Crater Lakes National Park

Lake Eacham offers swimming, canoeing, bird-watching, and walking—including on the 2-mile (3-kilometer) path around the water—with viewing platforms to see the fish and turtles that swim in the lake. Lake Barrine is larger, with a 90-year-old teahouse on its shores and 30-minute cruises on weekends. You can also walk around the lake on a 3-mile (5-kilometer) trail.

Travelers generally visit one or both lakes on a day trip from Cairns or their base in the Atherton Tablelands. Various Atherton Tablelands tours out of Cairns include a stop for a dip in Lake Eacham, tea at Lake Barrine, and/or a Lake Barrine cruise.

• Crater Lakes National Park is a good choice for swimmers and nature lovers.

• A freshwater crocodile lives in Lake Eacham. It’s not considered dangerous to humans, but you should not approach it.

• Park rules state that you should remain on the walking paths and boardwalks at all times.

• Lake Barrine Teahouse is accessible to travelers at all levels of mobility, with wheelchair-friendly bathrooms. The short walk to the bull kauri pines is also wheelchair accessible.

Crater Lakes National Park is in the Atherton Tablelands, about a 40-mile (65-kilometer) drive south of Cairns; the two lakes are less than a 10-minutes drive from each other and can easily be visited together. Lake Barrine is about a 15-mile (25-kilometer) drive east of Atherton, and Lake Eacham is about a 12-mile (20-kilometer) drive east of Atherton. There’s no public transit, so your best options are driving or joining a tour.

Crater Lakes National Park is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but is busiest on the weekends. Lake Barrine Teahouse is open morning to mid-afternoon on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, and weekends, with cruises in the morning and early afternoon on the weekends.

On the shores of Lake Barrine, the timber Lake Barrine Teahouse was first built in the 1930s and, four generations later, remains family-owned. It’s locally famous for its Devonshire teas, with scones made from an old-time family recipe and jam prepared from blueberries and rain-forest ooray plum. The family also operates boat cruises on the lake.