First stop just into the tablelands was the Mungalley Dairy and Teashop. Very nice place to stop for a civilised elevenses refresher. And I can highly recommend the lemon curd pie! Views were excellent and the owner was weirdly hilarious.

Second stop, Lake Eacham. Quite a nice area with a big lake and picnic tables with built in BBQ’s. Apparently there are fresh water turtles in the the lake that breathe through their arse pretty much the same way fish breathe through gills, we didn’t see any but it was a nice walk. And there were a couple of scrub turkeys wandering around too.

Yungaburra was the next stop, a very pretty little town. Wendy called into a hippy shop to by a top and I could have spent a fortune on all the trinkets and stuff. They had some lovely incense burners. There was a hotel that looked like something out of the wild west complete with barrels and full sized glass saloon doors. Pretty cool. Just before we left we had a quick gander at the Platapus viewing station. Nothing to see. We are planning to return for the Saturday market the day before I fly to Bankok.

About a mile down the the road we parked the ute to see a giant strangulating fig tree. Very old and absolutely amazing. A seed settles in the host tree and grows sending down a root. Further roots grow out from this original root and wrap around the host tree slowly killing it. In this example, once dead, the host tree fell hitting the next tree and as the fig sent down its roots, created a ‘curtain’ of roots. All over a hundred years or so. Now off to Atherton for lunch.

Ok, I don’t recommend Atherton for a vegetarian cullenary experience. Walked up and down the main drag a few times and settled for a veggie kebab at a fast food place. Now we’ve eaten we’re leaving!

After Atherton we made a tourist stop at Garnet Gorge, a place where you can feed wallabies. This is probably the only tourist stop we have made and it was cool to feed them. Even better were the views, what I envisioned the Australian landscape to look like. On leaving the Gorge we got a little lost which was quite funny but eventually found the the road to Mareeba

Now Mareeba is different to the places I have stayed before, kinda redneck country Oz style. Finding somewhere to stay was a feat in itself. We went to a local Internet cafe and came up with a few numbers of pub accommodation, most of which was fully booked, save one. So we headed for the Peninsula Pub. With drunks very drunk at the bar a 6pm we asked to see the room. It was ok, just a basic room with communal kitchen and shower facilities. These places are not really for tourists, they are for workers so luxury is not included.

Having seen the room we went back down to the bar to complete the paperwork including production of ID. If you rent a room in Oz you have show some form of photo ID. Very strange. Anyway, forms done, fee paid and key in hand we went up to the room. It was then I noticed the curtains and half-height louvre doors did not lead to a cupboard but were a feeble attempt to barricade our room from next door. Nice, think I’ll leave the iPad and camera gear in the ute while we wander round town.

The best place for a beer turned out to be the RSL (similar to the British Legion Clubs back home!) but they closed at 9 so we ended up at the bar we started out at! The bar we left in search of something better and quieter as halfway through the second stubby they cranked the music up so loud it was almost painful!

Before going to the last bar I fancied some chips so we found a little pizza place that did chips, ordered them and sat down. Then it struck us, we had travelled back in time to the 50’s. The empty cigarette display, the orange food display cabinet, the fridgidarre cool display, even the pictures on the wall, all from the 1950’s. And none of it was tiled, not even the cooking area. It was all wooden panels and shelving units. I don’t think hygiene was high on the owners agenda.

With a few beers on board and Wendy already retired, I wandered back and found my bed. Next thing I knew it was time to shower and move on.