Mareeba, Queensland

Three Hundred Days of Sunshine a Year!

 
  
  
Mareeba is the largest town on the Atherton Tablelands and sits atop the Great Dividing Range. It is considered by many to be ‘The Gateway to the Cape of Carpentaria’. It is approximately 400m above sea level on the confluence of the Barron River, Granite Creek and Emerald Creek. Mareeba is an Aboriginal word meaning “meeting place of the waters”.

The fertile district around Mareeba supports an abundance of agricultural and horticultural crops. The region has long had a reputation as the food lover’s paradise and is brimming in tropical fruit plantations, farms and wineries. This rich agricultural town produces 90% of Australia’s Coffee, as well as exotic fruits and nuts, including mangoes, avocados, lychees, pineapples, bananas, citrus, paw paw, sugarcane and much more. It is also rich in mining, beef cattle production and tourism, with much of the town’s water obtained from Lake Tinaroo Dam, through hundreds of kilometers of channels built for irrigation in the late 1950’s.

Boasting 300 sunny days a year, Mareeba is the hot air ballooning capital of Australia! The climate is ideal for all such outdoor activities and ballooning companies such as Raging Thunder Adventures allow you to view Mareeba’s rich and diverse countryside from up above. The Mareeba Airport is home to Warbirds Adventure, which operates a fleet of ex-military WWII aircraft. The annual Warbirds Air show takes place here each August and has an international following. Alternatively when visiting the Jaques Coffee Plantation, you can view the ever changing scenery below in a Microlight aircraft. 

The Mareeba Rodeo (which is held every July), has long been a national icon on the Australian rodeo calendar, attracting the best of riders and clowns from both Australia and the USA. The now renown ‘Christmas in July’ extravaganza is also held annually, when the travelling ‘Grey Nomads’ open their motor homes and caravans for the general public’s viewing. Both of these events have the streets of Mareeba bustling, as well as being a great economic driver to the Tablelands Region as a whole.

Mareeba’s diverse habitats is also home to almost half of Australia’s 750 bird species and has been acknowledged by birding experts as being the richest region for birdlife in Australia! Rare birds such as the Gouldian Finch, Yellow-breasted Boatbill, Red Goshawk, Sooty Owl and Buff-breasted Button Quail are found here. The Mareeba Wetlands is a unique sanctuary and has a regionally significant Brolga and Sarus Crane roost, an established captive breeding and reintroduction program and is part of the National Austral Bush Heritage Fund network of Reserves. In the nearby Mt Molloy area, there are over 300 species recorded, exceeding counts in renowned places such as Kakadu National Park!

Mareeba has both a developing Industrial Park and a General Aviation Precinct. The Industrial Park is being developed in a number of stages, so as to provide affordable land which is zoned to accommodate a wide range of industrial activities. Additionally, the Mareeba General Aviation Precinct is also being developed at the airport, which is emerging as a major regional centre in the Far North’s fast growing general aviation industry.

Mareeba is one of Far North Queensland’s fastest growing townships, rich in both its natural and economic resources. Surrounded by mining interests, a buoyant economy and capital growth, Mareeba is truly a burgeoning centre and the envy of many. Recognised for its beauty, the quality of its environment, abundant water and natural, rich resources, Mareeba is a lifestyle region, now chosen by many as either home or the keeper of their investments.

First image courtesy of Raging Thunder Adventure Holidays.
Second image courtesy of Tropical Tablelands Tourism.
Third image courtesy of Jaques Coffee Plantation.