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.

Well the Airbus 800 is massive and yet economy class was quite cramped. Must be all the business, premium and first class fliers getting all the leg room. But apart from that the flight was good and I even had a very camp hello and smile from one of the (male) cabin crew when boarding!

Unfortunately I hadn’t specified meal preferences so I had a choice of chicken or Lincolnshire sausage. But fear not, my cabin crew friend came to the rescue and arranged for the kitchens upstairs to cook something up for me. Roasted baby leeks, peppers and courgette in a pesto sauce with some posh mash potato. Very nice.

And now sitting in Singapore Changi airport waiting for my flight to Darwin I have seen my first, of many hopefully, full red setting sun. looking out across the airport runways and buildings would not have made a very good picture. I’m sure there will be many more to come in much nicer settings.

Anyway, thought I’d ask someone about my flight with 2 flight numbers and differing times! Got my answer from a lovely girl with an iPad who gave me the gate number, D32. Bloody hell Singapore airport is big, even the signs tell you how long it will take to walk to the gates! Still I’m outside gate D32 with an hour to spare and no Singapore dollars to spend. Roll on Australia, at least i have their currency.

Well after a brief hiccup checking in, I boarded a much smaller Airbus 321 operated by Jet Star. In fact it looked like an overgrown smarties tube with seats, but yet again the ride was smooth. And I had a complementary veggie meal, thanks to my friendly cabin boy contacting Jet Star! The only problem I had was a family with noisy kids and a crying baby. Just what you need when you can barely keep your eyes open. I have to wonder about babies on planes as my ears were popping like mad, but that’s ok cause I can equalise mine very easily. Babies? I doubt if they have mastered the art.

Now sat in Darwin International waiting for the last 2 hour leg and the folks are really friendly, they even give you free WiFi so I did the obligatory checking on Facebook! It has to be done. I’ll be glad to see Wendy cause I need a good breakfast somewhere, a pair of boardies and a bloody good shower. And also because I have been threatening to visit for years. Not long to go now.

Flying in a 717, the lovely woman on the checking desk put me on an exit seat for extra leg room and also gave me a window seat. Now the only bit of flying I’m not keen on is take off but I have to say it was fine. Maybe looking out of the window and seeing the wing gave me a fixed point, maybe it’s because I’m getting used to it. I don’t know but I could quite get used to this jetting around the world malarkey. Then as we climbed, the bright red sun appeared shining over the meandering inlets from the ocean. It was very round, very red and appeared like a sunrise on fast forward due to the fact we were climbing so fast. Beautiful.

Sitting next to a pilot for QuantasLink was good too. I got the lowdown on the route to Cairns which he flys regularly and also did a mix and match for breakfast. He couldn’t eat his bread and fruit salad which in my mind was a fair swap for a TV style dinner loosely called meat! I also got extra coffee and fruit juice. So that’s breakfast crossed off the list.

Finally landed and collected my luggage just as Wendy pulled into the airport parking. Perfect timing.