10 October 2011 - Atherton Holiday Park, Queensland

This will be our second night here at this very pleasant park situated on the edge of town, views beyond the fence across the farmlands as far as the Seven Sisters. The bird life is not quite as wonderful as that in the Cairns Sunland Leisure Park but warrants a mention none the less. There is a swimming pool that we are unlikely to use, pawpaw trees that have conveniently dropped a couple of fruit on to our site and large spaces for caravans particularly since the masses of southern nomads have set off for home. There are quite a few permanents whom we unfortunately discovered while investigating the swimming pool; we should have remained ignorant. Our hosts are friendly Agan whose English is poor and his wife, Lorna, who is efficient but dour.

We moved here yesterday morning from our bush camp north of Tolga, so that we had uninterrupted television reception of the last two Rugby World Cup quarter finals, and any fault in that could not be laid at the feet of this caravan park. But yesterday afternoon, after enjoying the first of the two games, pleased that the Wallabies had beaten the Springboks even if they did play the lesser game (in our uneducated opinion), the surrounding countryside closed in on us. Somewhere out there was fire and while we were not directly affected, we are sure it was the smoke that caused the intermittent reception during the All Black v. Pumas game. But we were pleased to find a channel televising it live rather than having to wait for the delayed replay after midnight as we had expected.

Today dawned warm and fine, yet again, and we agreed that we were not here to sit about in front of the television. After a load of washing was duly hand wrung out (since the spin cycle did not work) and hung, and after I tried to explain the fault unsuccessfully to Agan, we drove into town and dealt with a couple of small technical matters; light bulbs and gas hoses. We also called at the Crystal Caves, a shop and display basement of wonderful crystals and other geological wonders collected from around the world. The shop has thousands of pieces of rock and crystal for sale, jewellery made of the same and something we did appreciate, some beautiful globes made with inlaid mother of pearl and other fabulous materials, each country different to the other. We decided that when we eventually settle down again in a house, we will buy ourselves one of these treasures. The under-street “caves” we left for those more enthusiastic than ourselves and instead walked the main streets sizing up everything else Atherton has to offer.

We also called into the three pet shops we found here in this small town, the first housing snakes, dragons, skinks, birds, fish and the usual puppies and kittens. We found the reptiles particularly fascinating as the local pet owners obviously do. There was a huge range of “cages” available with all sorts of interior décor. Obviously if one lives permanently in Atherton, it would be appropriate to own a small taipan housed in its own room complete with tasteful rocks and artificial plants. The birds were all very beautiful and crying to be released, however I am sure the shop owner was correct in telling me that they would be lucky to last five minutes in the wild, all having been bred for domestic pleasure. 

Atherton is the centre of a huge agricultural region, with a population of 7,100 in the 2006 census, sitting at 762 metres above sea level. Crops grown around are numerous but we have particularly noticed the potatoes sold “in their jackets” (obviously elsewhere potatoes are sold “undressed”?) and the peanuts (evidently in competition to Kingaroy).

Views over the Atherton Tablelands

We drove up Halloran’s Hill from where we had a magnificent view south, east and west across a patchwork of cultivated farmlands, and could indeed see why this area is known as the “Tablelands”.

After lunch, we headed off on one of the expeditions I had planned as a full day trip, but now ready to turn back at any point when we felt we had done enough.

First to  Gallo Dairyland, a wonderful tourist attraction on a working dairy farm, where the visitor centre sports a café, a shop selling their homemade cheeses and chocolates, and a viewing area of the cheese factory itself. As we emerged from the land cruiser to cross to the shop, we were nearly bowled over by the smell rising from the dairy shed beyond. Neither Chris nor I are particularly squeamish when it comes to agricultural smells; however this was not just fresh excrement. It rather put one off buying the well displayed wares in the refrigerated glass display counters. We have also been rather spoilt paying $6.99 for our tasty cheese, so much so that $40 a kilo for special gourmet products just seemed rather over the top and aimed for the captive and vulnerable tourist market. We did pop up the pathway in the direction of the smells to the “Nursery” and delighted in the doe-eyed calves lying prone in the shade, the doves with what appeared to be hideously deformed (but uniform) feet, a large fat ram who was keen for a cuddle and a goat sharing his bowl of tucker with a fluffy white chook. The grandkids would have loved it.

Driving south, we soon found ourselves at Malanda, stopping briefly at the falls of that name; disappointing but for those who were there to swim in the formed swimming pool at the base of these uninspiring falls on the North Johnson River which flows on south westerly to the sea passing through Innisfail. We drove on through Malanda, the administrative centre for the southern Tablelands, without stopping further.

The Nerada tea plantation

Travelling further south east, we made our way to the Nerada Tea Visitors Centre, having decided we would do a tour. The lush green growth of the neatly harvested tea bushes greeted us as we approached the plantation. This was not the first time we had seen tea grown in Australia; there is a small boutique plantation on the north side of the Daintree River, on the road to Cape Tribulation. Today there were just us and another couple there, arriving at a similar time. While there was a notice at the counter showing the tour prices, no one asked if we would like to do one. The two women in the centre were busy doing everything but noting our presence and so all four of us occupied ourselves reading the excellent interpretative panels about the building explaining not just the history, growing and processing of tea, but the history of this particular operation. Today Nerada is Australia’s biggest grower and producer of tea, with over 1,000 acres planted and delivering 6 million kilos of fresh tea leaves to the processing plant annually.

While we would applaud the concept of this visitor’s centre and the operation both commercially as a producer and in tourism, we would have to give it poor marks in aggressive marketing. We purchased a packet of tea bags, wanting to give something for the museum like experience we had there, before we left.

The Millaa Lillaa Falls

I directed us back to the main road by a very convoluted route, partly on gravel road, but through beautiful rolling pastoral land, then through farmland that could have just as easily been anywhere in New Zealand, eventually arriving at Millaa Millaa.

This village with such a strange name, is the gateway to the Southern Tablelands, and while still surrounded by a thriving dairy region, is populated by so many derelict buildings and houses. A loop road starts on the eastern edge of the village and takes the traveller to the Millaa Milla Falls, which plunge attractively down into a swimming hole enjoyed by foreign tourists even at the end of the Dry, the Zillie Falls which are higher again, but deemed too dangerous for more than a fenced peek at the top, and then the Elinjaa Falls, very pretty, less popular and where one can walk down to the base to enjoy their beauty.

Once back out on to the main road, we turned back through Millaa Millaa and travelled north west, calling in to lookout high above Millaa Millaa and the tablelands, before joining Highway One, heading back toward Atherton. We stopped again, this time at the Mt Hypipamee National Park and walked to the Dinner Falls where the head waters of the Barron River cascade through a deep canyon, and to see a crater, seventy metres across, fifty eight metres down to the green murky water which then continues on for a further eighty two metres before it turns back under the viewing platform. Evidently no intrepid divers have been game to explore this crater as yet. This was further evidence that this whole area is a geologist’s paradise with all of the volcanic history etched through the landscape.

Recycled dairy factory at Millaa Millaa

It was already late in the afternoon and so we came on back to the park, not tempted by several other attractions en route. We were glad that dinner was waiting for us in the crock pot, so there was little to do. It had been a very full and wonderful day, having covered about 150 kilometres.