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Recovering slowly from the night at Malankas, I meet up with fellow mature adventurer Steve who's thankfully decided to head with me to Cairns in convoy.  Thankfully as he's driving an extraordinarily well equipped Range Rover while I'm driving, well,  The Beast.

We have hitchers too - one each - Katja from The Black Forest, and Rob from Brisbane who have arranged to get lifts with us to Cairns - we're set for a fun run and have 2,500 miles of outback ahead of us to enjoy and explore...  

We are all to become 'Bush Mechanics', sussing out minor mechanical issues and strapping down roof-racks with the aid of socks. And we'll discover that the letter 'J' does not exist in Germany - rather its is 'Che' - making 'Jam' become 'Chem' which at first confuses, then amuses us greatly.

All in all, its going to take a us 5 days to complete the journey and we have a few episodes to remember.  Naturally, most revolve around The Beast, which is still not 100% after having a radiator flush and we are forced to maintain a sub 120kph speed (around 70mph) which just about keeps the thing cool enough but stretches the journey somewhat.  Not that we're in a hurry mind - but we can only travel safely by day and so the hours in the cars are long.

We camp at the Devils Marbles on the first night and continue on to Three Ways the following morning, turning right now into uncharted territory - the Outback.

Inevitably, things go wrong as soon as we get as far as possible from the nearest town. A driver change causes a little breakdown which almost proves fatal for one of the vehicles (you can guess which I'm sure).

We limp on - gradually the scenery is changing, and as we cross the border from Northern Territory to Queensland, the roads change from a long stretches of two way tarmac, to a long stretches of single lane tarmac or red dirt with potholes. 

The flora and fauna is also changing, the scrubland now replaced with the grassland  of outback cattle stations - vast due to the limited nutrition each acre yields.

Kangeroos hop out of the undergrowth more frequently here - this being the reason travel at night is not wise - we're finding brakes and horns very useful.  Then suddenly there's a cloud of pink feathers in my rear view mirror just before we arrive at Mount Isa...  Steve, who is tailing me when this strange phenomenon occurs tells me later that just as the feathers enveloped his car, he saw a totally naked bird rolling down the highway - No, not an nudist Sheila who's fallen of her bike! Rather, a large Cockatoo Galah which had head-butted my bull-bar.  

Fortunately the Galah are as common as pidgeons in Trafalgar Square here (though with less dog ends in their stomachs) and thankfully this is today's last encounter with wildlife.  Well, that is barring the people of the Mount Isa's Town League Club...

From Mount Isa,  we continue relentlessly West on the Overlanders Highway towards the coast. Our route however begins to offer options and we elect to take the Hann dirt road to the spectacular Porcupine Gorge which we reach via the proud dinosaur capital of Australia - Houghendon.  

Now Houghendon is not large, but like a lot of towns here its woken up to tourism and using every bit of its charm to court the coaches in. It boasts a full size Mattabarrasaus Langdoni no less - a kind of vegetarian Tyrannosaurus by all accounts.  It also has a great Hotel, or rather pub, which featured inbred live music and a bottle of "F'ing Great Port" - only in Australia...

Having done non-stop driving for three days, Steve and I agree we'll get at least some sightseeing in - so, before heading over the Great Dividing Range past the majestic Wind Farm at Atherton, we pay a visit to the Undara Lava Tubes, a really thrilling day out (yawn!).

Then, finally, we reach Cairns - a town with a very Backpackery feel and bars to match, and the base for several adventures to come.

We part company here after night out a the Woolshed, a bar somewhat similar to Malankas though with less clothes swapping. Steve heads South after going for a solo Skydive and Rob and Katja head South at a more leisurely pace.  I meet my sweetheart Isobel at Cairns International and we head North to the Daintree Forest and beyond.

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