Why this ride
A dense sequence of passes, valleys and viewpoint roads. It also links naturally to Wet Tropics of Queensland.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Atherton Tablelands Waterfall Loop
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 248 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 52
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Access context
Check state road reports, fire, flood, fuel range and unsealed-road suitability. Specific flag: rain; wildlife.
Seasonal context
May-Oct
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Cairns
Cairns sits in the tropical far north of Queensland, with the Coral Sea on one side and a wall of rainforest mountains on the other, and the whole town is organised around the idea of being a launch pad. Boats leave daily for the Great Barrier Reef, small planes head for Cape York, and the road north runs up to the Daintree, where the oldest rainforest on earth meets the beach. The town was founded in the 1870s as a port for the goldfields at Hodgkinson River and later became a sugar and tourism centre. It is not especially pretty in the old-town sense, but the Esplanade, with its saltwater lagoon, mudflats full of waders and cheerful backpackers, has a relaxed tropical air.
Read the complete Cairns write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cairns sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Ravenshoe.
2. Ravenshoe
Ravenshoe is the highest town in Queensland, at about nine hundred and thirty metres, and you feel it the moment you climb out of the tropical coast: the air thins and cools, the cane fields give way to cattle pasture and tall eucalypt forest, and in winter there is a morning chill that surprises people who have come from Cairns in shorts. The town sits on the volcanic soils of the Atherton Tableland, red and rich, with remnants of rainforest on the edges. It began as a timber settlement, and was named after the novel Ravenshoe by Henry Kingsley, which a local timber getter was fond of, according to the story.
Read the complete Ravenshoe write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ravenshoe comes up 56 km in. Next is Atherton.
3. Atherton
Atherton sits at about 760 metres on the Tableland behind Cairns, and the first thing you notice after the climb from the coast is the air. It is cooler, drier and smells of cut grass and woodsmoke instead of mangrove mud. The Tableland is a high plateau of old volcanic soil, rich enough that the area grows maize, peanuts, potatoes, bananas, coffee and tea, and the countryside looks more like a patch of rolling green dairy land than the tropical north. Cattle graze under big, spreading trees, and crater lakes fill the hollows left by ancient eruptions.
Read the complete Atherton write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least 120 km in you reach Atherton. Next is Cairns.
4. Cairns
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cairns write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cairns, late in the day.
Recorded source links
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Gillies Range Road · 58 km
- Atherton Tablelands Loop · 205 km
- Main component and Component around Hugh Nelson Range · 176 km