Eungella & the Pioneer Valley

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Point the car west from Mackay and within an hour the cane gives way to a green valley, then a wall of misty ranges. This is Eungella — rainforest, waterfalls, and some of the most dependable wild platypus watching in Australia.

The drive up the valley

The Pioneer Valley unrolls west of the city, a patchwork of cane farms, small towns and the Pioneer River, with the ranges rising ahead of you the whole way. It is an easy, scenic drive that is a pleasure in its own right, past old sugar-district settlements before the road climbs steeply to the plateau.

Platypus at Broken River

Eungella National Park protects one of the longest continuous stretches of subtropical rainforest in Australia, and the pools at Broken River are famous as one of the best places in the country to see wild platypus. Patience is the trick: settle quietly on the viewing platforms in the early morning or late afternoon, watch the water, and let the animals come to you. Turtles, water dragons and a rich birdlife share the river.

Rainforest and waterfalls

Walking tracks thread the forest, from short strolls to longer walks, cool and green even when the coast is hot. The plateau country has waterfalls and lookouts across the valley you have just driven up. It is a different climate up here — bring a layer, and expect the mist that gives the range its character.

Back on the coast, the northern beaches make a natural other half to a Mackay weekend.