Just one breathtaking hour’s drive from Cairns, the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef on the coast of Queensland, in northeastern Australia, the scenic Atherton Tablelands, with their young volcanoes, dramatic waterfalls and lush rainforest, rise a thousand meters above the humid coastal plain. On a leisurely day trip you can circumnavigate this nearly flat plateau, soaking up the scenery formed by some of the continent’s youngest volcanoes, ambling through threatened rainforest ecosystems, and sampling exotic tropical produce.