Winter Holiday, Week Two - Atherton Tablelands

The Great Barrier Reef had been exciting and exhausting so on Wednesday, day five, we took it easy. We headed upward and inland once again; this time by car past Kuranda into the Atherton Tablelands. This area – also known as the Cairns Highlands – is known for its coffee, tea, wineries and waterfalls. The scenery was spectacular. Here is a taste of it.

The view from Halloran Hill in Atherton, looking to the south

The following pics of the tablelands were taken at a lookout near Willaa Willaa, looking to the north - beautiful...








































There are those handsome boys again!











The drive back to Cairns and Trinity Beach was beautiful and spectacular as well. While the descent down the escarpment itself (in terms of height) must have been the same as from Kuranda, this descent was much longer. It was 19 kilometres long! Poor Ian all he did was turn the steering wheel riiiigggghhhhhttttt, then leffffffttttt, then riiigggghhhhtttt, then lefffftttttt, and so on and so on. Boy, I could have used some of that anti-nausea medication at that point! Sorry we have no pictures of this, but there are no safe stopping places along the very steep and narrow roads down the escarpement.