Atherton Tableland

The Atherton Tableland, also known as the Cairns Highlands, is in the Great Dividing Range inland from Cairns. As the name implies, although nestled high in the hills, the area is basically flat. Europeans first came here in the mid 19th century chasing tin and 'red gold' - the fabulous red cedar trees that used to abound in the lush tropical rainforests. Once the timber was all gone, the cleared land proved to be wonderfully fertile, and the region now produces nuts, fruit and vegetables, as well as having the world's only tropical based dairying industry. Roadside stalls sell local produce and several dairies in the region produce local cheeses, so we have stocked up on yummy fresh foods.

We based ourselves in the town of Atherton, and easily filled 4 days exploring the tableland. The township of Herberton is only 20 km south of Atherton. It was founded in 1880 when tin was discovered, the last tin mine didn't close until 1978. We did a strenuous but interesting walk around some of the old mine diggings in the hills around the town. Most of the remaining mine buildings and equipment were destroyed by Cyclone Larry in 2006, but there still plenty of holes in the ground, and the mining heritage centre had interesting displays.

Although most of the tableland was cleared for farm land, there are still some pockets of forest remaining, often where the ground was too steep or rocky to be easily cleared. Most of these pockets are now protected by national parks, and the tableland has a huge variety of walks, drives, lookouts, lakes, craters and just downright breathtaking scenery on offer. Lake Eachem is estimated at only 10,000 years old, like several other lakes in the area it was created when underground magma superheated ground water which exploded out through cracks in the rocks, forming an almost perfectly round lake with no creeks entering or draining it - the water is at the level of the groundwater. The aboriginal dreamtime legend about the lake says that once the lake area was dry, and a group camped there. Most of the men went off hunting, leaving some young men behind. The young men disobeyed the law and tried to eat the fruit of a certain tree, the dreamtime spirits punished them by causing a huge explosion which swallowed up the camp and replaced it with a lake. Not a bad interpretation of what must have really happened, handed down as a story for countless generations over 10,000 years. We didn't go swimming in the lake but did do the walk around the perimeter.

One of the distinctive trees in the tropical forests of far north Queensland is the strangler fig. This parasite grows from a seed dropped by a bat or bird in the crook of another tree. It sends down roots to the ground, wrapping the host tree in the roots until finally the host dies and the fig is left standing on its own. Some of the tableland specimens are massive, with root structures that extend many tens of metres around and up into the air.

As well as doing lots of walks, we also found time to visit the sole remaining building in Atherton's once bustling Chinatown. The Hou Mong temple would have been the hub of community life in the early twentieth century, but gradually the local Chinese either moved back to China or into town with the Europeans. However, even once the rest of Chinatown's buildings had been demolished or moved, the temple remained in use right up to 1974, when the last remaining worshipper died. You can still see the worn marks on the floorboards where she would kneel every day in front of the altar to kowtow to the gods. The temple is now owned by the national trust, and a volunteer gave us a very interesting tour through the building, then we spent some time looking through the Chinatown museum.

Many people do the Atherton Tableland as a day trip from Cairns, we were very glad we decided to spend some time here to do justice to the huge number of things to see and the wonderful scenic walks and drives. The handmade chocolates were pretty good too!