Daintree, Atherton Tablelands, Mossman Gorge & Dunk Island – 8 Days

GROUP-GUIDED

OVERVIEW

THIS TRIP IS CURRENTLY BEING REDESIGNED. HOWEVER, YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN OUR BEAUTIFUL CARNAVON GORGE OR TOP END GROUP GUIDED TRIPS.

Tropical hiking in the Daintree Rainforest, the Atherton Tablelands, Mossman Gorge, Dunk Island and much more. Walk to waterfalls, through World Heritage rainforests, stroll along isolated tropical beaches, circumnavigate freshwater lakes, see one of the largest trees in Australia and visit a picturesque tropical island – this trip has it all.

At the Atherton Tablelands, we traverse the famous Millaa Millaa Falls. Importantly, the rainforest walks on the trip will lead us away from the tourist route to remote gorges, cascading waterfalls and secluded lakes. In the Daintree World Heritage area learn about the importance of mangroves; walk to Cape Tribulation and enjoy a two-night stay at a rainforest retreat.

At Mossman Gorge National Park, we’ll trek with the Kuku Yalanji Aboriginal people and learn about their bush foods, medicine and way of life. A highlight for many will be three nights at Mission Beach where we’ll enjoy beach walks, rainforest hikes and a day of walking on nearby Dunk Island.

Every last detail is taken care of so you can fully experience all the highlights of Australia’s tropical hiking. Accommodations are colourful and full of character complementing the surroundings. Chef prepared breakfasts and dinners make indulgent bookends to each day. With two outstanding guides looking after you, you can pace yourself with a choice of easier or harder walking options along the way.

WALK OVERVIEW

TYPE OF WALK

GROUP GUIDED

TRIP LENGTH

8 DAYS

WALK GRADE

Easy to Moderate

PRICE FROM

$ 3795

per person twin/double share

SINGLE OCCUPANCY

$ 735

per person

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Departure Dates

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ITINERARY

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8

DAY 1
CAIRNS TO DAINTREE AND CAPE TRIBULATION VIA BARRON GORGE

This holiday starts in Cairns at 8.00am. The first of our tropical walks is the Barron Gorge National Park. From Glacier Rock, there are sweeping views of Trinity Inlet, the Coral Sea and the city of Cairns.

Travel the scenic coastal route to Mossman then across the Daintree River by ferry into the heart of the Daintree National Park. This is the first crocodile territory encountered during the tour, but it is also where the rainforest meets the reef. On the route to our rainforest retreat the distances are small, but the steep, rainforest-covered mountains and narrow roads reduce driving speeds, eventually averaging just 40 km/h. We’ll spend two nights in the heart of the rainforest in an area frequented by elusive cassowaries.

Walking: Easy to moderate / 12 km / 4 hrs

Meals: Walkers lunch and two course a la carte dinner at hotel restaurant

Accommodation: Ferntree Rainforest Hotel in ensuited rooms

DAY 2
CAPE TRIBULATION WALK

Begin the day with an early morning walk looking for cassowaries. After breakfast, our Daintree walk starts out along a picturesque stretch of sandy beach. We’ll head inland along an elevated boardwalk through tidal mangroves and freshwater swamps where we often see kingfishers and catbirds. The track eventually emerges at a beach typical of a tropical hiking scene, overhung by the lush rainforest at Cape Tribulation – where rainforest meets reef. There’s time to have a relaxing walk along the beach. After lunch, we’ll board a small boat on a crocodile spotting cruise. After that we’ll stroll along a boardwalk through a fascinating environment. Then it’s back to our accommodation for the night. Azure Ulysses butterflies, platypus and cassowaries are just some of the fauna to look out for. On the Daintree walks we have been asked not to provide interpretation or guidance by the indigenous owners and only provide logistics.

Walking: Easy to moderate / 15 km / 5-6 hrs / easier option available

Meals: Cooked breakfast prepared by chefs at retreat, walkers lunch and 2 course a la carte dinner at hotel restaurant

Accommodation: Ferntree Rainforest Hotel in ensuited rooms

DAY 3
MOSSMAN GORGE, KUKU-YALANJI BUSH TUCKER WALK AND BUMP TRACK

Back south of the Daintree River, our first walk for today is at beautiful Mossman Gorge. This rainforest circuit walk is accessed by a high suspension bridge over a fast flowing, turbulent river. The gorge teems with wildlife, especially birds. Next is a special treat – the Kuku-Yalanji Bush Tucker Walk with the traditional custodians. Here you can learn how the Aboriginal people prepared and used various rainforest plants for shelter, medicines and food. This walk is a very popular part of our trip. Finish up sharing tea and damper with locals from the nearby village. After lunch, we leave the Daintree behind and hike up the historic ‘Bump Track’, an old trail blazed by early settlers to move supplies from the coast onto the Atherton Tablelands. Home for the next two nights will be in the historic tablelands village of Yungaburra.

Walking: Easy to moderate / 12 km / 5 hrs / easier option available

Meals: Cooked breakfast prepared by chefs at retreat, picnic lunch and two course a la carte dinner at restaurant

Accommodation: Yungaburra Park Motel in rooms with ensuites

DAY 4
ATHERTON TABLE LANDS AND MNT HYPIPAMEE

After an el fresco breakfast, we’ll enjoy a day of exploring the Atherton Tablelands and its stunning waterfalls. First stop is the curtain fig tree, a strangler fig that is one of the largest trees in Queensland and has a distinctive shawl of aerial roots. Next is Mt Hypipamee where we’ll hike to an unusual volcanic crater formed in the shape of a deep cylindrical hole. The Tablelands were formed after many volcanoes erupted. Some of these have filled with water and are now surrounded by rainforest and are home to numerous birds. Our final walk is a circuit walk right around the edge of one of these pristine crater lakes at Lake Barrine.

Walking: Easy to moderate / 13 km / 5 hrs / easier option available

Meals: Cooked breakfast prepared by chefs at local cafe, sit down lunch and a la carte dinner at restaurant

Accommodation: Yungaburra Park Motel in rooms with ensuites

DAY 5
WATERFALLS CIRCUIT IN WOOROONOORAN N.P. AND TO MISSION BEACH

Today, we start with the scenic Waterfalls Circuit drive where we’ll visit four waterfalls including picture-postcard Millaa Millaa Falls. There are waterfalls of all descriptions – gigantic, pretty, invigorating, serene and intimidating. Time to leave the tourists behind now and walk to Nandroya Falls walk in the Wooroonooran National Park. This delightful hike is our favourite and culminates in several waterfalls, cascading one after the other right beside the track. It makes a great picnic lunch stop. Then we’ll leave the Atherton Tablelands behind and head for Mission Beach on the coast. Finish the day with the short Licuala Walk and the hope of spotting a cassowary or two. Licualas are commonly known as fan palms and these spectacular palms tower overhead as the path meanders below.

Walking: Easy to moderate / 11 km / 4-5 hrs / easier option available

Meals: Cooked breakfast prepared by chefs at local cafe, walkers lunch and a two course dinner at restaurant

Accommodation: Castaways Resort Mission Beach in rooms with ensuites

DAY 6
KENNEDY TRACK AND MISSION BEACH WALK

The morning walk features more tropical walks in the form of picturesque beaches and rocky coves of the Kennedy Track as we head towards the remote Hull River. After a beachside picnic lunch and swim in the crystal-clear waters there will be a choice of afternoon walks – an easy beach stroll back to Mission Beach or a more challenging hike through rainforest to a high vantage point overlooking the region.

Walking: Moderate / 15 km / 4 hrs / 5 -6 hrs / easier option available

Meals: Cooked breakfast prepared by chefs at resort, walkers lunch and a two course dinner at local restaurant

Accommodation: Castaways Resort Mission Beach in rooms with ensuites

DAY 7
MISSION BEACH TO DUNK ISLAND BY BOAT AND WALK ON THE ISLAND

Travel to Dunk Island by boat and spend the day enjoying rainforest and beach walks. There will also be time to enjoy a swim at a delightful bay beach. A fitting finale.

Walking: Easy to Moderate / 9 km / 4 hrs / 3 -4 hrs / easier option is available

Meals: Cooked breakfast prepared by chefs at resort, walkers lunch and a two course dinner at resort restaurant

Accommodation: Castaways Resort Mission Beach in rooms with ensuites

DAY 8
MISSION BEACH TO CAIRNS

Travel back to Cairns after breakfast, finishing around 11:30am.

Meals: Cooked breakfast prepared by chefs at resort

WHAT’S INCLUDED

Pack-free walking
30+ years experience
Customised
Eco Travel

Genuine all inclusive pack free walking holiday
2 engaging, knowledgeable and experienced guides
7 nights’ comfortable ensuited accommodation
Cooked breakfasts, comprehensive walkers lunches and snacks and a la carte dinners each evening
All transport from Cairns, including all luggage transport
Indigenous walking tour and boat ride to Dunk Island
National Park admission
Auswalk guide pack including notes, maps, lunch bag and container

ACCOMMODATION & DINING

OVERVIEW

We stay in a range of resorts and motels in rooms with ensuites. The accommodations are in beautiful locations, providing a further opportunity to walk and explore but are also great places to just sit and relax and take everything in.

All the two course dinners are prepared by professional chefs most of them at the accommodation restaurants with a few meals taken in local eateries. The sit-down dinners are a real highlight particularly with the increased appetite after all the great walking through the day.

Each day we start with a substantial cooked breakfast in the accommodation restaurants, which is a great way to ready yourself for the upcoming walk.

The packed walkers lunches complete the circle ensuring that your appetite is always satisfied. A walkers lunch may include a high protein type salad, a roll or a wrap, a muesli bar, cake or muffin and a piece of fruit. Each day is slightly different. Lunch is always augmented by Auswalk’s trail mix.

Alcohol or drinks with meals are not included (except tea/coffee and juice with breakfast).

NIGHTS 1 & 2

DAINTREE

You will be staying at one of Ferntree Rainforest Lodge’s private cabins when you get to Daintree. The lodge is set in the heart of Cape Tribulation in the UNESCO world heritage site where the rainforest meets the reef.

Each of the private cabins has an ensuite bathroom with plush beds and a private porch. All have air-conditioning, ceiling fans and tea & coffee facilities, some of the welcoming comforts after a long day’s hike.
NIGHTS 3 & 4

YUNGABURRA

In the picturesque Atherton Tablelands, you will be staying in the Yungaburra Park Motel which is in walking distance to great cafes, restaurants and shops, as well as many sites such as the Curtain Fig Tree, platypus viewing in nearby Peterson Creek, the Afghanistan Avenue of Honour, Lake Tinaroo, Lake Eacham (great for swimming), Lake Barrine and the Nerada tea plantation.

The motel has spacious, air conditioned rooms complete with TVs and fridges and necessary kitchen basics. They also have a gazebo and a BBQ.
NIGHTS 5, 6 & 7

MISSION BEACH

For the last nights of your walk, you will stay at the Castaways Resort & Spa which is idyllically bound by the Great Barrier Reef and World Heritage Wet Tropics Rainforest. The resort has luxury beachfront rooms, self-contained apartments, a private Beachside Villa and lush Rainforest rooms spread over two centrally-located properties.

All the rooms within their beachfront property feature a private balcony or garden patio with stunning views out to the Coral Sea and Dunk Island. Staying there, you will have access to their facilities including their pools, guest laundry, the BUKO Mission Beach Restaurant and the Cocktail Bar. Wifi is free and accessible throughout the resort.

GENERAL INFO

The walking is outstanding on the trip, with everything from very easy to hard (optional) walks. Overall this holiday has easy to moderate walking along board walks, beaches and well graded walking tracks. There are some optional walks that are more challenging including the Bump Track and another with several river crossings. There’s an opportunity to stretch out on the Atherton tablelands but for the most part this is one of easier trips. This trip operates with two guides so we can offer easier and harder walk options along the way.

Pre and post tour accommodation: There are many good hotels in Cairns, however we pick up and drop off at one central hotel the Ibis Styles Cairns Hotel, 15 Florence Street, corner Florence and Lake St. The tour starts at the Hotel at 8.00am.

For what to bring please refer to Gear Advice on our FAQ section.

WEATHER

Tropical North Queensland is at its best for hiking during the cooler winter months. It can get chilly at night on the Atherton Tablelands but the daytime temperatures on the coast are great for being active.

See the Bureau of Meteorology for information about temperatures and rainfall ahead of time to ensure proper clothing.

INSURANCE

We require that you have adequate travel insurance against potential losses, damage or injury, including cancellation costs and loss of luggage.

For all trips that require international travel, you must have purchased travel insurance that also includes medical evacuation coverage.

We also charge a cancellation fee if you cancel your walking holiday after we have confirmed it to cover costs incurred from our suppliers and in the office. See the FAQ section for more information.

INFORMATION PACK

For nearly 30 years we have taken pride in providing seamlessly organised walking holidays, but we know, even with that in mind, that you’ll have many more questions. You will receive a very detailed information pack and itinerary approximately 6 weeks out from departure outlining all the fine detail and much more.

CONTACT

If you have any questions, feel free to ask one of our destination consultants or to speak with one of our guides. You can get in touch with us via our contact form, email us at info@auswalk.com.au, or call us on +61 3 9597 9767.

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Single Occupancy

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