A lovely self drive on the Tableands.
I drove up to the Tablelands on the weekend and stopped in at Lake Barrine for their famous Devonshire tea with there bottomless cups of tea or coffee, they did not disappoint. The Lake itself was beautiful, we went for a short walk through the rainforest to the pair of massive Kauri Pines, a truly spectacular sight, they are 40-50 meters high and a girth about 5 meters in diameter you feel quite insignificant standing next to them.
After a short drive we get to Malanda, we stopped at the Malanda falls and did a short walk around the rainforest looking out for the Lumhotz’s Tree Kangaroo which we were told are regularly seen in this area, also spotted in this area is the platypus but only in the morning or late afternoon. Unfortunately we didn’t see either, the walk takes you to the falls which are nice with a nice man made swimming hole that looked very inviting if the weather was a bit warmer.
We then took a short drive through the historic township of Malanda and headed towards Atherton until you get to the Gallos Dairy land, a fully functional dairy farm, they have a range of had crafted chocolates that are divine and a huge selection of gourmet dairy products that are lactose free, you are able to taste all the cheese and purchase if you wish. You can see how this gourmet cheese is made in their cheese viewing platform and they will also take the kiddies out to see the calves and see how the milk is made in the dairy farm.
We started our way home with a quick stop in at the Mareeba Coffee Works, home to some of the finest coffee made in Australia to get our coffee for home and a quick takeaway to perk ourselves up after all that cheese and chocolate.
We headed on down the range and were back home by 1pm, so it was a great morning out and the weather was perfect in the Tablelands, we came home to grey sky’s and rain, so a great place to be when the weather is not so good here.
Louise - The Tour Specialists