We spent most of the day exploring the Gold Coast south of Brisbane and its continuation into New South Wales around Byron Bay and Lennox Head. Great Beaches throughout the whole area. The Gold Coast is quite developed ranging from high rises in Surfers's Paradise to low rise motels, resorts and vacation apartments in other areas. We would probably choose Coolongata -- less "Waikiki" but still with plenty of services. The beaches around Byron Bay and Lennox H...

We headed east from Roma to the coast this morning. Roma to Dalby (about 250 km.) is mainly cattle country. Approaching Dalby the land improves noticeably and grain production becomes significant. As one gets near Toowomba the scenery becomes much better particularly to the south, with rolling hills, green valleys and diversified agriculture (sunflowers, grain, vegetables, cattle and horses). We then headed east and crossed the Great Dividing Range near Boon...

We decided we had seen enough beaches and ocean for awhile and headed to the interior from Townsville yesterday morning. Not much in this area. The northernmost part south of Charter Towers has poor soil with scrub trees and sparse grass. Cattle grazing is the major activity here, although there is a huge open pit coal mine at Clermont. South of Clermont and around Emerald the soil is better and there is some grain production, but cattle is still king. This ...

Started the day in Atherton. The Atherton Tablelands had been a tobacco producing area but is now a major dairy producer. Quite an attractive area with rolling green hills. Viewed a huge fig tree. (See the description in the photo of the Curtain Fig tree.) Then down to the coastal lowlands to Mission Beach. Great beach for both walking and swimming. Further down the coast to Tully that has the highest average annual rainfall in Australia at 177 inches. It...

Left Port Douglas this morning. It is a great town and we recommend it over Cairns as a base to explore the tropical Queensland area. Our day mainly involved a visit to Kuranda. However, the real focus was the historic Kuranda Scenic Rail train from a base near Cairns to Kuranda high in the hills and return on the Skyrail Cable Car. Great experience and scenery on both. The train was over 1 1/2 hours and the cable car 45 minutes. Both were well worth the co...