Every region needs one slightly sinister attraction, and the Tablelands nails it. At Mount Hypipamee National Park, high on the range between Atherton and Ravenshoe, a short rainforest walk delivers you to the lip of The Crater: a sheer-walled volcanic pipe punched through the granite, with a viewing platform hanging 58 metres above a disc of dark, duckweed-green water whose depths run deeper still. It looks like the lair of something. Standing on the platform and peering down produces the same delighted shiver in everyone.
The Crater and Dinner Falls
The Crater walk is an easy 800-metre round trip through high-altitude rainforest, and the loop back runs via Dinner Falls, where the infant Barron River drops through a series of pretty cascades over columned rock (the top pools are popular paddling spots in low, clear conditions; the usual rules about rain and signage apply). Between the two, the walk packs more geology per minute than anywhere else up here: The Crater is a diatreme, blasted through by volcanic gases, and the interpretive signs tell the story well.
What the Crater actually is
Queensland Parks describes it as a deep, cylindrical volcanic pipe with a lake at the bottom, and that description undersells the effect of standing at the railing looking down into it. This is not a lookout over a valley, it is a hole in the earth with green water at the bottom of it, and it is unlike anything else on the Tablelands.
How far, and how long
The park sits 25 kilometres south of Atherton and about 110 kilometres south-west of Cairns. The walk to the crater lookout is short, which makes this one of the highest reward-to-effort stops in the region: you park, you walk a few minutes through rainforest, and you are looking at it. Allow an hour for the park rather than ten minutes, because the forest around the track is worth slowing down for.
Facilities and access
There are picnic tables and toilets. Queensland Parks does not publish wheelchair access detail for this park, so if that matters, treat the track as unknown rather than assumed. There were no park alerts at the time of writing, but check before you drive out, because tracks up here close after heavy rain and during planned burns.
The wildlife, and going at the right hour
Queensland Parks describes a remarkable diversity of possums here across several forest types, and this stretch of the Tablelands is also Lumholtz tree-kangaroo and glider country. That makes Mount Hypipamee one of the better spotlighting stops in the far north. If you are staying on the Tablelands rather than the coast, coming back after dark with a torch is a completely different park from the one you saw at midday.
After dark: the possum show
Hypipamee’s altitude makes it one of Australia’s best spots for high-country rainforest wildlife, and after dark the park becomes a spotlighting pilgrimage: rare possum species (including the wonderfully odd green ringtail) and tree kangaroos live here, and guided night tours from Cairns and the Tablelands include it for exactly that reason. If you’re self-spotlighting, red-filtered torches, quiet feet and patience are the etiquette.
The picnic area with its cold mountain air rounds out the stop; pack a thermos and feel briefly alpine, in Queensland.
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Where to stay near Mount Hypipamee
Stare into the crater, then drive ten minutes to bed
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FAQs
How deep is The Crater at Mount Hypipamee? The viewing platform stands about 58 metres above the water, and the lake below continues tens of metres deeper again. The green surface is duckweed, not paint, though you’d be forgiven for checking.
Can you swim in The Crater? Absolutely not, and you won’t want to: it’s a sheer-walled shaft with no access. Dinner Falls on the same loop offers the paddling, conditions and signage permitting.
How long is the walk? About 800 metres round trip on a well-made track, looping past Dinner Falls: 30 to 45 unhurried minutes covers both.
Where is Mount Hypipamee? On the Kennedy Highway between Atherton and Ravenshoe, about 25 minutes south of Atherton: an easy add to any southern Tablelands loop.
Why do night tours visit Mount Hypipamee? The high-altitude rainforest hosts rare possums and tree kangaroos found in few other accessible places; after dark with a spotlight it’s among Australia’s best mammal-watching sites.
Nearby
Header photo: Philip Warring. Courtesy of Tourism and Events Queensland.
