'Wherarwee' in Oz: Log 14-04 Atherton tablelands

On to the Atherton Tablelands, after passing through El Arish we headed North West & passed through Japoonvale. The countryside was all a hodge podge of lush green fields, vast plantings of bananas & still some sugar cane. Turning West we entered the Wooroonooran National Park & came upon the Wa Wu Rainforest Canopy Walkway. It was1.1k long in all, 350m of suspended walkway & 750m of gravel paths climaxing in a 75m tower which opened up onto vast tracks of rainforest, bushland & glimpses of the North Johnstone River. It was built after the 2006 cyclone Larry, if it sustained more damage we couldn’t tell. Continuing on was Crawford’s Lookout, then more waterfalls than I care to name. The vast vistas that open up round every corner can’t be captured in photos. We visited Mungalli Creek dairy, had the most delicious yogurt drink & bought some cheese to go, even the road to the dairy was delightful, winding, hilly, very narrow (necessitating in both vehicles having to put one set of wheels in the dirt) & with great views from every crest. We continued on to Ravenshoe (electricity provided courtesy of 20 wind generators) & then to Inott hot springs where we spent the night, 3 different temp pools which we sampled when we arrived, before retiring, & before breakfast. Our 1^st day here & we say, this is one place not to miss & it even got down to 7º last night.

Returning through Ravenshoe, we visited Millstream Falls, the widest single drop falls in Oz. Checked out the generators on Windy Hill once again, then Milaa Milaa falls & on to the crater at Mount Hypipamee, finally stopping for the night at Rocky Creek War Memorial park, 10k’s North of Atherton.

This memorial has a huge amount of information about the soldiers who served in the 2^nd world war with information sheets in pergolas around the grounds, head stones for the various units & where the buildings were when this area served as a base in the war.

For our final day in the tablelands we visited the Crystal Caves Museum & shop. The shop was an adventure in itself but the museum, made to look like caves left us a bit cold, however, the people before us got a lot out of them, taking a multitude of photos. Returning to Wherarwee we did a tour of the town, then set out for Gordonvale, our destination for today. Leaving the tablelands we had to descend a 19.5K hill, speed limited to 60KPH & with most of the corners (which were continuous) posted at 40 or 30KPH. Wanting to conserve the brakes, it took us well over 30 minutes to get to the bottom.

Had a great night, we were even invited to a happy hour but were too apprehensive about where we were staying at Cairns & spent 2 hours searching the internet so we gave it a miss.