Widest Waterfall in Australia – Millstream Falls

May 15

Millstream Falls is reputedly the widest single drop waterfall in Australia.

It is situated less than 5km from Ravenshoe (Queensland’s highest town) on the Atherton Tablelands in Australia’s tropical north, or… as the sign below points out:

718km as the crow flies from Mt Isa
1,376km from Alice Springs in the red centre
1,704km from Coober Pedy in South Australia, or
1,780km from Darwin in the Northern Territory

The Millstream Valley was created more than 3 million years ago when the 300 million year old rhyolites & granites were eroded forming an ancient landscape of rugged hills and deep valleys.

Between 3 and 1.2 million years ago Windy Hill, near Ravenshoe (where the wind turbines now stand) was created by a basalt volcano, (as seen in the diagram above) and it is this weathered black basalt rock that has created the rich agricultural soils of the Ravenshoe area.

Periodic volcanic eruptions poured 3 lava flows into the rivers partly filling Millstream and other ancient valleys.

The oldest of these flows forms the base of the falls today and the youngest flows (1.24 million years old) form the upper slopes of the valley (where the car park is now situated).

As each lava flow cooled, the contractions formed vertical cracks and produced columns, which are visible in the cliffs and rock surfaces above the falls.

Erosion by the river then cut through the lava flow layers and cooling columns creating this sharp drop over which the water today cascades.

As the area is in the rain shadow of the eastern dividing ranges, the woodland here is dry and open and so dominated by eucalypts. A contrast to the rainforest that can be seen only kilometres away.

The walk down from the carpark at the top of the valley edge (where there is a picnic area and compost toilet) is via a paved narrow track that steadily descends through this open forest past beautiful eucalypt trees, some of which have glorious tactile trunks shedding their bark.

While the walk down is the easy part -

The climb back up afterwards is worth the effort!

I hadn’t heard a lot about these falls – And unless you’re familiar with their name it would be easy to drive right past the brown national park sign that simply points to Millstream Falls off the Kennedy Highway – So if you’re driving that way, keep your eyes peeled!

Have you already been there?

Or what is the largest or widest or highest waterfall you’ve seen?

Kangaroos & Emus – Seeing Australia’s National Emblems

May 8

When on a road trip in Oz, there are certain Australian icons

one not only hopes to see, but expects to see.

Like classic Australian road signs not encountered in other parts of the world…

To heritage icons relating to European settlement, such as station homesteads established by pioneering explorers…

…and their introduced farming livestock

And hints of an outback way of life reflected by little signs such as this ‘hutch’ placed on the roadside at drive-way’s end…

…where essentials can be deposited by passing services (if they’re not too far out of town) including the odd letter if they have a roadside mail delivery (RMD) address.

Then there’s the iconic turning, churning water windmills that creak and clank as they pump the outback’s precious liquid gold up to the surface to sustain the lives of farmed species unused to Australia’s dry conditions.

But… there’s nothing more iconic than the native kangaroo and emu, which holding up the Australian coat of arms are part of Australia’s national emblem.

No Australia road trip is complete without a kangaroo and/or emu sighting!

The above coat of arms has been in use in Australia since 1912.

The red kangaroo to the left, and emu to the right, support a central shield that depicts the badges of each modern Australian State ~

NSW, Victoria and Queensland (from left to right along the top line) and South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania (along the bottom line)

The seven pointed ‘Commonwealth Star’ sitting above the shield represents the six states (in the shield), with the seventh point representing the combined Territories (NT & ACT).

We spotted these two kangaroos at Undara Lava Tubes on the Atherton Tablelands – Notice the joey feet sticking out of the pouch of the one on the left

There are over 60 different species of kangaroo ranging in size from 0.5kg (1 lb) to 90kg (200lbs).

This mother and joey were enjoying some shade, again at Undara Lava Tubes.

All kangaroos are macropods, meaning ‘great-footed’ and belong to the Macropodoidea family.

The Macropodoidea family includes kangaroos, wallabies, wallaroos, pademelons, tree-kangaroos and forest wallabies.

The Potoroinae (potoroid) family of kangaroos includes the smaller potoroo, bettong and rat-kangaroo.

The main difference between a kangaroo and a wallaby is it’s size.

This kangaroo was keeping an eye out while her joey took a drink from the creek at Innot Hot Springs, up on the Atherton Tablelands.

Kangaroos are herbivorous, eating a range of plant life. They are marsupials meaning the females give birth to a relatively immature young (just a few centimetres long), which crawls into her front pouch and attaches to one of her four teats where the young ‘joey’ is raised. When large enough to venture out, the young will still return to the pouch for nourishment, warmth and protection until mature enough to be totally independent.

Emus are the third largest bird in the world after the ostrich and cassowary, reaching up to 2 metres (6’6″). They are flightless.

When it comes to breeding the male and female make a ground nest of grass and twigs where the female lays between 5 and 20 eggs but then leaves the inncubation and rearing in its entirety to the male.

We spotted this emu and his chick north of Charter Towers, when we were heading up towards the Atherton Tablelands.

The male emu will seldom leave the nest for 8 to 10 weeks during incubation, and after the chicks have hatched the young can remain with their father until they become sexually mature at about 18 months.

All photos above were taken on our recent road-trip from the red centre to the Atherton Tablelands where we happily saw these beautiful kangaroos and emus!

Have you seen Australia’s emblematic natives in the wild?

Do tell in the comments below

Milk & Beer in Malanda – the Heart of the Atherton Tablelands

May 1

After days travelling in Central Australia over miles of red dirt and endless plains…

…we turned left at Charters Towers (135 km short of hitting the east coast) in tropical north Queensland

and entered the lush green world of the Atherton Tablelands.

What a different landscape!

Malanda, our destination, is synonymous with milk and cheese, and when you see this verdant landscape, it oozes contented cows.

In 1908 John English (the Malanda Hotel’s first publican) along with James Emerson saw the district’s dairy potential and herded over 1,000 cattle, 2,000 km from northern NSW to Malanda ~ Only half made the arduous journey that took over sixteen months, but from those that did survive, the local dairy industry was established and by 1919 Malanda had it’s own butter factory.

Malanda township was officially established in 1911 (just over 100 years ago) when the railway from Cairns arrived. It had crept its way up the range reaching Kuranda in 1890, Mareeba in 1893 and Atherton in 1903. (The line was sadly closed in 1964.)

While James English founded Malanda pub it was his wife Catherine and daughter Mary that ran the pub. Mary’s husband Jack Hanrahan bought the pub from James in 1923, but in 1976 it was repurchased by Tom English, the grandson of the original owner and is now run by his son, Michael and grandson, Jeffrey.

It was officially opened on Boxing Day 19011 ~

Below is a photo from this auspicious day.

“Most of the revellers came on a special train from Cairns. They enjoyed the wood chops and sports during the day, then they danced on the balcony all night. At 8am the next day, they caught the train back to Cairns.”

Walking under the verandah down the main street, this is the view you get through the open windows of where people can take a refreshing drink.

From the inside, you can imagine kicking back whilst striking up conversations with people you know as they pass running errands or picking up supplies.

As you walk inside the Malanda Hotel, you feel little has changed since it opened. You are greeted by a magnificent staircase made from local silky oak milled at the Malanda sawmill. There is a claim that with the stunning timber ballroom and staircase that the Malanda Hotel is Australia’s largest wooden structure!

The original stained glass doors off to the right lead you into the ‘Commercial Room’.

In commemoration of the opening of Malanda as a township in 1911 a picnic was held at the beautiful Malanda Falls.

Today, little has changed other than the road that now goes over a bridge.

Have you ventured up onto the Atherton Tablelands?

Where did you go? What did you see?

Or is it still on the ‘One Day’ list?

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Category: Travel ~ Australia

Widest Waterfall in Australia – Millstream Falls

Millstream Falls is reputedly the widest single drop waterfall in Australia.

Kangaroos & Emus – Seeing Australia’s National Emblems

When on a road trip in Oz, there are certain Australian icons

Milk & Beer in Malanda – the Heart of the Atherton Tablelands