The next few days were to be spent exploring some of inland Queensland at the Atherton Tablelands which are known as Australia's "highlands"! An area once completely covered with forest the majority has been felled to make way for the growing of tea, coffee, bananas and sugar cane. There are however pockets of forest left which can be explored in more detail in a couple of days. On route to the campsite we stopped at a coffee plantation to take in a tour of the coffee bean fields and the factory where the raw beans are harvested and transformed into coffee beans ready to be roasted. The tour took us to the fields where the beans are grown for an up close look at the plants and bean pods at various stages of growth. We are then shown some of the equipment used to harvest the beans and the various processes post harvest to get the beans ready for sale. Having never seen a coffee plantation before it was fun and the coffee tasting at the end was reminiscent of the wine tasting in Marlborough without the hangover! After the tour is over you can have a complimentary coffee in their elevated coffee shop with absolutely gorgeous views overlooking the fields of coffee, tea, mangoes and papayas plants. After the coffee plantation it was to be a very normal afternoon involving grocery shopping and laundry well as normal as it can be until you go to collect your laundry off the washing line to find another camper taking photos of my 7 thongs side by side drying on the line! Yes your eyes don't deceive you I did just say I caught a man taking photos of my weeks worth of smalls chuckling away to himself and then showing the photos to his girlfriend??? Bloody foreigners!! If I hadn't been in shock and desperate to share my violating experience with Mike I might have had something clever to say but as it was I whipped down the offending briefs and scurried back to the van only to discover that pervy percy and his mrs were our new neighbors, it could only happen to me!!The next day was an express road trip around the tablelands taking in some of its natural attractions. First stop was the curtain fig tree, a massive 500 year old relic hidden within the jungle. What started out as a regular tree all those years ago was overcome by strangler vines from a parasitic fig tree, over hundreds of years the fig slowly strangled and killed the host tree before taking over a neighboring tree and consuming it too. The result is an absolutely massive array of vines which you will only fully appreciate when you see the photos. Not being one who is easily impressed by a tree even I thought it was pretty amazing! After ooing and ahhing at the curtain fig we were inspired to go and visit his big brother, the cathedral fig tree he was about a half hours drive away. The cathedral fig was absolutely massive and to give you an idea if 24 people stood around the tree holding hands they wouldn't be able to make a complete circle it is just huge! Whilst it was clear that he was the bigger of the two trees in our opinion it was the curtain fig that was the more impressive of the two. After the trees it was on to the first of 2 crater lakes, lake barrine. On arriving at the lake we couldn't help but be a little disappointed having been blown away by almost everything we saw in New Zealand this was really just a regular lake with little else to offer in terms of wow factor. After a short walk around to take in yet more trees this time old Kauri trees it was on to the second of the two lakes lake eacham. It was almost lunch time so when we got to the lake all the picnic tables were taken however our home on wheels was not to be outdone so we set out our own table and chairs in the picnic area and enjoyed our sandwiches with a view to the lake. This lake was a little more attractive and offered the opportunity to swim. An opportunity that Michael could not resist so after lunch he had a cooling swim out on the lake. I was happy to sit this one out for some reason I seem to have a fear of swimming in fresh water lakes? I had no idea that I wouldn't like it or that I wouldn't want to do it but when confronted with a murky brown freshwater lake I am filled with fear and would rather watch from the side, dozens of sharks 27m below sea level and I am fine but the lake terrifies me? I didn't lose out completely as when I was walking around the lake beside Mike in the water I was able to see a water dragon (a giant lizard) and a few fresh water turtles at the waters edge. After his swim we chilled out for a little longer at the lake before heading back to the camp for the remainder of the afternoon.The next day and it was time to make out way out of the tablelands back to the coastal town of Innisfail but not before we took in a few of the tablelands finest waterfalls. These naturally forming wonders were even kind enough to form around a convenient loop road that passed three of the main waterfalls in the area! The three falls were named Millaa Millaa, Zillie and Ellinjaa falls and of the three the first was most impressive, the second a bit of a disappointment and the third was a reasonable recovery and so we left the waterfall loop feeling glad that we had taken the time to explore on our way to the coast. We arrived at the campsite late in the afternoon and as they had a nice swimming pool we spent the rest of the afternoon with our heads buried in our books with the occasional cooling dip in the pool.