A Great Australian Road Trip.

Flowering sugar cane

Australians are spoiled for choice for great road trips. The sheer size of the place, the diversity of landscapes and and small population make for endless opportunities. Many of them are known internationally: the Nullarbor, the Great Ocean Road, Tassie's east coast, the Adelaide Hills and WA's Margaret River. There's another one that's little known. It's way up north in Queensland. A diversion that sneaks off the highway at Silkwood and ends further north at Innisfail.

The Canecutter Way is a beaut little road that lets you escape the mayhem of the Bruce Highway for a while. It's a quiet two lane road that winds through cane fields and banana and pawpaw plantations. There are old timber bridges over sparkling creeks, patches of rainforest and pretty little towns. In the cane harvesting season you'll pass clattering harvesters and sugar trains and you'll see the night sky ablaze with burning fields.

Silkwood, Jampoonvale, Mena Creek, South Johnstone and Wangan are along the way. When the South Johnstone sugar mill is working you'll sniff the sweet warm raw sugar being produced and stockpiled by the ton.

Paronella Park

Another highlight close to Innisfail is Paronella Park. This fantastic folly has amazed travellers and locals since before the second world war. The place was entirely build by hand, mostly by just one man, Jose' Paronella. He came to Australia from Spain and set about creating his pleasure gardens in 1929.

There is a concrete castle, bridge, fountain, staircase and terraces which are smothered in elkhorms, ferns and moss. And there are tunnels, majestic avenues and secret forest clearings. The place was originally powered by the state's first hydro-electric generator and much of that structure survives today.

The place has been damaged by fires, cyclones and floods but incredibly it survives. Testimony to the endurance of one man with a dream and the tenacity of those who have followed in his footsteps.

Whether you're 90 not out or a newly minted 19 year old, the Canecutter Way is worth the drive.