From Townsville we drove to Innisfail - back into sugar and banana growing country and the Wet Tropics. Innisfail is a big place, quite multicultural with a large Italian population. We had a quick look around, then turned off the highway and drove on to Mission Beach. This area is called the Cassowary Coast, another far north Queensland area where the rainforest meets the reef and also home of the elusive cassowary. We've seen them there before and at the Daintree, but not this time. We booked into the caravan park at Mission Beach, walked along the nice little shops in the main street, and then went onto the beach. Mission Beach is beautiful. The sand is fine and white, quite different to a lot of beaches up this way, it is fringed in palm trees ... read more

The drive from Yeppoon to Mackay is through rather sameness cattle country, but further north, driving to Sarina where we spent the night, the country once more opens out to cane fields with tall ragged mountains in the distance. We stayed overnight at Sarina, a busy place now, not only because of the sugar mill in town, but also because a big railway terminus has been built here, no doubt for the coal mines in the area. It's the busy time in the cane fields, there are machines cutting and the big trucks next to them being filled as are the carriages of the little but long cane trains. Rail lines criss cross fields and towns as the trains take the cane to the mills, and there are quite a few mills on the way north. ... read more

We always enjoy our stay at Tewantin and visits to Noosa, and apart from a couple of rainy nights and one showery day, the weather was wonderful, warm and sunny. We did all the things we love to do there - caught the ferry from Tewantin to Noosa, we walked the beach, relaxed sitting in the sun by the river mouth, watching the boats and the fishermen, we looked in the shops along the river. We didn't swim, though many did - the water's still too cold for me. We also lunched at the Yacht Club again, where I can order seafood for one, I wish more places would serve it than the platter that's usually for two - I miss out as I'm the only one of us who enjoys it. Before we left the ... read more

We continued our drive north, more very flat land with the jagged mountains of Kaputer National park in the distant east. There were huge silos everywhere and paddocks had plantings of possibly grain and cotton as far as the eye could see. We knew we were in cotton country by the fluffy bits of cotton edging the highway. Just before Narrabri our road joined with the Newell Highway which meant a lot more B Doubles and three carriage road trains travelling between Queensland and NSW. We stopped for lunch at Moree - this is artesian water country and home of warm springs. We had intended staying the night in a caravan park with their own hot water pool, but as it was the middle of the day, we decided we'd just have a look at Moree ... read more

We are now on our way home so this is my final post for this trip. Before leaving the Mornington Peninsular, we drove to Brighton and I walked on the beach to photograph the colourful little bathing boxes. These date from Victorian times and edge the beach at Middle Brighton. I read that one sold for $260,000 in 2011. To my knowledge, they’re not found anywhere else in Australia. Another battle through heavy highway traffic till we drove towards the mountains. Here we passed through very pretty, if very dry, farm country where sheep, cattle and alpacas grazed, as well as an olive grove and vineyard. Kings Lake, almost decimated in the big bushfires several years ago, is recovering with the trees showing some green regrowth. It was very hot when we stopped at Mansfield for ... read more