Heading down from the AthertonTablelands we explored a few stops over one week. This is an “abridged version” as I often say on the Radio. Mutchilba with friends at their farm, meeting Barbie the Pony, (note blonde mane), finding mutual friends from Kenya days (who would have dreamt it). One young one has been baptised Charlie in his honour.

Mareeba and the Granite Gorge where we fed rock wallabies was NOT an afternoon’s stroll in the park. We scrambled over massive granite boulders with water cascading below us and hung on for dear life doing the Red Course on the Gorge map. We were tired, but pleased we had not disappeared down a crevasse.

Cardwell Bay with a Dalrymple featuring in this town’s early settlers. Low lying cloud on the water was unusual and mature trees of gigantic proportions.

For Airlie Beach read yachts and wealth. Salads were once more on the menus. And a stop in Ayr revealed the most jaw dropping Nature Museum – not one which would ever be entertained today but one which gives so much to the lucky people who pop in to see it. We encouraged the lovely caretaker to bequeath it to a University or State Library. This was his father in laws private collection – and he was quite the collector.

Then onto Mackay for orchids in their Orchid House and a great Indian and Rockhampton the beef capital of Queensland for a delicious steak.

And finally Maryborough for our last pee stop – well we really didn’t plan this but we immediately recognised it for its humour and quirkiness. More will be revealed in the last blog for this journey.

Everywhere we went, and believe me those roads were long, each one had a nature all of its own, red earth, black cotton soil, cotton growing in the fields, sugar cane, mango, pineapple and banana plantations, there were always road signs telling us exactly what to expect – a thousand signs for “Road Subject to Flooding” ( someone got very rich from those alone) “Rest or RIP!”And trivial games played with tired drivers and of course loo stops where you most needed them.

The best one was “Drive to Survive” – we did.