The Atherton Tableland is the bit of tropical Queensland that feels like it has wandered in from somewhere cooler. At seven or eight hundred metres above the sea, the plateau behind Cairns has red volcanic soil, dairy pastures, crater lakes and patches of rainforest that cling to the ridges.
The riding up here is some of the best in north Queensland. The Kennedy Highway runs south from Atherton toward Ravenshoe through rolling farmland and timbered hills, while the back roads toward Malanda and Millaa Millaa wind between pastures and rainforest with lovely flowing corners. Surfaces vary from smooth to patched, and in the wet season you will meet mud washed across the road from farm tracks. Mist often hangs in the valleys early in the morning and burns off by mid-morning, leaving a clear, cool day that is a gift after the steamy coast.
Atherton, about eighteen kilometres away, is the main town with fuel, supermarkets and a decent spread of cafés. Malanda is smaller and known for its dairy industry and its waterfall pool, which is a popular cool-off spot. Ravenshoe, to the south, likes to claim the highest pub in Queensland and is a fine place for a cold drink and a look at the old timber country around it.
This is tree-kangaroo country. Lumholtz's tree kangaroos live in the rainforest remnants of the Tablelands, and if you are very lucky and very patient you may see one hunched in a tree near a roadside reserve. The volcanic history is everywhere: crater lakes like Eacham and Barrine sit in old eruption craters to the north-east, and the soil that feeds all those cows came out of the ground as ash.
Go between May and September for the clearest weather, and pack a warm layer, since mornings up here can be genuinely chilly. In the wet, rain arrives in long soaking sessions. Either way, it is a place that reminds you how varied Australia can be in a single morning's ride.