Atherton Tablelands Wildlife + Waterfalls Tour: The Easy Way to Swim Through It All

The Atherton Tablelands is one of those places where every twenty minutes you want to pull over again. There is another waterfall, another swimming hole, another farm selling something delicious, another rainforest tree that looks like it belongs in a fantasy movie, and another tiny road disappearing into green hills.

That is exactly why I like this tour. It gives you the biggest waterfall-and-wildlife day without asking you to plan the route, watch the clock or personally drive any of the mountain roads.

Why I would choose the tour instead of driving

The Tablelands roads are beautiful, but the Gillies Range can be terrifying if you are even slightly scared of heights. The bends are tight, the drop-offs feel very present, and the driver does not get to enjoy much of the view because they are busy doing actual work.

On this tour, somebody else handles all of it. You climb onto the bus at the Reef Fleet Terminal, settle in and spend the day being delivered to the places I would tell you to visit anyway. You get to look out the window instead of white-knuckling the steering wheel.

The itinerary is also wonderfully full: Babinda Boulders, Josephine Falls, lunch at Mungalli Falls, Millaa Millaa Falls, Lake Eacham, the Cathedral Fig Tree and the Yungaburra platypus platform. Trying to fit that into one self-driving day would make me feel rushed. On a tour, the timing is someone else’s problem.

Babinda Boulders

Babinda Boulders could be an entire article by itself. We love going early on a Saturday, picking up sandwiches from one of our favorite Italian places and spending the whole morning there. The water, the rainforest and those enormous rounded boulders make it feel like a place designed specifically for disappearing from real life.

There are swimming areas and a walking trail down toward the waterfall lookouts. The water crashing through the rock formations is mind-boggling. It is beautiful in that slightly intimidating tropical way where you understand immediately why you stay in the designated swimming area and admire the rough water from the trail.

The tour stop is shorter than the mornings we spend there, but it gives you the best possible introduction. If Babinda becomes your favorite part of the day, come back later and give it the lazy half-day it deserves.

Josephine Falls

Then you get Josephine Falls, which is another ridiculously gorgeous rainforest swimming stop. The water works its way down smooth granite through a series of pools, and the whole place feels cool, green and hidden even though plenty of people know about it. It also is one of my favorite hikes to the waterfall, keep your eyes open for cassowaries! If you smell overly ripe fruit…they might be next to you.

This is the stop where I would already be grateful I was not driving. You can swim, climb out, pull on dry clothes and get back on the bus without thinking about directions, parking or how many hours are left in the day.

Lunch at Mungalli and the Millaa Millaa Falls photo

The tour takes care of lunch around Mungalli Falls, which is exactly what you want in the middle of a day built around swimming. You do not have to pack a complicated picnic or search for food while dripping wet. You sit down, eat and let somebody else keep track of where you are going next.

Millaa Millaa Falls is probably the waterfall you already have in your head. It is the tall, narrow curtain of water with one person standing beneath it looking impossibly tiny. It is one of the classic Tablelands photographs for a reason. The first time you see it in person, it still feels a little unreal.

Lake Eacham is cold as ice

I need to prepare you properly for Lake Eacham: it is cold as f*#k.

I mean genuinely, deeply, volcanic-crater cold. It is one of our favorite places to swim at the top of the Tablelands, especially in peak summer, but the first step into the water is a full-body negotiation. In winter, I am much less brave.

The lake is a volcanic maar and is about 65 metres deep. That is not the 600 feet or metres it feels like when you look down into the blue, but it is still very deep. You may see divers, little rainbow fish and turtles, and there is something thrilling about swimming in an old crater surrounded by rainforest.

Get in anyway. Scream if you need to. Once your body stops arguing, it is fantastic.

The Cathedral Fig Tree

The Cathedral Fig Tree is the kind of stop that makes everyone on the bus go quiet. Its roots open into enormous walls and chambers, and the canopy seems to disappear into the sky. You walk a short boardwalk around it and spend the entire time trying to understand how one living thing became that large.

This is also where the tour makes life easier. You are not puzzling over forest roads or deciding which entrance to use. You simply step off the bus and let the guide show you the tree.

Note: They will take you the way that doesn’t require as heavy 4×4 and 8 river crossing. So no guessing if you’re driving the right way or if you’ll sink the car.

Platypus at Yungaburra

Ending around the Yungaburra platypus viewing platform gives you one of the better chances of seeing a platypus because the day is getting later and the light is softening. Stand still, watch for little rings on the water and give it time.

Even without a platypus, Yungaburra is lovely. We like stopping at the old hotel for a beer, and the whole village has that cool green Tablelands feeling that makes you want to stay overnight instead of driving back to Cairns.

What to bring

Bring swimmers, a towel, sandals or shoes that can handle wet paths, sunscreen, a hat, a refillable water bottle and dry clothes for the bus. Add a light jumper in the cooler months because the Tablelands can feel completely different from Cairns.

Most importantly, bring the willingness to get wet repeatedly. This is not a look-at-the-waterfalls-from-the-car-park day.

Yes—especially if you want the Tablelands highlights but do not want to drive. You get the swimming holes, the famous waterfall, the crater lake, the giant fig tree and the chance of a platypus, while somebody else handles the road, the schedule and lunch.

If one day sounds perfect, book the tour. If you are already thinking that forty-five minutes at a swimming hole will never be enough, read my three-day Atherton Tablelands road trip next.

Book the Atherton Tablelands wildlife + waterfalls tour →