We are just south of Townsville and hoping to get to Mission Beach tomorrow. It has been a very scenic drive up through wide valleys of sugar cane, bounded by big hills.

We had a couple of days at Airlie Beach which had breathtaking scenery. While we were there we also went on a day's cruise around the Whitsunday Islands, with a BBQ lunch on Whitehaven Beach, a beautiful 7km long beach with fine white sand, a walk up through thick vegetation to a spectacular lookout, and snorkelling at Mantaray Bay where we viewed the coral and fish of the Great Barrier Reef. All in all, a great day! EF