NORTH TRUE

Perched on a sacred site, Mt Mulligan Lodge in north Queensland proves to be a gourmet traveller’s outback delight, writes FIONA DONNELLY.

- FIONA DONNELLY.

After bouncing about on a hot dirt track, there are few sights more welcome than a smiling lodge host bearing a chilled glass of bubbles. It’s an apt introduction to Mt Mulligan Lodge, a unique north Queensland getaway, which genuinely merits the description “outback escape”.

Our original plan was to helicopter in – a quick 35-minute trip from Cairns – but a sudden tropical storm grounded air traffic, so we’ve switched to a 4WD. Since turning off at the small township of Dimbulah, we’ve passed just one dusty ute and a handful of floppy-eared Bos indicus cattle.

I’ve been hanging out for a first glimpse of Mount Mulligan, our destination lodge’s namesake, since leaving Brisbane. This massive tabletop mountain, known to First Nations Australians as Ngarrabullgan, sits on Djungan land. It’s a sacred site, revered as the birthplace of the creator being, the Rainbow Serpent. Cave shelters located on the mountain have been dated back 37,000 years.

We’ve journeyed up through 180-million-year-old rainforest on our climb out of Cairns, pushing past papaya orchards and dairy farms on the Atherton Tablelands, before finally heading into the bush.

At Mt Mulligan, a 28,000-hectare working cattle station, we turn the corner of the main pavilion, Champagne flutes in hand and it’s like walking onto a film set – with towering, widescreen views of the mighty Ngarrabullgan, the undisputed star.