A road trip through the picturesque Atherton Tablelands reveals an emerging food destination.

Whipbirds call as we stalk through the Atherton Tablelands rainforest searching for a secret swimming hole.

Bamboo canes in hand to thwart any curious cassowaries, we clamber up slopes, duck under branches and dodge the hooks of the wait-a-while vine.

We’ve forgotten the map, but the swimming hole is located somewhere along 9km of walking tracks, which wind through Rose Gums Wilderness Retreat’s lush 93ha.

We hear running water before seeing the creek – fringed by ferns, dotted with mossy rocks and overlaid in parts by fallen logs.

The water is crystal clear but chilly, so we splash around only until rumbling stomachs signal that it’s time for breakfast.

Rose Gums Wilderness Retreat.

The previous day, we’d driven 80km from Cairns. Hitting the road lets you explore this fertile plateau at your own pace.

It’s full of picturesque waterfalls, crater lakes and subterranean caves, along with abundant hiking and biking trails.

It’s also one of the country’s prime growing regions, thanks to volcanic soils, subtropical temperatures and abundant rainfall.

Brimming with coffee, tea, cocoa beans, bananas, avocados, strawberries, citrus and native and tropical fruits, the good news for foodies is that many farms, fields, pastures and plantations are open to the public.

Having worked up an appetite with our early morning walk and swim, it’s a 40-minute drive south to Mungalli Creek Biodynamic Dairy and Farmhouse Cafe.

The Out of the Whey cafe and shop, built in the second-generation farmers’ childhood home, showcases local organic produce and features views towards Mt Bartle Frere, Queensland’s highest mountain.

I peek through the cafe’s viewing window into the production area before ordering the signature savoury cheesecake showcasing Mungalli’s quark, feta and yoghurt – a nourishing start to the day.

Mungalli is 10 minutes from the much-photographed Millaa Millaa Falls, the most accessible of a trio located on the Waterfall Circuit.

Mungalli Creek dairy.

We stop to take photos of the dramatic 18m drop before driving on to the Nerada Tea Rooms, located within Australia’s largest tea plantation and with its own family of rare Lumholtz’s tree kangaroos.

Tea tastings accompanied by scones and blackberry jam allow visitors to sample a selection, ranging from black tea spiked with lemon myrtle through to warming chai.

Our next stop is Gallo Dairyland, a working dairy farm with more than 200 Holstein-Friesian milking cows.

Visitors can view the afternoon milking session or design a cheese platter from a 15-strong range, including the `gallozola’ (gorgonzola-style blue vein cheese), `rainforest. (flavoured with chive and onion) and “misty mountain” (crumbly cheddar).

We duck into the village of Yungaburra, best known for its 500-yearold curtain fig tree, to explore the new Botanica gift shop.

This gem stocks the range from Rainforest Bounty, a regenerative native fruit farm and condiment business nearby.

Products include curry pastes, sauces, vinegars and chutneys made using Ooray plums, Boonjie tamarind and Cape York lillypilly. From there, it’s on to Shaylee Strawberries, where visitors can pick fruit from July to November.

We’ve arrived out of season, so instead order gelatos. The rich, creamy taste and texture is the product of locally sourced milk, fresh pouring cream and a hand-medown recipe.

Sweet treats at Gallo Dairyland.

Keen for a pick-me-up and knowing the Atherton Tablelands produces 80 percent of all Australian-grown coffee, we head north to Skybury Cafe and Roastery, just outside Mareeba.

We browse the shop, sample fresh papaya and order afternoon tea.

The papaya jam served with (yet more) scones is the burnt orange of a sunset.

A tour of the shop afterwards reveals that Skybury has also branched into alcohol with bottles of espresso coffee liqueur, papaya schnapps and vodka for sale.

Other producers in the region are also turning tropical fruit into tipple.

At Golden Drop Winery, surplus mangoes are transformed into wine and port; at de Brueys Boutique Wines, the raw ingredients include lychee, passionfruit, bush cherry and jaboticaba.

But we only have time for one last stop at Mt Uncle Distillery, with its innovative range of spirits, including award-winning rum, a hot pink marshmallow liqueur and several gins which put native botanicals like bunya nut and ginger pepperberry to work.

After sampling it all, I raise a shot glass of the fragrant red Ooray gin made from native plums.

It’s time to toast the end of a day well spent exploring one of Australia’s most exciting emerging food destinations.

Story Denise Cullen

Photos Tourism and Events Queensland

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