Take any road inland from the main highway through Cairns and you’ll soon be climbing the great Dividing Range towards the Atherton Tableland. Heading north from Cairns, the main road inland is the Kennedy Highway. It leaves the highway at Smithfield and heads for the Barron Gorge, Kuranda and Mareeba. An earlier post about the train journey to Kuranda appeared here.
Instead, heading south from Cairns to Gordonvale, a less busy road, the Gillies Highway, climbs the range, with 38 km of very winding road towards the town of Yungaburra. There is no stopping for photos on the narrow road, as the driver is focussed on navigation and steering! After passing Lake Barrie and the Crater Lakes National Park, Yungaburra is reached in time for lunch! While not strictly ‘landscapes’, the town is quite photogenic.
The highlight of this visit to the hinterland is the nearby Curtain Fig National Park. As seems to be the case in Queensland, there is excellent signage to explain the nature of the park and the unique tree that provides the basis for its name.
