Skybury Farms Mareeba: Coffee Tours & Café | Atherton Tablelands
After drifting over the Atherton Tablelands at sunrise on your hot air balloon ride, there's no better way to spend the rest of the morning than at Skybury Farms - Australia's oldest coffee plantation, a three-generation family farm just outside Mareeba.
Three generations on the land
Skybury was founded in 1987 by Ian and Marion MacLaughlin, who emigrated from Zimbabwe and saw the potential of the Mareeba district's sandy soils and subtropical climate. Today the farm is home to three generations of the MacLaughlin family and around 90 staff, producing roughly 40 tonnes of green coffee and more than two million kilos of sweet red Carica papaya every year - more than half of all the papaya sold in Australian supermarkets.
Their coffee variety - Bourbon Arabica - is grown, roasted and ground right on the property, and the family's commitment to sustainable farming runs through everything they do: water conservation, renewable power, erosion control, integrated pest management and dual cropping.
Kraken Tours - inside a working farm
The farm's signature Kraken Tour is a small-group, behind-the-scenes look at how Skybury really works. Tours leave from the café at 9am daily, carry a maximum of 10 guests, and are guided by Skybury staff who work the farm and the café themselves - so the stories are first-hand, and no two tours are quite the same.
You'll travel across the property in a Toyota Troopcarrier - the same vehicles the picking teams use every day - on the kind of farm roads sedans don't see.
🕘 Tour times: 9am daily - approximately 90 minutes - maximum 10 guests. Wear enclosed shoes and bring a hat; you'll be moving through active farming areas. Larger groups can be arranged directly with Skybury's Function Manager.
The Café and Roastery
The architect-designed café opened in 2006 and is the heart of the farm. Settle in on the timber swings, take in the sweeping views, and order from a seasonal paddock-to-plate menu that puts Skybury's own papaya at the centre of the plate.
Image courtesy of Skybury Farms
The in-house baristas are creative, the venue is fully licensed, and everything that comes out of the kitchen has a story attached to it.
Image courtesy of Skybury Farms
🕘 Café & Roastery hours: Open Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm. Closed public holidays.
🍽️ Eat & drink
Signature papaya dishes, freshly roasted single-origin coffee, Skybury liqueurs made from coffee and papaya, and a full cocktail list.
🛍️ Take home
Whole or freshly ground Skybury coffee, espresso BBQ sauce, preserves, papaya-based skincare and other small-batch value-add products.
💡 Good to know
Skybury is about a 10-minute drive from the Mareeba Heritage Centre, where our balloon flights meet and return. If you've booked the self-drive option, it's an easy detour on your way back through the Tablelands.
Find Skybury
136 Ivicevic Road, Paddys Green QLD 4880
-17.01005780, 145.33719270
Small-group guided tour
Maximum 10 guests, led by Skybury farm and café staff.
Troopcarrier transport
Cross the property in the same vehicles the picking teams use.
The Nursery
Learn about propagation and the technology behind tissue culture.
Papaya Packing Shed
Custom-built in 2024, packing over 200 pallets each week.
Plantation walk
Stroll through the coffee and papaya groves for a true paddock-to-plate experience.
The Roastery & café finish
Walk through the working roastery and finish with a coffee at the café.
Kraken Tours are booked directly with Skybury through their website. Tickets are released in monthly batches, so it's worth checking availability when you've locked in your balloon flight date.
Skybury is Australia's oldest commercial coffee plantation, founded in 1987. The Mareeba district's sandy soils, subtropical climate and elevation behind Cairns create some of the most consistent coffee-growing conditions anywhere in the country.
Today the farm produces around 40 tonnes of green coffee and over two million kilos of red papaya every year - and supplies more than half of all the papaya sold in Australian supermarkets.
