Join Sandra Greaves and Ann Kennedy as they lead you on a delightful selection of Far North Queensland adventures.
We will do a full day trip to the picturesque Atherton Tablelands. After a short drive down the cane-bordered highway south of Cairns, we will ascend via the Gillies Highway to the Tablelands. Our first stop will be at the rainforest-nestled crater lake of Lake Barrine, for morning tea and a short walk through the rainforest, including the giant Kauri Pines (Agathis microstaychia), more than 1000 years old.
We will then drive through lush rolling farmland (dairying, plantations of avocado, banana, mango, lychee, papaya, coffee, citrus) and forested country via Malanda Falls and Atherton, on to sample the savannah country around Mareeba where we will have lunch at Skybury coffee plantation & red papaya farm. After lunch we will return to Cairns through open forest and beautiful coastal range rainforest via the Kennedy Highway.
Ascend the mighty Barron River Gorge in the heritage carriages of the Kuranda Scenic Railway. The railway, snaking up the side of the Gorge through 15 tunnels and over many bridges took up to 1500 men five years to build by hand from 1886. It is just as impressive today, with great views over the Gorge including the mighty Barron Falls, always massive but spectacular when in flood.
After a light lunch together, we will have time to explore the township of Kuranda before returning by the more direct and even more scenic cable car route across the forest canopy, skimming across sections of open eucalypt forest and extensive dense rainforest on the unforgettable ‘Skyrail’.
We will travel by bus north along the scenic coastal Captain Cook Highway to Hartley’s Creek Adventure Park. We will have ample free time to enjoy the many attractions of the park, including the crocodile feeding. After a light lunch, we depart for nearby Palm Cove, where we will have time to swim or walk along the tranquil palm-lined beach before our bus departs for the return to Cairns.
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