Well we have arrived in one of the most beautiful parts of North Queensland, the Atherton Tablelands. The area is full of tropical rainforests, waterfalls, sugar cane, beautiful volcanic lakes, coffee and tea plantations and lots of rolling hills and mountains.

We spent 4 full days touring from Milla Milla in the south to Mareeba in the north, west to Herberton and East to Yungaburra and the Tinaroo Lakes and dam.

We were very fortunate to be able to stay at friends of Fran and Berts in Peeramon. They just happen to have been over in the west in Manjimup. Our touring took us to the Yungaburra markets - absolutely amazing amount of stalls! - to Gallo dairy farm where we bought cheese and chocolate and watched the cows being milked; to Nerada Tea plantation (we managed to find a couple of tree kangaroos high up in the trees); Jacques coffee plantation in Mareeba; a boutique wine place that made beautiful creamy liqueurs; and a distillery that produced whisky, vodka and gin (Fran and I had a tasting of these).

The day we went to see the lakes (Eacham, Barrine and Tinaroo) we also saw the Curtain Fig Tree and the Cathederal Fig tree - massive fig trees that have their root systems hanging down from the canopy above (see the photos in the album). Our trip around Tinaroo Lake was on a very bumpy, pot-holed gravel road. Hopefully there won't be too many more of these.

During our time on the Atherton we had perfect weather with no rain.