Atherton Tablelands

This area has such a lot to offer and is very picturesque with rolling hills, farmland, rainforests, streams and waterfalls, quaint towns and many historic sites. It reminds us very much of Gippsland. So despite inclement weather, we’ve made the most of our time and have loved it all. 

Whilst I really enjoyed the cruise out to the sand island at Karumba, I think the sand flies had more fun as I came  out in all these bites and became a bit of a red & itchy mess!!  However, I found a cure - the natural hot springs at Innot! We spent an afternoon there - the water comes out of Nettle Creek at nearly 80 degrees and is piped into these pools in a nice setting. There are several pools of varying temperatures - from very hot to quite cold and you can choose to use them all or wallow in just one. It’s amazing how these hot springs pop up all over the place.

This town of Ravenshoe is Queensland’s highest town at 930 metres and we’ve seen Queensland’s highest pub, road, bakery, bowling green and so on. For a town of 1000 people, it offers nearly everything you want and we’re happy that we decided to use this as a base. This park has been great too and is quirky with train displays and we love the curlews who seem to love to sit on the tracks. And to top it off, we’re being serenaded this afternoon by the local music group in a free concert. 

We spent a day at this historic village in Herberton - it’s a village something like the Pioneer Settlement and is owned now by the ex Levi jeans owner. He’s been able to upgrade and add to what was already there to make this fantastic display of all kinds of memorabilia. The gardens are immaculate and every display clean and well cared for. Dennis was particularly excited by the old tractors and cars. 

I don't know what was my favourite - the old toys, the old carts, the steam operated wood saw, the beautiful house or the primitive farmers cottage to even more primitive miners camp. These sort of places make you realise just how hard it was for the early settlers - be they miners, woodcutters, farmers or merchants. 

We completed our time with a waterfall circuit which was just beautiful. We started at this little town Millaa Millaa and found the best ever place for morning tea at Mungalli Creek. It’s a dairy farm which has diversified into making their own cheeses, yogurts, sauces and even ice cream! The Devonshire tea of scones made freshly with yogurt, served with jam and scalded cream, took us back to the days in Lobethal when we always had scalded cream. We could view the milk vats and yogurt making process whilst we enjoyed our coffee and scones. Then we hit the waterfalls and saw 4 very different falls - all of them beautiful - and really roaring after the rains they’ve had. 

                           

I really think the Millaa Millaa Falls were the most spectacular although each had a special beauty. Bit too cold for us to swim but not these school kids! 
We’ve been noticing these signs indicating a military presence during the war and found out that this area was used to train soldiers for jungle warfare as the climate and vegetation resembled those in New Guinea. At one time there were 100,000 soldiers around here. 

Tomorrow we will leave here and head a little north west to Chillagoe - so hope it’s a bit warmer and drier there. 

So until next time, the Brays and Greenwood’s sign off, hoping this finds everyone well and happy. ❌❌❌❌