Millaa Millaa and Surrounds

Philip's cycling group decided to do a 40k cycle departing from, and returning to, Millaa Millaa. The first part of the ride was a climb of 900m that took them to the wind farms at Windy Hill near Ravenshoe and the second part was a nice downhill along the old Palmerston Highway. It took them roughly three hours but the eight cyclists seemed to enjoy the challenge.  

(You can see the road that Philip followed in this photo and where we are standing is the beginning of the downward part of the ride. Quite an achievement to cycle this)

We decided to take the caravan to Millaa and have a good look around the area.  We also needed to brush the cobwebs off the kayak and take it for a spin around Lakes Eacham and Barrine.  This area is a host to many beautiful waterfalls and walks and the Mamu Skywalk is something we have always wanted to do.  Being the foodie I also wanted to visit the Mungalli Dairy Cafe to purchase some goodies.

Our first day was a trip to Yungaburra to walk Petersens Creek.  It is a relatively short walk but has a few challenging uphills for a good workout. 

We walked all the way from the bridge to the railway bridge and it really was a lovely walk. The locals have put a lot of time into rehabilitation of the riparian area with lots of plants to stop any potential erosion.  We crossed over the suspension bridge and headed towards the Old Water Turbine that had us intrigued.  Next stop was the inviting waters of Frawleys Pool.  Unfortunately we didn't bring our bathers so we had to be content to just dipping our toes into the cool water.  From here it was uphill to the Old Railway Bridge that we also found fascinating.  The walk, although short, took us two hours with various stops along the way.

The following day we drove down the Palmerston Highway to the Mamu Skywalk.  We have driven past several times always promising to stop when we had the time. Today we had the time and I have to say it was absolutely worth the stop.  The skywalk is around 2km one way and words cannot describe just how great this walk is.  The views from the elevated walk, cantilever bridge and the 37m high tower take in the whole of Woolooran National Park and Johnston River. It was truly spectacular and we would do it again in a heartbeat.

After Mamu we headed back along the Palmerston Highway and stopped to do the walk into Wallicher and Tchupala Falls.  These two falls are also picturesque and the walk in was very easy but as we had rain the day before we managed to pick up a few leeches.  Ugghh!  It was getting late and our bellies were telling us that it was time to head home so after a couple of quick photos, we headed home.

Days four and five were devoted to kayaking on the two lakes, Barrine and Eucham.  Eucham was first on the list and it is a very easy paddle around the small lake.  Philip wanted to do it twice but I suggested we go for a swim in the lovely warm water.  I splashed around but Philip stood perfectly still and let all the little fish clean up his feet.  They needed it 😁.  After we packed up the kayak and headed back to the van for a quick lunch we headed out to the Waterfall Circuit at Millaa.  The three waterfalls, Millaa, Zillie and Ellinjaa are all beautiful falls and well worth the walks to get to them.  We had been to these falls previously with my old photography group and I still think Ellinjaa Falls are my favourite.  We watched somebody with a drone taking aerial photos of the falls and regretted not bringing our drone with us.

Day five was my favourite day.  We made our way to Lake Barrine and straight up did the 5km circuit of the lake.  It is a very easy level walk with plenty of photo opportunities along the way.  After the walk we stopped into the teahouse for their renowned Devonshire Tea.  Yummo.  It was then time to work off the calories so once again we assembled the kayak and headed to the water.  I thoroughly enjoyed this paddle. We had a few challenging moments with the wind blowing across the lake but all up it was a great paddle that took us roughly an hour with plenty of stops along the way.  It was a great way to end our stay at Millaa.

We stayed at the Millaa Millaa Van park and I can highly recommend this lovely park.  We got to chose our own site and chose one away from trees.  We probably should have chosen one with a cement slab as the rain made it a little sloshy but nothing that worried us too much.  The one thing we loved about this park was that apart from the amenities block there were upmarket plumbed-in "port-a-loos" scattered throughout the park.  We have never seen this before and it is was very convenient that we had one right beside our site.  We had six nights here and would certainly return.