Kuranda

The route follows the Cook Highway past the Cairns airport to the Smithfield Shopping Centre. Within a very short space of time you will be riding through tropical rainforest.

The road meanders up the range to Kuranda, a small community on top of the range. You can take a side route through Kuranda to view the famous Barron River Falls.

Mareeba was famous for its tobacco industry but with the demise of that industry, alternative crops are being developed. One interesting new industry for the area is the production of Tea Tree oil. If you turn south at Mareeba you will be heading for Atherton.

A short distance from the turn off is a local privately owned military museum (Becks Historical War Museum). This museum is directly opposite the Mareeba airport that was much larger during World War Two than it is today. This is the airport that bombers flew from during the battle of the Coral Sea. It now serves as a gateway to the two gold mines and the cattle grazing properties and communities of Cape York.

The route then takes you through Walkamin and Tolga to Atherton which is the unofficial capital of the Tablelands. However, your ride does not have to end here. I would suggest that you ride to Kairi and Tinaroo Dam. There is a fascinating Orchid house at Tinaroo that any of you green fingers should not miss. From Tinaroo you can ride back through Kairi, turn south and ride to the Gillies Highway via Marks Lane. The fastest return route to Cairns is then via the Gillies Highway.

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