Gillies Range Road & Atherton Tablelands Drive Pack | The Stable

The Gillies Range Road is one of Australia's great hidden driving roads — 263 corners packed into just 19 kilometres, climbing 800 metres from the coastal lowlands at Gordonvale to the Atherton Tablelands through dense tropical rainforest. It is, by any measure, one of the most intense driving roads on the continent.

The road was built in the 1920s as a supply route to the Tablelands, and its character reflects that era — narrow, twisting, and carved into the side of the range with minimal modern engineering. The corners come in rapid succession, many of them blind, and the gradient is relentless. The rainforest canopy closes overhead, creating a green tunnel effect that is both beautiful and demanding.

What makes the Gillies special is its remoteness. While the nearby Kuranda Range Road carries the tourist traffic, the Gillies is usually empty. You can drive it for 20 minutes without seeing another car. This solitude, combined with the intensity of the road, creates a driving experience that is genuinely meditative — you and the road and the rainforest, nothing else.

The Atherton Tablelands at the top are a different world — a fertile plateau of dairy farms, coffee plantations,