90 Minute Scenic Flight
What's better than 30 or 60 minutes in the air?
This is the ultimate scenic flight. As you climb aboard your own private aircraft with one of our experienced friendly pilots, we will take you over areas of the Australian bush, the adjoining luscious green rainforests and river ways, then onto the magical and spectacularly colourful Great Barrier Reef.
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Departing the Mareeba aerodrome, this flight takes you north over the Mareeba township, then over Lake Mitchell and onto Julatten, before tracking past Mossman Gorge*. We then track coastal to Port Douglas before going east over Low Isles, Batt Reef & Tongue Reef.
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If you want to experience some of the most beautiful parts of northern Australia, then this is the option for you.
The Route
1. Mareeba Aerodrome
Mareeba Airfield is located 8.0 km south of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. Built in 1942 as a US Army Air Force base during World War II, the airfield had two runways, with a complement of taxiways, hardstands and a containment area. After the war, much of the airfield reverted to agricultural use, while the southern runway remains as an active airfield.
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From 1942 to 1945, up to 10,000 Australian and US service personnel used Mareeba Airfield as a staging post for battles in New Guinea and the Pacific. The Americans referred to it as Hoevet Field in honour of Major Dean Carol “Pinky” Hoevet who was killed on 16 August 1942. Units that were based at Mareeba during World War II included No. 5 Squadron RAAF, No. 100 Squadron RAAF, the Australian 33rd Light A-A Battery, 19th Bomb Group USAAC, 43rd Bomb Group USAAC and 8th Fighter Group USAAC.
2. Lake Mitchell
The Southedge Dam, also known as the Quaids Dam and officially known as the Lake Mitchell Dam, is an eathfill-filled embankment dam across the Mitchell River located in Far North Queensland, Australia.
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Opened in 1987 for the primary purpose of irrigation, the impoundment created by the dam is called Lake Mitchell and at full supply level has an active capacity of 129,000 megalitres.
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Lake Mitchell is home to a large amount of bird life and is in close proximity to the Mareeba Wetlands which you will fly over on your way back to the Mareeba Airport.
3. Julatten
Julatten is a place where you can have your cake and eat it too – in a manner of speaking. This small community on the road from Mossman to Mt Molloy has large orchards of lychees and mangoes plus a farm which sells Chinese greens and prawns.
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The aquaculture farm is a popular place for some freshwater pond fishing. Nearby are rolling green hills that once we home to dairy cattle.
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Mt Lewis gives you the opportunity to appreciate the Wet Tropics World Heritage Rainforest.
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Fortified with the cool country air, the cool high country of Julatten offers a pleasant contrast to summer heat. More a region than a town, there are not many facilities in the actual community but you will find a tavern on Mt Lewis road, a caravan park, small store and petrol station at Nine Mile on top of the Rex Range and a birdwatchers’ lodge at Kingfisher Lodge.
4. Mossman Gorge
Located in the southern part of the World Heritage Listed, Daintree National Park, Mossman Gorge is one of the few places in the country that visitors can gain an insight into the lives, culture and beliefs of Australia’s Indigenous population and their connection to the natural environment.
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A visit to the Gorge is a must on any adventurer’s trip to Far North Queensland.
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Many visitors make the trip to Mossman Gorge every year to take in the beauty of its pristine rainforest, cool streams, towering mountains and the dramatic Gorge and to receive the warm welcome of the local Kuku Yalanji people. While in Far North Queensland to discover for yourself the beauty of the Mossman Gorge.
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*in most cases we are unable to fly directly over the gorge due to weather restraints, however we do point out the location on the way past.
5. Port Douglas
The Port Douglas township was established in 1877 after the discovery of gold at Hodgkinson River by James Venture Mulligan. Port Douglas Post Office opened on 1 September 1877. It grew quickly, and at its peak Port Douglas had a population of 12,000 and 27 hotels. With the construction of the Mulligan Highway it serviced towns as far away as Herberton.
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When the Kuranda Railway from Cairns to Kuranda was completed in 1891, the importance of Port Douglas dwindled along with its population. A cyclone in 1911 which demolished all but two buildings in the town also had a significant impact. At its nadir in 1960 the town, by then little more than a fishing village, had a population of 100.
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In the late-1980s, tourism boomed in the region after investor Christopher Skase financed the construction of the Sheraton Mirage Port Douglas Resort.
6. Low Isles
Low Island North Queensland is about 25 km (16 mi) north-east of Port Douglas in Trinity Bay, North Queensland. It is around 2 hectares in size.
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Low Island is part of the Low Isles. Low Isles consists of two islands, Woody Island an uninhabited coral/mangrove island, but the main attraction is Low Isle – which is a smaller vegetated, sandy, coral cay surrounded by 55 acres of reef – a “typical” tropical island like you see on the movies.
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The Low Islets are a Marine National Park Zone. Day visitors come to the island on a daily basis via a number of commercial operators. There is a lagoon where private vessel can moor or anchor overnight, but there is no overnight accommodation on the island. There is a weather station, an active lighthouse (named Low Isles Light) and the research station.
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No fishing is allowed in the lagoon or within a buffer zone around the islands – the main activity is snorkeling and diving.
7. Batt Reef
Batt Reef is a coral reef off Port Douglas in Queensland, Australia. It is part of the Great Barrier Reef.
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The reef is about 18 km long by 5 km wide, lying northwest to southeast, at the northern side of Trinity Passage that leads from the inner Reef channel from Trinity Bay to the Pacific Ocean. The north-west tip of the reef lies 15 km (9.3 mi) east of the Low Islets (Low and Woody Islands) which are in turn 16 km (9.9 mi) east of Newell Beach and 11 km (6.8 mi) northeast of Port Douglas.
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The area received a high level of media attention following the death of The Crocodile Hunter star Steve Irwin on 4 September 2006 while filming an underwater documentary entitled Ocean’s Deadliest.
8. Tongue Reef
The home of turtle bay, a popular diving location on the great barrier reef, is home to many species of exotic marine life including 8 resident turtles.
