Visit the Atherton Tablelands Waterfalls Circuit
If you are passionate about waterfalls, a visit to the Atherton Tablelands, in the Cairns hinterland, will leave you spoilt for choice. There are several waterfalls, some are wide rivers flowing over low falls, while others cascade from vast heights surrounded by rainforest foliage. Many are tucked away and feel like well kept secrets, while others are in bright open locations and even have facilities. You could say there’s a waterfall for everyone! One of my favourite things about Far North Queensland is the fact that it is a place where the rainforest meets the reef. Generally I’m all about the reef, but I love the rainforest too. It is…
Things to do in Cairns
Many people visit Cairns simply to access the Great Barrier Reef and spend little time exploring other nearby localities. The reef is incredible, and is a definite must-see for all visitors to Australia. However, there are also many other attractions in and around Cairns that should also not be missed in this very special part of the world. Day Trips from Cairns Visit the Great Barrier Reef Let’s start with the reef. With over 900 islands spread over more than 340,000 square kilometres, the Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system. The best way to spend time exploring the reef is to spend a few days…
A Foray into the Atherton Tablelands
“Bloody Bandicoots!” my friend shouted as we screeched to a halt in the early evening pitch black darkness somewhere between Kuranda and Mareeba in Far Northern Queensland. “Bandi-whats?” I asked. A few moments of recovery and a quick explanation later, we were on our way again, this time nervously looking out for naughty eyes reflected in our headlights. Hidden away up the range behind Cairns, the Atherton Tablelands is a collection of villages and settlements set amidst agricultural land. Atherton, Tolga and Mareeba are places to get away from things, or life in noisy Cairns anyway. It is cooler up at the Tablelands than down on the coast, offering welcome…
Kuranda -The Rainforest Village
Kuranda, also known as the health resort of far North Queensland, is a village in the rainforest behind Cairns, on the way up to the Atherton Tablelands. It has long been home to the Tjapukai aboriginal people. But since the completion of the rail link to Cairns in 1891 and the hippy invasion of the 1960s it is a thriving market and holiday town, while still retaining a strong sense of aboriginal culture. The Journey or the Destination? A trip to Kuranda is as much about the journey as the destination. It is possible to take the Scenic Kuranda Railway or the Skyrail both to and from Kuranda. A popular…
Life in an Old Queenslander
Queenslanders, as well as being the notoriously laid back inhabitants of Queensland, are buildings built using a type of architecture developed in the 1840s and they are unique to Queensland. They are magnificent and elegant old buildings and I am lucky enough to live in one at the moment. Let me show you around. Queenslanders are mostly residential buildings of timber construction. The two main factors influencing their development were the often overwhelmingly hot and humid sub-tropical Queensland climate and the ready availability of certain building materials. A classic characteristic of Queenslanders is that the building is raised off the ground, partly for ventilation and partly to protect the timber…
Cairns, Queensland
Cairns, the ‘gateway to the Great Barrier Reef’, is a great place. In winter it is about 28 degrees centigrade most days, which is great (my kind of winter!) By day, the sounds of birds and geckos fill your ears and as dusk settles over the Esplanade bats hurry about the darkening sky. Cairns City The town itself is pretty much a two-storey place, especially in the centre. It is an easy town to walk around and laid out simply. It is difficult to get lost. A few historical buildings have survived the cyclones and can be seen around town. There is a museum too, proudly explaining Cairns’ history. Cairns…
Queensland Roadtrip
It took five days, but we eventually arrived in Cairns, Far North Queensland, Australia. Roadtrips are a great way to see large countries like Australia. I feel that you see and understand more exploring by road, than you ever will flying. We basically stuck to the M1, of the ‘Bruce Highway’ as it is known here, for most of the 1400km. It is one lane in each direction, which seems incredible to anyone with any familiarity of the UK’s M1, but works out here, since there is so much less traffic. We drove north up to Rockhampton which still has a huge bull in the centre of the roundabout where…
