About Atherton
Atherton, at the heart of the Atherton Tablelands, is a substantial and attractive service town. Today, apart from the very unusual Crystal Cave and the Art Deco Barron Valley Hotel, most of the attractions are at the edges or beyond the town. The unusual Tolga Bat Hospital, the Hou Wang Temple and the many parks, lakes and unusual volcanic formations which are such an integral part of the Atherton Tablelands experience and beyond the town’s centre and the intense rich, red volcanic soils of the area, which have been estimated to be over 30 metres deep, have been used to produce tobacco, maize, potatoes, peanuts, macadamia nuts and avocados (sourced from the Aussie Towns website – click for more).
Lake Eacham accommodation
On our way north we stopped off for a one night stop in Yungaburra (see post) and we planned to stay in the same caravan park on the way back down; but it was booked out! So we hurriedly searched for another place to stay and found Lake Eacham Tourist Park and wow were we lucky as it was a top spot; only 7 powered sites set in bushland (maplink).
We used this as our base to explore the famous Atherton Tablelands region. These photos of the caravan park have been sourced off the web (as we forgot to take any!)…
Lake Eacham
Located approx 500 metres from our campground the Lake Eacham features a beautiful 3 km walk around it’s perimeter. We discovered some turtles at one point plus two gigantic Kauri Pines, each were about 6 metres in diameter.
Malanda Falls
Malanda Falls are located right in the small town of Malanda. These falls are really beautiful with a fantastic tiled entry board created by local indigenous artists.
Yungaburra Platypus
The town of Yungaburra has a platypus viewing platform on the edge of town, over Peterson Creek. So off we travelled and there they were – we saw several of these elusive creatures drom the platform and then more along the walking trail on the opposite side of the main road. Really cool little animals who can swim faster than expected.
Yungaburra Curtain Fig Tree
The Curtain Fig Tree is a heritage-listed tree and is one of the largest trees in Tropical North Queensland. It’s one of the best known attractions on the Atherton Tableland just outside of Yungaburra.
Photographs don’t really do this magnificent tree any real justice. You have to visit it to take in the true awesomeness of this tree.
Lake Barrine
Lake Barrine Tea-house was lovely place to have lunch on our last day in the Tablelands. Sitting in this heritage listed tea-house with views over Lake Barrine was very calming and the food was fantastic.
Lake Barrine, part of Crater Lakes National Park, is a maar – a crater lake formed by two massive volcanic explosions.
Herberton Historical Village
A day out to the Herberton Historical Village is a “must” when you are visiting the Atherton Tablelands region (maplink). This attraction has been put together over the years by very conscientious volunteers and the amount of memorabilia is outstanding.
We spent the day exploring the village with our new travelling buddies, Paul & Estha along with their wonder-dog, NiggaBella.
The Village currently has over 60 original buildings that date from Herberton’s foundation years. Walking through the Village, we were given a sense of being in a real township complete with chemist, bottle collection, school, bank, grocer’s store, frock salon, toy shop, mechanic, jail and more.
There was sooo much to see I may have taken tooo many photos. Take your time to check them out as it really shows how much there is to see here. I took 156 photos but cut them back as best I could to 47. Enjoy…
Summing up…
- Accommodation – Lake Eacham Tourist Park (website)
- Cost per night – $29.00 (@ 7-Oct-2020) we stayed for 4 nights
- Facilities – pretty basic, but very clean and they fit into the bush style campground
- CP Location – 198 Lakes Dr, Lake Eacham QLD (maplink)
- Our rating/score – 8/10
- Was it a nice town to visit? – Yes
- Activities & places of interest – There is so much to do in the Atherton Tablelands that we could have stayed a couple of weeks
- Tourist info centre? – Silo Rd &, Main St, Atherton (website)
- Would we return? – YES – This is a definite destination to go to
- Overall Score – 9/10
- Summing up – A fantastic little caravan park and we met some really fantastic people and saw some great attractions.
