The hostel BBQ isn't as good as it seemed; we're both ill and it's the only thing we've both eaten.

Originally we thought (for some unknown reason) that Cairns was 1100km north of Brisbane, and the road was coastal and scenic. We were wrong on all three counts. Despite this we're hiring a car to drive down, as neither of us can face a coach journey on counts of comfort, convenience and other people! We're going to drive the 1700km in three days, with tours inbetween.

The hostel gives us a lift to Hertz, where we pick up an almost-new Ford Laser. It's roomy and nice in every way except that the accelerator is ridiculously uncomfortable to use unless you're flooring the car. Given it's impressive power this is a bad idea. I don't, however, realise this until we're several hours down the road, with aching right feet. The car feels like driving a tricycle after our big 4wd campervan.

[Road]

[Cane train]

Well we drive for hours, and some more hours. Not much to tell, really. The road is slightly bendy in places, banked by sugar cane either side, occasional glimpses of coast on the left, and the green flanked Great Dividing Range on the right (it's not very big, just random hills in a long long line). The sugar cane railway runs parallel to the road, it's the longest private railway in the world. Small toy engines pull troughs of cane. There are plenty of mechanical cutters and trains around as it's cutting season. There's a ridiculous amount of sugar cane in Queensland; hundreds of kilometres of it.

[Something of interest!]

[Plastic bag trees]

We stop at 11am for breakfast in a small town. Failing to find it, we buy cakes and chocolate milk - our favourite. I drive, but start to feel really ill. Eventually I can't see straight and Iain has to take over. We stop at McDonalds for lunch and to give me some reviving Coke. I'm violently sick, then start to feel better; seems like a food allergy, but I'm not sure what caused it. The cakes turn out to have had animal fat in, which is a possibility. I can now eat a mountain of fries (they don't have veggie burgers) while Iain wolfs two burgers.

I feel well enough to drive, so we continue south. There are a few small tractor-selling towns dotted down the road, but it's generally just sugar cane. The road is a little busier than we're used to, and we have to overtake something every 5 minutes or so, but it keeps us amused. The limit is 100kmph, but 110-120 seems acceptable to some, including us. There are some road trains, but only 2 trailer ones; they're still hard work to overtake. The towns look like 1950s America, with a line of sole-trading businesses, elevated wooden houses on stilts and the occasional car. It's a bit spooky, and like going into a time warp outside cities in Australia sometimes.

[Big Mango]

[Scenery]

We stop at the Big Mango in Bowen - this is an Australian thing; to put your town's name on the map and encourage people to stop and spend money, build something big, anything will do so long as it's different. Aside from the mango, Bowen is just another town.

We arrive at 5pm, and I'm getting sicker; I have terrible stomach pains and feel really rough. Iain isn't much better. Iain goes to check in at Prosail, once we have our hotel sorted. We're sick of hostels (literally, now) and have paid a bit more for something decent. It's okay, and most importantly, we can get pizzas to our room! We recover enough to eat a bit, of the best pizza I've ever had - gourmet and wood fired it's fantastic but I'm too ill to appreciate it properly.

[Sunset at Airlie Beach]

We read and watch TV and crash out at 11pm. Airlie Beach is nice, it was my brother's favourite place in Australia. It's a small, essentially one-street, town, on the coast, with a relaxed and happy feel to it. There's a visible backpacker/yachtie market divide, and although it's touristy, it's not overspoilt. Tomorrow we're going sailing in the Whitsunday Islands.