Time for our Atherton Tablelands adventure - first stop Mareeba, the home of coffee in Australia.

Did a fantastic tour of the Skybury coffee plantation, which took us through the coffee growing and harvesting process, up to the "green bean" stage. It is the largest plantation in Oz, oh my goodness the coffee was great! Had our free cup after the tour, then stayed for lunch and had another. Walked away with a new coffee plunger, some of their freshly-ground coffee, and the promise of some rather amped-up mornings ahead. Spent the night at a privately owned park called Granite Gorge, which is a lovely spot, and the home of a rather large rock wallaby population. We saw an amazing sunset there, probably heightened by the fact that we could actually SEE the sun for the first time in a long time... and perhaps the coffee...

Next morning we headed back to town to finish the coffee story - today we were learning about roasting. Did a tour of Mareeba Coffee Works, the big kahuna of roasting companies around these parts. This tour involved a bottomless cup of filtered coffee, and the chance to taste 12 different locally made chocolates. Can life get any better?

L & L