Granite Gorge, Atherton Tablelands
This photo was taken at the stunning Granite Gorge Nature Park 12 km west of the town of Mareeba on the Queensland Atherton Tablelands. The nature park, which features campsites and cabins is also open to day visitors for a nominal fee. Huge boulders festoon the landscape and, in this location are covered with Mareeba unadorned rock wallabies. These cute little guys are wild, and it was an amazing experience for the boys. The slightly anxious look on my face is because my one and only phobia is of rats. The wallabies were a little too rat like for my complete comfort. The park’s hostess warmly welcomed the boys and, as well as these marsupial inhabitants the kids were introduced to a number of local reptiles.
Granite Gorge nature park
That is so cool! Can you touch the wallabies? Will they let you hold them? Or maybe they’re not as soft and cuddly as they look, I don’t know. It’d be fun to have them hopping all around, though.
Hi Sonja,
You can feed them with pellets, and they might let you pat them. In general they are a little shy though.
We’ve been up to Atherton a couple of times (my husband was originally from Cairns) but we’ve never made it to this spot. It looks absolutely amazing with kids. I bet the boys spent a fair amount of time trying to work out how to climb all those rocks! Love the expression on your face -its that ‘come on take the photo so I can move!’ look. Those rock wallabies are cute but I can see what you mean about being a little rat like.
Hi Tracy,
Thanks for your comment Tracy. What the photo doesn’t show was how many of the wallabies were there – at least 50. We did have an interesting walk with the boys over the boulders – actually strayed off the path and got shortly lost. I thought one of them would break a leg for sure. We only moved here 3 years ago but I’m surprised how much we enjoy the Tablelands – it is a location full of hidden gems like this one.
I have been to Granite Gorge. It was in flood when we were there which was amazing, and the Pademelons were there also. It looked like a nice place to camp – good for families or groups of friends with children.