Which is the Toughest?

In-depth

7 July

**Atherton Tablelands - A place of beauty, and dangerous roads. (Photo credit: athertontablelands.com.au)**

The Atherton Tablelands is between 500m and 1100m above sea level and offers picturesque views to the tourists who flood into the area. With more than a liberal sprinkling of rain keeping the Tablelands green, and comparatively cooler weather for most of the year, it is a drawcard for lovers of spectacular scenery and flora.

Demand equals supply, and the massive tourism means you’ll see more than your fair share of trucks heading to the area to satisfy the needs of visitors and local alike. Fuel, dairy products, hay, crops, food and no doubt mountains of ‘tourist trinkets’ will be loaded and distributed.

But getting to the Tablelands is no mean feat. A cavalcade of buses and caravans use the range, ensuring truckies have to be just a little bit more careful traversing the inherently dangerous roads that access Atherton, Kuranda, Malanda and other towns on the Tablelands.

Opinion is often divided amongst truckies who travel to and from the area, over which is the most challenging highway from which to access it.

Just outside Atherton there are several dangerous curves near the local cemetery which have been the scene of many accidents over the years.

To travel the Kuranda Range from Cairns to the Tablelands, you leave an outer suburb, Smithfield and drive 23km which includes a 15km winding section.

This is a very busy section of highway with hundreds of tourists daily traveling to Kuranda which is known as the “Village in the Rainforest”.

It is where travelers on the Scenic Railway trip from Cairns and Skyrail Rainforest Cableway passengers stop. The thousands of tourists from around the world who visit there weekly, ensure trucks are in busy demand delivering goods to the area.

Many nominate the Kuranda Range section of the Kennedy Highway as the worst of the worst. Other say it is the notorious Gillies and yet others will nominate the Palmerston.

Parts of each are winding range roads with traffic conditions, danger and care levels subject to weather. During and after rain they become much more difficult to negotiate and over the years there have been many accidents on all three.

The winding Gillies Range road from Gordonvale on the Bruce Highway to Yungaburra provides the closest access road to Cairns at the southern end and can be one of the most treacherous roadways for truckies in Oz.

Drivers face danger from U-curves, slippery surfaces, rock falls and speeding motorists. This stretch is 43km long, with the range section accounting about half of that.

Similarly, truckies using the northern access gateway to the Tablelands travel up the notorious 12km Kuranda Range which can be very dangerous, especially during and after rain.

**Another victim of the Kuranda Range Road**

Since opening to traffic in 1942 the Kuranda Range road has had many accidents and landslides. It is particularly dangerous to traverse during and after rain when the surface can turn into an ice rink. Although there are overtaking lanes along the way, traffic along this long and winding road is mostly limited to one lane. A Skyrail cable car crosses the road twice but we’d advise you not to take your eyes off the road to look at it.

The turnoff to the Palmerston Highway starts just north of Innisfail and from there you travel about 50km to the beautiful town of Millaa.

**A survivor of the Palmerston Highway**

**Kuranda Range. Rain makes for treacherous conditions.**

A few years ago most truckies I spoke to said the Gillies was by far the most dangerous, with the Kuranda Range coming in a close second. The Palmerston came in third place – which conversely made it the winner back then.

During 2019 and earlier this year though, many had changed their minds and claimed the Palmerston had taken over first spot as the most dangerous road because of the many rough stretches this road now has.

What do you think? Drop us a line at kermie@truckinwithkermie.com and share your thoughts.

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