Wednesday 25 November. Maleny

After making tea we set out to find a gas refill. A local petrol station at the top of the main street refills the existing bottle, they don’t seem to replace the size of bottle we have. The petrol station has a retro look to it, as does much of the town – it has the feel of a small country town in the 1960s. We spend much of the morning buying supplies and mooching about in the main street.

We drive to a viewpoint to make lunch of asparagus and bread with salad, and later go to a local swimming hole where kids are sunbathing and swinging on ropes to jump in the water. Sue swims. Later we walk into town and try to spot platypus again – no luck today. I get a beer in the local pub and we walk back to the showground to cook tortilla.

Tuesday 24 November. Brisbane

We drop the car off at the airport, hoping they don’t notice a scrape on the front spoiler – not sure where that came from. We have to hang around until 1230 for our flight to Brisbane. We get in at 1415. Nearly two hours by jet and we’re still in Queensland. It brings home what a huge country Australia is. We take a taxi to pick up the camper van in an industrial area of the city and take possession of an old Toyota hi-top with over 400,000k on the clock. Despite this it seems in reasonable mechanical order, if a bit battered around the edges.

We set out into heavy traffic. The plan is to head north for a few days to Hervey Bay where we can visit Fraser Island. The Rough Guide recommends Calounda as being less developed than the rest of the Sunshine Coast so we head there. The information kiosk suggest Dicky Beach as a lovely camping place, but it turns out to be crowded and scruffy. Unimpressed, we decide to give the Sunshine Coast a miss today and head inland. Maleny is supposed to be a bit of an enclave for old hippies with a laid back feel. We head there. As we climb from the coast it becomes cooler and the countryside greener, with spectacular views south to the Glasshouse Mountains.

We find camping at the Maleny showground for $15 including an electric hookup. We settle in to cook a meal, but discover the gas bottle is empty. After driving around the area in a vain attempt to find a refill we give up and get fish and chips. Very Good too.

Monday 23 November. Atherton Tablelands

After a refreshing nights sleep, a healthy breakfast. Sue is taking full advantage of the tropical fruits available while we are here, and we have muesli with fresh papaya and passion fruit. We leave at 10 with an itinerary from Kate who runs the hostel, which will show us the highlights of the area and leave time to return to Cairns by nightfall.

We start at the Curtain Fig Tree – a strangler fig that caused the host tree to fall across at least one other tree and then spread to form a curtain of roots to the ground from 30 metres or so above.

At Dinner Falls Sue swims. Near Milla Milla Sue swims and later we see turtles sunning themselves at another falls (too shallow for Sue to swim). Finally we go to Eacham Lake where… Sue swims again. Even I get in the water – it’s a bit fresh but at least it doesn’t have crocodiles.

The Atherton Tablelands are pleasingly green and rural after the heat and dust of the Bush and the intensity of the Rainforest. The climate is milder and the towns, well Yungaburra in particular seem sleepy and idyllic.

We go on to another lake where I am told one can get cream teas. When we arrive the tea shop is closing. It is 4 pm. Tea time as far as I am concerned, but there you go. We take the Gillie highway back to Cairns. This must be one of the windiest roads I have ever encountered. It twists and turns down the hill for mile after mile, and the temperature and humidity increase as we descend. Back in Cairns we book into Tropic Days hostel which is allied to Travellers Oasis where we stayed previously. It is barbeque night again but we decide to do washing, get WiFi and go out for pizza. It is our last night in Cairns and tomorrow we fly to Brisbane to collect a camper van.

Sunday 22 November. Crocs and Platypus

We check out from Cape Trib and drive south to the ferry across the Daintree river. On the southern side we turn upriver and stop at the wonderfully named "Bruce Belcher's Daintree River Cruises" for a crocodile spotting trip. There's a bonus with the midday trip - you get a meat pie and a cold drink afterwards - the full Australian experience. Bruce himself is driving the boat and has a magnificent moustache. We get to see a couple of young crocs basking in the sun on the river bank, although they are so still that one wonders if they are models placed there to keep the tourists happy (I've seen Crocodile Dundee).

Later we do get to see a larger crocodile swimming in the river though. They ride pretty low in the water so you don't see a great deal of them, but I'm a believer.

After the trip and the meat pie, we continue south to Mossman Gorge for a brief stop before continuing towards the Atherton Tablelands, a plateau inland from Cairns. The road winds upwards and it becomes noticeably cooler. Sue buys fruit at roadside stalls and we stop in Atherton to get supplies at the IGA supermarket, then on to Yungaburra where we have been recommended a hostel. We find the place “On the Wallaby” (an expression similar to Waltzing Matilda, I believe), book the evening’s barbeque and go off in the Hostel van for the Platypus spotting trip. This is a short distance away at the town bridge. We are told to look for something resembling a wet sock in the water that will appear, then dive below the surface to feed and reappear nearby to swallow its food. Sure enough, a couple of wet socks do appear, mostly submerged in the pondweed and diving then reappearing as promised. They are not photogenic (then neither am I) and we don't get a shot of them, but I do feel privileged to have seen such bizarre creatures. We take a short walk up river and see turtles then return to the Hostel for the great value barbeque. At night we have a 4 bed dorm room to ourselves and it is bliss to sleep in cool conditions for a change.