. You may even see the Ulysses Butterfly and Platypus late in the afternoon. There are many iridescent dragonflies that stay still long enough for you to be able to take a photo of them. There are plenty of parking spaces at these falls, shelter, barbecue and picnic facilities are available too. Millaa Millaa falls is one of the most photographed images in the Wet Tropics.
Visit the cultural, spiritual, historical Memorial Park, established in 1995 and situated on the site of the 2/2 Australian General Hospital laundry and medical stores site at Rocky Creek adjoining the Kennedy Highway near Tolga on the Cairns Highlands. Several Army Divisions camped on the Cairns Highlands during 1942-45. Approximately 60,000 Australian soldiers were treated for war related conditions at these hospitals, by a caring and efficient staff of approximately 2,000. There are 63 military unit plaques. The units represented in the Memorial Park have an association with the Rocky Creek Australian Army Hospital or the troops that trained or provided unit support on the Cairns Highlands area during the World War II. There are three allied and community plaques displayed in this park, this area being established for Anzac Day 2001.
Take a tour by car through the natural rainforest of the Cairns Highlands. Throughout the trip you will also see plantations of pine and eucalypt trees, rainforest of the State Forest and Wet Tropics.
The road is suitable to conventional vehicles and is a very comfortable and enjoyable drive. Start your tour from Danbulla Road (Lake Tinaroo) and this scenic drive will lead you to "The Chimneys" and the Cathedral Fig before reaching your destination at Boar Pocket Road (Gillies Highway). It is not unusual to see native rainforest animals such as Scrub Turkey Hens and cassowaries wandering beside the roadway and occasionally crossing your path. You could be surprised at any time during this tour with the presence of other native animals.
Cairns Highlands is renowned for its mild tropical climate and is spared the climatic extremes of floods, droughts and destructive cyclonic winds. Its pleasant temperatures range between 17°C and 25°C from September to June and between 5°C and 14°C from July to August. Cairns Highlands enjoys cool summer nights and mild, sunny winter days and does not suffer from the high humidity experienced in coastal areas.
The World Heritage listed crater lakes - Barrine and Eacham - are the blue icons of the green Tablelands. Popular with visitors and locals alike. There is a huge range of visitor opportunities in this part of the world.
Scenic drives, rainforest walks, giant trees, boat cruises and plenty of wildlife. Both Lake Eacham and Lake Barrine have circuit walks around the lakes edge. 4.5 km for Lake Eacham and 6.5 km for Lake Barrine. The walks provide an opportunity to experience remnant Tablelands rainforest and see some wildlife such as the musky rat-kangaroo and more than 100 bird species.
There is a short walk at Lake Barrine to the 1,100 year old Twin Kauri Pines and at Lake Eacham there is a short 700m self guided walk from the picnic area. Lake Eacham is ideal for a picnic or barbecue and a swim in the deep clear water. Lake Barrine is the place to go for a Devonshire tea or a light meal at the historic teahouse. The teahouse also offers regular guided boat tours of the lake. A great opportunity to see turtles, eels and water birds.
Close to Lake Eacham is the magnificent Gadgarra Red Cedar, a grand survivor of the logging era in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. This forest giant is typical of the type of trees that were once common on the Tablelands.
At the other end of town is the picturesque Malanda Falls tumbling over a basalt lava flow, filling the historic Malanda swimming pool. Here at this recreation area you can enjoy a swim, a picnic and a walk in the rainforest. The Falls also has an environmental information centre that features the volcanic history of the area and a cafe.
Malanda is part of the traditional lands of the Ngadgon-Ji where they continue to play an active role in the local community. The Malanda Falls Environmental Centre features a Ngadgon-Ji display.
While in Cairns Highlands be sure to visit the Mungalli Falls, 13km from Millaa Millaa along the Palmerston Highway. Mungalli Falls is the highest waterfall on the Tablelands, approximately 90M high. It is a 15 minute walk from the top of the falls to the bottom, and there are swimming holes above and below the falls. At the Tea House beside Mungalli Falls you can buy country style lunches, Devonshire teas, snacks and drinks.
Visitors and locals can take time out and enjoy a barbecue lunch at the popular "Platypus Park" which has been built on the surrounds of a local freshwater stream. This park can be found on Herberton Road heading towards Herberton and is only 5 minutes out of Atherton. Barbecues are supplied for your convenience and the park has a fenced playground area. And of course don’t forget to see the main attraction at this park – the local platypus.
Visit Mt Hypipamee National Park and see the Crater formed as a result of escaping gases blasting a vent hole clean through solid granite. The Crater is some 120 metres deep with a 70 metre pool of still water. Situated approximately 25 kilometres from Atherton on the Kennedy Highway. Whilst here take the walking track which will lead you to Dinner Falls and see the various mountain falls and enjoy a swim in the various swimming holes along the way. These Falls become the Barron River which flows into the ocean at Cairns.
The Millaa Millaa Falls in the Cairns Highlands is the first of the three waterfalls on the Millaa Millaa Waterfall Circuit, 3km off the main road. Frequented by locals and tour groups alike as it is a popular swimming spot. You may even see the Ulysses Butterfly and Platypus late in the afternoon. There are many iridescent dragonflies that stay still long enough for you to be able to take a photo of them. There are plenty of parking spaces at these falls, shelter, barbecue and picnic facilities are available too. Millaa Millaa falls is one of the most photographed images in the Wet Tropics.
Visit the cultural, spiritual, historical Memorial Park, established in 1995 and situated on the site of the 2/2 Australian General Hospital laundry and medical stores site at Rocky Creek adjoining the Kennedy Highway near Tolga on the Cairns Highlands. Several Army Divisions camped on the Cairns Highlands during 1942-45. Approximately 60,000 Australian soldiers were treated for war related conditions at these hospitals, by a caring and efficient staff of approximately 2,000. There are 63 military unit plaques. The units represented in the Memorial Park have an association with the Rocky Creek Australian Army Hospital or the troops that trained or provided unit support on the Cairns Highlands area during the World War II. There are three allied and community plaques displayed in this park, this area being established for Anzac Day 2001.
Take a tour by car through the natural rainforest of the Cairns Highlands. Throughout the trip you will also see plantations of pine and eucalypt trees, rainforest of the State Forest and Wet Tropics.
The road is suitable to conventional vehicles and is a very comfortable and enjoyable drive. Start your tour from Danbulla Road (Lake Tinaroo) and this scenic drive will lead you to "The Chimneys" and the Cathedral Fig before reaching your destination at Boar Pocket Road (Gillies Highway). It is not unusual to see native rainforest animals such as Scrub Turkey Hens and cassowaries wandering beside the roadway and occasionally crossing your path. You could be surprised at any time during this tour with the presence of other native animals.
Featured Video
Raging Thunder Ballooning
Raging Thunder Ballooning departs daily from Cairns
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