On day 3 of our FNQ trip Pat and John showed us around the Atherton area starting at Yungaburra where they live on the edge of Lake Tinaroo.

It was a chilly start to the day with some frost on the grass and mist rising from the lake.

We started the day by spotting a platypus in the water at the bottom of their garden.

From Yungaburra it was a short drive to the “Curtain Fig” a massive fig tree.

Not far away we stopped at Lake Eacham, a crate lake and walked 3km around its perimeter. Sigi had to cool off with a quick swim after that. The rest of us watched.

From there it was a short drive to Lake Barrine, another crater lake, for lunch at a cafe that’s been run by the same (Curry) family for almost 100 years.

It has a lovely deck overlooking the lake. More info here:

The Teahouse Cafe – Lake Barrine Teahouse and Rainforest Cruises

Then it was on to the Nerada tea plantation, where they have a tea room and tree kangaroos. Yes these interesting animals are native to the area and live high up the trees on the property. So we saw our first tree kangaroos right up high in the trees and surprise, surprise, had a devonshire tea!

Nerada Tea » Nerada Tea Rooms | Visit Australia’s largest tea plantation

A bit further we visited the Mt Hypipamee crater and Dinner Falls on the upper reaches of the Barron River.

We finished off the day with more platypus spotting at Peterson Creek just around the corner from John and Pat’s.

Then it was back to their place for – you guessed it – some sundown drinks on the deck.