After our single, solitary night at Scotty's Beach house, we were quite tired. The room had an old, noisy air con unit that either did nothing, so we cooked...or froze us to death. Hope the next place has air con that is just a little more modern!

Grabbed a quick coffee on the way to Charley's Chocolate Factory from a place in Mission Beach, just a quick little drive. It was 10.00, and it was already 31 degrees. It doesn't let up here... need to escape the tropics!

Then on to Charlie's Choclolate factory... A random stop that we had spied on Trip Advisor, and one that is not in the guide books either! Apparently, this is one of the few places in world (among 3 others?) that grow cocoa beans, harvest, roast, manufacture and prepare chocolate... All on site.

They've only been in operation for 3 years here in Australia, so their single origin chocolate is admittedly a little 'raw', but it's certainly tasty! The tour was fantastic. They took us through their whole process...

...a potted history of chocolate, and a tour of their cocoa bean 'vineyard' (they've trellised the trees, just like grapes in a vineyard).

To finish, they gave us a free, locally bred beef burger.

...and sold us some of their chocolate. We nabbed the salted caramel offering.

Heading back out to the Bruce Highway onwards to Townsville, we stopped at one of the Tam O'Shanter walking trails.

This was with the express purpose of seeing a Cassowarie!! Australia's largest bird. It is flightless, but is hugely important to cross fertilisation of the Tropical Wetlands, is on the decline, and this area has the largest concentration of them in Oz.

Happily, we saw one right away! (Alice has a better photo!)

But as apparently they can be quite aggressive, we didn't get up close and personal. Like we did with the Wallabies! We let him be, and he trundled off. The only chap we saw on the trail.

The trail was otherwise beautiful!

...and we saw turtles! Apologies for the photo. He's there somewhere!

Back on the road, a short stop at Cardwell to view Hinchenbrook Island from afar.

And another stop (at short notice...), to view the Island from on high.

Arriving at the Orchid House apartments at around 1800, Woolies, pasta and pesto, planning session and bed!

AF