The Atherton Tablelands (Atherton Tableland), part of the Great Dividing range, spread over an area of about 650 square kilometres in the North-Eastern part of Australia in Queensland. This is a relatively low plateau – its height varies from 600 to 1100 m above sea level. The geological history of the plateau is very interesting: many hills are extinct volcanoes, craters which are now splashing around the lake. Here there are a lot of endemic, that is not present anywhere else in the world, species of flora and fauna: a shy tree-kangaroo, wallabies, opossums, marsupials, flying squirrels and secretive platypus.
Since ancient times, the main inhabitant of the Atherton Tablelands were the aboriginal tribes, whose population has declined sharply with the advent of the Europeans here. In 1875 James Mulligan and John Atherton, after which later the area got its name, independently of each explored the plateau. The travelers managed to find rich deposits of tin near future settlements Herberton, which caused the flow of migrants to these places. Active colonization of the region provoked the construction of the road from Port Douglas to Herberton, and in 1886 founded the town of Atherton. Today on the plateau there are several cities: Atherton, Kairi, Kuranda, Marib, Malanda, Milla-Milla, Ravenshoe, Herberton.
Interestingly, one of the first foreigners on the plateau were the Chinese: in the beginning of the century in Chinatown in Atherton lived more thousands of Chinese, most of whom were engaged in agriculture.
In 1925, construction of the road "Gillis", which allowed to reach the plateau from the coast of the Coral sea in just a day. In 1955, on the Barron river was built the dam.
Today, the Atherton Tablelands is one of the largest agricultural centers in the country, it grows sugar cane, avocado, corn, strawberries, citrus and mango. Most actively developing tourism.
To services of visitors of the plateau are numerous opportunities for recreation: walking trails, bird watching and animals, tours in limestone caves, hot air ballooning, fishing, rafting, water skiing.
A 15-minute drive from the town of Atherton is lake Tinaroo of the same village on the coast. The lake itself is artificial, it was formed after the construction of a dam on the Barron river. Today Tinaroo is a very popular tourist place, where you can enjoy a variety of water sports or simply relax on the sandy beach. Here begins the 28-kilometer road Danbulla drive, passing by plantations of pineapple and eucalyptus trees, protected by the state through the rain forest and the land of the humid tropics.
Two of the famous "blue" icon evergreen plateau – crater lake Barrine (Barrine) and ICAM (Eacham), listed as a world natural heritage site by UNESCO. Along the shores of both lakes paved circular Hiking trails, while walking which can be found musk kangaroo rat. In the vicinity of lake Barrine are two amazing wood twin new Zealand agathis" is authentically established that their age is 1100 years old!
You can also visit the 90-foot waterfalls Mungalli falls 13 km from the town of Milla-Milla – the highest waterfalls on the Atherton Tablelands.