Wednesday 22nd August 2012, Ravenshoe, Queensland.

We left Port Douglas and drove up into the Atherton Tablelands to the east. It's stange to experience cooler and mild weather when we are so far north into the tropics. The average altitude on the Tablelands is 700 metres. Atherton is a nice little farming town.

We've had some excellent rides around Ravenshoe to the local waterfalls and along quiet back roads. We came across a Dutch couple also cycling along the road to Tully Gorge, who happened to live on a smallholding just out of Ravenshoe, and joined them for a drink at their place afterwards. We also managed to see some platypuses in the little creek at the back of our motel. You have to sit motionless for quite a while before they will come out of hiding, but it is worth the effort.

Wednesday 15th August 2012, Daintree Region

The Daintree Rainforest region is the oldest continuous rainforest in the world. We were amused to see that some wag had used a black marker pen to change a road-bump sign to appear as a dead cassowary bird, with a 'before and after' notation. We returned to Port Douglas for a few more days before heading up to the high country again.

Sunday 12th August 2012 Port Douglas

Port Douglas is the perfect place to visit in the middle of winter. Four Mile Beach is very flat and wide, and fringed by groves of coconut trees which give afternoon shade.All the beaches are littered with coconuts which people crack and eat. The town is really charming - a bit like a colonial outpost, with lots of beautiful architecture and big trees everywhere. We visited Mossman Gorge and walked through parts of the rainforest, and spotted a Pied Imperial Pigeon which is two thirds snow white and has a haunting melancholy call. The birds here are amazing.

Thursday 9th August 2012 Kuranda

We stopped off at Kuranda on our way to Port Douglas. You can catch an old fashioned colonial-style train from Cairns up to the town which is at a much higher altitude, and then return by cable car. The Barron River Gorge is quite a sight.

Wednesday 8th August 2012 Cairns, Queensland

On our way from Townsville, we stopped off to visit friends who live in Halifax near Ingham. They're building a nice house which has a view of Hinchinbrook Island. We then went on to have lunch at Mission Beach. We were lucky enough to see a cassowary come out of the forest. I was surprised to see how big they are, and how beautiful.

Cairns has a nice waterfront area and CBD, with a very good bikepath network. We have been enjoying seeing all the birds. I found a Bush Stone Curlew wandering about outside our cabin one evening. I'm told that they are very shy birds whom are not often seen. I took a picture of it which turned out to be too dark, so I'm borrowing a picture from Google.

Wednesday 1st August 2012 Magnetic Island and Townsville

Magnetic Island is a short ferry trip (8 km) from Townsville Port. It was very peaceful and it was good to cycle over the hills to Horseshoe Bay on the northern side. We saw some Rainbow Bee Eaters - very beautiful.

We have really enjoyed our stay at Townsville. We went up Castle Hill which overlooks the city centre, and also cycled 30 km up the river again, this time all the way to the Ross River Dam. There were lots of turtles in the little creeks that feed into the river. We were paticularly impressed by the huge umbrella-shaped trees (Rain Trees , originally from the Honduras in South America).