Queensland (part 2)

Tuesday 13th May – The flies are starting to build up around the rubbish bags so we get on the road after Anna gives us a good breakfast, for the short ride up to Ingrid and Rob's in the northern burbs. A short ride for Tim at least in the vehicle... Tracy bikes the 30km or so and generally has no problems following on the bike path network. Ingrid is home when we get there and we spend a relaxing afternoon with her after dropping all the rubbish and recyclables in the bins of helpful neighbours.

Later in the afternoon Tracy joins Ingrid when she goes to feed her horses (she is an expert horsewoman) and has a short and rather nervous trot on the calmer of the beasts. Meanwhile Tim catches up with picture editing and blogging before a good meal with Ingrid, Rob and her son who is recently back in Aus after 4 years in Aberdeen.

Wednesday 14th May – Ingrid lends us her small car today, a real change after 6 weeks in a big truck. We take a ride up into the hills, past the Glasshouse mountains (a series of volcanic outcrops rising out of the coastal plain) and up to Maleny where we take a break at a winery (they can grow some white grapes here, others come from further inland in southern Queensland). Then on to Montville, an attractive a touristy little town full of small boutique shops and with fantastic views down to the coast. Unfortunately Tim forgets the camera's flash memory card so we don't have any pictures.

Thursday 15th May – After doing a bit of shopping in the morning we carry on to the coast north of the city for a look at the beaches around Redcliffe and take a pleasant stroll on the shore. En route home we pick up lots of food and tonight Tracy does the cooking and again we eat well, and get through a goodly amount of wine including some fine desert wines.

Friday 16th May – We are going to head into the hills again today and Tracy again opts to ride for a while, on the challenging mountainous Mt Mee Rd. She covers about 60km before taking a well earned rest in a pub until Tim appears. We continue on to Nanango in the South Burnett Region where we get settled into a campground on the edge of town before having a quick look at the small town in the evening.

Saturday 17th May – With the weather staying pleasant we decide to take our bikes out to look at the neighbouring town of Kingaroy, peanut capital of Australia and 25km away. We take saddlebags in the hope of buying some local produce and are not disappointed, there is a good Saturday market for veggies and honey, a stall selling peanuts where we buy up 3kg to keep us in snack food for a while and a cheese factory where we replenish supplies of cheesy comestibles.

The riding is pleasant so we take a longer route home, stopping at a lavender farm/ winery/ cafe for some sustenance for the final 10km. As evening falls we look around the typical Aussie country town of Nanango, like many Australian towns they are very fond of murals and there are many to see depicting local history and life.

Sunday 18th May – Another day dawns clear and bright so we decide to head for them thar hills, and around here that means Bunya Mountains National Park. The hills rise out of the rolling country around and feature a unique environment including Hooped pines and the unique Bunya pines that are limited to certain areas of Queensland. These mighty trees boast pine cones as big as soccer balls containing seeds prized as food by local Aboriginal tribes. The area near the Park visitor centre is perfect for spotting Wallabys as they enjoy snacking on the grass and we get our first view of a Joey with his head peering out of mum's pouch before enjoying a good forest walk that illustrated the native environment.

Returning to Kingaroy we visit a few of the local wineries (the soil and temperatures at this altitude have been found to work well for some grapes) before returning home to a chilly and windy night which makes us glad to be safely esconsed in the camper.

Monday 19th May – Despite the overnight storm the weather is again gorgeous today, but considerably colder as we head back towards the coast. Our route takes us past the pretty town of Goomeri before we drop to Gympie, where we'll overnight before getting back to the sea. It proves to be a very attractive small town built on a series of hills and we spend the afternoon strolling around and making use of the library's free internet service.

In the evening we join the local hash runners for a long trail around the edge of town. Despite the altitude being only about 90m/ 300ft there are some cold hollows en route that are distinctly frigid (at least to those of us softened by 7 months of summer weather. Then they warn us that the attractive little free camping area we are in at the edge of town is notoriously cold... and without our heater (no electrical hookup here) we are glad of having some thick bedclothes.

Tuesday 20th May – We have been recommended several times to visit the Tin Can Bay/ Rainbow Bay area so we head there today, finding a National Park campsite on the tip of the promontory projecting towards Fraser Island, the world's biggest sand island. Unsurprisingly the camping areas are very sandy too but we find an excellent site that will not allow our 2wd truck to get bogged down.

In the afternoon we walk on the sand flats facing Fraser Island at low tide and marvel at the seemingly millions of small soldier crabs that march all over the place is large groups, occasionally burying themselves en masse if they feel sufficiently threatened. It is a good place for sunsets over the mainland and Tim enjoys the evening views while Tracy goes off to buy seafood at the local fish shop.

Wednesday 21st May – We are about 12km from Rainbow Beach which makes for a pleasant bike ride in the morning. The beach is named for the multicoloured sand cliffs that tower over the shore and Tim enjoys riding past these cliffs for a closer look while Tracy relaxes under a tree before taking a leisurely ride back to camp. In the afternoon we take the short ferry ride to the Island and after an abortive attempt to ride road bikes on the rough dirt road inland we ride on the solid sand of the foreshore, a route popular with 4wd enthusiasts. The sand is a nearly ideal consistency for riding and we get a little look at this unique environment... but we'll have to come back some day to see the unusual terrain inland.

Thursday 22nd May – We are up early for once to drive around to Tin Can Bay on the west side of the promontory, where a couple of dolphins regularly come in to feed. One appears today and we join a group of 20 up to our knees in water as the dolphin gently takes fish from each of us. With the morning fun done we have a long ride ahead up to Bundaberg but we take a break at Maryborough, a very attractive city developed as a port on a navigable river where fortunes were made from gold mining inland. Here we take a stroll around and stock up with fresh produce at an excellent street market.

Heading north again we are on a flat coastal plain dominated by cane fields, especially west of the road: Bundaberg is home to the Australian sugar industry and canefields will be a regular sight all the way to Cairns, thriving in warm weather and regular rains. We check into one of the more expensive campgrounds we've encountered for two reasons, Tim needs the internet to follow Celtic's fortunes in the final game of the Scottish Football (soccer) season and the site is close to the Bundaberg Run Distillery.

The distillery is an Aussie institution and we immediately head round to book a tour for late afternoon. In contrast to the last run factory we visited (in Grenada where the technology did not appear to have changed since the early 19th century) this one is modern but we enjoy the tour and the sampling afterwards.

Friday 23rd May – Tim is up early for the game and after the right result with Celtic winning the league from their main rivals we hit the road for the beaches east of the city (which is built upriver 15km or so). The campground we pick proves to be a sound choice, right on the beach with good facilities and a relaxed ambiance so Tracy chills out for the remainder of the day while Tim explores the area (beach villages and sugar cane dominate) on the bikes. And in the evening we use Celtic's victory as an excuse for a few celebratory drinks.

Saturday 24th May – This area at the southern edge of the Great Barrier Reef boasts good shore diving so we pick up gear in town and make for a couple of recommended spots. While getting in and out is tricky on the rocky shore with some decent surf coming in we enjoy two long shallow dives with some fish and good coral, especially soft coral. Later we also take a walk to look at the surroundings before a quiet evening.

Sunday 25th May – A completely lazy day, cranking up the music in the camper and catching up with laundry, cleaning, tidying and all the other jobs we've been putting off. Once the chores are done we just chill in the fine weather.

Monday 26th May – Another long drive today up to Rockhampton, but we take the time to check out a weird tourist attraction near Bundaberg: a flat rocky area pockmarked with large holes which was uncovered in the 1960s and has puzzled geologists since. Just south of Rockhampton we cross the tropic of Capricorn... but the weather has turned anything but tropical here with dull skies and cooler temperatures.

In Rockhampton we head for a free camping area on the southern edge of town, only to find recently erected “No Camping” signs. Backtracking we noted a hotel offering free camping in the field behind and we were soon installed and enjoying a beer in the bar while getting some local information from the bar maid. The weather is a little brighter and we head to the tourist information on the edge of town before driving up Mount Archer, the highest point around, for sunset views. As it is Monday night a hash run follows, and despite threatening skies we stay dry.

Tuesday 27th May – The weather is still overcast with a few glimpses of sun as we explore the attractive city centre, another port located on a major river a few km from the coast that made its money servicing the mining industry. A small museum gives us some local history before we take a walk around the city's highlights, before hitting the internet cafe for a dose of the rest of the world.

Wednesday 28th May – The weather finally breaks completely and the rain pours down all morning. This gives us a chance for shopping and chores... a field behind a hotel has no checkout time unlike a campground. With conditions still poor we finally hitch up for the short ride to Yeppoon, a seaside town on the coast northwest of the city and find a spot right on the shore at the council owned campground. Pity the conditions are still dull.

We are going to run with the local hash group here tonight and we are offered a ride to the venue as giving us directions to a rural home would be difficult. The group is small as many are still recovering from a camping weekend and they decide food and beer will be free as they had supplies leftover from the weekend. The run is short giving us more time for food and drink!

Thursday 29th May – The day is brighter today but the forecast is poor (Brisbane and the south Queensland coast are being hit by serious flooding) as far as Mackay so we decide to just take the long drive up there and reunite with Don who is parked in the garden of his friends Kathy and Darryl while fixing a rental home he owns behind their home.

We continue to pass an endless succession of canefields with views of wooded hills further on the left until we take a detour to the right to take a look at the Hay Point coal terminal, testament to the mining boom in Queensland. There is an impressive number of ships queued offshore and plenty of brand new conveyors being installed to get the coal out of Australia and off to Asia. We arrive in Mackay late afternoon and easily find the house, and we are soon installed in a corner of the garden.

Friday 30th May – The weather continues dull and drizzly so we spend a lazy day relaxing and catching up with Don and the internet. In the evening we join Don in his quest to watch all the James Bond movie... he is early in the series at Dr No.

Saturday 31st May – It is still dull and quite stormy but we decide to take a ride out to see the beaches to the north and east of the city (which like most we've visited is upriver some way). Shoal Point at the north end of the ride is cloaked in cloud but conditions improve a little as we bike south and we spend a little time in a preserved piece of Paperbark forest before continuing to Slade Point which has good views north and south with a few bands of blue sky. We stop at a convenient pub near the beach before continuing past the Port of Mackay and in the end rack up 76.6 km.

Sunday 1st June – Another lazy day as the weather is still slow to improve and not a lot is open in Mackay on a Sunday. We do enjoy a good meal with Don, Darryl and Kathy in the evening.

Monday 2nd June – Conditions are on the mend today so Tim takes off for a long walk around town to get some pictures in sporadic sunshine. Beyond that the day consists of more relaxing before we hook up with the local hashers in the evening for what proves to be a long run.

Tuesday 3rd June – Time to leave Mackay at last but we don't rush as it is only a short ride up to Airlie Beach, a tourist centre for the beautiful Whitsundays, 74 wooded islands close to the coast. After finding a pleasant wooded campground with a huge number of birds we head out to run with their hash group in the evening, it is a short run with a small but fun collection of people.

Wednesday 4th June – The weather is back to spectacularly good and we enjoy an easy going but full day, beginning with a look around the town. Then we head east to Shute Harbour where boats leave for the islands before taking a walk north to Coral Beach in Conway National Park with fine views of the islands before the path leads through native forest. Coral Beach itself is awesome at low tide, there is a great variety of soft coral that is exposed at low water levels, and we spend some time checking out the sea life.

Thursday 5th June – Having decided to forego the dubious delights of tourist trips to the islands we continue with another short hop to Bowen, a town at the centre of mango, capsicum pepper and tomato growing. The terrain on the coast here is actually much more arid than further south but conditions on the coastal plain must be great for fruit and vegetables.

We check into an excellent campground to the south of town before driving in for a look around. First stop is a viewpoint with beautiful views south over the islands and north to the beaches that make Bowen a popular but by no means busy holiday area. From here we drive to one of the small beaches and take a walk over the headland: the terrain here consists of many beaches of varying sizes separated by rocky headlands covered in dry scrub, which makes for good walking and unobstructed views. To end the day we visit a local fish store on the harbour and stock up with local seafood.

Friday 6th June – Today we use our bikes to tour the town and ride out to a beach with good snorkeling, checking out the undersea life keeps us occupied for an hour or so and we hang out at the beach for a while longer. Then we call in on a couple of vegetable stalls selling the local produce to size up what to buy on the way out of town.

As the sun sets we take a walk on the floodplain behind the campground which seems like a good way to see some of the local birds. Only Tim finds a rather swampy section to stand on and disappears up to his thighs in thick black mud! He does manage to retrieve his sandals which stuck deep in the gloop.

Saturday 7th June – Again we use the bikes to find a snorkeling beach before stopping at a pub in town for some food and drink. A quiet day.

Sunday 8th June – Another quiet Sunday to catch up with laundry and get the camper in order. We do drop into town to look at the Sunday market but otherwise we stick to camp.

Monday 9th June – Another shortish hop north to the largest city in north Queensland, Townsville. It is a holiday today (the Queen's birthday – they are good royalists here!) and the Townsville hash are doing a bike ride in the afternoon so we ensure we are ensconced in a nearby campground in good time. We get a nice look at the city on the ride, it is basically built around a big red rock called Castle Hill which we ride around with a detour down onto the nicely developed seafront (yes, a city actually on the sea!).

We then run with the full hash group in the evening, they have a good turn out for a short run with a good party in a quiet parking lot to finish. We are impressed by their drinks wagon, a trailer with lots of space for a selection of beers and soft drinks on ice and space to take notes, a cash tray and space to pin notices. A few of the hashers join us in our camper afterwards, though having run down our stocks of drinks we are not the best hosts.

Tuesday 10th June – The day is pretty dull early but we decide to take a bike ride anyway, starting with the 280m (900ft) climb up Castle Hill for spectacular views over the city and Magnetic Island just offshore. Right on cue the skies clear and we have a good ride back down to the seafront and round to the port to find out about boats to the island. Returning through the attractive city centre (more mining money from the last century) we find they actually have a good microbrewery with tasty food before we ride back home in the evening light for an early night.

Wednesday 11th June – We are up early to bike down to the port for the ferry ride over to Magnetic Island, a swift crossing by powered catamaran. Once there we head north on the bikes and immediately discover that the island has some steep hills and narrow roads! Little traffic though.

First stop is a walk through native bush up to an old army camp from WWII, the island was an important lookout station when the Japanese threatened mainland Australia. We leave the bikes for a climb up the original road built in 1942, stopping to look at the remains of the camp (mostly concrete slabs) and for the koalas that are often seen here. We spot one koala on the way up, then climb again to the two old gun emplacements which still have their bunkers and some of the camouflage material (concrete “rocks”, chicken wire). It is also possible to see the old range finding emplacement and the Command Post. While descending we spot another Koala and are delighted to see a baby clinging to mum's front. Many pictures ensue.

We continue on the bikes taking a look at some beaches but not finding anywhere sheltered enough to be bothered snorkeling (there is quite a swell on the north and east of the island). It also takes a while to find somewhere to eat but eventually we spot a cafe and snack before returning to the port for the boat home and the short evening ride through the town. We use the evening for shopping, it'll be a while till we hit a big town again so we get stocked up with food, beer and wine.

Thursday 12h June – We decide to stay another day in Townsville and take a look at their Museum of Tropical Queensland, an excellent source of information about the history, people, geography and biology of the tropical Queensland area: well worth a look for anyone who is going to spend time around here and points north. Later in the day we walk around the historic parts of town before catching up with some final shopping in the evening.

Friday 13th June – Tracy has a massage booked in the morning so Tim catches up with some photography, banking and internet before we roll out of town on the road inland. The terrain soon becomes a succession of low hills and flat plains covered by grass, sparse eucalypt scrub and termite hills, and Charters Towers is in similar terrain, only here the hills once covered rich gold deposits and the town has many attractive buildings indicating this former affluence.

We check into a pleasant campground on the edge of town and walk into the centre on a beautiful late afternoon. The tourisgt information centre has lots of displays and audiovisual about the mining history and we plan out our day for tomorrow before looking at some of the historic sites in the town centre including the stock exchange where the world price of gold was set in the 1880s, such was the richness of the deposits here. In it's heyday the town was so self important that it was known as “The World”.

Saturday 14th June – We get on the bikes again today to tour around the area beginning at a rebuilt pit-head on the site of an old mine. From here we ride into town for another look, then a little out of town to the second of three old mining villages to see the Venus Battery (the first village was where the town developed, the second had the best water supply for processing gold and was the site of several mills while the third faded away. Gold here was trapped in quartz and had to be removed by crushing the rock, adding water and treating the slurry with mercury to release the gold.

Opened in 1891 the Venus Mill (technically the Battery is just the machine that pounds the ore, but the site is usually called Venus Battery rather than the more correct Venus Mill) was independent Big mines processed their own ore while the Venus served small mines (and charged them plenty!) and only closed in 1973, so it was not too difficult to restore much of what was left. Initially the tailings were dumped behind the mill until a process to recover gold with arsenic was developed and a processing facility grew up beside the mill. In recent years even the waste from this process was bought up and reprocessed with the latest methods, reducing the many slag heaps that dotted the town in the 1970's to one big pile near the Venus Mill.

In late afternoon we grabbed a picnic and headed for then thar hills, a lookout on the tallest of the rounded hills that dot the area (the Towers in Charters Towers) and the site of the first goldstrike. It boasts the remains of a tailings processing plant (before arsenic was used to remove gold from tailings
in a relatively cheap way, a chlorination process was used requiring a very long drop, here off the side of a hill), concrete bunkers from WWII (the US airforce had a base here), a lookout with historical storyboards and a lot of rock wallabies. After dark they project a film about the town here, completing a “golden” day.

Sunday 15th June – Today we begin a long stretch of road with not much on it, but our first day's ride is short up to a free camping area on Fletcher creek near Dalrymple National Park. The creek flows all year from a spring and quite a few people would appear to live here for long periods (the limit is theoretically 30 days), it is certainly very pleasant once we fit ourselves in near a firepit on the creek. Tracy takes it easy for the rest of the day while Tim goes running to explore the road into the Park.

Dalrymple was once a flourishing town in the 1860s with gold mining nearby, the creek supplying water and on a spot where carts could cross the large but seasonal Burdekin River. However it wsa flooded out in 1872 and never recovered as the focus of mining remained to the south with the development of Charters Towers. Now all that remains is some mine shafts and graves (there may be more in the bush but we were not going to provoke the snakes). The area is also fairly recent in Australian terms with signs of lava flows from about 10,000 years ago.

Monday 16th June – We use our bikes to explore the park as the dirt roads are fairly smooth and only sandy in a few places. The Burdekin Riverbed has some impressively worn rock patterns and debris caught high enough in trees to impress how the town might have been flooded. Now the area is home to wild pigs (we saw a large family beside what water remains of the river) and an impressive array of birds.

In late afternoon Tim explores the area round the camp and finds enough firewood to keep a good campfire going all evening. The hardwood here burns so well that one load will last far longer than those of us used to burning softwoods would even believe, and a good fire is very useful as the clear night chills right down.

Tuesday 17th June – From Fletcher Creek we get on to some more basic road with a single lane tar strip down the centre and red dirt shoulders, memories of Malawi. Normally the cars get off on theur own side well (less games of “chicken” than in Africa) but we are on a “road train” route with 50m (160ft) long semi trucks with 4 trailers and everyone gets off the road completely for them! The roads here were built in the 1960s to develop the cattle industry, replacing droving and railways with much swifter road transport to the coast. In more recent years an increase in travelers (especially grey nomads) has helped to bring money and facilities into some far flung outposts especially further west.

We stop at 40 Mile Scrub, a preserved area of dry rain forest or vine thicket, and consider camping here but controlled burning on the roadside makes for a smoky environment and we move on. A short bush walk informs us that dry rainforest is not an oxymoron, the environment has all the characteristics of rainforest (canopy limiting light, little undergrowth, heavy vine coverage) with low rainfall. The mix of vegetation is fire deterrent but also fire sensitive, in contrast to the surrounding eucalyptus scrub which is prone to fire as a natural part of the life cycle.

Another 80km (50 miles) brings us to a large free camping area at Archer Creek, here the surroundings are greener than further west as we approach to higher rainfall areas of the Atherton Tablelands. The road here was widened and rebuilt at some point and Tim makes use of the old road to run while Tracy hangs out at a campfire with a group of 8 Brits and Aussies looking to drive from Cairns to Broome (on the west coast) in a small van in 2 weeks (check out the distance on the map, rather them than us!).

Wednesday 18th June – Ravenshoe, 16km down the road and Queensland's highest town at 910m (3000ft), boasts a cheap camping area at the railway station according to our camping guide book so we decide to ride in and take a look. As we climb the 250m from Archers creek the clouds build up, one assumes this is quite normal as we transition from the dry centre of the country to the country's wettest area on the tropical coast. We stop to take a look at Millstream Falls just off the road and the sun manages to reappear just in time for pictures of this beautiful spot, formed by three separate lava flows.

The area around the falls, like many places in the area, was used as an army camp in WWII in case the soldiers had to be deployed to defend the coast and in close proximity to the rainforest for jungle training. The National Park around the falls is 100 years old and the centenary celebration Saturday will involve opening an interpretive walk to highlight what remains of the military installations, however they only have half the signs mounted today so we find out 50% of the history.

When we arrive at the nicely maintained railway station we find their restored steam engine about to take a crowd of schoolkids on the 7km ride to Tomoulin (normally it only runs Sunday) but we find the caretaker and book ourselves into a nice spot beside the station building close to water and power. The local tourist information is helpful and has informative displays about the rainforest. We are apparently only 31km from Topaz, the wettest place on the continent at over 4m (160in)/ year.

While the ride to Ravenshoe was a slog uphill into a headwind the ride home is a joy and we are quickly rolling the rig to the station. This is surely the best campsite we will have (barring a cold shower) as we have a garden right outside the door, toilets are close and a campfire is lit every night. It is also a stones throw from the quiet and attractive village which boasts all services and costs only $6. We cannot recommend it highly enough and spots near the electrical outlets are popular but there is a ton of room for those who don't need power (or have a very long power cable).

Thursday 19th June – The morning dawns cloudy but we decide to do the “waterfall circuit” anyway. The combination of high rainfall and steep hills to the east obviously make for this kind of attraction and for once we take the trucj\k as the biking would be a little challenging. First stop is the local windfarm in the dip formed by an old volcano crater, they are very proud of their 20 or so windmills here and we don't mention that they really can't compare to Palmerston North with its hillsides covered in the things.

Next stop is a lookout over the Tablelands and we are struck by how much the rolling hills and green pastures resemble New Zealand. Then we start hitting the falls: Milaa Milaa is the picture perfect high falls with deep pool, Zillie Falls is higher but difficult to get a good view, Ellinjaa Falls tumble over volcanic rocks while Mungalli Falls begins as a steep cascade before dropping a good distance. By now we are waterfalled out so we support one of the other local industries, dairy, by buying a few items at the local cheese store.

Nearly back at Ravenshoe we detour to check out Little Millstream Falls, upstream from Millstream Falls on the Millstream River and impressive themselves as they tumble over and around a succession of rocks. In the evening Tracy hangs out at the campfire with the “olds” while Tim gets in some altitude training by running.

Friday 20th June – In the morning we drive down to Tully Falls, once one of Queensland's natural wonders before a hydro power scheme robbed it of water other than in the wet season. From the road now there are just good views of a gorge and rock wall where the falls once fell, but a pleasant rainforest walk takes us down to the top of the falls where the lack of water allows us to play on the worn rocks that were once inundated. We also get a brief look at some of the power scheme upstream.

We pick up the camper after lunch (another advantage of this informal site... no check out time) to backtrack 30km to Innot Hot Springs where we'll meet the Cairns Hash House Harriers celebrating their 1650th run. The campground is perfect for us with a big open field to turn in and align the camper (5th wheels are a chore to maneuver as the pivot point makes them slow to start a turn). It also proves good when the hashers arrive as we have a big camping area well away from the rest of the campers and with a big fire pit.

The campground has a kitchen which provides an excellent fish and chip supper for us before we repair to the pub for a prearranged meeting with the early arrivals. From here we return to the campfire for a few beers as more of the group arrive. Tim has a fairly early night while Tracy burns more midnight oil.

Saturday 21st June – This morning Tracy has booked a massage so she heads for the hot pools (the camp has 6 pools of varying temperatures fed by natural hot springs) to get in the mood while Tim takes a bike ride. There are not too many paved options here so he rides back to Ravenshoe with the knowledge of the downhill return journey and relative quietness of the road.

By the time Tim is back most of the hashers are in camp and have started on beer or champagne while lunch is underway. We relax for a couple of hours before the hares (who wandered the bush for most of the morning setting a trail) point us in the right direction and we are off and running. Or not as most of the group walk, and a couple of the ladies who started a little early on the bubbly stagger. We begin by sticking to dirt roads without too many zig-zags and before long we find a drinks stop where they have some much needed water and an interesting concoction of Stones Ginger Wine and lemonade. From here things get interesting as we meander past old tin mine workings and areas where the ground has been eroded into impressive shapes before finding the road again and following it back to the pub (there is not much more in town other than campground and pub).

The evening is fun, most of the group begin by partying in the hot pools; then we collect enough fire wood for a major fire all evening, enough food to feed an army is produced and the beer shows no sign of running out. With dark but clear skies we also get some great views of the stars including the best sighting of The Plough/ Big Dipper we've seen here.

Sunday 22nd June – There is time in the morning for a communal breakfast, then while some people have to leave early we join those with less commitments for another soak in the pools. We've got an easy day ahead, we booked ourselves back at Ravenshoe Railway Station so we drive the 30km in time to check out the Sunday market that occupies the Railway grounds until 1pm. Once the stalls are dismantled we reclaim our old spot with garden and relax the rest of the day.

Monday 23rd June – Finally time to drive down to Cairns, but we make a leisurely start to the day with shopping and internet before driving to Lake Barine, a flooded volcanic crater surrounded by rain forest. The whole Tableland area was once rainforest growing on rich volcanic soils before much of it was logged for hardwoods and cleared for agriculture. This part of the Great Dividing Range has the right combination of altitude and rainfall to generate a forest with an amazing array of species and while the forest has dwindled there is still an abundance of life.

We take a walk in the forest to see a couple of Kauri pines (huge trees which we also saw in northern new Zealand) and spot our first live snake (a common black) which is not a highlight for Tracy. From here we head down the spectacular Gillies Highway that winds steeply over the last ridge of hills before descending in a series of hairpins 900m/ 3000ft down to the coast. The weather is clear so we enjoy the views as we descend through the dense rain forest.

Once on the coastal road (and back among the ever present sugar cane) we drive north and check into a convenient site on the southern edge of town. Monday night means time to reunite with the Cairns hashers and we enjoy a short run, but one featuring a good view of the low hills south of the city.