The two best known* hotels on the Tablelands are in Yungaburra and Malanda. Both were built in the 1900s from timber cut and milled locally and neither has changed much over the past century.
The Lake Eacham Hotel (a.k.a. the Yungaburra Pub) has a small public bar but a big dining area and a huge accommodation section. When I lived in Townsville, it was a favourite destination for a few days away from the heat (and work). The weekend buffets were extraordinary. I remember a Mars bar cheesecake that had sliced confectionery for the base. At least, I think I remember it. I might have had a few gin & tonics as a pre-dinner drink. (It's the tropics, after all).
The place has gone through some sticky times lately with a high turnover in owners. But it looks as though it might be improving. Good news, because it's too important to lose. The Cairns Post has an audio slide show with some comments from the locals.
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| The Lake Eacham Hotel is the white building in the middle of the image. No, not that one. The other white building. The very big one. |
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| Yes, that one. |
The Lake Eacham Hotel is reckoned to be the second largest wooden building in Australia. The Malanda Hotel is the largest. (I mentioned last week that Malanda was a town of superlatives.) It possibly holds the record for the Southern Hemisphere. Doesn't matter. It's a grand old building that celebrated its centenary last year.
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| You can't miss the pub in Malanda. Don't make me point it out. |
In an attempt to give you an idea of the size of this building, I used that highly scientific method of measuring it on Google Earth. By my dodgy calculations, the sides are each about 50 m (160') long. That's not all bar space, you understand. Some of it is ballroom and there's also a bottle shop and a hairdresser. Those long verandahs are very welcome on a hot or rainy day. As are the offerings in the bar.
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| What better sight? (Almost) the first thing you see as you drive in from Atherton |
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| Western side of the hotel with its 50 m verandah (Image recycled from an earlier post) |
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| Lovely absence of hot sun/ torrential rain. On the right: bottle shop, hairdresser and public bar |
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| Northern side of the hotel. That first door leads to the ballroom and the grand staircase. |
The Cairns Post also has a slide show of the Malanda Hotel with images of the public bar and ballroom. I'll take some photos of the interior for a later post.
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* to me
